Why is Meg Whitman pal’ing around with xenophobe Pete Wilson?  In fact, why is he still her campaign chairman?  During the primaries, they both went out of their way on right-wing stations with a radio ad to express just how hard the Meg Whitman team would come down on undocumented immigrants should she be elected the next Governor of California.  For those that didn’t get to hear the radio ad in all its hateful glory, here it is:

Here’s the transcript of the radio ad translated into Spanish:

Lo que opina Meg Whitman sobre la inmigración ilegal
“No se crean de comerciales engañosos.”
“Mi opinión sobre el tema de la inmigración es tan clara como el agua: los inmigrantes ilegales son solamente eso: ilegales.”
“Estoy 100% en contra de una amnistía para los inmigrantes ilegales.  Punto y final.”
“Si llego a ser gobernadora, yo voy a acabar con las ciudades que ofrezcan asilo, como por ejemplo San Francisco, que desafían nuestras leyes.”
“Los inmigrantes ilegales no deberían de esperar ningún derecho a los beneficios del estado de California.”
“No a la licencias de manejar, y no entradas a las escuelas universitarias que estén recibiendo fondos estatales.”
“Además, pondré una barrera económica para poder acabar con aquellos que violan la ley al darle trabajo a los ilegales.”
“Habla el ex gobernador, Pete Wilson.”
“Yo sé que tan importante es el terminar con la inmigración ilegal y yo conozco a Meg Whitman.” 
“Meg va a ser tan dura como una piedra contra la inmigración ilegal”
“Ella peleará para que la frontera se cierre y para que se acaben con las ciudades que den asilo.”
“Por favor únete a mí y apoya a Meg Whitman para gobernadora.”
Pagado por Meg Whitman para gobernadora 2010

By now you have probably heard how Meg Whitman has been aggressively courting the Latino vote.  In fact, ever since she crushed Steve Poizner and won the nomination from her party, she wasted no time and went out of her way to assure Latinos that she opposes Arizona’s authoritarian police law and that she opposes the infamous CA Prop. 187.  It has definitely been an opportunistic rebuke of Poizner-style of right-wing anti-immigrant sentiment, in the tradition of saying whatever will get you elected.  But how can we begin to trust what she stands for when she keeps on her team a person like Pete Wilson?  Why not fire him and completely reject what he stands for?  Or maybe she thinks she can play Latino voters for fools?

Update: in that radio ad, she very clearly implies that she would be adamantly opposed to undocumented youth having the opportunity to go to college.  That is particulary interesting, being that the DREAM Act was just blocked in the U.S. Senate and has generated a lot of anger in the Latino community against those that opposed the DREAM.  In other words, is she opposed to the DREAM Act?  If she’s in a position to make decisions, does that mean she’ll shut the door in the faces of immigrant youth that have grown up in this country and is all they have known and loved?  Will someone please ask her this?