Brown-Whitman 10/02/10 debate: a very disturbing view of California's future

It's a good thing I didn't watch Saturday's Jerry Brown / Meg Whitman debate in the California governor's race: I might have ended up defenestrating the TV. The debate provides a very disturbing preview of the Quebec-style future of California and ultimately the U.S.

A transcript is here, and I encourage everyone to read it and point out additional things wrong with it in comments.

The debate was put on by Univision; hosted by the vile, far-left, illegal immigration-supporting Maria Elena Salinas; the questions were asked in Spanish and translated for the candidates; those questions were asked from the Hispanic viewpoint and not from a general American viewpoint; and the candidates played right along rather than opposing in any way such cultural separatism.

1. The first question was asked what their "outreach program for Latinos" consisted of and "why they should vote for you." Whitman and Brown responded by pandering their little hearts out. From her knees, Whitman said, "My entire website is translated into Spanish. I have published my jobs book on how to create more jobs for the Latino audience in Spanish, and, of course, we have been on Spanish-language radio and Spanish-language television." Not to be outdone, Brown noted that as governor he had "signed the first agricultural labor relations law in the country that empowered mostly undocumented people to be able to pick by a secret ballot the advocate of their choice" and he also highlighted that he'd hired the late Mario Obledo, an extremist who founded MALDEF. Here's an Obledo quote (link): "California is going to become a Hispanic state. Anyone who doesn't like it should leave."

Later, Salinas asks about the mortgage mess, saying "studies show that 48 percent of all foreclosures in the state involve Latinos". That would seem to be a statistic against interest, except neither Whitman nor Brown pointed out that one of the catalysts for that issue was probably poor Hispanics - including illegal aliens - buying homes beyond their means.

Then, of course, it's on to Whitman's nanny issue and a general discussion of comprehensive immigration reform and drivers licenses for illegal aliens. Brown opposes the latter, but only because he wants to make illegal aliens legal first, then give them driver's licenses.

Feel free to discuss specific things they said in the debate in comments, or if anyone would like to defend anything they said let me know and I'll discuss why it was wrong.

10/8/10 UPDATE: The transcript was originally at the Fresno Bee, but they deleted it for some reason. I'm now hosting it locally.