RNC Latino Website Used Images Of Asian Children

The Republican National Committee’s Latino website used stock photos of Asian — not Hispanic or Latino — children, in an exceptionally embarrassing display of racism. US News and World Report was the first to discover the offense. The RNC Latino website also, we noticed, is rarely updated. Before today, it was last updated for Memorial Day, and prior to that, in April.

“In the latest Latino Decisions poll, Obama held a 43-point lead over Romney,” US News notes:

But the Republican National Committee’s Hispanic site may not be doing Romney any favors.

RNCLatinos.com features as its main image a stock photo from Shutterstock, which tags the photo with keywords that clearly suggest the kids are Asian, including: “asia,” “asian,” “interracial,” “japanese,” and “thailand.”

We’re guessing the RNC may have taken inspiration from Sharron Angle, who in 2010 told Hispanic children they looked Asian.

When the RNC launched the site in October, the committee described it as a place where the “Republican National Committee can connect with Hispanic voters, and Hispanic voters can hear Hispanic Republican leaders.”

The Spanish-language site, which is linked to prominently from the main RNC site, on Thursday also featured a blog post on its homepage with the mangled title “How to cease locks the loss in ladies – suggested ways.”

Talking Points Memo adds:

RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski told TPM that “an outside vendor developed the site and it is being corrected immediately.” The image has since been taken down, replaced with a text banner in English that says “HISPANIC LATINO STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS.”

The Republican Party is currently at a low point with Latino voters in general election polling after tacking to the right on immigration in recent years, and the move also reflects ongoing difficulties with the RNC’s Hispanic outreach division in particular. In April, an RNC press secretary for Latino media, Alexandra Franceschi, described the Republican economic plan as similar to President Bush’s “just updated,” a line that made its way into Democratic attacks. Last month, RNC Hispanic Outreach Director Bettina Inclan said in a conference call that Mitt Romney was “still deciding what his position on immigration is” before backtracking on her statement after Democrats again seized on the slip.

Typical GOP tactics: outsourcing, then blaming the vendor.

In March, The New Civil Rights Movement reported that the Republican National Committee’s “RNC Women” website had been dormant and had not been updated in months. Some stories above the fold were five months old, and the newest item appeared to be a video uploaded to YouTube in January.