"You don't need papers to vote." Dem candidate says

Hugh Hewitt:

From the San Diego Union Tribune:

If an election can turn on a sentence, this could be the one: "You don't need papers for voting."?

On Thursday night, Francine Busby, the Democratic candidate for the 50th Congressional District, was speaking before a largely Latino crowd in Escondido when she uttered those words. She said yesterday she simply misspoke.

But someone taped it and a recording began circulating yesterday. After she made that statement at the meeting, Busby immediately said: “You don't need to be a registered voter to help (the campaign).�

She said that subsequent statement was to clarify what she meant....

Busby said she was invited to the forum at the Jocelyn Senior Center in Escondido by the leader of a local soccer league. Many of the 50 or so people there were Spanish speakers. Toward the end, a man in the audience asked in Spanish: "Iwant to help, but I don't have papers."?

It was translated and Busby replied: "Everybody can help, yeah, absolutely, you can all help. You don't need papers for voting, you don't need to be a registered voter to help."?...

Busby said that Republicans are now twisting her words. She does not in any way support or advocate that illegal immigrants vote, she said.

"I was clarifying the question that was being asked in Spanish and then stated that you do not have to be a registered voter to help the campaign because there were many people who appeared to be to be under 18 in the group who wanted to volunteer,"? she said in a statement. "I'm not surprised that the Republican Party is making this last-minute, desperate ploy and it is absolutely false."

Powerline has the audio file posted.

Busby's attempt to spin this is hilarious. "You don't need papers for voting" is presented as an invitation to the under 18 audience members to work on the campaign.

...

We know what she meant. Democrats in Congress are trying to get them their papers as fast as they can so that they can vote for Democrats.