Van Tran – “I’m a child molester”

Political satirist Stephen Colbert has made an art out of interviewing members of congress and getting them to say things that can be taken out of context. Well, Assemblyman Van Tran didn’t need any help from Colbert to step into it during his debate with Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez Wednesday night. 

Sanchez was highlighted a couple years ago by Colbert in his “California Values Watch” segment after Democratic Congressman Joe Bacca allegedly called Sanchez a whore.

In the second of two debates, broadcast Thursday night on KOCE, Tran was trying to respond to Sanchez’s points about his actual record in Sacramento, by suggesting that Sanchez was trying to say “I’m a child molester.” These were not four words any candidate ever wants to come out of his or her mouth. 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4WXPr5okrM[/youtube] 
Just so that you can see it in context, below is the full video of the debate. Tran’s comments come at about the 17 minute mark. 

 

Watch the full episode. See more Real Orange. 

In the post-debate Q&A, Tran responded to my question about him living in Sacramento suggested that he keeps his family close to him in Sacramento because he is a family man and wants to be a full time father to his children rather than traveling around the world, cavorting with lobbyists. Tran has attacked Sanchez for attending events at the “Playboy Mansion,” presumably implying that she is a whore in general, or maybe just to lobbyists’. It really is difficult to pin this guy down on specifics. 

Well, we’ve said it before, as has Steven Colbert, Loretta Sanchez is not a whore. 

But Van, we’ll take you at your word about the whole child molester thing. 

Also, in an exchange I had with Van Tran outside after the debate, Tran again suggested that I needed to get my facts straight. I asked him why he was so critical of Congresswoman Sanchez’ remarks on Spanish language television, when he has been doing the same thing with the Vietnamese community for years. He responded by saying “I’ve never done that.” when I pointed out that I had video he responded “I didn’t know you spoke Vietnamese. The video is in this post Assemblyman Van Tran-The Real Race Baiter of OC. if anyone speaks Vietnamese and wants to check the translation, be my guest. 

At any rate, he concluded by saying that he “isn’t a divider like Loretta.” So I asked him his position on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He never got the chance to answer because his campaign manager swooped in and literally carried him away. If you have any doubts as to whether or not Mr. Tran is a divider, just check out this post Van Tran acting like a Racist and Gay-baiting Homophobe. 

Click Here to view both debate segments on the Real Orange web page.