Young Vietnamese-Americans abandoning Republican Party

[skooooo]

By Ken McLaughlin / San Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE, Calif. - For years after Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese in 1975, the tiny contingent of Vietnamese emigres in the United States who chose to join the Democratic Party stayed quiet.

"Many in the Vietnamese community felt Democrats were just too soft on communism and too weak on defense," recalls Minh Steven Dovan, a San Jose attorney who says he rarely told fellow members of the emigre community that he was a registered Democrat. Other emigres say that some Republican Vietnamese went as far as dubbing the Democrats in their midst "communist sympathizers."

But more than three decades after communist tanks rolled into Saigon, young Vietnamese-Americans are abandoning the Republican Party in droves, according to a San Jose Mercury News computer analysis of nearly 30,000 new Santa Clara County voters. By plugging Vietnamese surnames into a data base, the analysis shows that Vietnamese-Americans age 30 and under are registering Democratic over Republican by nearly 4 to 1.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1129697&srvc=2008campnews&position=8

[otohara]

1. Excellent News

[BlooInBloo]

2. So many of them were either born here, or came over as babies....

They'll never be "the war is not over!" types that many of their parents are.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Their parents still fly the yellow and red flag of the RVN at rallies

It's a farce now. What does a young, poker playing, car customizing Vietnamese guy from Fresno have to do with Cholon, Pleiku, or Nha Trang? Nothing. They visit without major incident. It's not a thing, like it was for their parents. This whole strain of thought is archaic and politically useless. That young Vietnamese guy wants better schools in Fresno, not sanctions against the DRV.

[BlooInBloo]

8. Up here in Seattle, too.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. The good news just keeps coming

This is almost reverse of 2004 when all of the "good news" was geared towards Bush. Thinking about it now I wonder just how much of a chance we really had in 2004 (election irregularities notwithstanding).

[Two Sheds]

4. Hmmmm, could we be the seeing the near future of Cuban-American politics?

as the reason for being "Anti-Communist" fades away, so does their GOP affiliation. Most interestng article.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. No offense to the boomers, but us post-boomers have different priorities

It's one of the main reasons McCain/Palin will go down hard in the first real post-boomer election. It's our turn now.

The young Vietnamese-Americans defection from the GOP is just another symptom (as is the stronger Dem position among Cuban Americans). The conflicts of the Cold war are not our fight. It's why McCain sounds like a fool most of the time, and especially with the Ayers crap. Nostalgia for another time is all the right has. Young people know it. The GOP is over. Bush was their last hurrah.

[peace frog]

10. No offense to post-boomers

but this boomer left the conflcts of the Cold War while I was still a youngster. No nostalgia for an earlier time here. It is your turn now, and may you use it to the best advantage for everyone.

[Cha]

6. Rec'd~ It doesn't take a brick

wall to fall on them.

This sounds like repukes anywhere.."Other emigres say that some Republican Vietnamese went as far as dubbing the Democrats in their midst "communist sympathizers."

Delusional.

[Sebastian Doyle]

9. It's not really surprising

The Repuke candidate says "I hate the gooks. I'll hate them as long as I live." How do you vote for that? :shrug: