Open mouth, insert foot

Updated below:

It looks as though Franscine Busby, the Democrat who is running to fill Duke Cunningham's vacant seat may have cooked her own goose. Apparently, she told a crowd of Latinos that they could vote even if they weren't legal. Some spy from the Republican camp recorded the speech, and the consevative crowd are now making a bid deal of it. Busby said she simply misspoke, meaning to say that you didn't have to be documented to help the campaign out.

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.

This may be her version of "I voted for the war before I voted against it." What is it about Democrats that causes them to open mouth and insert foot at critical moments? Or, is it just that the press only catches the Democrats at it and ignores the Republicans when they do it? Somehow, I have a feeling it's the latter.

Update:

It turns out this was all a manufactured attack on Busby.

Quite a few people are in high dudgeon over California Democratic congressional candidate Francine Busby and her apparent solicitation of votes from illegal aliens, including my own colleague Kim Priestap. As a hard-nose on the illegal alien issue, the thought of this happening infuriated me, so I started looking into it myself. And my conclusion? As Dorothy Parker said, "there's no 'there' there."

From the full context of the discussion, it's clear to me that Ms. Busby was asked if one needed to prove one was a legal voter in order to "help" her campaign -- with the clear implication of volunteering to work for her,not simply vote. She replied that they do not check IDs for volunteers, and anyone was welcome to assist. And under current law, they I do not believe they are required to verify the immigration status of an unpaid volunteer.

Notwithstanding that, the SanDiego Union Leader bought it hook, line and sinker, so the public now believes it. Swift boated again.