FOR THOSE WITH SHORT MEMORIES:
Linda Chavez, former Secretary of Labor nominee, says adios to her nomination. Chavez did not disclose that several years earlier she had an illegal immigrant "living in her home doing occasional chores".
Posted on 05/28/2007 10:42:49 AM PDT by Politicalmom
I have always held Linda Chavez in high regard. But this kind, rational, and (until now) honest commentator, has fallen in my estimation by resorting to scurrilous argument in favor of the deeply flawed immigration "compromise." Of course, she has plenty of company among the GOP elites, but somehow I expected better of Linda. Consider this sample form her latest column:
Some people just don't like Mexicans - or anyone else from south of the border. They think Latinos are freeloaders and welfare cheats who are too lazy to learn English. They think Latinos have too many babies, and that Latino kids will dumb down our schools. They think Latinos are dirty, diseased, indolent and more prone to criminal behavior. They think Latinos are just too different from us ever to become real Americans.
No amount of hard, empirical evidence to the contrary, and no amount of reasoned argument or appeals to decency and fairness, will convince this small group of Americans - fewer than 10 percent of the general population, at most - otherwise. Unfortunately, among this group is a fair number of Republican members of Congress, almost all influential conservative talk radio hosts, some cable news anchors - most prominently, Lou Dobbs - and a handful of public policy "experts" at organizations such as the Center for Immigration Studies, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA, in addition to fringe groups like the Minuteman Project.
Stripped bare, this is what the current debate on immigration reform is all about. Fear of "the other" - of those who look or sound different, who come from poor countries with unfamiliar customs - has been at the heart of every immigration debate this country has ever had, from the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to the floor of the U.S. Senate this week.
For the record, I think Lou Dobbs is a nutjob and/or a panderer. I have had Latino friends my entire adult life. There are some aspects of Mexican culture that are very congenial to me, and from which we can benefit. And I concede that there are indeed haters out there. But tarring all opponents of the bill with this broad brush is simply unconscionable, and unworthy of a figure like Linda Chavez.
Hatred and fear of the other is not what my opposition to the bill is about, nor is what I perceive most opponents are about. There are serious problems with the bill, and the devil is in the details. Having been burned before with immigration"reform" the public is rightly suspicious, particularly when Hugh Hewitt (Linda: is Hugh a redneck hater, too?) and other thoughtful people examining the bill have found tuckerd away in its hundreds of pages provisions that negate the fine-sounding language about border enforcement?
It is not that Latinos are too different from the rest of us, Linda. Get a grip. If you are looking for different, think about Somalis, Hmong, and Chinese immigrants, from cultures that are non-Christian, nonwhite, and non-Western. The issue with 12-20 million illegal immigrants whose homeland is next door, a bus ride away, and some of whom think they are the legitimate owners of the western third of the United States (see MeCHA), is willingness to and interest in assimilation. And sheer numbers. And rewarding the flouting of our laws.
Calling your opponent a "racist" because of a difference over policy is something the Left excels at, Linda. I am very disappointed in you for learning this tactic from them. If you want to call me a racist, then you join the likes of Al Sharpton. I hope you are comfortable with your new friends. By the way, a lot of them are not too fond of Latinos.
“I have always held Linda Chavez in high regard.”
Actually, she appeared on O’Reilly’s show a couple of months ago and said that, as a landlord herself, she would not ask for documents.
I can't understand why anyone would think she would be otherwise.
I had a difficult time figuring out which part of this was Chavez’s and which was Lifson—but once I figured it out, I, too, was surprised that Chavez would say something like this. Blood is thicker than water, I guess, and country be d*mned, but she’ll stick up for fellow Latinos.
Chavez is a moderate Republican but she has always advocated equal opportunity based on qualifications. For example, she is against minority preference in universities, etc.
I’ve read her columns for years and have always understood that she isn’t solidly to the right but this last column was a moment of truth about what she really believes.
Some sites that regularly carry her column didn’t carry the last one.
Virtually all of those who say “the illegals are here to do work that Americans won’t do” really mean “the illegals are here to do the work the blacks won’t do.”
A word to the wise for Bush, Chavez, Snow et. al. leave the race card alone before it rises up and bites you in the behind. Two can play that game.
Noted.
I was sickened.
Apparently the transformation didn't quite take.
I grew up in a Massachusetts mill city that experienced wave after wave of immigrants in its history.
The latest wave was always at the bottom of the pecking order - so what?
Assimilation was expected and encouraged and people actually waited in line to enter legally. Those resisting assimilation were actually mocked.
Chavez is whiningly trying to compare apples to oranges.
She should drop the hyphenization mentality.
Mexicans as Mexicans are just fine, be they within their own country, or here as tourists, or working under a legitimate program. Someone's parents may have come from Mexico, but they did it legitimately, and they raised their children to BE Americans.
But those who enter this country furtively, with an unknown agenda, willing to do desparate things for relatively little compensation, are preyed upon, and in turn, prey upon others. This leads them to a number of ethical dilemmas, which often ends up with them in some kind of detention.
These people do not deserve ANY track to citizenship. Not now, not ever.
For the record, I think Lou Dobbs is a nutjob and/or a panderer.
Be brave, just call him racist like Linda does.
I have had Latino friends my entire adult life.
Yeah - remember the jokes about those who said, "some of my best friends are black"?
FOR THOSE WITH SHORT MEMORIES:
Linda Chavez, former Secretary of Labor nominee, says adios to her nomination. Chavez did not disclose that several years earlier she had an illegal immigrant "living in her home doing occasional chores".
Yes, we can write Chavez off. Reminds me of Christians who are Bible-believing fundamentalists until one of their children turns out to be gay. They then work to change Church doctrine so their kids are nor “excluded”.
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! TILL YOU RUN OUT OF INK IN YOUR PEN!
Bombard the Democrats as well, especially the ones that ran on an anti immigration plank and the ones in marginal districts who could be vulnerable. keep pounding on them.
She lost me after voicing her support for the great Katrina cash give away. Expediting unemployment benefits to anyone old enough to work whether there was any record of them ever having held a job or not.
Yippie free money!!!
“...would not ask for documents” as a landlord. Thus turning against what she claims to be her own country in favor of what are really her own people, Mexicans. Some things never change.
The last column having been written after the rubber met the road, at least for her. I believe this is what is meant by the expression “true colors”.
Right on the money, sir.
Thanks, I was remembering that she had some employee issue, but could not recall the facts.
If we take both her article and this past issue into consideration, it would indicate that she wants to eliminate accountability for some individuals, but without any of the backlash for believing that the law only applies to some people, not all.
bump
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