I love Lou Dobbs. He's the uncontested king of the dead-pan cable chat show dis, and his show has become required viewing around my house. Did you catch Dobbs going off on one of his guests, open borders advocate and protest organizer Nativo Lopez, for using racial slurs on the show to make his point that the term "illegal aliens" is offensive to Latinos? Dobbs' face turned red, and though he continued smiling, he looked like he wanted to jump through the satellite feed and get-to bitch slapping...
To tell you the truth, the more I listen to pro amnesty voices like Lopez, with all the implications of entitlement to citizenship for those 11 million or more illegal migrants already in the U.S. and the seeming mentality of many of the protesters that, in the words of one, there is no southern border, just one, big "American continent," the more I understand why Dobbs spends night after night toiling away ont he "broken borders" issue, much like a broken record. (My question is, if we grant "earned amnesty" to these 11 million, won't we just have to do the same in another ten years or so for the 11 million who enter between now and then? And how many million is enough for the U.S. to absorb? Another 10? Another 20? Do open borders advocates forsee any limit at all...?)
Anyway, Dobbs' other target tonight was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had one of his staffers pen this Reagan grave-robbing, panderifical op-ed in Monday's Wall Street Journal ("shining city on a hill," Reagan, governor, blah blah blah). Here's Lou's response, complete with the now classid Dobbs "syllogism" (my bonus word for 2006): "we cannot reform immigration law and policy if we cannot control immigration. And we cannot control immigration if we cannot secure our borders and our ports." More Dobbs:
... Governor, were you talking about me when you said, "How ironic it is to hear some of the same voices who complain about the outsourcing of jobs also complain about the use of immigrant workers here in America"?
If so, be a man, Governor, use names. You know my name. And don't call illegal aliens "immigrants." You insult legal immigrants when you do.
You know as well as I do that I've never complained about "immigrant workers" in this country, only illegal aliens and illegal employers who break the law.
Just so we're clear about the connection between illegal labor in this country and the outsourcing of jobs to cheap foreign labor markets: Both are part of corporate America's drive to lower wages in this country for middle-class working men and women.
And when you talk about "the use of immigrant workers here in America," you sound more like one of those corporatists that dominate our political system right now than a leader of all of the people in your state.
You know, including the tens of millions of legal citizens that happen to live in California.
Oooh, Arnold, sounds like somebody just called you a "girlie man..."
And by the way, with all the arguments that seem to be edging closer and closer to accusing anyone who opposes unrestricted illegal migraiton and amnesty with anti-Latino racism, a new poll suggests that the million Azetlanista marches taking place across the country don't necessarily represent all Latino-Americans... (hat tip to AJ Strata, who has his own 10 point plan for curbing illegal immigration, some of which are interesting -- #s 1, 5, 6, 7 and 10 are keepers. 3 & 4 are maybes, and #2 definitely costs too much if you're talking about a bricks and mortar wall -- besides the fact that employer sanctions would probably work just as well, in conjunciton with some physical reinforcement of the biggest trouble spots. The rest, I'm not so sure...)
Elsewhere: here's just one piece of the Malkin chronicles (did I mention that it makes me physically ill when I agree with even some of what she says?) Upchucking now...
Claro que si! Meanwhile, Wizbang's Kim P has figured out the politics... Psst! Kim! Non-Cuban Hispanics already vote 70-30 Democrat! This isn't a change, it's una continuacion. And yep, Bush's Mexican voter magic is mostly a media fiction (holding my nose and linking) -- you know ... like John McCain's maverickdom...
Meanwhile, for my Sunday flashback: Mickey Kaus rounds up the press clips, including this fascinating clip:
Once you get past the Neutral Story Line** crap about the "web of suspicion" between "two parties bruised by years of partisan conflict," blah, blah, blah, the LAT's Ron Brownstein seems to rebut the spin of pro-legalization Republicans, which is that Senate Democrats don't want an immigration bill because they're eager to have Republicans tarred by their association with that unpopular, draconian Sensenbrenneresque House bill, etc. Instead, it seems the Senate Democrats are scared they might be asked to actually vote on a Sensenbrenneresque enforcement-only bill--and they're scared because the bill would be popular.
They're not the only ones. Anyone seen Bill Frist's anti-knee knock medication? The GOP is being pulled apart because the party's two halves are forcing it to choose between white middle class voters, and this attractive, shiny bauble called "future Hispanic voters," as if Mel Martinez can wave a magic wand and make all Latinos behave the way Cuban-Americans do. Well, amigos, no te puedes. Hispanics are natural Democrats, particularly if they come into the country poor or lower middle class. Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Colombians -- everyone except Cubans and possibly Venezuelans --all in South Florida btw, tend to side with the Dems. Legalize millions more, and you'll get millions more Democrats. And you'll piss off your core, white base. Don't legalize them, and you'll get millions more Democrats, because Hispanic Americans will read it as a sign that the GOP is as racist as they've heard from La Raza and other groups.
See how that works? Now, as I've said before, who is the genius who decided it was a good idea for the GOP to bring this up?
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
