The following is from the Washington Post yesterday. It's a little blurb, like a rain drop falling from a sick cloud. I'm sad to say there are too many raindrops of this ilk poisoning the minds of good people. This is about one cheap politician, being a politically correct racist.
The immigration policy in this country is unbalanced and racist. If a Cuban person can make it to the beach they are welcome. If a Haitian lands alive on our shore.... The rule seems to be, if you are black, you go back.
It's wrong to judge a group of people by the country they happened to be born in, the color of their skin, the shape of their eyes, or by what name they use to call God.
JITTERY Republicans, whose grip on state politics has been weakening steadily for several years, are facing further setbacks in this fall's elections for the General Assembly, possibly including the end of GOP control of the Senate for the first time in nearly a decade.
HELLO!
In their desperation for a vote-getter, they have seized on the whipping boy of illegal immigration, which they blame for ills ranging from the erosion of values to the difficulty of being admitted to state colleges.
William J. Howell, the Republican speaker of the House of Delegates, from the Great State of Virigina, worried aloud the other day about the presence of so many newcomers in the Old Dominion. Mr. Howell said that the state's newest residents, particularly in Northern Virginia, may not embrace "the shared values we have in Virginia." He didn't specify which "shared values" he had in mind, nor did he draw a distinction between legal and illegal newcomers.
A week earlier, he unveiled the GOP's immigrant-bashing agenda for the legislative session that will begin in January. Among other measures, it would bar publicly funded colleges and universities from accepting undocumented aliens -- even those who have graduated from state elementary, middle and high schools. To Mr. Howell and his cohorts, it is a mere detail that most public colleges already deny entrance to such immigrants. In fact, the Republicans could not cite a single example of an illegal immigrant gaining access to public institutions of higher learning.
No matter. The Republicans' point here is to stick it to the culturally distinct "other" by hook or by crook, even to the point of suggesting -- again without proof -- that some of the 36 percent of applicants rejected by four-year public colleges in the state had been denied a place because of the supposed tide of illegals also seeking higher education.
It's an ugly strategy It seeks to distract voters from core state issues such as transportation, fiscal prudence and good governance. But bigotry-mongering's day is long past, and voters have shown little disposition to reward candidates who extol intolerance. If Mr. Howell's "shared values" turn out to be mostly about immigrant-bashing, the GOP strategy is unlikely to rescue the party's electoral prospects.
The immigration policy in this country is unbalanced and racist. If a Cuban person can make it to the beach they are welcome. If a Haitian lands alive on our shore.... The rule seems to be, if you are black, you go back.
It's wrong to judge a group of people by the country they happened to be born in, the color of their skin, the shape of their eyes, or by what name they use to call God.
JITTERY Republicans, whose grip on state politics has been weakening steadily for several years, are facing further setbacks in this fall's elections for the General Assembly, possibly including the end of GOP control of the Senate for the first time in nearly a decade.
HELLO!
In their desperation for a vote-getter, they have seized on the whipping boy of illegal immigration, which they blame for ills ranging from the erosion of values to the difficulty of being admitted to state colleges.
William J. Howell, the Republican speaker of the House of Delegates, from the Great State of Virigina, worried aloud the other day about the presence of so many newcomers in the Old Dominion. Mr. Howell said that the state's newest residents, particularly in Northern Virginia, may not embrace "the shared values we have in Virginia." He didn't specify which "shared values" he had in mind, nor did he draw a distinction between legal and illegal newcomers.
A week earlier, he unveiled the GOP's immigrant-bashing agenda for the legislative session that will begin in January. Among other measures, it would bar publicly funded colleges and universities from accepting undocumented aliens -- even those who have graduated from state elementary, middle and high schools. To Mr. Howell and his cohorts, it is a mere detail that most public colleges already deny entrance to such immigrants. In fact, the Republicans could not cite a single example of an illegal immigrant gaining access to public institutions of higher learning.
No matter. The Republicans' point here is to stick it to the culturally distinct "other" by hook or by crook, even to the point of suggesting -- again without proof -- that some of the 36 percent of applicants rejected by four-year public colleges in the state had been denied a place because of the supposed tide of illegals also seeking higher education.
It's an ugly strategy It seeks to distract voters from core state issues such as transportation, fiscal prudence and good governance. But bigotry-mongering's day is long past, and voters have shown little disposition to reward candidates who extol intolerance. If Mr. Howell's "shared values" turn out to be mostly about immigrant-bashing, the GOP strategy is unlikely to rescue the party's electoral prospects.
Labels: Immigrant Bashing
posted by Gem_with_faraway_eyes | 9:15 AM
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