Immigration

WaPo takes a look at the scandal-ridden Paul Babeu

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Babeu-ArpaioThe Washington Post just can’t quite bring itself to believe that Tea-Publican voters in Arizona’s CD 1 picked a scandal-ridden anti-immigrant demagogue, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu aka “Joe Jr.,” in Arizona’s GOP primary.

They must not be familiar with Arizona. You can be the devil himself as long as your hatin’ on brown people; that’s usually all it takes in a GOP primary. His own sisters told people not to vote for him. Now he’s a GOP congressional nominee.

[I]n a five-way primary Tuesday for the Phoenix-and Tucson-area congressional district, Republicans nominated a scandal-ridden conservative sheriff — a man so controversial, even two of his sisters had warned voters not to support him.

House Republican operatives say much of this is old news, and they congratulated Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu on his win Tuesday night. He’ll face former police officer Tom O’Halleran in a fight to replace Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, who’s challenging Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the Senate race. Nonpartisan handicappers at Cook Political Report say Arizona’s first district is a toss up.

Babeu’s campaign says that Babeu, who’s been a local sheriff in 2008, understands issues like immigration and environmental issues facing the district. And Republicans in the district have a history of winning over conservative Democratic Mormons in the area, so Babeu’s hard-line immigration position may actually help him here.

What’s more, in 2012, Babeu won his reelection to sheriff by more than 20 points after much of these bad headlines came out.

But it’s undeniable that Babeu brings a lot of baggage with him to this competitive congressional race. Like, a lot.

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Donald Trump returns to the birthplace of his anti-immigrant demagoguery

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The genesis of Donald Trump’s xenophobic anti-immigrant nativist and racist demagoguery began right here in Arizona more than a decade ago with Prop. 200 in 2004, the “Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act,” which required that voters be able to produce both identification and proof of citizenship prior to being allowed to vote in any election. The same requirements were also enacted for any person prior to receiving any state or locally funded benefits.

The Yes on 200 committee was led by Rusty Childress, a Phoenix-area car dealer, and supported at the national level by the anti-immigrant Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), whose legal arm is the Immigration Reform Law Institute, lead by the GOP’s voter suppression expert, Kris Kobach, who is now unbelievably Secretary of State of Kansas.

There is, of course, the virulently anti-immigrant Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who built his reputation on immigrant sweeps, when he was not abusing the power of his office by conducting witch hunts against his political opponents.

Then Rep. Russell Pearce “introduced what is now SB 1070 … every year between 2005 and 2009, before it finally passed and was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer” in 2010 (Pearce only introduced the bill, it was drafted by Kris Kobach as model legislation for ALEC). Pearce bragged in 2011, 1 battle in Arizona immigration war:

Arpaio1Prior to SB 1070, I introduced many other measures that addressed illegal immigration — and eventually became law. In 2004, 56 percent of Arizona voters approved Prop 200, which denies certain government benefits to illegal immigrants and prevents voter fraud.

Additional laws that punish human smugglers; deny illegal immigrants bail, and set up a statewide task force to deal with illegal immigrant gangs passed prior to SB 1070.

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WaPo: It’s not a ‘dog whistle’ if everyone can hear the bigotry

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pearl clutchThe patrician prevaricator for the Plutocracy, George Will’s mini-me Robert Robb at the Arizona Republic,  clutches his pearls and sniffs “how dare you point out that many Trump supporters are racists and bigots” — while in the same breath arguing that this will result in a Nixonian “cultural white backlash against political correctness.” Robb: Hillary Clinton overplays the race card.

This GOP apologist is pathetic. The Nixonian “cultural white backlash against political correctness” is the Trump campaign’s strategy, and is inherently racist. Donald Trump revives Richard Nixon’s 1968 playbook.

Maybe after Robb retires to his fainting couch for some smelling salts, he will take the time to read this Washington Post editorial which demonstrates just how pathetic his opinion is. Republicans can’t pretend not to know what fuels the Trump campaign:

It’s not a “dog whistle” if everyone can hear the bigotry.

Republicans supporting Mr. Trump, explicitly or tacitly, cannot reasonably claim that they do not know who he is and what he has been doing. [Lookin’ at you, Robert Robb.]

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An easily gullible media got head-faked by Trump on immigration ‘softening’

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shiny_objects_shirtYesterday I suggested that the media’s infatuation with Donald Trump’s “softening” of his immigration stance was just a head-fake of an easily gullible media. I was right.

As Jeb! Bush noted yesterday, “Well, I can only say that whatever his views are this morning, they might change this afternoon, and they were different than they were last night, and they’ll be different tomorrow.” Late yesterday, Trump, shifting back, now says no legal status for all 11 million illegal immigrants:

Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to shift back to some version of the hard-line immigration posture he adopted in the GOP primaries, telling CNN that he does not support a path to legal status for illegal immigrants unless they leave the country and return legally.

The comment added a new layer of confusion to the GOP presidential nominee’s position on one of his signature issues. This week, Trump and his aides have softened their rhetoric on immigration, signaling an openness to legalizing many of the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants despite Trump’s long-standing vow to deport them all.

Cartoon_62In a CNN interview that aired Thursday evening, Anderson Cooper asked Trump: “So if they haven’t committed a crime, is there going to be a path to legalization? I’m not talking about citizenship.”

Trump responded: “First thing we’re going to do. No is not a path — there is no path to legalization unless people leave the country. When they come back in, if they come back in, then they can start paying taxes, but there is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and come back.”

In seeming to shift back toward his original position, Trump acknowledged that he would not be able to easily and efficiently deport all 11 million people at once. Trump said that “bad dudes” would be deported as soon as he took office, a group he described as containing “probably millions.” He did not say what would happen to the remaining immigrants, but he did say “there is a very good chance” they would eventually be deported.

“It’s a process. You can’t take 11 at one time and just say: ‘Boom, you’re gone,'” Trump said.

For all the lazy media villagers who stenographically report whatever Donald Trump says without questioning what he is actually saying or having the political savvy to know when you are being played, you got played by writing all those “softening” reports over the past week. You should turn in your media credentials and seek more suitable employment.

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Trump betrays the nativists and racists of the Mass Deportation Party on immigration (or is it just a head-fake of an easily gullible media?)

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Far-right state Senator Kelli Ward, who is running against John McCain in the GOP primary for US.Senate, has Donald Trump’s money man, Robert Mercer, financing her KelliPAC TV ad asserting that McCain “betrayed us on amnesty” for undocumented immigrants by joining the “Gang of Eight” for immigration reform.

Nevertheless, “The Donald” was forced to  endorse John MCain for reelection.

This schizophrenia is now evident in “The Donald’s” alleged “softening” of his immigration stance.

Cartoon_62After spending the primary season highly critical of former Florida Governor Jeb! Bush’s immigration plan, insisting that he would round up all 11 million undocumented immigrants with a “deportation force” and build a “beautiful” wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, this week Trump adopted Jeb! Bush’s immigration plan. Trump’s nativist and racist supporters in the Mass Deportation Party must be apoplectic over his “betrayal on amnesty” for immigration reform.

Or are they? Do they understand that Trump is simply giving them a wink and a nod that he is “softening” his position on immigration to try to win a persuadable segment of the electorate only to win the election, but he will do exactly as they desire if he is actually elected president? Is this just a head-fake of an easily gullible media?

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