The real immigration story
The drama in Arizona belies the real action on the immigration front. The Obama administration is deporting record numbers of illegal aliens and going after employers of them with unprecedented vigor. This is
Tags: Arizona, immigration, Latinos, Obama
Liberals: Stop waving fingers at right-wing gargoyles
I have a dear conservative friend with whom I have lively conversations. He’s well-read (informed) and listens to others. But every now and then, I get a call from him in which his voice is raised to a near-hysterical pitch, and I can hear Fox News droning in the background. I give him my ground rule: Never call me until Fox has been turned off for at least 30 minutes.
Now, I can understand Dana Milbank’s concern that the gargoyles of the right are sending their paranoids off on violent rampages. But that column, following E.J. Dionne’s on the smearing of Shirley Sherrod, points to an unfortunate trend in which some liberal pundits seem to be regarding the right-wing hustlers as serious news people. (Dionne does makes excellent points on the “respectable media’s” timidity in handling the lies.)
I occasionally watch Fox to check in on the carnival but never worry excessively about its power. Sure it attracts many gawkers. So do car wrecks. Recall that Fox was in full flower in November 2008, when the American people elected a Democratic House, Democratic Senate and Democratic president.
As for the Sherrod case, I don’t blame Andrew Breitbart. He is what he is — a publicity hound dishing right-wing fantasy for money and fame. Discussing his “journalistic standards” is ludicrous.
Waving fingers at Glenn Beck and his like is pointless. Organizing a boycott of their advertisers would be a far more effective approach. Note what happened to Don Imus when he shot his mouth off in a beyond-the-pale way.
Blame for the Sherrod scandal belongs strictly on the shoulders of the Obama administration. That its smart boys bought into that propaganda without triple-checking the facts is what scares me.
BTW, if some nutbag goes off and kills a bunch of people on the basis of a report on Fox, that’s going to be very bad politically for the right wing. Americans, whatever their politics, are generally decent people.
Tags: conservatives, liberals, media, politics
Obama, fix immigration, not Arizona
The tough Arizona immigration law reflects public frustration with illegal immigration. Going after Arizona may play well among some Hispanic voters, but it is a dangerous political strategy.
OBAMA SHOULD LEAVE ARIZONA ALONE
Tags: Arizona, immigration, Latinos, Obama, politics
