October 29, 2006

Tim Dickinson/Rolling Stone's misleading, pro-illegal immigration propaganda

Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone offers his list of the 10 worst Congressmen. As you might expect from that publication, it's biased (9 of 10 are Republicans) and their complaints consist mainly of lightweight analysis and smears. Let's take a look at their entry on Rep. Tom Tancredo. It includes a great deal of name-calling, and it starts with a quote from the Council for Conservative Citizens supporting him; the reader will note that the recommendation is not reciprocated and this is thus the logical fallacy of Guilt by Association. (RS readers: did Dickinson not know this argument was fallacious, or did he think that you wouldn't know it was fallacious?)

Then:

Elected to the House in 1998, Tancredo has not only led the fight to deport every undocumented worker in America -- a proposal that would cost at least $200 billion -- but has called for halting all immigration, legal and otherwise. In one unforgettable move, Tancredo wanted to deport the family of an undocumented high school boy who was profiled in The Denver Post for his perfect grades.

* Tancredo doesn't support the mass deportations that Wilkinson implies that he supports; he support attrition through enforcing our laws.

* The $200 billion figure refers to the Center for American Progress study "Deporting the Undocumented". That study uses a highly-flawed methodology described at the link.

* The word "halting" might be misleading; Tancredo has called for a moratorium, not a permanent end to all immigration.

* And, there's much more to the last sentence than Wilkinson lets on; for instance, the Denver Post collaborated with the Mexican government to run a profile of said high school student.

Rolling Stone readers are encouraged to get their news from a more accurate source.

Posted to Immigration_piipps at October 29, 2006 12:52 PM

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