December 19, 2007

You can't trust what Harold Meyerson says (immigration edition)

Harold Meyerson of the American Prospect offers a vile, illegal immigration-supporting smear piece called "Hard-liners for Jesus". Pretty much everything in it is bad, including comparing the GOP to the KKK. And, he misleads about the immigration stance of all the GOP candidates and the vast majority of GOP voters:

But it's on their policies concerning immigrants where Republicans -- candidates and voters alike -- really run afoul of biblical writ. Not on immigration as such but on the treatment of immigrants who are already here. [Biblical "stranger" references; those are answered here and here]

Yet the distinctive cry coming from the Republican base this year isn't simply to control the flow of immigrants across our borders but to punish the undocumented immigrants already here, children and parents alike.

Very few people want to actually punish illegal aliens. And, in fact, some such as Ruy Giuliani or Mike Huckabee are supporters of amnesty. The most that others support is attrition, which is designed not to punish illegal aliens but to reduce the jobs and benefits magnet so that many will go home and many fewer will try to come here.

And, supporting illegal immigration is not humanitarian in the least.

You can leave comments at the WaPo, or send him an email explaining why he's wrong to meyersonh *at* prospect.org

However, the better option in the long term is to go to appearances by those religious leaders who make the same "stranger" arguments, publicly point out how they're wrong using the last link, and then upload the exchange to video sharing sites. If we could completely discredit someone like Roger Mahony or Jim Wallis it would prevent people like Meyerson from making similar false arguments.

Posted to Immigration2007b at December 19, 2007 11:03 PM