May 04, 2008

Frank Sharry leaves my questions unanswered, confirms MSM bias (FireDogLake forum)

Massive immigration supporter Frank Sharry - formerly of the National Immigration Forum and now with America's Voice - stopped by FireDogLake earlier today for a chat with their readers: firedoglake.com/2008/05/04/fdl-welcomes-frank-sharry-of-americas-voice

While he answered questions from others, he failed to answer a few I posed despite the fact that few others asked him anything and he had over 20 minutes to think up a good response; more below.

He also gave what will hopefully turn out to be spectacularly bad advice:

On the one hand, I do think it will matter hugely if progressive forces -- if labor, and immigrant advocates, and Latinos, and African Americans, -- if we close ranks, and Democrats get on offense [against "nativist sentiment"], that's going to matter hugely. ...the way to deal with the right-wing echo chamber is to marginalize them through a combination of political power and winning the argument over who has the better solution... We increasingly are and will take them on. There's an anti-hate approach that's part of the strategy. But from my point of view, the real key is to have the netroots take this on as an issue. I think we pretty much have the upper hand in the mainstream print press. And I think eventually we want to make cartoon figures out of TV talkers like who are cartoon characters.

There really isn't much of an argument in favor of massive and/or illegal immigration; the only way some make that argument is through being misleading in one way or another. And, many bloggers do post in support of illegal immigration, then get comments on those threads pointing out how they're wrong. While some new voices might join in, they'll soon leave as they see their credibility fall. And, it's good to see that Sharry at least partially agrees with me on the biases of the "print press".

Here's the comment I left, in case Sharry drops by and wants to leave a comment or something. Comments can be left 24/7, no waiting. Alternatively, those who attend his public appearances should try to ask him these or the many other questions he should answer (links added):

1. Approximately how much did your former group (the NIF) obtain from companies that profit from illegal immigration? I know they got at least $40,000 from Western Union, a company that illegal aliens use to send money to their home countries. Can you give us a ballpark figure on any other money received from other companies that profit from illegal immigration?

2. Would you agree that illegal immigration is an indicator of government corruption, and that anyone who supports illegal immigration through things like discouraging enforcement of our laws is supporting government corruption?

3. The ACLU is working directly with the Mexican government, and other non-profits have direct or indirect links as well. And, Calderon recently stated that they’re going to be using U.S. non-profits to push their agenda inside the U.S. Will you denounce such meddling in our internal politics?

Posted to Immigration2008a at May 4, 2008 03:21 PM