Outside the Beltway

US Capitol Rotunda
By Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0

Tennessee Congressman Demonstrates What’s Wrong With The GOP

Doug Mataconis
68

Comments

Ladies and gentlemen, Tennessee Republican Rep. Scott DesJarlais:

A young girl told Tennessee Republican Rep. Scott DesJarlais at a town hall last week that her father was an undocumented immigrant. The girl was asking what she can do so her father would not be forced to leave the country.

“I have a dad, and he’s undocumented, what can I do so that he can stay with me,” the young girl asks.

“Thank you for being here and thank you for coming forward and speaking this is a big intimidating crowd and appreciate you coming forward and asking your question but the answer still kinda remains the same. We have laws, and we need to follow those laws and ya know, that’s where we’re at,” the Congressman said to applause.

Here’s the video:

Seriously Congressman? This is how you address a child who’s afraid that she may never see her father again? And don’t even get me started about the crowd that cheered his response.

Categories

, ,

Tags

,

68 responses to “Tennessee Congressman Demonstrates What’s Wrong With The GOP”

  1. Mark Ivey Avatar
    Mark Ivey

    “but the answer still kinda remains the same.”

    Kinda or “Kinda” ?

  2. al-Ameda Avatar
    al-Ameda

    Within the Republican Party, in Tennessee and most likely across the nation, I imagine that Rep. DesJarlais’ response and attitude is probably shared by a wide majority of Republicans.

    It’s not an appealing picture, it is a relentlessly negative outlook.

  3. EdMigPer Avatar
    EdMigPer

    There are a lot of people in this country who don’t follow the law, or find ways AROUND the law, and are never prosecuted because they belong in the class that can get away with it.

    It’s called Wall Street.

    Perhaps Rep. Scott DesJarlais would like to remind those people of our laws.

  4. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    So if your child benefits from a parent breaking the law, the the law breaking is OK. Once again, progressives play the victim card when the real victim are the people waiting in line and following the law.

  5. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @al-Ameda:

    Are progressives really taking the POV that law breaking is perfectly acceptable if it beneifts progressives politicaly and it benefits the children of the law breakers (along with law breakers themselves). Would it be OK if conservatives cheated on their taxes if they used the money to fund private school tuition?

  6. Andre Kenji Avatar
    Andre Kenji

    @superdestroyer:

    Once again, progressives play the victim card when the real victim are the people waiting in line

    Which line?

  7. Rhymes With Right Avatar
    Rhymes With Right

    Would you have the same response to him giving a similar answer to this question?

    “I have a dad, and he robbed a bank, what can I do so that he can stay with me,” the young girl asks.

  8. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    This is the policy is it not? Not just of the GOP, but of the Obama administration and basically everyone else with any political power.

    It’s heartless and cruel in the individual case, but the alternative is open borders and no one is advocating that.

    The gleeful crowd is a bit on the disgusting side though. There’s a reason I don’t hang out with Republicans, and that’s it in a nutshell.

  9. Tyrell Avatar
    Tyrell

    He still did not answer her question, which is par for most politicians, exceptions noted below.
    Most Americans “support” immigration reform. There are many opinions on just what this means.
    For a long time, this was not an issue. Then back in the mid 2,000’s it started coming up. I remember some member of Congress proposed immigration “reform” laws that included making churches check backgrounds on members and anyone the church helped out. So that put pastors and Sunday school teachers in the position of doing the government’s job for them. We said no way, but it never came to be anyway. Our experience was that these were good people. All those years the government ignored and in some ways encouraged these people to come on over (Reagan) and now they want to back the train up ? No. Too late. If they go, who is going to cut everyone’s grass, build houses, and put on roofs for pay that is usually minimum wage or close to it ?
    Politicians who were straight shooters: Truman, Russell, Ervin, Mansfield, Dirksen, Stevenson.
    “Help me, information, get in touch with my Marie…try to put me through to her in Memphis, Tennessee” (J. Rivers, “Memphis”)

  10. Kathy Kattenburg Avatar
    Kathy Kattenburg

    @Rhymes With Right:

    No, because being in the country illegally is not the same as robbing a bank.

    Idiot.

    Doug, great post.

  11. al-Ameda Avatar
    al-Ameda

    @superdestroyer:

    Are progressives really taking the POV that law breaking is perfectly acceptable if it beneifts progressives politicaly and it benefits the children of the law breakers (along with law breakers themselves). Would it be OK if conservatives cheated on their taxes if they used the money to fund private school tuition?

    No, I’m taking the view that there are 12M illegals in this country and as a practical matter we cannot round-up and deport these people. I also notice that the GOP has apparently taken the position that a legal path to citizenship is NOT something they’re especially interested in. So I’m left with a clear picture of the current Republican Party as a nativist and insular party, and one that is afraid of the future, particularly if it includes non-white people.

  12. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @Gustopher:

    I wonder how progressives would have answered the girl. There are 100 million or more people who want to migrate to the U.S. How many of them should be kept out if every illegal immigrants with a sob story gets to stay?

  13. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @Kathy Kattenburg:

    so law breaking is OK as long as the impact is not too bad. Would it be OK if her father was just a shop lifter to feed his family. Would the law look the other way.

    I can’t wait for progressives to all support tax evasion because people want to spend more money on their children.

  14. al-Ameda Avatar
    al-Ameda

    @Tyrell:

    “Help me, information, get in touch with my Marie…try to put me through to her in Memphis, Tennessee” (J. Rivers, “Memphis”)

    Johnny Rivers covered Chuck Berry on that one – that was Chuck’s song. By the way, check out Lonnie Mack’s instrumental cover – it’s great.

  15. LaurenceB Avatar
    LaurenceB

    @superdestroyer
    Here’s how a “progressive” would reply:

    “Thank you for your question. I strongly support a law that would allow your father to stay in the United States as long as he pays a hefty fine for the immigration law he violated and follows a set of other stringent rules. I support this law because it a) respects the rule of law, b) resolves your difficult personal family situation, and most importantly, c) resolves a whole host of issues related to illegal immigration that currently plague our country.”

    Gee, that was easy!

  16. al-Ameda Avatar
    al-Ameda

    @superdestroyer:

    I can’t wait for progressives to all support tax evasion because people want to spend more money on their children.

    I can’t wait for more bad analogies like that one.

  17. LaurenceB Avatar
    LaurenceB

    @Kathy Kattenberg,
    No one is suggesting that we “look the other way”. Your entire argument is a red herring. The choices are 1) do nothing, or 2) assess a fine (among other punishments) and move on.

    And, incidentally, option #2 is exactly what we do to shoplifters and tax cheats, so your red herring argument actually buttresses the argument of those who endorse immigration reform.

  18. Jenos Idanian #13 Avatar
    Jenos Idanian #13

    Feelings uber alles.

    I wonder if Scooter Libby had his kids ready to make a plea on his behalf?

  19. Andre Kenji Avatar
    Andre Kenji

    His answer is as good as Michael Dukakis answering about someone raping his wife and the death penalty. And that´s the problem of this discussion: this is not about law or fines, it´s about “Mom”, “Daddy”, “Uncle”, “Granny”.

  20. Amos Jones Avatar
    Amos Jones

    @Kathy Kattenburg: You’re absolutely right. The reflexive “throw them in jail” mentality betrays it’s holder as a stupid person.

  21. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @superdestroyer: so law breaking is OK as long as the impact is not too bad…

    Yes. For you and most all commenters of every political stripe on this blog violating speeding laws suggestions is just fine ($100)!

  22. gVOR08 Avatar
    gVOR08

    Face it, as uncivil as it was – Tennessee Republican Rep. Scott DesJarlais gave the only answer he could, especially in that venue. The very gutsy young lady, her family, the rest of the country, and especially Doug (who apparently votes for people like this), should consider the implications of that fact.

  23. Liberal Capitalist Avatar
    Liberal Capitalist

    @al-Ameda:

    It’s not an appealing picture, it is a relentlessly negative outlook.

    Which, by the way, pretty well summarizes the GOP on most topics today.

    Unless you are from the deep south / southeast, the GOP is seriously going to have challenges in the next 4 years.

    After that, collapse.

    Doug… You may as well start a contest / bettering-pool on what the new party will be and what their name is.

    Based on Obama’s policies the Dems will be the new conservatives, and the greens will be the new liberal party. I’m in for $5. 🙂

  24. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    The Modern Republican Party of white peoples family values!

  25. rudderpedals Avatar
    rudderpedals

    His primary voters like this better than the congressman’s affair with a patient or his involvement coercing one of his wive’s into an abortion. Other than that and the immigration thing and the pro life stance and his stance on just about everything he’s a great guy.

  26. Stonetools Avatar
    Stonetools

    The GOP outreach to Hispanics is just as deft and humane as their outreach to gays. Well played, Congressman. The applause shows that he is doing exactly what the GOP base wants, so we can stop blaming the GOP politicians for being out of touch. On the contrary, they are exactly in touch with the folks who elected them.
    It’s why berating the GOP politicians for their misguided policies on immigration won’t work. It’s not the politicians that are at fault; it’s the BASE.

  27. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @LaurenceB:

    There are 100 million or more people who want to immigrate to the U.S. Would it be OK for all of them to come to the U.S. as long as pay a few thousand dollars, fill out some forms, and hire a lawyer?

    Once again, who would progressives keep out of the U.S. How do progressives expect to get their Nordic style entitlement system by importing millions of third world immigrants who will pay little if any income taxes and will but huge stresses of the current welfare and education systems.

    I wish progressives would decide whether they want to have open borders or a generous welfare system. No country in the world can maintain both.

  28. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @Stonetools:

    The only people who talk about outreach to Latinos are a few quota Latinos in the Republican party who get paid by the Repubilcans to pretend to conduct outreach. The bast majority of Republicans realize that Latinos are a lost cause because they are natural liberals (See out of wedlock birthrate, educational attainment, crime rate)

    I would like to know where the meme started that Republicans are working hard to get Latino votes. In reality, Republicans treat Latinos more like Blacks by districting them into overwhelmingly Latino districts and then no bothering to run anyone in those districts.

  29. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @Liberal Capitalist:

    There will not be a new party. Look at the current political situaitons in Maryland, Mass., Chicago, and now California. The U.S. will be a single party state where the Democratic Primary will function as the general election and there will be few, if any, competitive elections. The party insiders will decide who will be the establishment candidate and everyone else will just not run.

    A bigger question is what will happen will all of the former Republicans move over and start voting in the Democratic Party. Or will they just drop out of politics and find other ways to control their own lives.

  30. edmondo Avatar
    edmondo

    The Congressman should have answered her truthfully. When the woman said that he father was an undocumented alien, D should have responded, “Yes, we know. We’ve been listening to his phone calls.”

  31. bill Avatar
    bill

    so he should have just lied to her?

  32. Andre Kenji Avatar
    Andre Kenji

    @superdestroyer

    There are 100 million or more people who want to immigrate to the U.S.

    This number is bull. Most people that answered “yes” to this poll have no idea about how tough it is to live with a minimum wage or a low income in the US.

    : I wish progressives would decide whether they want to have open borders or a generous welfare system.

    The only things that could considered “generous welfare” in the US are Medicare(The only Public Healthcare system in the world with no considerable cost controls) and maybe Social Security benefits for Disabled People. Everything else is extremely modest when compared to other countries, even with countries in Latin America.

  33. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @Andre Kenji:

    then what is the correct number and please give a reference. And progressives want there to be a massive increase in the level of entitlement spending in the U.S. Of course, those same progressives never bother to explain how the U.S. can have open borders and a more generous social welfare system. If the U.S. wants to have single payer healthcare, they should locking down the border and deporting all illegal immigrants.

  34. Jenos Idanian #13 Avatar
    Jenos Idanian #13

    Our legal system already has a way to deal with sympathetic defendants. It’s called “mitigating circumstances.” But the argument here seems to be that if the law makes the right people feel bad, then it’s obviously wrong and should be ignored.

    Bullshit.

    Why don’t the people who disagree with the law and this family’s circumstances put forth what they want for a legal principle for handling immigration? Exemptions for illegal aliens who have suitably photogenic children? Who promise to vote Democratic?

    I dunno why I’m bothering to ask. Whatever pledges made to secure “comprehensive immigration reform” will have as limited a lifespan as an Obama promise…

  35. edmondo Avatar
    edmondo

    @bill:

    so he should have just lied to her?

    He’s a congressman, he’s probably very good at it.

  36. Al Avatar
    Al

    Wait. So when the government manipulating health insurance market it’s socialism but when it’s manipulating the labor market it’s the law?

  37. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @Al:

    Once again, a progressive who is arguing that citizens means nothing and that anyone who actually cares about their fellow citizens is a fool.

  38. JohnMcC Avatar
    JohnMcC

    @superdestroyer: My little friend the answer to that question is somewhat complicated; there are many different paths for people who wish to immigrate here. The most common is through a family connection with someone who is already legally here (and/or naturalized); for the year ’09, “of the 1.1 million new lawful permanent residents 47.7% were an immediate relative of a US citizen, 18.7% came through a family-sponsored preference and 12.7% entered through an employment-based preference. Another 15.7% adjusted from a refugee or asylee status and 4.2% were diversity lottery winners.”

    It is this ‘diversity award’ that I think most poorly-informed persons who harp on the ‘get in line and wait your turn’ line must be referencing.

    So if your question was ‘how many people apply to get in line?’ the answer is that in a lottery for a total of 55,000 green cards there were 12.1 million fully qualified applicants in ’09.

    That’s how stupid our immigration laws are. Frankly, I think those who decide that odds like that are impossible and who take matters into their own hands probably make better Americans than those who only wait and pray.

    Thanks to the website migrationinformation-dot-org.

  39. An Interested Party Avatar
    An Interested Party

    Hmm…if this Congressman and the audience are both any indication of how most Republicans feel, than Superdestroyer’s warped logic will actually have some basis in reality, as the attitude expressed by these people will guarantee a Democratic president in 2016…

  40. Andre Kenji Avatar
    Andre Kenji

    @superdestroyer:

    then what is the correct number and please give a reference.

    There is no correct number, because asking foreigners if they want to immigrate to the US is akin to asking children about what they want to do when they grow up. Many children says that they want to become doctors when they grow up because they have no idea that doctors have to study for years and years, have to dissect dead people and have to face endless routines on hospitals.

    Many people thinks that Glee and Friends are a accurate portrait of living in the US, and they have no idea about living without health insurance and with minimum wage.

    And progressives want there to be a massive increase in the level of entitlement spending in the U.S

    More or less. There are many US Progressives that are obsessed with Europe, but in practical terms there is relatively little support for large wealth transfers – Fox News´ Megyn Kelly is one of the only prominent figure to defend *paid maternity leave*. Even paid mandatory vacations is something that is proposed by very few people.

  41. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @JohnMcC:

    So out of the 12 million plus, how many would the Democrats not allow to immigrant if there were no Republican Party. My guess is close to all of them. The Democrats are open about wanting to change the demographics of the U.S. because the leadership of the Democratic Party see themselves as the patron class of the future America.

  42. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @An Interested Party:

    So are you arguing that the correction position of the government should be that everyone who makes it across the border should be allowed to stay, qualify for a full list of entitlements, and eventually become a citizen and sponsor all of their relatives to come to the U.S.

    Why do so many progressives hate their fellow Americans so much that they want to replace them with third world immigrants? What do so many progressives hate speaking English so much that they want to replace it with Spanish/Chinese etc?

  43. michael reynolds Avatar
    michael reynolds

    As a progressive, here’s my immigration policy:

    1) We have a perfect right to control our borders.

    2) We have a perfect right to select who will and will not get into the country.

    3) We have a perfect right to base our policy on what we feel is most useful to the American people.

    4) None of the above entitles us to treat our fellow man with unnecessary harshness. Policy positions do not exempt us from our moral obligation to act compassionately.

    5) None of the above excuses a Congressman being an unfeeling dick in front of an audience of aszholes.

    6) None of the above excuses little rodents who infest the comments sections of blogs using immigration policy discussions as a forum for pushing racist views.

    This is a complicated problem requiring us to balance humanity and self-interest — as does virtually every political issue. No rational person would suggest that we can make everyone happy or reach a perfect conclusion. But we should do our best to balance the needs of our people with basic decency, and we should in all cases reject the scum whose only interest in the matter is to advance an agenda of hate.

    In case there’s the slightest doubt, yeah, that’s you little superD.

  44. ernieyeball Avatar
    ernieyeball

    @JohnMcC:..and who take matters into their own hands probably make better Americans than those who only wait and pray.

    Waiting might work. Praying will not. As we all know, God is a Republican.

  45. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    By focusing our enforcement efforts on the workers, rather than those who hire them, we’ve created a disposable underclass, unprotected by laws. This is wrong, This is unconscionable. This is genuinely evil.

    When Republicans say they want to tighten the borders, and increase penalties on illegal immigrants, I can only assume that they like the current situation.

  46. Neil Hudelson Avatar
    Neil Hudelson

    @superdestroyer:

    Actually, yeah. I have no problem with jay-walking. I have a big problem with drunk driving. Both are against the law. One’s pretty much OK.

    Any other obvious questions?

  47. Naive Avatar
    Naive

    The Democrats used a little girl as a prop and made her memorize lines for an orchestrated gotcha moment to tug on heart strings. And you’re indignant at the Republican Congressman’s response to a piece of theater? Interesting.

    And in the event it is not a sham act, then why wouldn’t the father take his daughter and her mother back to his home country when he gets deported? Doesn’t he love her?

  48. de stijl Avatar
    de stijl

    One of the tells for identifying an authoritarian is that members of the outgroup must – at the minimum – be shunned and publicly shamed.

    When one goes further down this path the punishment (there’s always punishment involved) can ramp up to sometimes truly monstrously ugly levels.

    I applaud DesJarlais for remaining at the lowest level of authoritarian outgroup shunning. Good job, pal.

    The id of the Republican base needs to be watched and kept in check. Left unchecked, the unruly base is pushing the establishment into really sketchy areas that advanced democracies best avoid.

    In my lifetime we’ve gone from Eisenhower to Steve King. I’d really like to see us return to a time where I’m not slightly scared of what one of the major US political parties would do if they could.

  49. Tony W Avatar
    Tony W

    @superdestroyer:

    how many would the Democrats not allow to immigrant if there were no Republican Party

    Not as many as you think. Much of the support for generous immigration quotas comes from the meatpacking, farm labor and various ‘Murica-first “small business” saviors-of-the-world who wish to drive down their labor costs.

  50. Andre Kenji Avatar
    Andre Kenji

    @Naive:

    And in the event it is not a sham act, then why wouldn’t the father take his daughter and her mother back to his home country when he gets deported?

    Because the little girl is a US citizen that probably does not speak una palabra in Spanish?

  51. al-Ameda Avatar
    al-Ameda

    And in the event it is not a sham act, then why wouldn’t the father take his daughter and her mother back to his home country when he gets deported? Doesn’t he love her?

    The Republican Party is becoming more and more insular and nativist by the minute.

    About all I can say is, thank you for your contribution to the efforts to elect a Democratic president in 2016.

  52. Moderate Mom Avatar
    Moderate Mom

    @Andre Kenji: The one that people waiting to immigrate legally stand in, most of them for years. The line that Grace, our friend and business associate from Taiwan, has been standing in for over fifteen years now. That line, the one that moves very slowly for those that play by the rules.

  53. Andre Kenji Avatar
    Andre Kenji

    @Moderate Mom: There are not so many people willing to wait fifteen years to emigrate to the US. I would not, and such “line” and nothing are the same thing.

  54. HarvardLaw92 Avatar
    HarvardLaw92

    Has anybody stopped to consider the economic effects of deporting 12 million consumers?

  55. merl Avatar
    merl

    @Andre Kenji: the line to “just pull facts out of your ass”.

  56. David M Avatar
    David M

    @Moderate Mom:

    Pretty sure the fact that such a line exists is proof the system is broken and needs a pretty significant reform.

  57. Moderate Mom Avatar
    Moderate Mom

    Yes, it does. But failing to enforce our present immigration laws (and I agree that we should revise and reform them) doesn’t help anyone that has been patiently waiting for years to come here legally. Our friend is a successful business woman, owns or has an interest in a number of American businesses, and has family here. She wouldn’t cost the taxpayers a dime. Instead, she would contribute a lot of money to the US Treasury in the form of income taxes.

    So explain to me why is is better to let Carlos, the law breaker, stay here and have a pathway to citizenship instead of granting that spot to Grace, the woman who is presently supplying a number of American jobs through her business interests?

  58. al-Ameda Avatar
    al-Ameda

    We keep recycling the same discussion on illegal immigration, and to hear it you’d think this was 10-15 years ago, and that illegals were streaming across the borders in unprecedented numbers, uncontrolled.

    The fact is we’re at a net-zero immigration point right now, and border enforcement is at its strongest point in over 3 decades, and this administration has deported more illegal immigrants than any administration in our history. Can’t we acknowledge these obvious facts and move past our irrational preoccupation with wasting billions on border fencing and enforcement?

    The current compromise bill (Senate) that The House apparently rejects, proposes to provide an extremely onerous path to citizenship – 13 years and pay fines (why they didn’t propose indentured servitude and sharecropping, escapes me).

  59. JohnMcC Avatar
    JohnMcC

    @Moderate Mom: “Explain to me why it is better to let Carlos the law breaker stay here and have a pathway to citizenship instead of granting that spot to Grace, the woman who is presently supplying a number of American jobs through her business interests.”

    Well, of course it is not ‘better’, Mom. No one has said it is better nor will they. It’s a terrible, terrible law. Unfortunately, it is the law we have. It is based on a long history of chosing one country over another, of lobbying groups and of quotas erected on naked prejudice and then over-compensating the opposite way.

    Why can a Cuban ex-convict become ‘legal’ by the simple act of setting foot on dry American soil whereas a Columbian without papers can be deported when he has been a respectable and otherwise law abiding resident of the US for decades? No good reason except the historical circumstances of the law.

    As long as we are absorbed in questions of BORDER SECURITY! and as long as we imagine that the only “problem” we have with immigration reform involves our southern border and Spanish-speaking people, we will let all those stupidities and injustices continue.

  60. michael reynolds Avatar
    michael reynolds

    @al-Ameda:

    The fact is we’re at a net-zero immigration point right now, and border enforcement is at its strongest point in over 3 decades, and this administration has deported more illegal immigrants than any administration in our history. Can’t we acknowledge these obvious facts…

    To the GOP facts don’t matter on immigration, just as the falling deficit doesn’t matter, just as the facts of Obama’s birth don’t matter, or facts about falling crime rates, or facts about guns, or about gays, or about evolution or global warming, or facts about the real estate recovery or the falling trade deficit or the stability of the dollar, or the rise of the stock market, or the survival and thriving of GM, or the decline in health care costs or the savings available right now through Obamacare exchanges.

    The GOP is post-factual. They’ll make up their own facts. Only the “facts” they themselves invent are real to them. These are emotional needs, not intellectual ones. They cannot be falsified with mere data. A party that has been taken over by religious fanatics and conspiracy nuts is utterly impervious to facts.

    They will cling to their hatred because of core emotional truths: there’s a ni**er in the White House and the white, male power structure is being inexorably displaced by blacks, Latinos, gays, women, the young, the educated.

    If you want to understand character you look at a man’s fears and his hopes. They have nothing but fear now. And it’s justified to a point. It’s true that they are shuffling toward the ash heap of history.

  61. Andre Kenji Avatar
    Andre Kenji

    @Moderate Mom:

    So explain to me why is is better to let Carlos, the law breaker, stay here and have a pathway to citizenship instead of granting that spot to Grace, the woman who is presently supplying a number of American jobs through her business interests?

    Because that´s the problem: for most people, “waiting on the line” is not an option. They either immigrate elsewhere, or they go illegally. And middle class people are not the kind of people that immigrates illegally. I

    If your business associate can´t emigrate that just shows that there is no line. At least, no line worth waiting for.,

  62. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @michael reynolds:

    MR,

    But every policy position you support comes from the position that everyone who sneaks into the U.S. can stay and their children will not only be able for a full menu of entitlement in addition quotas, affirmative action, and set asides. If 100 million people snuck into the U.S. and had children, would you support deporting any one them. How many illegal aliens can the U.S tolerate. Do you really support the idea unlimited immigration should continue until the quality of life in the U.S. matches that of the third world along the state of the environment and the state of the healthcare, education, and social welfare system.

    What is amazing is how progressives are willing to throw American citizens under the bus just to keep an illegal aliens from calling them a racist.

  63. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @Gustopher:

    How can the political party that says that Americans are too lazy and too stupid to go get a government picture ID support the idea of stricter employer enforcement. Any employer that tried to follow the law to the letter would be immediately accused of profiling and would come under attack of the Justice Department.

  64. superdestroyer Avatar
    superdestroyer

    @HarvardLaw92:

    Has any progressive thought about the economic and social impact of open borders and unlimited immigration. If enforcing immigration laws is racist and cannot be tolerated, then the policy of the government will be open borders. What will that do the quality of life in the U.S.

    I suspect that open borders would lower the quality of life to the point that it would be no different than living in Mexico, the Philippines, or Nigeria and thus the immigration would stop.

  65. michael reynolds Avatar
    michael reynolds

    @superdestroyer:

    Nothing you said is true.

    But every policy position you support comes from the position that everyone who sneaks into the U.S. can stay and their children will not only be able for a full menu of entitlement in addition quotas, affirmative action, and set asides.

    I don’t even know what your first phrase refers to. I support abortion, how does that relate? I support a strong defense. How does that relate? You’re debating a straw man.

    The rest of it is simply right wing cant. There are no quotas, entitlements in this country are minimal, and what the undocumented receive, they pay for, usually overpay for since they are kicking into SS and getting nothing back out.

    If 100 million people snuck into the U.S. and had children, would you support deporting any one them. How many illegal aliens can the U.S tolerate. Do you really support the idea unlimited immigration should continue until the quality of life in the U.S. matches that of the third world along the state of the environment and the state of the healthcare, education, and social welfare system.

    So, what I wrote was: 1) We have a perfect right to control our borders. 2) We have a perfect right to select who will and will not get into the country. But since that’s not what you want to believe I said, you substitute what you wish I had said, because all you can do is repeat programmed talking points. This requires you to have a foil who will spout only the lines you wish him to spout. And when your opponent fails to comply, you simply lie. This goes to the utter rigidity of your mind.

    What is amazing is how progressives are willing to throw American citizens under the bus just to keep an illegal aliens from calling them a racist.

    Again, totally unrelated to what I actually wrote. So once more, you debate the person you wish you had before you, some right-wing cartoon liberal, rather than try to cope with the unexpected.

    You are a classic case of intellectual self-mutilation. You’re not stupid in the sense of lacking an average to above average IQ. You make yourself stupid. You castrate yourself intellectually by adopting imbecilic positions, which is why you never win a point. It’s not just that most of us here are smarter than you are, it’s that you take what you have and diminish it further.

    I don’t understand why people like you do that. Presumably something went wrong in your childhood or you fell under the sway of someone who impressed you and twisted you intellectually. Who knows? But whatever the excuse or explanation, I don’t know why someone like you cannot free themselves. Yes, your little head is encased in concrete, but you could chip it away if you tried a little harder, if you decided to care about the truth at least a little.

  66. Barry Avatar
    Barry

    @Rhymes With Right: “Would you have the same response to him giving a similar answer to this question?

    “I have a dad, and he robbed a bank, what can I do so that he can stay with me,” the young girl asks. ”

    This Rep (and all Republicans, and you) support that when it’s a Wall Streeter.

  67. fred Avatar
    fred

    GOP and TP supporters in most southern states are just plain uncaring and hateful individuals who will cheer for any red meat info given to them. They are followers who would follow so called leaders off a cliff…remember Jones Town? Remember how they booed a military member serving our country in a foreign nation and now they have scared a little 11 yr old girl for the rest of her life by cheering against her in a public setting. How any sane person supports this party anywhere in the country, even the south, is beyond me.

  68. Barry Avatar
    Barry

    @Jenos Idanian #13: “I wonder if Scooter Libby had his kids ready to make a plea on his behalf?”

    He had Cheney, which was better.

Latest Posts