Andrew Breitbart mostly caves to Jorge Ramos, supports immigration "reform" (+Ramos lies)

[SEE UPDATES BELOW]

Andrew Breitbart appeared on the Univision show Al Punto earlier today and among other things supported some form of immigration "reform" (aka amnesty) and didn't call out the show's host Jorge Ramos for what he supports (see that link). On the plus side, Breitbart did stick up for some form of at least language assimilation, did oppose "the cultural Marxist ideas of separating people into different racial groups", and did speak out against the recent USA-Mexico soccer match. As discussed at that link, Ramos contended that most people in California were on Mexico's side in that match; Breitbart didn't discuss that Ramos claim with him. Ramos also outrageously lied; see #5 below.

Those in the tea parties orbit might think that Breitbart would help hold the line against those who are in effect foreign agents like Ramos, but he's obviously not up to the task.

The transcript (sans the part about Anthony Weiner) is included below (via this).

1. "Tito the Builder" was a John McCain campaign prop similar to Joe the Plumber.

2. I don't know where Breitbart has been, but the GOP has constantly engaged in "outreach" to Hispanics. George W Bush even waved Mexico's flag while spouting reconquista sentiments in a campaign video and went full quisling by pledging to push amnesty to the Mexican government. Almost all GOP leaders don't go that far, but are certainly on the same side as Bush. If Breitbart is looking for "cultural Marxists" who divide people into groups, he can start with the current and former leaders of the GOP, as well as the leaders of the tea party movement.

3. Breitbart says "I happen to believe in immigration reform" and makes clear that it would involve some form of amnesty. Ramos doesn't really press the point to find out what that would involve, but note that Breitbart doesn't support attrition. See comprehensive immigration reform for some of the many downsides of "reform". One of those downsides is that it would give a great deal more power to the far-left, the Democratic Party, and even the Mexican government (which already has a great deal of political power inside the U.S.)

4. Regarding the debate over birthright citizenship, Breitbart either thinks a change to the Constitution would be required, or doesn't understand the debate; it's not clear which it is. But, the issue is how the 14th Amendment has been interpreted, which would seem to be something that the US Supreme Court could resolve on its own (an Arizona bill was designed to force such a decision: link).

5. In the interview, Ramos outrageously lies about a Big Peace article (link). That article is idiotic, but Ramos' contention that it says that "that children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants are terror babies" is false. The article only refers to the 'special category has been rightfully dubbed "Terror Babies"', referring to the supposed practice of terrorism-sympathizers to engage in birth tourism. The article isn't referring to all children of illegal aliens as Ramos states.

UPDATE: On Twitter, Breitbart objected to this post and blocked me (something I thought he'd done long ago). He says it's a lie that he supports amnesty, but that depends on how you define that word; see reform not amnesty. His quote "I happen to believe in immigration reform but I don't believe that that means that every person who has come into this country should be able to stay" implies that he does support some form of legalization. I tried to find out exactly what that would consist of, but he blocked me first. @THESHARKTANK1 says he's going to find out and if he does I'll post that.

And, it should be noted that I've gone far, far easier on Breitbart than I have on others in his general circle; see Glenn Reynolds, Koch family, FreedomWorks, libertarians, and especially tea parties. See also National Council of La Raza, American Civil Liberties Union, Luis Gutierrez, and hundreds of other posts here. The goal of this post wasn't so much to discredit Breitbart as to encourage those in his circle to do things better.

UPDATE 2: The title of this post originally said Ramos was a foreign citizen, and that was based on what he'd said in 2004. However, according to an interview from a year ago, he became a citizen in 2008. I removed that from the title and the URL.

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The transcript:

...JR: YOU'RE ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNIZED FACES WITHIN THE TEA PARTY. IS THERE A CONCERTED EFFORT BY THE TEA PARTY TO TRY TO REACH THE HISPANIC VOTERS?

AB: I don't know if there's a concerted effort. It's such an amorphous group, it's a grassroots effort and there's no, there's not enough central organization but I am a member of the Tea Party. I am a defender of the Tea Party. I would say that one of the greatest voices in the Tea Party is a guy by the name of Tito Munoz. He goes by the name of “Tito the builder,” and he is such a strong advocate of why it's so great to be an American, and in Florida we have a person by the name of Senator Marco Rubio who could not be more popular. In fact, he would not have been elected to the Senate if there wasn't a Tea Party and so I consider a privilege to come on Univision to talk about the Tea Party to say that in America we need members of the Latino community to come to the Tea Party movement and enrich the Tea Party.

JR: BUT SO FAR, AS YOU KNOW, SEVEN OUT OF 10 LATINOS TEND TO VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOT FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NOT EVEN FOR THE TEA PARTY, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH THE REPUBLICANS IN TRYING TO REACH THE HISPANIC VOTERS? WHY ARE YOU NOT SUCCEEDING?

AB: Well, because the Republican Party are filled with cowards they're afraid to reach out to the Hispanic community, they're afraid to reach out to the black community. Because the Democratic Party has formed a perfect union with the mainstream media to scare Republicans, to say that they'regonna be called racists or sexists or homophobic if they reach out to minorities.

JR: BUT, DON'T YOU THINK THAT PART OF THE REASON WHY MANY LATINOS ARE NOT VOTING FOR EITHER THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OR THE TEA PARTY ITS BECAUSE THEY DO NOT SUPPORT IMMIGRATION REFORM? WHAT WOULD YOU DO, FOR INSTANCE, WITH THE 12 MILLION UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS IN THIS COUNTRY? WHAT'S YOUR PLAN?

AB: I happen to believe in immigration reform but I don't believe that that means that every person who has come into this country should be able to stay. There are too many people that I know who have tried to come in the other way for 10 years and can't get in there. I have friends who are Latinos who believe in that as well. So I don't want to be pitted as a person who is anti-Latino or anti-Hispanic because I believe in the laws. What I do know about Mexico...

JR: BUT WHAT WOULD YOU DO...

AB: It is...Let me...

JR: BECAUSE PROBABLY THAT'S THE QUESTION...

AB: What I do know about Mexico...

JR: WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH THE UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS BECAUSE I THINK THAT'S THE MAIN QUESTION.

AB: We have to figure...

JR: THERE ARE 11 OR 12 MILLION UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS.

AB: Yeah, I would say that there are probably more, than that in the United States. This has been a huge problem for a very long period of time that we have, that Mexico's economy and Mexico's socialist orientation makes it so that people want to come to the United States in such numbers. I wish that we could figure out a way to do this in a legal fashion because I believe in the Latino culture.

JR: LET ME ASK YOU ABOUT THE 14TH AMMENDMENT. AS YOU KNOW THERE ARE MANY REPUBLICANS. MANY PEOPLE IN THE TEA PARTY WHO SUPPORT CHANGING THE 14TH AMMENDMENT'S SO, MANY CHILDREN OF UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS WOULD NOT AUTOMATICALLY BECOME U.S. CITIZENS, WHAT'S YOUR TAKE ON THIS?

AB: I am a constitutionalist. I believe in the constitution. I don't believe in altering the constitution. I'm not up for changing the 10th amendment or the 14th amendment, the first amendment or the second amendment.

JR: IN ONE OF YOUR WEBSITES, IN “BIG PEACE,” THERE WAS AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY JASON BRADLEY TITLED“TERROR BABIES: A GROWING NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT.” DO YOU SHARE MR. BRADLEY'S POINT OF VIEW?

AB: I didn't even read that article but I can tell you this, I created the Huffington Post in the United States of America which is a left of center blog. I created my blogs which are mostly right of center and I believe in open debate in our society. That's why I believe so strongly in the first amendment, so I don't know the specifics of that article, had I known going into this interview, I would've read it and we could have talked about the specifics.

JR: WELL THE SPECIFICS IS THAT MR. BRADLEY'S VIEW IS THAT CHILDREN BORN IN THE U.S. TO UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ARE TERROR BABIES.

AB: I've never read that, I've never heard that and I'd have to see the context of that to give you an opinion. I would never call people that are born in this country who are from Mexico terror babies.

JR: ARE YOU A BIG PROPONENT OF ENGLISH ONLY IN THIS COUNTRY?

AB: Well, I certainly like that the Spanish language is spoken around me. But I do believe that in America there needs to be a primary language and that English should be that language, it's not a radical position, it's a position that's held by countless people who are Latino. We need to find ways to communicate with each other...

JR: BUT WE DO, DON'T WE?

AB: ...and not divide it...

JR: ...I MEAN, I HAVE AN ACCENT AND WE CAN COMMUNICATE. IS THERE A NEED TO MAKE ENGLISH THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE?

AB: Well call me a radical, I think that is one position where I think that when people come here they benefit greatly, I think that when you sequester yourself, when you put yourself into another area where you can't be part of the main traditional culture you're limiting your possibilities in the United States and I think that's one problem...

JR: WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING BILINGUAL?

AB: One of the...

JR: WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING BILINGUAL?

AB: There's no problem, there's nothing wrong with being bilingual to say English only does not mean that – you know, I took Spanish in high school and it wasn't because it was a requirement, it was because in America we believe in free choices and if you want to take a second language that's perfectly fine but I'm telling you the limit. One limits oneself in this country if you come as a legal immigrant to this country and you choose to only speak your language whether it be Polish or Russian like many of my own relatives who came here if you speak only Russian and Polish you're limiting your opportunities in the United States. I have a major problem with the division that occurs because of the division of language. At the Rose bowl, when America was playing Mexico, and those that live in this country who have come here from Mexico booed the United States – there's a huge problem with that. This is not the first time that this has happened and I think that, that is because in the United States the cultural Marxist ideas of separating people into different racial groups. I love Latino culture but I hate the concept of “la raza.” It is a divisive mindset. I hate that blacks and Hispanics are pitted against each other I really do, call me naive, I grew up in an adopted family where my mom is Christian and Caucasian, my dad is Jewish, my sister is Mexican and I don't know, I don't tan so well. I think I'm mostly Irish.

JR: LET ME JUST FINISH WITH SOMETHING MR. BREITBART, DO YOU SEE ANY REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE STRONG ENOUGH TO BEAT PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IN THE NEXT ELECTION?

AB: I think that it's going to be an amazing year. It's going to be like a reality series like Survivor or American Idol and they're going to pound each other out and yes I think that the strongest one will win, but let me tell you this, if Marco Rubio, even though he's only been in the Senate for a very short period of time, that man has a huge, huge opportunity in this country and I think he could be the president, if not in this election cycle, certainly in 2016.

JR: MR.BREITBART THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TALKING WITH US AND I HOPE THIS IS GOING TO BE THE FIRST OF MANY CONVERSATIONS

AB: My pleasure, gracias.