Chris Cannon [R-UT] is "loose with facts, demeans American public discourse"

From the SteinReport:

(Washington, D. C. - March 26, 2004) The FAIR Congressional Task Force today issued the following statement regarding comments made by Rep. Christopher Cannon:

At a recent hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives, Utah Rep. Christopher Cannon tried to indict American immigration reform activists with a series of smears, frauds and half-truths designed - at least in his mind - to discredit all Americans who believe in sensible immigration and border reform policies. In making these assertions, Congressman Cannon crosses the line into the realm of fabrication, taking what is a strength - the broad based nature of the nation's immigration reform lobby - and trying to make it into a weakness.

Contrary to Cannon's wild assertions, FAIR and the FAIR CTF have never taken any position on sterilization, abortion, eugenics or euthanasia.

Rep. Cannon claims that he has exposed the "anti-life" agenda of those who want better immigration enforcement and lower overall immigration levels. In repackaging tired, old and hackneyed allegations - mostly old lies and gross distortions - Cannon uses classic "red jacketing" or a heinous form of guilt by association by passing off inaccurate information about third parties and seeking to paint everyone with the same distorted brush. Rep. Cannon demeans the nature of American political discourse and deserves the censure of all right-thinking Americans...

...unfortunately for Rep. Cannon, his cheap labor agenda - rewarding law breakers and promoting taxpayer rip offs -- is opposed by most of those he purports to represent. He has also pursued reckless and obstructionist policies that are a clear threat to national security. He opposes improvements in state/local enforcement cooperation, opposes stronger border regulation, opposes effective interior enforcement, opposes efforts to deter illegal immigration by denying access to benefits and opposes any effort to rationalize the immigration system to reduce the overall flow and its burden on America's communities...

You can read Cannon's "expose" here and in this .doc file. He seems to want to compete with Dave Neiwert and the WSJ in the smear category.

For one small example, he quotes a Denver Post column that states that the group American Patrol "sends vigilantes to the?southern border to capture illegal immigrants who sneak in." That's false. That group only observes illegal aliens and reports them to the Border Patrol, it does not attempt to apprehend illegals. Using the term "vigilantes" is indicative of the author's biases.

Cannon's "expose" references an easily discredited WSJ editorial. (As usual, the reader responses to this article are almost all negative. I don't know if they plan it that way or what.)

Many of Cannon's "revelations" have already been answered in the Front Page Magazine article 'Lies about the Immigration Reform Movement'.

See this page for Cannon's contact information:

118 Cannon House
Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-7751
Fax: (202) 225-5629
Email: cannon.ut03@mail.house.gov

Immigration2003 · Fri, 03/26/2004 - 13:26 · · Importance: 9