The West Wing, Vinick, Minuteman Project, illegal immigration, and clueless liberals

On last night's show, The West Wing's crack writers featured Republican candidate Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda...???; NYT: "doing his fabulous mean-guy act"...???) proposing a "guest" worker plan in order to either get the "Latino vote" or hamstring his opponent, Matt Santos (Jimmy "Jiminy" Smits). (It came on after baseball plus Janeane Garofalo is on it, OK?)

Various aspects of this episode are discussed in "Hollywood Delusion: New York Times Could Endorse GOP Presidential Candidate" and this post.

From memory, this is how the scene where they discuss the "guest" worker plan plays out:

Consultant #1 to Vinick: You're going to meet with the Minuteman Project on the border on Monday.

Consultant #2 gets a very worried look and says: You mean the vigilantes?

Consultant #1: They aren't bothering anyone, plus they're popular with the base.

Consultant #3, played by Ron Silver: Why not just meet with the local KKK?

It's pretty obvious what the writers of this show think, or what they don't think as the case may be. Specifically, they don't seem to have much knowledge of the important issues of "guest" worker schemes and illegal immigration in general. And, that worried look from Consultant #2 is supposed to be the one the viewer has; after all, isn't the assessment of Ron Silver's character the correct one?

If the West Wing would like to be a bit more reality-based, they could have a consultant on there discussing how the "Hispanic Vote" is a myth. They could have another discussing how a "guest" worker program would play with the real GOP base: those banks, growers, and other companies that profit off cheap foreign labor. (For balance, they could have another on there discussing the Dem's base in far-left, open borders, Ford Foundation-sponsored groups like MALDEF and the National Council of The Race). And, they could have yet another pointing out that the only violence associated with the Minuteman Project has come from the other side, and that that other side is generally very far-left, anti-American, racially-oriented and favors a literally open border.

Of course, don't expect one of their crack writers to know what's really going on.

Celebrities · Mon, 10/10/2005 - 10:02 · · Importance: 1