Vile: Washington Post turns on Mike Huckabee to support illegal immigration

The Washington Post offers a vile, spittle-flecked editorial called "The Immigration Swamp/As the presidential campaign intensifies, so does the nativist ferocity." They turn on Mike Huckabee for changing from a strong supporter of illegal immigration into someone who (supposedly) wants illegal aliens to return home within 120 days:

The idea that 12 million illegal residents of the United States can be induced to quit the country en masse within four months is absurd on its face -- a non-starter in logistical, humanitarian, political, diplomatic, commercial and economic terms that would leave an indelible stain on this country for years. Yet that is the wrathful centerpiece of Mike Huckabee's "Secure America Plan," which the Republican presidential candidate issued the other day in the course of his party's escalating enthusiasm for nastier-than-thou prescriptions to deal with illegal immigrants.

Then, they refer to the Minuteman Project as "a group of xenophobes who spend their time videotaping and harassing day laborers wherever they find them" and a group that engages in "vigilantism". They refer to Huck's (supposed) turn to the right side of things as a "cruel campaign of immigrant-bashing".

Then, it's off to selective reading land as they quote the Pew Hispanic Center study in which people claimed to have suffered discrimination. Then:

According to the latest FBI statistics, from 2006, hate crimes against Hispanics had increased by more than a third since 2003.

Unfortunately, the FBI doesn't seem to break out the race of the offender vs. the race of the victims, but they say there were a total of 853 "anti-Hispanic" crimes in 2006 (fbi.gov/ucr/hc2006/table7.html). Not only that, but when counting the offender's race they lump Hispanics as white; of known offenders, 3710 were white and 1026 were black (fbi.gov/ucr/hc2006/table3.html). But, some of those listed as white might in fact be Hispanic. And, from Earl Ofari Hutchison (link):

In fact, even though hate-crime laws were originally created to combat crimes by whites against minority groups, the majority of L.A. County's hate crimes against blacks in 2006 were suspected to have been committed by Latinos, and vice versa, according to the county Commission on Human Relations.

So, the WaPo appears to be stretching to smear. And, they make clear that their real reason for doing this is economic:

[Promotes "comprehensive immigration reform"; Huckabee's plan] suggests no realistic plan to address the economy's appetite for immigrant workers in the future, let alone those here now.

Someone should really follow the money on the WaPo; what do they or those to whom they're linked have to gain from the importation of cheap labor?

The editorial ends in as vile a manner as it began:

America has had its paroxysms of anti-immigrant fervor in the past, also accompanied by spasms of violence and persecution. Today, as in the past, the national atmosphere is subverting the discussion, drowning out reason. Look at the uproar that overwhelmed New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's sensible, safety-minded proposal to make illegal immigrants eligible for driver's licenses, and you will see logic defeated by posturing, political cowardice and the poisonous diatribes of talk radio. Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who championed comprehensive reform, is now chastened by the ferocity of the demagogues who mischaracterized it as an "amnesty"; he says he "got the message" and will now speak only of enforcement in the near term. In such an ugly environment, the best one can hope for is candidates who can appeal to the nation's self-interest as well as its better instincts; who can explain that resolving the immigration mess through a comprehensive approach is not only an economic imperative but also the only realistic way out of a political swamp.

Immigration2007b · Thu, 12/13/2007 - 10:31 · · Importance: 1