Thread: Hopefuls' immigration shift means xenophobia is back in styl

Scott Stroud: Hopefuls' immigration shift means xenophobia is back in style

Web Posted: 11/23/2007 10:22 PM CST


San Antonio Express-News

There's been a subtle — or sometimes not so subtle — shift in the tenor of political rhetoric on immigration in recent weeks.
Xenophobia is back in style.

Among Republican presidential hopefuls, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo continues to set the pace with a wild-eyed new ad that links illegal immigration to terrorism. It ends with an explosion at a shopping mall.

And most of the Democratic contenders tiptoed gracelessly away from supporting immigration during a debate in Las Vegas on Nov. 15. No more talk of a guest worker program, only border security.

I telephoned Lionel Sosa, the San Antonio-based political marketing legend and trusted adviser to President Bush, to see what he made of all this. He said he saw the changes but wasn't surprised.

"It didn't surprise me after I was in Washington right before the immigration debate. I was in Republican and Democratic members' offices, and both of them were getting 80-to-1 calls toward the anti-immigration position."

Sosa, who helped pioneer political marketing efforts to Hispanic voters, agreed that there had been a shift, driven by shameless fear-mongering like the Tancredo ad.

"I think that the anti-immigration sentiment is increasing. And I think the folks that are promoting fear are hard at work."

I wondered if candidates were seeing something new in polls and focus groups that caused their rhetoric to shift. Sosa said no.

"It's not driven by focus groups; it's driven by the few, the 15 percent of radical conservatives who say this country will be taken over by Mexicans."

Not so long ago, Sosa was planted firmly in the GOP camp. Now he has shifted his support to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat and the only Latino contender in the race.

Bush, Sosa said, "lost the argument in his party."

"He did all he could. He was as brave as any president could possibly be on this issue."

Sizing up the GOP field for 2008, Sosa took a forgiving tack.

"I know that what they're trying to do is get nominated," he said.

He singled out Arizona Sen. John McCain, who recently stopped promoting a guest worker program out loud and said border security needs to come first.

"McCain is a brave one," Sosa said. "He is the truly brave Republican on the immigration issue. He understands it better than anybody. He's modified his stance but hasn't changed it."

Sosa said the heated rhetoric almost always overlooks the real culprits: American employers.

"We Americans invited them by giving them a job," he said. "So we caused the problem."

Sosa, who thinks the solution lies in more work visas, called the idea of building a wall between the United States and Mexico "the most un-American gesture this country could possibly make."

"Why is it that we're not ranting about building a wall between the U.S. and Canada? There is no talk of that. So that leads me to believe that this is a racist thing. It's not a fear of terrorists coming across. It's a fear of Mexicans coming across."

To counter the fear, Sosa's new organization, Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together, is preparing ads offering "messages that can turn public opinion toward tolerance and giving workers a chance."

"Americans are good people," he said. "Americans are tolerant and inclusive people that understand what is good for the country and good for themselves."

www.mysanantonio.com

"We Americans invited them by giving them a job," he said. "So we caused the problem."

And the welfare department is to blame as well because they give them welfare and medicaid. And the churches that give them food and clothing are also to blame. EVERYONE ELSE is to blame but not the illegals, they are the victims as usual.

"Why is it that we're not ranting about building a wall between the U.S. and Canada? There is no talk of that. So that leads me to believe that this is a racist thing. It's not a fear of terrorists coming across. It's a fear of Mexicans coming across."

For the same reason Mexico doesn't guard their northern border. Numbers Sosa, Numbers!

We Americans invited them by giving them a job," he said. "So we caused the problem."

I am all for permanently pulling all business licenses of those who employ illegals. I am also for permanently banning any politician from office who puts illegals above citizens.

Just a silly opinion with no supportive facts or logic. I don't waste much time with these.

Lionel Sosa is one of the people we would like to see investigated in the future to see what role they have played in the suspension of our existing immigration laws.

It is no shocker that he has no loyalty to Bush or the GOP. He is making a bee line for the only Hispanic Presidential candidate.


Anyone else smell the racism?

W

What's good for our country and good for ourselves is not having to continue to pay for the mistakes of big business, this administration, and illegal aliens. Tax payer money should never go to illegals or their anchor babies and should be reserved and used solely for american citizens and those born to american citizens. That is what's best for our country and ourselves. This guy says we're good people but in the same breath blames us for the illegals crossing over at will and then if we try to enforce our laws we're xenophobic it's a no win situation so we might as well build the fence and deport every illegal alien we can find because at least our tax money might actually go to who it's supposed to and we won't have to see foreign flags flying everywhere while the american flag is hung upside down and burned and press 1 for english and 2 for spanish might be a distant memory.