Thread: Playing the Hate Card By Bob Burnett

this Guys a nut case

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Playing the Hate Card
Posted October 23, 2007 | 08:50 AM (EST)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

After Iraq, healthcare, the economy, and trust, Americans rank immigration as the number five problem facing the United States. That's not surprising; in June, Congressional debate on immigration policy was front-page news. "Immigration" has become a simulacrum for "race relations" in the U.S. It's no longer politically correct to vilify folks for the color of their skin but, in some quarters, it's okay to bash them for their immigration status.

There are approximately eleven million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. While there's broad agreement that something should be done to make it harder for foreigners to sneak across our borders, there's dissension about what to do with the unauthorized migrants who reside here: should they be arrested and sent back to their countries of origin or should they be granted a path to citizenship?

The leading Democratic candidates for President have relatively compassionate attitudes about immigration: Clinton, Edwards, and Obama favor tighter border security to keep out undocumented visitors, as well as a clearly-defined path to "earned" citizenship. A few Republican Presidential candidates, such as Arizona Senator John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, hold similar positions. However, former Governor Mitt Romney and former Senator Fred Thompson oppose "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants. And Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo takes the extreme position: "Illegal aliens threaten our economy and undermine our culture... I am 100% opposed to amnesty. As President, I will secure our borders so illegal aliens do not come, and I will eliminate benefits and job prospects so they do not stay." Tancredo supports mass deportation of unauthorized migrants.

Immigration has become an important issue because it combines American concerns about security and jobs. Since 9/11 there's been distress about lax border security that lets in thousands of immigrants each year. And Americans continue to worry about the nations' economy; they're concerned about the shortage of good jobs. Politicians such as Tancredo argue these jobs have been usurped by "illegals." Conservative demagogues suggest our economic woes are the fault of "those people;" only this time it's not "colored people," the Irish, or Jews, it's illegal aliens.

Underlying the immigration issue is the fact the demographics of the United States are rapidly changing. In May, the Census Bureau announced the minority population of the U.S. went over 100 million - combining race and Hispanic origin. Approximately one in three U.S. residents is a member of a minority group.

The two political parties take different stances on America's changing demographics. Democrats embrace diversity - this year their top four presidential candidates include a woman, a black, and a Hispanic. Republicans define their base as White, non-Hispanic voters. And further restrict it by pandering to conservative Christians and xenophobic heterosexual males. This tactic has helped the GOP rally a base that's been dispirited by the failings of the Bush Administration, but it's narrowed their appeal.

On Thursday, September 27th, PBS hosted a minority-focused debate for the Republican Presidential candidates. The leading candidates - Giuliani, McCain, Romney, and Thompson - didn't show up, which was interpreted as their having little interest in minority voters. Perhaps they were reading the demographic "tea leaves." In the 2004 Presidential election, George Bush carried 58 percent of the White non-Hispanic vote, but only 44 percent of Hispanics and 11 percent of Blacks. Since that time, Bush's approval ratings have fallen dramatically for every group other than White non-Hispanic straight men.

Nonetheless, it's difficult to make sense of the harsh GOP stand on immigration and race relations, in general. Defining Republicans as the Party of white Christian men seems to be a throwback to the segregationist posturing of the fifties and sixties, a strategy that doesn't have a chance in the 2008 general election. However, it makes a historical sense: since the Reagan era Republicans have been adept at mobilizing resentment. In campaign after campaign they've fueled the anger of lower and middle-class whites and redirected it to imaginary groups: liberal elites who promote "sixties values," black welfare "queens," promiscuous women who want abortion on demand, aggressive homosexuals who seek to convert others to their "lifestyle," and now illegal aliens who steal American jobs and benefits. Tom Frank described this process in What's the Matter with Kansas within the Republican Party, economic conservatives distract social conservatives with inflammatory issues in order to get their votes and keep them from noticing the various life-threatening problems caused by conservative social policy.

Republicans mobilize around hate. That's the common thread that connects GOP candidates over the past forty years and fuels the draconian immigration philosophy embraced by a majority of Republicans.

In 2008, will playing the hate card work for Republicans? Will they again be able to mobilize the resentment of lower and middle-class whites? This seems unlikely so long as Democrats remember that lurking beneath the GOP politics of hate are legitimate economic concerns about jobs, healthcare, and energy costs; concerns that need to be addressed by policy not prejudice.

signed on for an account to this rag so I could respond to this blather, but no confirmation as of the moment.

I am tired of being considered a white non hispanic. What the hell does that mean white non hispanic. I am white what does non hispanic have to do with it.

Al you have to do is go to a rally and see who is the first to start cursing and making obscene gestures. Liberals, on the average, are a bunch of disorderly, whining, spineless creeps.

what a lying piece of subhuman filth.

that's the enemy writing right there.

he's no less the enemy of you and me and our rapidly fading nation than the Nazis or the Imperial Japanese were during the 1930's and 40's.

Originally Posted by agrneydgrl

I am tired of being considered a white non hispanic. What the hell does that mean white non hispanic. I am white what does non hispanic have to do with it.

you're generic white as opposed to the superior Hispanic white You are the one race it is ok to discriminate against, to call hateful names and to mock. Nobody is considered a racist if the color of skin they hate is pure European white as opposed to the preferred darker white of Latin America.

Who is Bob Burnett?

What is a hispanic anyway...my family wants to know? At this forum we discus illegal aliens.

I recently found out I was working with an illegal alien from Ireland. I flat told her that I don't work with illegal aliens and got out of that sitution.

Is she hispanic?

I'm a "non-hispanic, non-African, non-Irish, non-Russian, non-Chinese, non-Japanese" , etc., etc. white person.

"Hispanic" is what these different groups of people call themselves I guess if they speak Spanish. Since MOST of our illegals come from Mexico and they call themselves hispanic, that's where the word comes from. WE did not name them that - they did.

Any material found at Huffington post is total garbage. It is hard to believe that there are people who actually believe this way.