Another politician panders during an election year

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051304351.html

This article is downright shameful. I couldn't understand why the author was saying the things he did, until I looked at who he is:

"The writer, a Republican, represents Florida's 14th District in the U.S. House."

Suddenly, everything became clear.

Florida has a large Cuban community. This is an election year. He's just pandering to them.

Of all the illegal immigrants in this country, Cuban refugees have the least to fear I would think. They are fleeing communist tyranny. I for one would NEVER support a policy that returns them to Cuba, and I don't think there are many conservatives or libertarians who would. The people of Cuba are victims of a criminal regime and deserve our friendship and support.

If you have not clicked on the link, you should. That article is a good example of what could best be described as a diffused straw man attack. He never quite articulates what exactly it is that is wrong with the law, other than that it is "bad." The complaints that he does make are inaccurate.

First he blathers about Obama and the Dems in order to establish his credibility with conservatives.

Then he drags in the internment camps where we stuck Japanese Americans during WW-II. While regrettable, and something that I hope does not happen again, that bit of history has NOTHING to do with the current law. It is a complete non-sequitur.

Then he talks about securing the border. Nice idea, but without comprehensive enforcement of immigration law throughout the nation, making the border harder to cross just isn't good enough. Once an illegal alien enters the country, he or she is home free. Making it harder to get here helps, but is only part of the solution.

Next he starts pretending that the law is about protecting the majority over the minority. This is just another way of pretending that the law is derived from ethnocentrism. The purpose of this law is to remove illegal aliens from the country. The fact that most illegals in AZ come from the country next door, with a different culture and language, is a coincidence, not a causal factor. Americans (including the Latinos he implies are being targeted) have nothing to fear from this law. The only people who will be touched by this legislation are illegal aliens.

Next he pulls the "Where are your papers?" canard out of his arse, which is a grotesque perversion of what the law actually states. If the police pull you over, they want to see your ID. It makes no difference whether you are an illegal alien or not. They're asking for your ID to determine who you are. It has been this way since time immemorial. To pretend that this now constitutes some sort of fascist attack on our liberties, or racist attack on a privileged ethnic group, is ridiculous.

If he is this dishonest, then why would anyone want to vote for him?

I can only conclude that this guy is yet another individual who has not actually read the law in question.

But you can:

http://www.azdatapages.com/sb1070.html