Eugene Robinson: Why Isn't the Tea Party Crowd Protesting the Arizona Immigration Law?
Keith Olbermann talked to Eugene Robinson about his recent column at The Washington Post Arizona's new immigration law is an act of vengeance. Robinson asked why the tea partiers aren't out there protesting this new Arizona "show me your papers" law. As Robinson points out, the answer is obvious.
Arizona's draconian new immigration law is an abomination -- racist, arbitrary, oppressive, mean-spirited, unjust. About the only hopeful thing that can be said is that the legislation, which Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed Friday, goes so outrageously far that it may well be unconstitutional.
Brewer, who caved to xenophobic pressures that previous governors had the backbone to resist, should be ashamed of herself. The law requires police to question anyone they "reasonably suspect" of being an undocumented immigrant -- a mandate for racial profiling on a massive scale. Legal immigrants will be required to carry papers proving that they have a right to be in the United States. Those without documentation can be charged with the crime of trespassing and jailed for up to six months.
Activists for Latino and immigrant rights -- and supporters of sane governance -- held weekend rallies denouncing the new law and vowing to do everything they can to overturn it. But where was the Tea Party crowd? Isn't the whole premise of the Tea Party movement that overreaching government poses a grave threat to individual freedom? It seems to me that a law allowing individuals to be detained and interrogated on a whim -- and requiring legal residents to carry identification documents, as in a police state -- would send the Tea Partyers into apoplexy. Or is there some kind of exception if the people whose freedoms are being taken away happen to have brown skin and might speak Spanish?
...Arizona is dealing with a real problem and is right to demand that Washington provide a solution. But the new immigration law isn't a solution at all. It's more like an act of vengeance. The law makes Latino citizens and legal residents vulnerable to arbitrary harassment -- relegating them to second-class status -- and it is an utter disgrace. Read on...
They aren't protesting Arizona, because they're basically right-wing, anti-immigrant racists. Even though ID-checking is classic "big government", they're not consistent within what they claim is their main goal.
Besides, I believe that the ID-checking has the purpose of intimidation of valid citizens to the point where they won't vote in this off-year election.
I wonder if Arizona is hoping to scare all the hispanics out of their state and into neighboring states.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Intrusion is only intrusion when they're coming after you, when they're not, it's just the government doing its job. The 90-something % white tea party crowd knows they don't fall into the "suspected illegal" category and so, couldn't care less.
What if the law said "reasonably suspected methamphetamine lab owner" or "reasonably suspected of carrying illegal firearms" or "reasonably suspected of being a wife beater" or "reasonably suspected of threatening the president of the United States"... can the cops just stop a random tea-partier whenever they feel like it to see if their hunch is right?
Funny how the Constitution is only a big deal when it suits the Tea Party agenda. I guess the 4th and 14th amendments only apply to white people of anglo-saxon descent.
is the standard nationwide for detention to investigate virtually all crimes. Probable cause is the standard for ticket/arrest.
Timmy.
.
actual court ruling? Wow. You must really be a lawyer.
I just know several who will explain them to me in small words. :)
Actually most of them aren't all that hard to read and understand, just takes a lot of cross checking if your not familiar with the terms and cases cited.
Now some of the BATFE decisions I've read.... There was one that declared a shoelace was a machine gun. When questioned about it they still held that a shoelace was in and of itself a machine gun. That one I just couldn't wrap my head around.
If your friends dumb them down for you, then that's what level your understanding of them is on.
also in my reply. I read them myself and if I have any questions I ask them. Which isn't too often except to make sure I interpreted it correctly.
I'm sure.
see the second paragraph.
"Actually most of them aren't all that hard to read and understand, just takes a lot of cross checking if your not familiar with the terms and cases cited."
Most people can read and understand them, if they have the time and effort to do so. Agreeing with them is a totally different thing though. For example I agree pretty much with Terry and Arizona v Hicks. I don't agree with Wickard v Filburn although I do understand the reasoning they used.
Fat, white and stoooopid-- must be a real American.
far left loon >.<
Why aren't the libertarian wing nuts flapping their wings about this one yet? could they be masking their true motives?
Could the Tea Party be living a lie while promoting neo-fascism? Yes. but pray not the Libertarians. I used to respect them. Libertarians, say it isn't so! :( if you're a libertarian then stand up against this creeping slime.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
I only agree with the libertarians on one or two things - for the most part they are not a group with which I can agree.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
All the self described libertarians I know are simply racists who are too cowardly to show their true colors in polite society.
And when they're challenged to name an example of just one successful libertarian country they become positively apoplectic.
I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.....
A libertarian is simply a Republican who likes to smoke pot. :)
Well maybe it is only one thing I agree with them about.
:)
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
You know, of all the definitions I've seen... this is the only one that fits all the "Libertarians" I know.
I have had many an argument with Libertarians and although I have some of the same leanings when it comes to the Federal Reserve, foreign policy, and an end to the war on drugs, I would guess they will have some kind of states right argument. I have been around long enough to know what "States Rights" if code for.
Yup - in the mid-nineteenth century, it meant "States' rights....to keep slaves."
Will not fly at all w/them.
"Why Isn't the Tea Party Crowd Protesting the Arizona Immigration Law?"
Because it has nothing to do with a black man in their white house?
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
At first they came for the...
"They will never come for affluent white guys" - who college degrees are probably all greed based.
Also TP "small business" jerks who think the roads that their trucks drive on are free and their success is via the rugged individualism of Ayn Rand - I'll say it again please "go Galt!"
And then the idiotic poorly spelling masses.
Quite a coalition.
I don't believe the self reported demographics of the Tea Party assholes for a minute. I believe that some of them are well off and that some of them may be college graduates but not the vast majority of them. When I hear them interviewed it just defies logic. They are just too inarticulate and ignorant of even the most basic facts about such things as well, the U.S. Constitution. No, self reporting can never be trusted, too easy to lie to the people asking the questions. I think that most of them are a bunch of lower middle class, uneducated dupes.
I got me edumacated at college (the one bluto went to) and I was less than impressed with the overall quality - think rich kids getting mba's to game the system. I saw one so-called TP small businessy "college grad" being interviewed and he was not the brightest bulb - I wonder if Joe the (unlicensed and lying stack o' crap) plumber and his 250,000 dollar a year business is indicative.
There is no here here really - it's a Foxnews fantasy.
http://www.allhatnocattle.net/42310sjan.jpg
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
when you realize that racism is the driving force of the movement.
The truest, most succinct statement I've read in awhile.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
I love how the law allows police departments to be sued for not arresting people.
Aren't these the same people that want to stop us from suing doctors who remove the wrong organ and other acts of malpractice?
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
Yes they are the same people and they twist logic so much pretzels become envious.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
when I can stomach their shtick.
The coffers are going to dry up with legal debts...
New University of Washington poll finds:
Tea Partiers not so concerned about certain civil liberties It's just not them to care about civil liberties plain and simple - another veil drops and the hunchback is being revealed (not that it's hard to recognize the hunchback with a couple veils) - these opportunists are trying to screw everybody else for short term gain.
Beck took this on yesterday but for the life of me, I cannot remember what he said. As usual he was all over the place. When he got to the part where he was telling about the Cubans risking their lives coming over here in the shell of a 57 Chevy to escape the Castro govt, that was when the fake brick wall on his set fell and after that I lost my train of thought. That train was just about off the track even before this happened.
The "T" people don't give a damn about Arizona unless they can use their guns for something.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
You watched Beck yesterday? How long did it take you to sanitize your brain afterward?
I wear a haz-mat helmet so no harm comes to me.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
You could make a fortune - and do the world a favor - if you marketed these helmets to Teabaggers as "anti-Obama" helmets.
Think how Beck's ratings would plummet!
he had them at '57 Chevey.
the rest was all Mayberry gravy.
over mounds of Mayberry mashed potatoes and ham.
There's a place for Beck on the Twilight Zone.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
I wasn't sure where Beck was going with the Cuban story. Maybe he and the tea baggers are going to get into some old cars and float them to some distant island to escape the Obama govt. I'll donate a car. Hell, I'll buy them a boat and motor.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Because as we all know, they're racists. I'll have to ask my dad that question since he likes to associate himself as a tea partier but his response will be that they'll let the government take care of it.
So, according to this line of thinking, these same folks who call Obama a communist would have been all in favor of sending "illegal" Elian Gonzalez back to Cuba, right?
I mean, he IS brown, after all.
It's like Simon says
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It's not.
- Dr. Suess
Has anyone heard if Rush has talked about this law on his radio show?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
... because the Tea Party Crowd are fucking hypocrites?
Did I win?
Ding ding ding!
We have a winner!
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
No one likes to talk about it but Mexicans can be incredibly racist and xenophobic too, just ask them what they think of myate's. Growing up I thought my nickname was Weto. My nanny as a child was Guatemalan and was caught being an "illegal" in Mexico on her way here. She was detained, raped, and then sent to jail to live in squalor before finally getting out and trying again, and when she got here she made the effort to become legal.
Again in Canoga Park, CA out here in the valley, the Mexican gangs were and are engaging in full scale genocide. They are actively targeting black people, for no reason other then being black. They want to purge the neighborhood of people who don't look like them.
Racism is not the exclusive providence of the white man.
I'm kinda disappointed with C&L, Stewart - Colbert, Olbermann et al for failing to show both sides of the coin on this one.
Obviously this is an unconstitutional overreach and it will most likely be thrown out. However now the ball is in Obama's court and he can't ignore it any longer. If you want to see a nasty race war in the next ten years, just go ahead and pretend it's all the white mans fault and the Mexican's are completely free of any guilt here.
As far as the tea party crowd goes, they can take a flying fuck at the moon for all I care. What pisses me off is that I have to agree with them here.
When a ethnic group is marginalized and feels the law does not protect them they create their own law and it spins out of control. Can we get Immigration Reform on the Senate floor for debate please?
It’s not right when “whites” do it, or “blacks”, or “Hispanics”. But it’s not those groups that are behaving this way. It is individual members of each of these “groups”. By saying “Mexicans” do …., it is perpetuating a bigotry the same way as saying when “whites” do…
I know that’s not what you said, nor your intent. I’m saying the way we formulate and talk about the ideas of crime and race creates a grouping that otherwise should not exist. This isn’t just being PC. The framing sets up an opposition against perfectly innocent people.
I abhor the acts you speak of. But I would be just as repulsed no matter what the race or races of the people doing these acts. It’s not necessary to assign race to assign blame - even if they do.
Well done.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
... a really cheesy excuse for racism.
Mexicans can be racist?!? No way! I didn't know they were humans with human flaws like us! Thanks for enlightening me.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
is for "Mexicans" to be able to round up "White guys" for (whatever excuse you want to provide) that will solve it!
The only logical solution is to do it for all ethnicities.
... the real solution is to put numerical tattoos on all Americans. Want to find an illegal immigrant, just look for the absence of the tattoo.
And when our Constitutional protections are fully trampled into the dust, it'll make it even easier to round up dissidents and malcontents! No more confusing John Smith, American, with John Smith, potential terrorist - just check his tattoo!
/snark
Maybe because even after months of MSM and netroots hype the teabaggers could only get about 2000 people to show up at their April 19 rally in D.C. I think my niece's high school musical drew more.
Of course, Gene could ask why the United States Department of Justice hasn't stepped in to protect the constitutional rights of its citizens, but it's gotta be all about the teabaggers lately.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Wow this is a big night for Beck. It's a three chalk board lesson.
Did anyone else see the video clip of Beck and his wife last night? I can't remember if it was on Ed's show or Matthews. Beck and his wife were walking into some formal shindig and Beck was wearing a tux with a black cummerbund. On the front of the cummerbund was a very large white skull and crossbones like the pirates put on their pirate ships. My dictionary says such a sign represents death or danger. It was one of the strangest things I have ever seen.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
"white skull and crossbones"
There be poison in those pants arr arr!
It is a required warning against any oral sex with Glenny.
:)
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Re: AZ (a little OT)
McCain's Popularity Plummets
(money quote from PPP)
"Democrats' only real shot at winning the seat then is if Hayworth can win the primary, and we find Glassman leading Hayworth 42-39 in such a scenario. Hayworth is extremely unpopular with only 23% of voters holding a favorable opinion of him to 50% with an unfavorable one. Democrats (6/68 favorability) predictably see him in a dim light but he doesn't do a whole lot better with independents (22/49). Republicans are evenly divided with 37% viewing him favorably and 37% unfavorably."
(he he! Glassman could win it!)
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Other polls in the article give McCain some props but he has a long time to weasel his way out of any lead - he seems like a (old) deer in the headlights.
This law will cause desperate people to do desperate things when stopped by the police. Not a good thing, if you're an AZ cop.
I saw an Arizona sheriff interviewed today and he hates the bill. He doesn't want to be called out to help someone and have to make them show their papers when they are a victim.
Plus I'm afraid some people will be afraid to call the cops when they need them if they don't have papers. This is just bad all the way around.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Arizona sheriff: 'We didn't need the law'
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Texas cries that Arizona is trying to out-stupid it......so.....
Texas legislators plan bills similar to Arizona immigration law
"Why Isn't the Tea Party Crowd Protesting the Arizona Immigration Law?"
Faux Snooze hasn't told them to yet.
trying to apply any logic or common sense to the tea partiers. This law is more socialistic than anything they accuse the Obama admin. has done, never mind that admin. has not done anything remotely near anything that can be considered oppressive or socialistic. If Texas and other states follow suit, dare I say civil war? I would hope not.
unless you learned its meaning from glenn beck, drugbo, hammity or and of the rest of the right wing pundocracy. This is totalitarianism, fascism, police state.
When you think of Socialism, you should think of Norway, Denmark, Sweden-sharing the wealth, taking care of one's neighbour knowing it benefits everyone to do so. Put your papers away.
me-oww!
Yuo, the party of HATE and FEAR won this one now comes the REAL trade of NATIOANL ID Cards.
This is a bunch of HATE Mongers that have proven over and over every way they can they HATE AMERICA. there Motto is that of the republican party Death To America Remember our FAILED BROTHERS of 9/11, this is the PARTY that is calling for a ELECTED President NOT Appointed to Fail and have AMERICA FAIL.
This is the party of NO this is the Party that Refuses to do ANYTHING because the President is BLACK, this is the Party of HATE and FEAR. This is the Party that EVERYDAY goes on National TV to show its HATRED for America and offers NO solutions only more and MORE FAILURE like they had in the LAST ADMINISTRATION.
People seem to ignore that the tea party is not actually an arm of the Republican party, it is the semi-legitimate front group for the Arian Nation, neo-Nazis, KKK, and several other white supremacists groups. The fact they are not out protesting the oppressive government actions by Arizona just emphasizes what their true colors are - white sheets with a big swastika in red.
Absolutely true and it is the entire Repug party / right wing , not only the Tea party ( or the "stupidists" ) .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
Democrats? The reason they are not protesting this law is because it doesn't effect them. Some people think they had a say in writing it. What planet have you been on?
of people rationalizing this law because there are racist other than ***shock*** white people. Moral and just is moral and just, regardless of race. To say a law like this is okay to pass because there are idiots in every other race is just plain moronic. I really hate name calling, but seriously, if you think that the exsistance of racist hispanics is a valid excuse to legalize racism by our government, then you are a moron.
American...not whitey.
This is so sick. I never thought I'd live to see the day Nazi/fascist policing would be in my country. Sad, just sad.
"Legal immigrants will be required to carry papers proving that they have a right to be in the United States."
They already are required to do so under Fed law.
8 USC Sec. 1304
(e) Personal possession of registration or receipt card; penalties
Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d) of this section.
Although Fed penalties are only 30 days in jail.
for white Republicans only.
Thats the dirty semi secret of the teabaggers.
Eugene Robinson: Why Isn't the Tea Party Crowd Protesting the Arizona Immigration Law?
> because it is targeted at hispanics and not whites. if the law was to also ask all white people for their papers they would be protesting and we would be hearing all about interment camps. It is only because it is targeted at brown people. Shows how incredibly racist the Tea Party movement is.... almost all of them support this law even though it could not be more facist.
Don't you understand, Heather. There's US, and there's THEM. Liberty, freedom, and safety from tyrany, in the form of constitutional protections from social services belong to US. If THEY needed freedom and liberty, wouldn't we be bombing them right now?
Now, I'm not saying we CAN'T bomb them, but I'm a REASONABLE person. I suppose you'd have us go off and drop bombs on these people without any WMDs. Obviously, you don't understand the subtleties of international law, and the TeaParty does.
And, you know, this whole argument is just a straw man anyway. Don't you know THEY took our jobs!
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