Here's Tom Tancredo's new political advertisement. It's running in Iowa right now, in preparation for the Iowa caucus.
If you're not familiar with him, Tancredo is a Republican congressman from Colorado who is a candidate for president. I didn't have much of an opinion on him until recently.
His platform can be summed up in a single sentence: Illegal immigration is bad.
This is something we generally agree on, right? Most people think that illegal immigration is bad and that it poses a problem for our nation's security. Liberals, conservatives, and everyone in between tend to agree on this. What they disagree on is the way to solve the problem— the far-right fringe suggest that we close the borders entirely, while the far-left fringe suggest that we drastically change our immigration policy to cater to immigrants who enter the country illegally.
Sadly, all Tancredo seems to be bringing to the debate are transparent political pandering and infantile scare tactics.
Allow me to break this (absurd) campaign advertisement down, bit by bit.
Hi, I’m Tom Tancredo. And I approved this message, because someone needs to say it.
Okay, we're listening. We get that he's all about forceful delivery and a strong image. On his website, above a video of this ad, is a line that reads: "Tom Tancredo: Bold enough to say it. Courageous enough to solve it." His campaign slogan, after all, is : "Tancredo 2008: For a Secure America."
There are consequences to open borders beyond the 20 million aliens who’ve come to take our jobs.
This was the phrase that infuriated me the most. He's not doing anyone any favors with this kind of divisive, us-versus-them propaganda. There aren't groups of immigrants (Whoops, I mean, "aliens") maliciously plotting to steal our jobs. They're taking jobs Americans aren't naturally inclined to favor— low-wage, labor-intensive, menial jobs.
The overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants who come to the U.S. have a line of reasoning that goes something like this:
"I need money. My family needs money. I have no options here because (choose one) I'm starving/the economy sucks/the government is corrupt/fill in the blank. I think I'll go slip into the U.S., where I'll work, live in marginally better conditions, and send money home to my family."
Semantics are important. His choice of the word "alien" removes any trace of humanity from our discussion of these people. (And they are people, struggling people who live on the shadowy edges of Western society.)
I'm not condoning illegal immigration. I am condemning Tancredo's unfortunate choice of words and his recalcitrant one-note campaign tactic.
Islamic terrorists now freely roam U.S. soil. Jihadists who froth with hate, here to do as they have in London, Spain, and Russia. The price we pay for spineless politicians who refuse to defend our borders against those who come to kill.
Here's where the really fun part begins. Not only is he implying that Islamic terrorists are slipping through our borders like so many other illegal immigrants, he outright says that terrorists "freely roam U.S. soil."
He would be well-served to remember that the people who are bombing buildings, crashing planes, and wreaking havoc aren't coming in illegally along the Mexican border. In the horrific London bombings, all of the terrorists involved were British citizens. In the U.S., the 9/11 terrorists had student visas or offered documentation (sometimes fraudulent) to enter the U.S. via legal channels.
This correlation between terrorism and illegal immigration is downright stupid. It's not that it couldn't happen— it could— but it's dishonest (and destructive to the national debate) to equate illegal immigration with terrorism. Most illegal immigrants come to work and to stay under the radar. Most terrorists try their damnedest to enter the country via legal channels.
[Explosion]
Tancredo… before it’s too late.
I really shouldn't have to say anything about this part. But I will.
This is appalling. I mean, really. A ticking clock? A grave movie-preview announcer? An explosion? Scare tactics and political pandering at their worst. This ending is just disgusting.
Hey Tom— next time you want to make a point about illegal immigration, could you leave the nebulous references to "spineless politicians," dramatized portrayals of terrorism, divisive semantics, and sound effects out of it?
Instead, why don't you offer some reasonable solutions with a little dignity?
Please. Before it's too late.
16 comments:
He would be well-served to remember that the people who are bombing buildings, crashing planes, and wreaking havoc aren't coming in illegally along the Mexican border.
In the U.S., the 9/11 terrorists had student visas or offered documentation (sometimes fraudulent) to enter the U.S. via legal channels.
Very good points, Ruthie. The political advertisement is sensationalistic.
He is a politician. He is just using the fears of the public to get himself into power. No different than any of the others and what he says there is true. Even your comment says they are after the jobs. You give a reason he does not but the facts are the same. And there are undoubtably terrorists in the US. Like everyone else they take the easiest and safest route. The land borders are the easiest and the northern border is protected somewhat.
His tactic works because that is what the fears of the public are. If enought think it then it makes a difference. That is the downside of our democracy. The fears of the most are what are played on.
I think this is an example of one where you are clearly not objective in your reporting.
Bag: My blog isn't meant to be objective... it's my personal opinion. If this were written for a newspaper, it would have a very different tone and would be written in the third person.
My main problem is what Russ (Satire and Theology) pointed out-- it's sensationalist. He's playing shamelessly on the fears of the public, to the point of dishonestly.
...all of the terrorists involved were British citizens...
In a manner of speaking, Ruthie. I've just posted on this type of "citizenship".
The Fort Dix conspirators came through the southern border...
Who do you think held those 'jobs Americans "aren't naturally inclined to favor" before the illegals got them?
Yes Illegals steal jobs from people that could use them. Look at any place that has been raided, look at the lines afterward to replace the workers.
The reason wages stay low is because businesses keep jumping into the illegal money-pit on hiring. When you have someone that cannot run and tell on you, you pay them less; less pay at the bottom depresses wages for those above.
Illegal immigration is one of the top concerns of this country. Tancredo is generally a nutjob who likes to play to fear with his rhetoric, but that doesn't change the facts of the situation (it also doesn't get him elected, but he never had a shot anyway :)
I had a comment, doesn't seem to have made it past moderation .. :)
Just wanted to note: I agree that the ad itself was over the top and in bad taste, but no the message it conveys.
The 7/7 bombers were here in the UK legally. If you were a terrorist group would you prefer people with the correct documentation or those who have to look over their shoulder to make sure la migra are not creeping up behind them.... Tancredo has not thought his position through
James, I saw your post. It's a problem not limited to the U.S. or Britain... this is going to be an epic thing for my generation.
LN, my problem is I feel like it's willful misrepresentation for his own perceived political gain.
The vast, overwhelming majority of people who enter this country illegally don't come here with the malicious intent to "steal" our jobs or cause us harm, per se. I hate to see this kind of logic employed to demonize an entire group of people who, on the whole, are just acting in their immediate self-interest and without malice.
It bothers me to see this kind of frothing-at-the-mouth hatred for illegal immigrants. This is the sort of issue where compassion is necessary-- I don't see why the desire to end illegal immigration has to entail demonizing the illegal immigrant. I'd like to see immigrants coming to the U.S. legally too, and I think illegal immigration is destructive, but describing it in these sensationalist, divisive terms is unhelpful to everyone.
And btw, because I don't get a chance to check the blog very often, it might take a long time for comments to appear. It's not that I'm ignoring them, it's that I just haven't been online. The semester is almost over and I'm totally swamped.
Jams: I agree.. how can you focus on executing your devious plot if you're always worried about being deported?
I found this advert quite shocking, Ruthie, and you've analysed it well.
Ruthie: EVERY illegal immigrant that gets a job here STEALS that job from someone that could use it. They come here for jobs, therefore they do indeed come here to steal them.
Compassion is great, I'm very compassionate for the immigrants that come to this country to better themselves and the country. What I'm not compassionate about is someone who breaks the law to better themself and deteriorate the country.
Illegal immigration in no way helps this country and illegal immigrants, whether their purpose is noble or not, are the cause of that menace.
Good luck on the finals!
Your blog feels like a newspaper lately :) Not that it's a bad thing !
Deborah
Muslims Against Sharia commend Congressman Tancredo for clearly defining the enemy and standing up to Islamist lobby and PC establishment.
Tom Tancredo Radio Ad
Tom Tancredo TV Ad
LN, I disagree rather strongly. I don't think their thought process is that pointed and malicious. My grandparents, for example, came to the U.S. without papers (illegally), anglicized their names, and melted into the workforce of New York. I am certain they didn't intend to come to steal a job from an American who needed it-- they were just thinking that they needed to survive.
Compassion is necessary for everyone, even criminals (the U.S. justice system reflects, or at the very least, should reflect this).
I agree that illegal immigration isn't helpful and is often destructive tot the U.S. economy. I just hate to see it described in simplistic black-and-white terms when the problem itself is far from simple.
If I were in the dire situations that many illegal immigrants find themselves in, I can't say with any certainty that I wouldn't make the same decisions they make. For that reason, although I do think that illegal immigration is a terrible problem, I can't cast moral judgments on the individual illegal immigrant.
Whew. Thanks for the good wishes re: finals. I'll need it.
I didn't say their thought process was malicious Ruthie, but they are coming here to steal a job from you or me.
Stealing to survive is noble, but it is stealing.
Got all kinds of faith in you for those finals! :)
The London Bombongs were caused by socially alienated citizens coming from a particular ethnic background. It is the society we live in that causes that alienation, we should question.
If the bombers happened to be white supremacists, we would se it or what it was- and not blame immigration.
Yes, you are right, we need to ask WHY people come, not spend our energies making their lives miserable when they do.
The Dept Labor's statistics don't indicate a negative impact on the employment rate of US citizens as a result of immigration. I'd be interested to see the numbers demonstrating that US citizens are losing jobs to illegal immigrants. Or legal ones for that matter. The phrase "doing the jobs Americans don't want to do" couldn't ring more true than for the postdoc community in the US; which currently consists of over 50% foreign nationals.
The emigration from Mexico is far more dangerous to Mexico than the related immigration of those same citizens into the US. The fact that Mexico's incompetent elite are able to export the negative results of their corrupt and failed administration - i.e. a growing impoverished population - across the border gives them no incentive to repair their economic infrastructure. If anything is to be held against Mexican immigrants, whether they hold a visa or otherwise, it is that they are doing their home country a great disservice by taking the path of least resistance and leaving. The waving of the Mexican flag by protesters demanding to be allowed to move to the US is rather comical, when one considers the level of patriotism required to raise a piece of cloth compared to that required to give your life for the ideal that it represents.
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