Republican
lawmakers have decided that bashing immigrants is good politics.
Gosh, has it been two whole years since Republican leaders vowed to reach out to Latino voters with “a more welcoming, inclusive message” and “positive solutions on immigration”?
My how time flies when you’re having elections. The GOP’s
“outreach” was on full display by their candidates this year during the
midterms.
The general message was: “Elect me, because I’ll lock down the
whole Mexican border to protect you from those illegal hordes of diseased,
drug-connected Hispanics and Ebola-carrying Islamic terrorists coming to kill
you and live on welfare.”
Tom Cotton of Arkansas, for example, won a U.S. Senate seat in part by fomenting fear of foreigners.
Lying right through his teeth, Cotton warned of a murderous mass invasion by two stereotypical boogeymen: “Groups like the Islamic State collaborate with drug cartels in Mexico,” he said excitedly.
Then Cotton delivered his comic punch line: “They could
infiltrate our defenseless border and attack us right here in places like
Arkansas.”
Yeah, the secret dream of every Middle Eastern jihadist is to
conquer Pine Bluff. And this guy is going to be a senator now? Lord have mercy.
It’s bad enough to campaign on such twaddle, but a gaggle of
right-wing senators actually hopes to act on it. The president of the Senate
Twaddle Caucus, Ted Cruz, recently claimed on Fox News that the 2014 elections
were a referendum on amnesty. According to him, “the American people
overwhelmingly said, ‘We don’t want amnesty.’”
Actually, they said no
such thing. Exit polls show that 57 percent of voters favor letting
undocumented immigrants get legal status, rather than deporting them.
But forget facts — and forget inclusivity — Republican lawmakers
have decided that bashing immigrants is good politics.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is
a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He’s also editor of the
populist newsletter, The Hightower
Lowdown. OtherWords.org