The habits of rhetoric without action, and obfuscation for political gains are deeply ingrained in the Virginia Republican party, and Attorney General McDonnell have taken these habits to heart in his own efforts to become Governor in 2010.
Bacon's Rebellion has more details.
Boasting that his cooperation with federal and state law enforcement authorities could be a model nationally, McDonnell said that more than 171 immigrant sex offenders had been identified and set up for deportation.The entire article by Peter Galuszka is well worth a read.
A closer reading (see my column, "The Big Lie?") shows that most of the foreign-born people on the sex offenders list weren’t here, had been deported or were about to be deported. That’s hardly a call to arms for ever tougher enforcement.
It doesn’t matter, though, because headlines boost McDonnell, GOP gubernatorial candidate in 2009, once again unfairly tainting newcomers for craven political purposes. - Bacon's Rebellion
With many of the Republicans running for office in Virginia in 2008 and 2009, voters would do well to remember President Reagan's maxim: "Trust, but verify."
4 comments:
Below is a article from the Staunton News Leader, which addresses your post. Unfortunately, I would have to disagree strongly with the Bacon's Rebellion Op Ed. Peter just gets it totally wrong here.
It is not in the mainstream of Virginia thinking to be an apologist for absolutely every possible criminal out there. Here is an example, check out the "progressive" article below:
http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080225/OPINION01/802250309/1014/OPINION
If the Republican position on immigration is "mainstream" then why did the Republicans lose seats in both houses of the Assembly last year running on that position? It would seem to be the case that the mainstream position is the one that wins a majority of votes, and only one official in Virginia (Corey Stewart for Board Chair in Prince William) actually won a majority of votes on the issue. In all other parts of the commonwealth, the majority chose a more moderate position on immigration.
Furthermore, conflating reasonable examination of assertions about migrants with being "an apologist for absolutely every possible criminal out there" is a classic "straw man / red herring" fallacy.
The evidence provided for your critique (the editorial in the New Leader) itself shows you have set up a false dichotomy. It can be, and is, the case that deportation of violent criminals who are undocumented is a good idea, and most of those people had been deported anyhow, and Bob McDonnell had very little to do with it.
Thank you for your comment. We welcome all feedback, and I encourage you to take a look at the discussion of logical fallacies to help structure the discussion going forward.
My post stated mainstream in the sense that "It is not in the mainstream of Virginia thinking to be an apologist for absoultely every possible criminal out there."
In your post, paradox, you twist this to apply mainstream thinking to apply generally to immigration.
My comment was that generally speaking other than some out-of-the-mainstream liberals, most Virginians do not believe in the Power of Apologetics to Defend Illegal Aliens whom have molested or raped our sons and daughters. That was my point. I believe there is widespread disagreement on immigration issues generally, but not on this point that we should deport illegal alien felons who prey on our children.
Yet as seen by the Bacon's Rebellion post, some are willing to apologize for everyone no matter how gruesome and horrible the crime.
On your other point, a few moderate Republicans lost in primaries, but that had nothing to do with immigration, but rather that they lost touch with their constituencies.
virginian, thanks for continuing the discussion.
I do not think there is a real disagreement here. Peter G. and others (including myself) do not believe that any criminal who has been convicted of a crime should go unpunished. The arrest and deportation of undocumented migrants who have committed serious crimes is not at issue. All agree this is a good idea.
At issue is whether AG McDonnell's claiming credit for deportations that would have taken place anyhow is legitimate. To quote Peter G:
"One cut left them with 171 immigrants, legal or illegal. Of those, 84 had left the U.S. voluntarily or been deported, 132 were in state prisons already and were ready to be deported. A whopping 36 dangerous sex maniacs actually became new arrests."
The point is that AG McDonnell took credit for keeping 171 dangerous immigrants off the streets as a result of his initiative, when in reality only 36 of those 171 were resultant from his initiative.
It is this kind of record-polishing at the expense of a population with few (if any) rights that we take issue with.
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