“It just doesn’t seem rational," is how I was quoted in today's New York Times front page story about Pres. Obama supposedly being committed to moving a mass amnesty forward this year. So, for about the next 12 hours, I answered phone calls from print reporters and did radio shows across the country.
Despite the Times' very difficult financial position and the hatred it evokes from a sizable part of the public, you can quickly understand its continuing power over the nation's media when you are quoted in one of its controversial stories.
Every time it happens to me, my phone literally is ringing all day long from reporters, talk hosts, bloggers, researchers, foreign press, Hispanic press.
The New York Times still sets a lot of the agenda of the whole nation's news media.
What got things going today was Julia Preston's story that quoted a "senior administration official" under the headline:
Obama to Push Immigration Bill as One Priority
By the end of the day, nearly every open-borders group in America had sent out mass emails declaring victory and calling on their members to call the White House to tell them not to listen to the protests from groups like NumbersUSA.
Part of their excitement, no doubt, was that one of their own was the "senior administration official" delivering the pro-amnesty news. Cecilia Muñoz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House, was until recently a vice president of the National Council of La Raza
Reporter Preston clearly understood that the chief problem with Munoz's pro-amnesty comments was how they played against the nation's terrible unemployment problem. She wrote this:
Opponents of legalization legislation were incredulous at the idea that Mr. Obama would take on immigration when economic pain for Americans is so widespread.
“It just doesn’t seem rational that any political leader would say, let’s give millions of foreign workers permanent access to U.S. jobs when we have millions of Americans looking for jobs,” said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a group that favors reduced immigration. Mr. Beck predicted that Mr. Obama would face “an explosion” if he proceeded this year.
“It’s going to be, ‘You’re letting them keep that job, when I could have that job,’ ” he said.
In all my interviews today, I talked about two numbers that illustrate starkly the irrationality -- and callousness -- of any move toward an amnesty this year.
Cecilia Munoz is suggesting that her boss, Pres. Obama, thinks it is a good idea to tell those 7 million unemployed Americans that the jobs they want should continue to be occupied (permanently) by 6 million illegal foreign workers!
I'm hoping that is not Mr. Obama's idea at all but what we were seeing was the result of Munoz drawing the short trial balloon and being the one who had to publicly float it to see if the American public is distracted enough not to notice what a crazy idea that would be.
But Cecilia wasn't the only one trying to sell nonsense. Reporter Preston quotes other Administration officials as saying that . . .
. . . Mr. Obama’s plan would not add new workers to the American work force, but that it would recognize millions of illegal immigrants who have already been working here.
That is another trial balloon to see if the public believes that illegal immigration is a victimless crime. Every manufacturing, service and construction job an illegal alien is allowed to keep tends to mean that an American stays unemployed. Now that sounds like a good campaign theme for congressional re-elections.
Of course, maybe I was floating a trial balloon myself in talking about "an explosion" if Pres. Obama pushes an amnesty this year. I am depending on Americans to stand up for themselves and speak up. We certainly will give everybody a chance to do so through our Action Buffet system. If you haven't told the White House what you think of Cecilia Munoz's comments this week, please do so now.
Cecilia says Mr. Obama will speak to the nation about his amnesty plans in May and then will bring "immigration groups" and other experts together during the summer to hammer out a plan.
But the Times story details no promise of bringing the amnesty to a vote this year.
I think the White House is waiting to judge the public's reactions to the amnesty efforts before committing itself. If Americans sit on their hands every time a White House Official says something irrational about immigration, then the irrational may start to seem rational.
Looks like Mr. Obama may be depending on you to help him stand up to the irrational open-borders groups.
ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA
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Suzan 7303 of FL
Fri, 05/22/2009 - 1:56am
Re: Standing Up To The Irrational: Can Obama Do It On Immigrati
One of the points that I always make and is a pet peeve with me, is the fact that every illegal that works is committing fraud, excluding those that work under the table. Even on NCLR's website they tout that illegals DO pay taxes and they have the nerve to say through false or stolen ID. Since when is fraud acceptable to pay taxes? This is an outrage! Tens of billions of dollars reported to the IRS through mis-matched w-2's. And the sad part about it is, families that need help are qualified by their income. Even if Grandma has too much "added" income while she is drawing SS she will have to pay taxes. Does nobody care if little Johnny goes to bed hungry because Mommy no longer qualifies for food stamps? Where are our leaders?
It is so sad, because while Americans are made to feel guilty and unchristian, racist and bigoted, because these people only want a better life, we have not just homeless but homeless families. It is heartbreaking that our officials don't care.
My niece volunteered over last Thanksgiving Holiday with her co workers to feed the homeless. She said she cried the whole time she was there. They ran out of food and the kids were hungry. Horrible!
I tell all of them (faxes to Reps.)that anyone that participates in this talk about work that Americans can't or won't do gets a slap down at the voting booth because that is the biggest falsehood I have ever heard. It is about time people start denouncing this kind of talk. The same thing for our skilled workers and the need for visas. My Goodness, you would think the working class and our skilled workers just dropped off the face of the earth!
I agree, our news media has done a very poor job on this issue (exceptions are few).