Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) continues to try to defend her anti-
immigrant
policies, and isn't above _using shameless demagoguery_
(http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/
brewer_claims_illeg...
_the.php) to scare people into agreeing with her.
In an interview on Fox News last week, for example, she claimed: "We
cannot
afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with
it,
everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the
extortion and the beheadings ..."
There's no better way, it seems, to make the case for strict
anti-immigration laws than to claim that undocumented immigrants are
pouring into the
country to decapitate innocent Americans. But just because she says
it on
television doesn't make it true.
Brewer didn't just slip up; she seems to seriously believe immigrants
who've entered the U.S. illegally are engaged in "beheadings." Offered
a chance
to walk it back on a local public affairs show this week, Brewer
insisted
that there have been "bodies in the desert ... that have been
beheaded."
When told that media research could find no such incidents, the
governor
didn't care.
Eventually, a spokesperson for Brewer said that the Arizona governor
_may
not have been referring to incidents in Arizona_
(http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/
brewer_claims_illeg...
) , but could have meant illegal immigrants beheading people in other
states.
First, Brewer was clearly talking about Arizona. Second, there aren't
reports of beheading in other border states, either. Third, this is
probably the
most unpersuasive spin I've heard since the RNC spokesperson _tried
to
explain_
(http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/
2010_07/024551.php) Michael Steele rejecting the RNC's line on
Afghanistan.
There's no great mystery here. For Republicans like Jan Brewer, the
goal
is to literally terrify the American public. In this case, that means
connecting illegal immigration to images Americans have seen of
terrorists
beheading the innocent, and hoping people are confused enough to miss
the
distinction between a Mexican worker, hoping to provide for his/her
family, and
members of al Qaeda.
But trying to connect crime to immigration problems is _a losing
proposition_ (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/
2010_05/023621.php)
.—_Steve Benen_ (mailto:sbe...@washingtonmonthly.com) 1:25 PM
_Permalink_
(http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/
2010_07/024552.php)
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