And THIS Is The Guy Who's Probably Going To Be The Candidate

[filkertom]

Yesterday, Mittens was asked about immigration reform. Among the things he said:"You don't have a way of telling, if someone comes and they speak with an accent do you say, well, are you here legally or illegally?"
Somehow, I bet he doesn't wonder if someone's here illegally if they have a Boston accent. Or a Brooklyn accent. Or an Italian accent

Comments

[phillip2637]

I sometimes wonder if these people are clever enough to put forward extreme positions, not because they expect broad support for them, but because it will move the perceived "center" of U.S. political thought some distance in their preferred direction. For example, could a NDAA have been signed without the normalization of military operations established in people's minds by Guantanamo Bay?

In Canada, we saw a similar effect -- though in the opposite direction -- with the advance of the New Democratic Party in the 1960s. They didn't have the power to bring about social change directly but they moved the country's mainstream dialog a substantial step to the left.

[awfulhorrid]

This is actually one of my fears about our current crop of politicians. Obama is far enough to the right to be a Republican from not so long ago, yet the current Republicans are able to successfully paint him with the liberal and socialist brush. It's a bit of a trap, too. It doesn't matter how far to the right the Democrats drift, as long as my only other viable option is a Republican, I'll pretty much have to vote Democrat.

[filkertom]

Absolutely. I guess what I'll never understand is the need or desire to make people afraid so you can jerk them around.

[filkertom]

I see what you're saying, but I don't necessarily agree. There are many, many ways to manipulate and control people, and just as many reasons, and somehow I have a lot of trouble putting "making people think you are entertaining so they won't hit you for being weaker than them" on the same number line as "making people afraid of what you want them to be afraid of so you can advance your political and economic agenda".

[alverant]

The reason why Mittens wasn't called out on it? IOKIYAR The crowd new EXACTLY what he meant and agreed with it. They just can't admit it publically without looking bad in the public's eyes. And that's the wost thing a Republcian can do.

[scifantasy]

You know what's really frustrating? What he's saying could so easily have been a repudiation of exactly that logic. He could have taken almost the same words and rearranged them and come up with a statement that was just as strong for his point and probably scored him points with independents and, especially, legal immigrants.

Recall, Romney is speaking about the need for employment verification of immigration status. If he had said it like this:

"We need to have employment verification, because it's not as if you can tell who's here legally or illegally just by their accent."

...then, whatever your thoughts on employment verification schemes, at least you would recognize that he's arguing for facts, not speculation, and review not based on profiling characteristics such as accents.

In fact, when I first read the transcript, I thought he might well have been saying just that. The wording was somewhat ambiguous. Then I listened to the recording, and what he's saying is this:

"We need to have employment verification, because you

[shockwave77598]

But Tom, it's vitally important to make the citizens fear something, and that you will do something about that $threat. Because if you do not, then a bored populace won't bother to vote for you, if at all. Whoever can make people piss themselves the most is the winner.

For the leadership caste to exist, there has to be a constant danger. For if there's no need to lead, people don't care much about obeying their leaders. Now that the big money has the sheeple nice and scared after 9/11, it would be foolish of them to give up that fear and the power it gives them. So the ministry of truth simply changes faces and changes targets from year to year; that's all.

The only real solution is for the populace itself to NOT be afraid of anything. This is my approach. The odds of me being killed by a terrorist or raped by a gay muslim illegal alien on food stamps is far more remote than my chances of being struck by lightning. So I don't fret about it.