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12/22/2002 02:23:00 AM | Timothy

No canonization of Bush, but send him to hell for the sins he does commit

Sigh. I hate to say it, but I feel like Brad when I ask if Jared even read my post. I said what I was disputing was that Bush used anti-immigrant rhetoric in his 2000 campaign. Jared said: "And, Tim, how can you ignore the blatant violations of civil-liberties recent immigrants and foreigners are feeling post-9/11?" I count THREE references to 9/11 in my post ": "Whatever Bush's policies have been since Sept. 11" and "So there is no puzzle as to why Bush's recent actions are consistent with his pre-Sept. 11 rhetoric. " and [added a half hour after I initially posted] "I believe Bush was even considering an amnesty or something like that for illegal immigrants (before Sept. 11 stopped this... " Clearly I was not saying Bush's actions since 9/11 have not been anti-immigrant. THey have been atrocious. What I don't think his actions are directed at an invasion by Hispanic immgrants. But to pretend they are predicted by his 2000 campaign rhetoric is ridiculous. In fact, Bush even said during the campaign he would look into eliminating the use of secret evidence in court. Pre-9/11 Arab Americans were particularly happy about this piece of political show boating. And right after 9/11, Fox was unhappy that Karl Rove's plans to relax security barriers with Mexico were put on hold. What would have happened without 9-11 on immigration? We'll never know, but it does not appear Bush's bigotry would have destined this administration to become anti-immigration.

Jared said that Bush used rhetoric dehumanizing immigrants (he linked to an article by another author saying that immigrants from Mexico were launching an attack on America). Bush has never used that rhetoric, and Jared has not produced any quotes from the campaign. I'm not even sure that is rhetoric (as oppossed to action) that is like that since 9/11. Bush is NOT a hispanic-baiter like former Governor Pete Wilson in California (in fact, I believe Bush oppossed Proposition 187-- how does that square with Jared accusing him of saying Bush claims immigrants are attacking America, or other similar duhumanizing rhetoric?) So again, the still unanswered question of my earlier post was can Jared provide ANY quote or evidence to back up when he said that Bush "during his election talked a lot like the sub-human in the article referenced above." We can argue about the rest, I just want Jared to take back that quote and not compare Bush's rhetoric to this article.

So I think Jared has not shown that Bush's rhetoric was anything close to dehumanizing. I hope he agrees. He can continue to be suspicious of the man's motives if he likes, but I think that he uses pro-Hispanic rhetoric a lot. I remember doing policy debate in 1996 when the topic was immigration, and it looked like Pete Wilson might the Presidency on this issue. George Bush is not Pete Wilson. He's also no saint, far from it. I think Bush does this pro-Hispanic schtick to portray himself as a moderate Republican, and hide his evils in other areas. His grand plan is to court the Hispanic vote. (Let's also not forget his brother is married to a Hispanic) I know what this seems to imply: Bush is courting the racist vote to appease Southerners who hate blacks, but the one minority group he doesn't hate is Hispanics. Obviously that's a tricky illogic position, but I think it's close to Bush's strategy (who said bigotry has to be coherant) in that he has been working to actually be pro-Hispanic (at least pre-9-11, and even then I don't think his actions have been directed at hispanic immigrants, which is what Jared talk of rhetoric referred to). If you think all this is cosmetic, fine, maybe it is all for show, but I think he has put on far more of a show with regard to Hispanics than to African Americans, though I admit this is arguable.

Lastly, let's look at the evidence Jared produces to say Bush's ACTIONS show him to be a bigot (towards hispanics). What has Tom Jones [sic] University got to do with immigration? You think he was sending a signal to South Carolinians that he would oppose a border invasion? No, he was making a statement about race, but it was directed agaisnt African Americans. I'm NOT defending this at all, and I continually bring it up to illustrate how Republicans (even 'moderate' ones or ones said to 'not have a racist bone in their body') will resort to race baiting. But it was not dehumanizing rhetoric against immigrants. That's ridiculous. If you think going to Bob Jones was sending out a signal (and I do), we have to acknowledge what kind of signal it was. And it doesn't help Jared's case. As for the stuff on the Drug War, appalling stuff goes on in its name. Is Jared willing to say Clinton is just as anti-Hispanic as Bush? And every other President? That may be so, and he can make a case for it, but the Drug War began long before Bush (though I bet he has done more recent actions) and its basic outlines were in place before he came to office. As for the death penalty in Texas, I said Jared might be able to find some actions in Texas that help his case. I could argue Bush directs that mostly at African Americans, but I really have no idea, and I think that would be a little silly. His policies could easily be anti-hispanic. My point was that his rhetoric is not and pre-9/11 his policy advisors looked for proposals to back up this rhetoric. Being pro-Hispanic is something he has built his whole image on (yes, I am saying image, as oppossed to substance). How do you explain the large percentage of the Hispanic vote he got in Texas? Perhaps that all is a media myth (wouldn't be the first time), and I'm open to evidence to say it is, but I'm not convinced right now. I'm not denying there aren't lots of reasons Hispanics shouldn't vote against Bush, but what explains his popularity? The article Jared linked to about Bob Jones said nothing about Hispanics that I could see on my quick reading. What reason do we have to think in his heart of hearts Bush is anti-Hispanic bigot? I wouldn't doubt that Bush and the advisors he lets run things implement policies that are not in Hispanic's best interests (that's mild language obviously especially in the post-9-11 world). (Oh, I'm not a fan of Vicente Fox: didn't he used to be a Coca-cola executive?).

Whatever else Bush does, he does not use dehumanizing rhetoric like Jared claimed. I think to link Bush to people who language worse than Pete Wilson did deemphasizes how corrosive that rhetoric is. Jared can make a case why Bush's policies are still anti-Hispanic. My point is that Bush turned away (pre 9-11 at least) from an avenue that Wilson was pointing to, which would have been the type of virulent anti-immigration rhetoric that would have led to policies like prop 187. Why have I cared to emphasize all this? Because it does no good to make incredible accusations against Bush (at least without more evidence) when so many other charges are right on target.

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