Have They No Decency?

THE ancestors of Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, Michael Reagan and Patrick Kennedy, came to America around the time of the Famine at a time of rampant anti-Irish discrimination and would probably recognize the America of today.

Once again fear of alien foreigners again stalks the land, aided in large part by demonizing politicians and grandstanding journalists only too anxious to stir the melting pot.

The politicians are not the only ones culpable. Like Thomas Nast in Puck magazine who demonized the Irish as apes and monkeys, we have a cadre of cable media types, angry and rich white men of privilege who peddle soft racism against illegal immigrants.

The book contracts get fatter as a result and the ratings go higher. As WB Yeats wrote, "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."

Then there's the mainstream media which demurs and flutters its eyes behind its fans like Geishas, but also like to play the "bash the immigrants" game.

CNN set up the recent Republican presidential debate so that the first segment could be a gladiatorial contest about who could beat up illegal immigrants the most. Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani dutifully obliged. Mike Huckabee and John McCain did not, to their eternal credit.

I thought of Jose from Ecuador, an undocumented immigrant I met recently. He showed his daughter's picture. She's 12 and he hasn't seen her in 11 years. His Western Union money order helps her attend school and his family survive.

Michael Reagan and Patrick Kennedy would have approved of this good and decent family man. I suspect their famous offspring would have too.

At the NBC Democratic debate they played gotcha with the driver's license for illegals issue, catching Hillary Clinton in the headlights, much to their delight. In neither case did the journalists seek even a smidgeon of balance as to how the questions were asked or the answers challenged.

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Nster.com