Did Dan Stein, president of the recognized hate group FAIR, miss the fact that 15 of his anti-immigrant allies in the House of Representatives just got booted out?
In a Nov. 20th op-ed in the Washington Times, Stein painted a much rosier picture of the anti-immigrant landscape. Well yesterday Kevin Appleby, of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, stepped in to expose his shoddy analysis in a letter to the editor. He conjures a striking visual of the Stein op-ed:
If I had to draw it, his article would look like an ostrich with its head in the sand.
Appleby goes on to cite numbers that show just how deeply Stein and his FAIR colleagues have dug their heads in:
Despite Mr. Stein’s claims, commentators on both the left and right have concluded that immigration indeed was a factor in Hispanic voters decisively supporting pro-immigrant candidates in the November election. Exit polls and other studies show that the anti-immigrant rhetoric used by many candidates in 2006 and 2008 – taken from Mr. Stein’s talking points, no doubt – had a demonstrable effect on how Hispanics voted. Hispanic voters concluded, understandably, that attacks on undocumented immigrants were attacks on them and their communities.
The results bear this out: In the election, pro-immigrant forces gained as many as 28 votes, and anti-immigrant groups lost 15 votes in the House of Representatives.
The American people have seen through the hateful rhetoric of the Federation for American Immigration Reform and support a comprehensive and humane solution to the country’s illegal immigration problem. The 111th Congress would be wise to agree. Indeed, a recent Zogby poll found that 69 percent of Catholics support a path to citizenship for the undocumented.
