We knew Buddy Witherspoon had his problems with people who are different coming into the country. Yeah, yeah, he said the usual stuff latter-day nativists say, about how it’s just because they broke the law, but he was pretty frank that he was worried these folks would "weaken our common culture and national identity." And we know about his past associations.
But hey, at least ol’ Buddy did limit himself to the illegals. Here’s what Bob Conley, whose thin vote margin over Michael Cone for the Democratic nomination to this very same Senate seat will likely trigger a recount, has to say on his Web site:
The legal
importation of foreign workers is also driving down wages, and placing
Americans in unemployment lines. This is wrong, and must end.
He elaborated on this in our interview. He complained in particular about foreign engineers coming into the country, making it hard for American engineers to get jobs. Mr. Conley describes himself as "a Commercial Pilot and a Flight Instructor as well as a licensed Professional Engineer," so apparently he knows about these things.
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A lot of the legal importation of cheap labor is not to supply a shortage of labor, but to create a surplus of labor in competition for wages.
A lot of what appears on paper to be legal importation of foreign labor is actually illegal, because the workers and employers lie on the applications. This is rampant in the IT field.
I was talking to a young man from France, college educated, who has been here working since 1995, without getting citizenship. Meanwhile, millions of Indians and Chinese have entered “legally” on false documents, and 30,000,000 Latinos have illegally crossed the Mexican border to suck up $40 BILLION annually in welfare benefits.
I like the way you’ve embraced and begun using the term ‘nativist’ Brad. Eight months ago and before John McCain first threw this term out (at least I think it was him…it sounds like the sort of infuriatingly condescending term he’d use to advance his open borders agenda) no one had even heard it. And yet, here you are dutifully repeating it and using it as if it was a term you’d been tossing around all your life.
Sickening. I wonder how you get enough air with your head so far up McCains’ patoot.
Things are pretty cut and dried for you once you’ve made up your mind that someone you disagree with is wrong, aren’t they? Calling someone a nativist enables you to dismiss him without thought or effort doesn’t it?
And The State newspapers’ slow death spiral continues merrily along. David
I bet Brad is seething that Knotts is getting his come-upance. Look at how Knotts has turned Cayce/West Columbia into a haven for illegals. I guess we are xenophobes for pointing that out, right, Brad?
What a shocker! Brad’s big advertisement on this blog page is paid for with taxpayer money (DHEC). Brad, you could not make it a day as a private businessman.
john,
Knotts and his ilk — i.e., Donnie Myers, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, etc., etc., etc., are race baiters. No matter what they seem to be doing NOW, in the end, they will stir up a fracas to further their own agendas.
john, in what type of occupation are you employed? Is it privately owned? Government subsidized? Legal?
Just curious. It would only be fair to divulge that info — if you are going to start slinging s**t.
I will be contacting both DHEC and the governor’s office to inquire why taxpayer money is being wasted to support Brad’s overtly political blog, and I encourage anyone who reads this to do the same. Forcing us to support this nonsense is insulting and wrong.
Get rid of illegal immigrants and who’s gonna pick you crops for wages that make food fairly cheap?
Gee, Karen, I don’t know…maybe someone who gets paid a fair wage to do it?
Is nativist a pejorative term, the new “n” word, even though only a native citizen can become president?
Is it wrong for me to prefer to hear people speak English, a language I understand, rather than Spanish, a language I don’t?
Does it mean that somebody who’s been paying taxes for two or three decades shouldn’t get any preference over someone who hasn’t paid any taxes at all?
I guess that in this new culture that values diversity more than knowledge or identity, being a nativist must be politically incorrect.
But because that makes just as much sense as putting a $2 tax on a gallon of gas to free us from the Middle East, sign me up as a nativist.
Heck, I voted for that Conley guy, anyway, even though I’d never heard of him or his opponent. Or maybe I voted for Cone. Doesn’t really matter. I’ll vote for Grahamnesty in the fall, anyway, even if I don’t agree with his immigration ideas.
Have I been using “nativist” all my life? Duh. Yes, just as I use terms such as “federalist” and “capitalist.” Although there wasn’t much reason to use it at work until it became such a political force again recently.
I majored in history, David. The Know-Nothings, et al., are a basic part of that history. It’s undergraduate stuff.
Maybe I can make the point through popular culture. Did you see “Gangs of New York?” The guys on one side of those vicious fights were Irish. The ones on the other side were nativists. Can’t remember whether they used the word in the movie or not, but that’s the word.
The only thing that’s new to me is what you just told me — that McCain used the word. I hadn’t noticed (although I do recall some flap about the word “bigot” being used). But then, why would I notice? It’s the natural word to use.
Was the term actually a new one to you?
john,
re: “I will be contacting both DHEC and the governor’s office…”
Though you didn’t answer my question, you DID indicate that you might be one of a gazillion meddling lawyers around this state.
To which, Brad, I would just have to say this to ol’ john — I mean, if it were MY blog, you know:
“Quiver Quiver Shake Shake”
History…no surprise there. I knew it wasn’t Journalism. By the way, when referencing a field of study, “history” becomes “History.” However, since neither English nor Journalism was your chosen field, I guess you have an excuse. Quit mocking your readers (especially by referencing your underwhelming education)!
I actually hadn’t heard the term “nativist” before, so thank you for introducing it to me. I shall begin using it in my own posts and comments, as I think it sounds more polite than “xenophobe.” (Not as many points in Scrabble, though.)
One day, it will dawn on the purveyors of the new world order of thought that trying to put someone in a box that won’t hold his or her arms and legs may do more harm than good.
No one is simply a nativist or xenophobe or racist or English major or Gamecock or Tiger. There’s more to any of us than the latest fashionable label.
The term “nativist” was new to me, too. I must confess that I know nothing about the Know-Nothings, nor shall I tomorrow nor next week.
Alas, I majored in English and took French and German as foreign languages, so I have not been prepared for the influx of Spanish.
But if I must learn Spanish to evade the thought police, I will at least pretend to.
nativist (noun) : A sociopolitical policy, especially in the United States in the 19th century, favoring the interests of established inhabitants over those of immigrants.
I REALLY hope Lindsey Graham runs on a platform of being an anti-nativist. PLEASE! Do you think he would dare to say he favors the interests of immigrants over established inhabitants? Especially immigrants who break American laws to enter the country and find work? Oh, please, Lindsey, I’m begging you to come out and say that.
Keep ignoring reality, Brad. The impact of illegal immigrants on our economy and society in general is obvious. And it’s not for the better.
And aside from laws related to entering the United States and identity theft, could you ask Senator Graham (the lawyer) what other laws he doesn’t think are worth enforcing?
It would be good to know what the legal system is like in Lindseyland.
Doug, your definition of nativist says nothing about illegal immigrants. An immigrant, assuming he or she is legal, has generally the same rights as a citizen, as far as employment, courts, etc, goes, right? Unless, like p.m., your rights should somehow be determined on how long you’ve been paying taxes.
Well another “N” word. Disagree with Brad and you are either a nazi or a nativist. It has been my experience in life that when someone is incapable of making a point they resort to name calling.
By George Brad, I think you have hit on something here, or perhaps you have stepped on a few toes. Ta Ta…
Well bud, I think the votes are in. Like I keep telling you, your views do not fit in our community. You are personally responsible in many ways for the ongoing deterioration of our hometown newspaper and the mounting frustration many of us feel. Your endless attacks on Gov. Sanford, while acting as an accomplice for the thieves in the legislature and amnesty leaders in national government have won you nothing but what you deserve- SCORN. If you’d like employment with the San Francisco Chronicle, we’d all be happy to provide you with a reference. Then again, finding another job as an editor would be difficult for someone who confuses “right” with “write.” Not to mention bashing the few remaining readers you have. My guess is you will end up on Lindsey’s staff at some point.
Penultimo, you’ve got it absolutely right when you say:
By George, I think you’re ready for the UnParty!
Oh, and to clarify — I’m not the one who made a big deal about the word "nativist." I just used the word in the ordinary way, and didn’t mean for it to attract so much attention. Then someone else got us off on the etymology, and the word sort of took over the discussion.
MYTH: We need illegals to pick our crops.
FACT: There are millions of unemployed Americans, including American farm workers. Multiple studies by the U of California, Clemson, Texas A&M and other agriculture schools show that paying the prevailing wages for American citizen farm workers would only raise the price of a head of lettuce by 8 cents.
Crops used to be picked in the summers by high school and college students. Today, they are unemployed because illegal Mexicans work cheaper and off the tax books.
By the way — "john" and others, I continued this conversation (sort of) in a new post.
Hey Brad, had “past associations” meant anything, Obama would be back on the streets of Chicago doing “community organizing” with the racists and anti-Semites in his “church”, not running for president of the United States!
Yes, people are and should be concerned about ILLEGAL immigration and legal high tech workers taking jobs. The US high tech workers probably have tens of thousands of dollars in student loans to pay back and are having their jobs outsourced or “Bill Gated” to lower wage foreign workers who for all we know are probably sudsidized by our own government to take these jobs.
Lindsey Graham is an embarrassment to South Carolina and should be ashamed that he beat Mr. Witherspoon by only 50%. After spending being an incumbent and spending 3 MILLION DOLLARS to Witherspoons paltry 200K, he should have won by over 90%.
I’ve been my own party for as long as I can remember, Mr. Warthen.
Whatever or whoever makes sense, that’s it for me.
“Bob Conley, whose thin vote margin over Michael Cone for the Democratic nomination to this very same Senate seat will likely trigger a runoff . . . ”
A runoff? In your dreams!
A recount, on the other hand, can happen in a matter of hours (or minutes?) now and will only confirm what the initial count has revealed: your and Graham’s preselected loser Democratic opponent lost one election too soon for your plans!
Lind$ey Graham will have to spend some more corporate lobbyists’ millions against Bob Conley, an opponent who can and will win in this state.
Conley is your worst nightmare: an old time Jeffersonian Southern Democrat. He is a true populist who cares about the workers in this state who are still plucking the knives out of their backs from Graham’s continued assaults on their lives and livelihoods.
In addition, our boys are being maimed and killed policing Iraq in an occupation with no end that serves only to funnel millions of dollars to politicians and their favor factories. We’ve won the war and given the Iraqis a fair chance to start over. Unless we’re now planning to annex Iraq and make it the 51st state, we need to have an orderly turn-over of power and LEAVE.
You, however, apparently support Graham’s endless occupations and policing of the world. The two of you seem to enjoy the blood-letting at the expense of citizens’ lives and taxes.
The voters of South Carolina will now have a fighting chance to make a REAL difference and wrest control of our destinies from the hands of the warmongering neo-cons.
With Bob Conley, we can have secure borders, secure jobs, and a secure economy. It would be nice for American CITIZENS to have a chance at the American dream again!
In addition, our boys are being maimed and killed policing Iraq in an occupation with no end that serves only to funnel millions of dollars to politicians and their favor factories. We’ve won the war and given the Iraqis a fair chance to start over. Unless we’re now planning to annex Iraq and make it the 51st state, we need to have an orderly turn-over of power and LEAVE.
-Lee
Did Lee really write that? Must be a different Lee. Either way it’s right-on. I must be going mad. I’ve agreed with Joe Wilson and Lee in the same day!
Democrats bet the farm on America losing in Iraq and we are winning. The Surge has worked and they can’t stand it.
Sorry. Obviously, I meant recount. Just trying to throw y’all something on a busy day…
“Democrats bet the farm on America losing in Iraq and we are winning. The Surge has worked and they can’t stand it.”
So what? We can “win” there for another hundred years. What will it have accomplished? We “won” in Vietnam the entire time we were there. It turned into a similar situation to the one we have going now.
There is no real concept of what is required to occur there before we will announce our withdrawal. What is “peace” there? Is it just one IED per month or can we allow two?
We can’t win wars we never declare are over. In fact, we can’t LEGALLY BE at war unless Congress DECLARES war which the craven cowards there have not done since WWII. It’s OUR Constitution and THEY are not paying attention to it.
Why did it take so long for the surge to come about? Iraq until then was a slow boil situation that kept things going just about right for the contractor/military industrial gravy train. Then some public pressure was put on the administration and they decided to make a show of trying to “win” the occupation with the surge.
My point is, our politicians are content staying at “war” for as long as they can get away with it. I, on the other hand, think that if Congress agrees to declare war, we should go in there, fight the war and get out. Let the IRAQIS sort it out afterwards.
If Iraq, after our leaving, were to establish a regime that is hostile to us, we can go in and take it out again far more cheaply in terms of lives and tax dollars than our becoming part of Iraq’s infrastructure wherein the US taxpayers are bilked for trillions of dollars and we refuse to accept compensation in oil for our actions. If we’re going to act as mercenaries, at the very least we should be paid for the job!
In the meantime, we need to give ourselves a Marshall plan to secure our borders and ports HERE in order to fend off the eventual radioactive devices headed our way. Our politicians have their heads in the sand and their hands in our pockets and in the pockets of generations yet unborn. Our people, on the other had, are happy going to the mall. If you’re content with this situation, you’re part of the problem.
–Lee
We won every battle in Vietnam, but the Democrats reneged on supplying arms to the South Vietnamese when US forces withdrew. They were so angry that Nixon had been elected to end the war started and fumbled by Kennedy and Johnson. The communists slaughtered 5 million people, and the Democrat media swept it under the rug.
The same Vietnam era hippies are now in the US Senate and Congress, and determined to undo the victory in Iraq achieved by GW Bush, after Clinton’s failure to stop the terrorists operating out of there.
The xenophobia label is an inadeqate description and doesn’t address the truth of the matter. How about liberty? Liberty is deeply rooted in private property and non-aggression by the state. The intentional mass immigration is another aggressive big governement program. Driving down wages and living standards is the opposite of promoting prosperity and the general welfare.
The liberal policies that Graham and his ilk promote serve only to promote the prosperity of them and their corporate allies at the neglect of their constituents: the American worker and entrepreneur.
While Conley’s propositions aren’t perfect, they are certainly better than Graham’s pathetic ‘moderation’ (code word for leftist).
To see how idiotic Graham’s arguments are on immigration, just apply them to any other crimes.
* Would he grant amnesty to drug users because there are just too many of them here already to lock up?
* Would he forgive all back taxes for everyone BESIDES the illegal aliens?
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