Dan Stein of F.A.I.R., Federation for American Immigration Reform, a well-known anti-Latin American immigration organization appeared with Alan Colmes on this week's Versus. In case you're unfamiliar with Dan, he is prominently featured in what he calls a 'looney' fringe organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center because of his white, nationalist views. He is featured under the tags extremist and hate group.
Colmes quoted him, verbatim, about some things he's said in the past, and every single time, Stein pivoted and wiggled his way out of answering by simply denying facts. Stein used the term 'anchor baby' as far back as 1997, and doesn't see how that could be a slur. He's said that immigrants take part in 'competitive breeding,' even though he denies it. From the SPLC:
"I blame ninety-eight percent of responsibility for this country's immigration crisis on Ted Kennedy and his political allies, who decided some time back in 1958, earlier perhaps, that immigration was a great way to retaliate against Anglo-Saxon dominance and hubris, and the immigration laws from the 1920s were just this symbol of that, and it's a form of revengism, or revenge, that these forces continue to push the immigration policy that they know full well are creating chaos and will continue to create chaos down the line."
— “Oral History of the Federation for American Immigration Reform," interview by John Tanton, August 1994
"Immigrants don't come all church-loving, freedom-loving, God-fearing. … Many of them hate America; hate everything that the United States stands for. Talk to some of these Central Americans."
— “The Intellectual Roots of Nativism,” interviewed by Tucker Carlson for the Wall Street Journal, Oct. 2, 1997
I can't imagine I said what I said there, Stein denied. Which means, wow, that sounds really shitty, I can't admit that!
Alan reminds him about his preference for Anglo Saxon immigration over that dirty, yucky Latin American-based immigration and he doesn't admit to that either. Then Stein calls the SPLC an illegitimate group, which is utterly false. Stein thinks that the immigration of the last 40 years is 'unlike anything we've ever seen before.' He thinks the numbers are far greater than the immigration from Europe at the beginning of the 20th Century. That's because he wants to believe that, not because facts back that up.
Stein also derided Senator Harry Reid for evolving on his early 1990's birthright citizenship challenge, who now fully supports the well-established 14th Amendment. Senator David 'the Diaper' Vitter recently quoted a 1993 Harry Reid, who has since evolved on his views, so Mr. F.A.I.R. claims that it's 'Harry Reid's problem.'
Continuing his confrontational style, he challenged the assertion that SCOTUS has upheld birthright citizenship every time it has crossed their purview. Colmes cites specific examples and Stein claims that's a whole different set of facts. They are a different set of facts because he disagrees with the facts. Dan believes that a mother who has never presented herself before 'dropping anchor' is not the mother of a legitimate citizen. He also accuses Alan of not wanting us to be a sovereign nation, and Colmes quickly silences that stupid claim.
The white supremacist, fascist-nationalist crowd goes for this crap, but a liberal like Alan Colmes doesn't fall for his garbage. Much to Alan's chagrin, this interview went on a little too long, because the subject insisted on rewriting history. Isn't that the whole M.O. of the GOP? Deny, deflect, denigrate, and defame. Hell, it works for Donald Trump, right?
