04-10-2009, 07:18 PM
Standing Up To The Irrational: Can Obama Do It On Immigration? (strange Munoz utterings)
By Roy Beck, Thursday, April 9, 2009, 11:06 PM
âIt just doesnât seem rational," is how I was quoted in today's New York Times front page story about Pres. Obama supposedly being committed to moving a mass amnesty forward this year. So, for about the next 12 hours, I answered phone calls from print reporters and did radio shows across the country.
Despite the Times' very difficult financial position and the hatred it evokes from a sizable part of the public, you can quickly understand its continuing power over the nation's media when you are quoted in one of its controversial stories.
Every time it happens to me, my phone literally is ringing all day long from reporters, talk hosts, bloggers, researchers, foreign press, Hispanic press.
The New York Times still sets a lot of the agenda of the whole nation's news media.
What got things going today was Julia Preston's story that quoted a "senior administration official" under the headline:
Obama to Push Immigration Bill as One Priority
By the end of the day, nearly every open-borders group in America had sent out mass emails declaring victory and calling on their members to call the White House to tell them not to listen to the protests from groups like NumbersUSA.
Part of their excitement, no doubt, was that one of their own was the "senior administration official" delivering the pro-amnesty news. Cecilia Muñoz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House, was until recently a vice president of the National Council of La Raza.
Reporter Preston clearly understood that the chief problem with Munoz's pro-amnesty comments was how they played against the nation's terrible unemployment problem. She wrote this:
Opponents of legalization legislation were incredulous at the idea that Mr. Obama would take on immigration when economic pain for Americans is so widespread.
âIt just doesnât seem rational that any political leader would say, letâs give millions of foreign workers permanent access to U.S. jobs when we have millions of Americans looking for jobs,â said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a group that favors reduced immigration. Mr. Beck predicted that Mr. Obama would face âan explosionâ if he proceeded this year.
âItâs going to be, âYouâre letting them keep that job, when I could have that job,â â he said.
In all my interviews today, I talked about two numbers that illustrate starkly the irrationality -- and callousness -- of any move toward an amnesty this year.
* 6 million -- That is the estimate of illegal aliens who are holding down non-agricultural jobs in the U.S. Most of them are working in manufacturing, service and construction jobs that require no more than a high school education.
* Nearly 7 million -- That is the number of Americans with no more than a high school education who are looking for jobs (primarily in manufacturing, service and construction) but can't find one.
Cecilia Munoz is suggesting that her boss, Pres. Obama, thinks it is a good idea to tell those 7 million unemployed Americans that the jobs they want should continue to be occupied (permanently) by 6 million illegal foreign workers!
Let's hope that Munoz was the sacrificial lamb at the White House who drew the short trial balloon and had to float it to see if the American public is distracted enough not to notice what a crazy idea that would be.
But Cecilia wasn't the only one trying to sell nonsense. Reporter Preston quotes other Administration officials as saying that . . .
. . . Mr. Obamaâs plan would not add new workers to the American work force, but that it would recognize millions of illegal immigrants who have already been working here.
That is another trial balloon to see if the public believes that illegal immigration is a victimless crime. Every manufacturing, service and construction job an illegal alien is allowed to keep tends to mean that an American stays unemployed. Now that sounds like a good campaign theme for congressional re-elections.
Of course, maybe I was floating a trial balloon myself in talking about "an explosion" if Pres. Obama pushes an amnesty this year. I am depending on Americans to stand up for themselves and speak up. We certainly will give everybody a chance to do so through our Action Buffet system. If you haven't told the White House what you think of Cecilia Munoz's comments this week, please do so now.
Cecilia says Mr. Obama will speak to the nation about his amnesty plans in May and then will bring "immigration groups" and other experts together during the summer to hammer out a plan.
But the Times story details no promise of bringing the amnesty to a vote this year.
I think the White House is waiting to judge the public's reactions to the amnesty efforts before committing itself. If Americans sit on their hands every time a White House Official says something irrational about immigration, then the irrational may start to seem rational.
Looks like Mr. Obama may be depending on you to help him stand up to the irrational open-borders groups.
ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA
Lee3759 of TX
Fri, 04/10/2009 - 8:17am
Re: Standing Up To The Irrational: Can Obama Do It On Immigrati
I heard this yesterday, April 9, on TV at 5AM CDT. The White House "Comments" phone line opens at 8AM CDT. I began dialing five minutes early and it still took me 40 minutes to get through. This is the first time ever that I could not get through on the first try. I assume this was a good sign since by 11AM I saw on TV that the Pres. had already started backing off and practically admitted that this was a trial balloon.
Additionally, I e-mailed my Senators, Congressman, and all the TV commentators I listen to. Basically what I said was that this President has already committed us to generations of prosperity-killing debt; he cannot seriously expect taxpayers to assume the burden of paying for services -- most likely including health care -- for 12 million or more illegals while our own people need the jobs those illegals do or would occupy. I specifically mentioned that I wanted worksite enforcement resumed, all existing immigration laws enforced (especially during the Census), E-Verify required, no DREAM Act and no amnesty.
By Roy Beck, Thursday, April 9, 2009, 11:06 PM
âIt just doesnât seem rational," is how I was quoted in today's New York Times front page story about Pres. Obama supposedly being committed to moving a mass amnesty forward this year. So, for about the next 12 hours, I answered phone calls from print reporters and did radio shows across the country.
Despite the Times' very difficult financial position and the hatred it evokes from a sizable part of the public, you can quickly understand its continuing power over the nation's media when you are quoted in one of its controversial stories.
Every time it happens to me, my phone literally is ringing all day long from reporters, talk hosts, bloggers, researchers, foreign press, Hispanic press.
The New York Times still sets a lot of the agenda of the whole nation's news media.
What got things going today was Julia Preston's story that quoted a "senior administration official" under the headline:
Obama to Push Immigration Bill as One Priority
By the end of the day, nearly every open-borders group in America had sent out mass emails declaring victory and calling on their members to call the White House to tell them not to listen to the protests from groups like NumbersUSA.
Part of their excitement, no doubt, was that one of their own was the "senior administration official" delivering the pro-amnesty news. Cecilia Muñoz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House, was until recently a vice president of the National Council of La Raza.
Reporter Preston clearly understood that the chief problem with Munoz's pro-amnesty comments was how they played against the nation's terrible unemployment problem. She wrote this:
Opponents of legalization legislation were incredulous at the idea that Mr. Obama would take on immigration when economic pain for Americans is so widespread.
âIt just doesnât seem rational that any political leader would say, letâs give millions of foreign workers permanent access to U.S. jobs when we have millions of Americans looking for jobs,â said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a group that favors reduced immigration. Mr. Beck predicted that Mr. Obama would face âan explosionâ if he proceeded this year.
âItâs going to be, âYouâre letting them keep that job, when I could have that job,â â he said.
In all my interviews today, I talked about two numbers that illustrate starkly the irrationality -- and callousness -- of any move toward an amnesty this year.
* 6 million -- That is the estimate of illegal aliens who are holding down non-agricultural jobs in the U.S. Most of them are working in manufacturing, service and construction jobs that require no more than a high school education.
* Nearly 7 million -- That is the number of Americans with no more than a high school education who are looking for jobs (primarily in manufacturing, service and construction) but can't find one.
Cecilia Munoz is suggesting that her boss, Pres. Obama, thinks it is a good idea to tell those 7 million unemployed Americans that the jobs they want should continue to be occupied (permanently) by 6 million illegal foreign workers!
Let's hope that Munoz was the sacrificial lamb at the White House who drew the short trial balloon and had to float it to see if the American public is distracted enough not to notice what a crazy idea that would be.
But Cecilia wasn't the only one trying to sell nonsense. Reporter Preston quotes other Administration officials as saying that . . .
. . . Mr. Obamaâs plan would not add new workers to the American work force, but that it would recognize millions of illegal immigrants who have already been working here.
That is another trial balloon to see if the public believes that illegal immigration is a victimless crime. Every manufacturing, service and construction job an illegal alien is allowed to keep tends to mean that an American stays unemployed. Now that sounds like a good campaign theme for congressional re-elections.
Of course, maybe I was floating a trial balloon myself in talking about "an explosion" if Pres. Obama pushes an amnesty this year. I am depending on Americans to stand up for themselves and speak up. We certainly will give everybody a chance to do so through our Action Buffet system. If you haven't told the White House what you think of Cecilia Munoz's comments this week, please do so now.
Cecilia says Mr. Obama will speak to the nation about his amnesty plans in May and then will bring "immigration groups" and other experts together during the summer to hammer out a plan.
But the Times story details no promise of bringing the amnesty to a vote this year.
I think the White House is waiting to judge the public's reactions to the amnesty efforts before committing itself. If Americans sit on their hands every time a White House Official says something irrational about immigration, then the irrational may start to seem rational.
Looks like Mr. Obama may be depending on you to help him stand up to the irrational open-borders groups.
ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA
Lee3759 of TX
Fri, 04/10/2009 - 8:17am
Re: Standing Up To The Irrational: Can Obama Do It On Immigrati
I heard this yesterday, April 9, on TV at 5AM CDT. The White House "Comments" phone line opens at 8AM CDT. I began dialing five minutes early and it still took me 40 minutes to get through. This is the first time ever that I could not get through on the first try. I assume this was a good sign since by 11AM I saw on TV that the Pres. had already started backing off and practically admitted that this was a trial balloon.
Additionally, I e-mailed my Senators, Congressman, and all the TV commentators I listen to. Basically what I said was that this President has already committed us to generations of prosperity-killing debt; he cannot seriously expect taxpayers to assume the burden of paying for services -- most likely including health care -- for 12 million or more illegals while our own people need the jobs those illegals do or would occupy. I specifically mentioned that I wanted worksite enforcement resumed, all existing immigration laws enforced (especially during the Census), E-Verify required, no DREAM Act and no amnesty.