Dirty Trick of the Day

Burqa-clad pension stealers:

Ads of the Damned: John McCain, "Complete the Danged Fence"

This seemed to win the ire of many conservatives a few days ago:



Some of this anger is a little overstated. This is McCain's fourth TV spot of the campaign and third specifically dealing with immigration (here one, and here's another). Like the other two, the spot recites the details of the "McCain/Kyl plan," but this one seems to have really irritated conservative bloggers.

Why?

The answer that seems to run most commonly in the threads of the offended bloggers is that McCain once supported "amnesty," or at least a version of immigration reform that they disagreed with. If this was really the case, then why didn't raise the issue when the first immigration ads came out. That may be the policy subtext behind the anger, but the filmic text of the ad itself also opens McCain up to criticism of being phony in way politics flip-floppery just doesn't.

Take a look at the fine print of this frame:
It reads "Paul Babeu appearing only in his personal capacity." Well, then why is he addressed by his title "Sheriff Paul Babeu" when we first meet him and what in God's name is he doing wearing his uniform? Sheriff Bableu is a validator. I'm sure there are legal reasons for the disclaimer, but it's juxtaposition next to an figure who's authority McCain clearly wishes to siphon is a little too obvious.

Next is the small point raised by a commenter at Hit and Run: Nogales isn't in Sherrif Babeu's jurisdiction of Pinal County, which isn't a boarder county. I'm sure that most Arizonans would pick up on this. This discrepancy isn't to say that non-boarder counties don't have immigration issues they need to contend with (we know all to well that they do), but what it does do is create a skewed sense of geography for the viewer, one that suggests McCain doesn't really know his own state all that well.

Moving on we have Allahpunidt's criticism of McCain costume: "John “Goddamned Fence” McCain marching along the border in a badass Navy baseball cap looking like he could choke out a coyote with his bare hands." I've always wondered about the baseball cap myself, which has been a McCain staple in outdoors setting since he was treated for skin cancer some years back. I've never been sure if this was a way to make him look more rugged, more "common man," more youthful or was just part of his doctor's orders to stay out of the sun and was a better alternative than a Michael Jackson-esque umbrella. Regardless, it should be obvious why the cap usually says Navy.

The spot does a good visual job of transforming the boarder fence into something that's more than just scenery and almost into another actor. Just watch how the fence visually evolves of the course of the first frames of the spot.

Here it is off to the side, helping to establish the location:

Then we have a shot of McCain and Babeu walking closer to it, as if it's the third member of their party while the two men are talking about the horrible thing illegal immigrants are doing to Arizonans:It's no accident that the frame changes just as McCain says "home invasions" to a close up of a porous and seemingly incomplete fence:Granted, the space between those rusty beams might actually be narrow enough to keep out even an anorexic supermodel, but it doesn't look like an effective fence. There's a two-fold implication here: 1.) that all illegal immigration is a form of "home invasion" against the country, and 2.) that this anemic-looking fence is the only thing keeping back people who want to invade your home at night to rob you.

Just to reinforce the point, the boarder fence actually becomes almost negligible as Sheriff Babeu notes that half of illegal immigrants come through Arizona and we get this image:

Now that's a fence that wouldn't keep out a tumbleweed.

There are a number of issues one can find fault with in the script. The first is the minor curse McCain uses to describe the fence. As Allahpundit points out above, its a callback to a stronger phrase used by McCain several years ago in, of all places, Milwaukee. It's very Mavericky language and reminiscent of a past McCain's been trying to distance himself from lately. The whole point of the ad is to demonstrate how in sync McCain is with the rest of the GOP on immigration. It's fairly obvious that he's trying to channel the anger so many conservatives feel about the issue, but it misses the mark.

The very last line of the script before the disclaimer is even less subtle. "Senator, you're one of us," the sheriff says just before the frame freezes on a close up of McCain. There's just nothing natural about that exchange. Once it's said, it feels like the entire spot has been McCain fishing for a compliment.

There's a weird blend of strong visual imagery and fightin' words that never really seems to add up in this case. A lot of this has to do with incumbency. McCain's been Arizona's senator for decades now and walking in front of a incomplete fences that apparently can't stop an army of impoverished third-worlders doesn't exactly scream strength, even thought that's clearly the point of the ad. McCain's should be bragging about having done everything thing human possible to strengthen boarder security, but here he's pointing out the boarder's weaknesses. If JD Hayworth ran this exact same ad the context would be completely different and it would probably be rather brilliant, but as it stands, it just doesn't seem to work.

"They Just Fucked with the Wrong Mexican"

It was a rather inspired decision to release the trailer for Robert Rodriguez's upcoming "Machete" on Cinco de Mayo -- enjoy it in all of it's glory:

Here's the original version from "Grindhouse":

Great Moments in Awful Legislation

Take it away, Arizona:

USA Today is reporting that the state of Arizona will need the federal government's help in order to enforce its newly passed and very controversial immigration law. According to the paper, "Lyle Mann, executive director of the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, says federal assistance is 'critical' to what he describes as an unprecedented effort to prepare officers as soon as this summer to enforce the law, which gives local police authority to identify and arrest illegal immigrants."

Just think about that for a second: Arizona passed a law that it knew the current administration hated while all along knowing that said law cannot be meaningfully enforced without the cooperation of that same administration. Bonkers, right? Kind of like asking your intended victim for the bat you need to beat him up.

No wonder this bill, which was written by a birther, is getting the cold shoulder from the Bush Crew. (Though this isn't all that unexpected. Bush was always rather receptive to immigration reform, or at least cold to the kind of nativist nonsense that is now law in Arizona.)

Teabaggers vs. Immigration Reform Mimes

Marc Ambinder's earlier post that inherent nativism among teabaggers being a liability is hard to disagree with, but I don't think he ever thought it would lead to violence against female mimes:

Yesterday, approximately 200,000 people gathered at the National Mall to show their support of comprehensive immigration reform. Roy Beck, director of the immigration restrictionist group, NumbersUSA, decided to add himself to the mix and report on the event via a live stream that was available on the group’s website. According to Anne Manetas of NumbersUSA, a group of female mimes threatened Beck and his bodyguards with “constant efforts at crushing physical intimidation” instigated by “blowing hateful whistles” and waving balloons.

One has to admit: this is a pretty hilarious rock and hard place to be caught between. On the one hand, you got the possible assault of a pair of female mime, which never sounds good no matter how you spin it. On the other hand, you've got someone who was apparently so threatened by female mimes that they felt the need to resort to self defense, which sounds equally ridiculous.

Teabaggers vs. Immigration Reform

Marc Ambinder:

Democrats assume that the immigration debate will open the curtain on the Tea Party movement; health care will be child's play compared to the tantrums over the prospect of earned legalization and other measures. The overlap between the Tea Partiers and ethnocentric immigration restrictionists is huge, and even many Republicans worry that the embedded nativism in the movement, whether or not it is also racialized (as a proxy for being against Obama and his ilk) will come to the fore in a way that once again diminishes the fervor of right-leaning independents and energizes Hispanics.

But forget immigration even: the next two big presidential initiatives, domestically, at least, will be -- or should be -- easy political victories: reauthorizing but reforming the education law, and financial services reform.

Without Question the Most Shameless Flip-Flop in Contemporary American Politics

Lou Dobbs may have just set a land speed record for quickest political career.

This is What Passes as Humor for Wisconsin Conservatives?

Yeah, this qualifies as offensive:

And conservatives wonder why Latinos vote for Democrats?

Do You Want to Read Something that will Inspire the Fuck out of You?

Then read this.

Dirty Trick of the Day

From South Carolina:

[Sen. Lindsey] Graham, who has angered conservative Republicans by siding with McCain on issues ranging from immigration and torture to a bipartisan deal on federal judicial nominees, faces not one, not two, but five potential primary challengers.

Buddy Witherspoon, an orthodontist and former Republican National Committee member, has already run a series of cable TV ads featuring illegal immigrants entering the U.S. with a Spanish narrator saying, "Gracias Lindsey Graham," and has suggested the first-term senator might abandon his constituents to join a future McCain administration.

[emphasis added]

Dirty Trick of the Day

Via TNR:

Immigrants: Not Just for Food-Picking Anymore!

What's more American than the cowboy? Not much, right? And what's more cowboy-esque than a rodeo? Well, if the answer isn't cowboy boot sideburns ("great for formal occasions and first dates"), than I don't know what is.

Regardless, rodeos in Texas appear to be having a difficult time fielding the support staffs needed to put such events together because there are no longer enough temporary worker visas to go around.

Call me crazy, but when faced with such a dilemma, wouldn't you imagine that, after a while, the rodeo producers would just stop worrying about immigration paperwork all together and just hire whomever walked in the door, no questions asked, rather than go out of business?

A Stellar Example of the Outrech Efforts of the Paranoid, Xenophic Anti-Immigration Movement

I read the Yale Daily News So You Don't Have To!