Posted on 10/09/2005 8:46:39 AM PDT by radar101
No one invited them, and yet they keep coming. It's an invasion. They're not dangerous, but they are a nuisance. They take up the time of the U.S. Border Patrol, and get everyone worked up. They come for the work, but still you wish they would just stay home.
We're talking, of course, about radio and television talk show hosts who descend on the U.S.-Mexican border in the hopes of spinning the anxiety of many Americans over illegal immigration into higher ratings.
The latest spinner to arrive in these parts was conservative talker Sean Hannity who, just last week, descended on the U.S.-Mexican border. It was from here that Hannity broadcast both his nationally syndicated radio show and the nightly television show he shares with Alan Colmes on the Fox News Channel.
While here, Hannity generated more heat than light. It's not that he engaged in any obvious misbehavior. He didn't indulge in offensive talk, or get in the way of the Border Patrol as they went about their heroic efforts to keep people from crossing into the United States illegally. But neither did the commentator do much to encourage a serious and responsible discussion of this emotional issue in all its complexities.
Illegal immigration isn't just a matter of law and order. It's also about the law of supply and demand. In his search for quick sound bites and controversial images, Hannity couldn't seem to get beyond the "supply" side of the discussion long enough to focus on the "demand." And that's despite the fact that he had people trying to help push him toward a more mature and more substantive understanding of the problem – and its solution.
Among the guests on Hannity's television show was Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, who tried to explain that without demand there would be no supply, but he didn't get far. Dreier has a good bill in Congress that would create a tamper-proof worker identification card and severely stiffen the penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants. What Hannity wanted to know was what Dreier intended to do to get the funding to hire more Border Patrol agents.
We definitely need more agents, but people can't get stuck on that idea to the point where they become convinced that border enforcement alone can solve this problem. It can't. We need a comprehensive solution.
Hannity was also joined by Luis Cabrera, the Mexican consul general in San Diego, who patiently tried to explain what is behind the phenomenon of illegal immigration – a wealthy country and a poor one side by side, one with a younger population feeding workers into a neighboring country which has an older population, etc. But all Hannity wanted to know was why Mexico wasn't doing more to stop its people from entering the United States illegally.
Gee, Sean. It might have something to do with the $16.6 billion that Mexicans in the United States are expected to send home to Mexico just this year. Mexicans don't see this as a problem, and certainly not their problem.
There wasn't time to get into all that, what with the need to capture those inflammatory images of the Mexican flag flying over Tijuana and Mexicans caught in the act of climbing over the border fence. But then, that's show biz.
If Sean is still in CA, rescind his passport and not let him back in the US.
Atleast he is shedding light on the problem, something the MSM refuses to do without first endorsing amnesty.
You actually expected better from something only in the business for the money?
How many times did we have to hear that "I was up in a helicopter...I was on an ATV....I was in a boat...I was on the front lines"? Hannity treated his trip to the border as though it took courage.
No, we can't do that. They are needed in New Orleans to clean up the mess from the hurricane; the NO residents refuse to do it...
There should be a 30% tax on every dime they send out of the U.S. IF they file a legitimate tax return, they can get it back.
Indeed, I don't think any covereage of the border problem is bad coverage. While most people who are "involved" in politics understand the problem, many others have no clues. So, the more publicity the problem gets, the better.
I live down here in San Diego. sometimes it does take courage to go to the border. Sometimes it takes courage just to go to the grocery store on this side of the border, trying to navigate the parking lot through the day-laborers.
I appreciate Hannity focusing on the border issues we have.
My oldest lives in SD too. He crosses into Mexico all the time. I am not taking anything away from the problem and I am glad that Hannity is shining a light on it. I just find his heroic posturing boring, silly and a bit insulting to the folks who really face danger, especially (given hannity's profession) those media folks who risk Iraq or Afhganistan or Kosovo...those are genuine front lines.
Coming here in violation of immigration law is illegal.
It is illegal for an illegal alien to work here.
It is illegal to hire an illegal alien.
It's also about the law of supply and demand.
"Supply" equals illegal aliens.
"Demand" equals employers breaking the law and hiring illegal aliens.
Not enforcing the law makes the federal government complicit in this illegal activity.
Illegal immigration isn't just a matter of law and order.
Yes it is.
Stages of confronting the truth, 1)outrage, 2)ridicule, 3)acceptance. V. Fox was right.
I'm not a regular listener of Hannity, but I did see most of his programs from the border areas.
I think Hannity would make a good congressional candidate. He's able to go toe-to-toe with politicos, but I don't sense any deviousness from him. Any New Yorkers here?
ping
Don't misunderstand me please, I applaud the shining spotlight. It is the constant inference by Hannity that Hannity laid it on the line that I find both laughable and objectionable. Heroes don't continuously plow their own horns.
Sure hope your oldest isn't going into TJ. The news coming from visitors to TJ is very scary. The LEO's there can only be classified as bandits.
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