De-Fence Of Liberty

More often than not, Digby delivers when a little clarity is badly needed.  His comments on Bush's "immigration distraction" keeps the focus right where it belongs -- on politics.

It's clear that Bush is going to try to change the subject with a big push on the immigration issue.

Having spent a good part of my almost 50 years in California, I have observed that the immigration issue is usually a sign of a weak economy or some other form of discontent. It's been around forever and rears its head every once in a while as people perceive a "crisis" and then it goes underground again.

It is not a partisan issue; many Democrats are very exercised about Mexican immigrants overrunning the borders and allegedly taking away jobs from Americans or at least holding wages below what they would otherwise be. On the other side are liberals who see a subtle and no so subtle racism in the border debate and feel that all this talk of cultural dissonence is a false construct. There are conflicting values of economics and human rights involved and it's confusing.

My feeling is that this time we are dealing with displaced fear and frustrating impotence. The terrorist boogeyman has been fully internalized and people are afraid. But it is an ephemeral and distant enemy. Another brown hoarde is conveniently available. I think my theory is borne out by the right's increasing emphasis on the Mexican border being a national security threat and the sudden seriousness of Pat Buchanan's "fence" concept.

The group advocating the creation of an Israeli-style fence on the U.S.-Mexico border -- and leading the media attack -- is called Let Freedom Ring.  In terms of evoking the boogeyman, these people are true graduates of the Swift Boat school.  The organization has developed a couple of ads which are scheduled to run in Washington.

Both ads create a histrionic connection between illegal immigration and terrorism. Warning of the infiltration of foreign nationals from countries that "sponsor terror," the first ad (top image) runs the green filter with the rectangular window over miles of desert. Although open to interpretation, an obvious association is that of a bombing target. For comparison sake, the bluish image is an actual bombing target. With rumors "flying" that Bush plans to justify troop withdrawals in Iraq by scaling up the air war, the LFR people probably think regular bombing raids along Arizona's border might also be warranted.

The second ad is even more wild eyed. In this case, the premise is established that terrorists are blending in with those crossing the border and leaving us "vulnerable to another attack." In a series of cockeyed associations, the ad cites the number of "special interest aliens" that entered the U.S. in '04 from Axis of Evil members. It then uses a newspaper article about 2 Iraqis apprehended for trying to enter the U.S. to presume the Zharkawi's of the world are on their way. Finally, you have the suggestion that these Middle Eastern/Iraqi bad boys could strike at any time, just like they took out the Trade Center.

If these people had been working with Rove and Cheney to sell the link between Saddam and WMD (or Iraq and al Qaeda), who knows how much more great stuff Colin Powell could have force-fed the United Nations.

We Need A Fence.com website here

(images 1, 3-5 weneedafence.com.  image 2: 2001. BELGRADE, Yugoslavia. via Cable News Network)