Carly Fiorina: "Racist Tone" Has Developed In GOP Regarding Immigration

Usually I'd say Next over this, but it might be a little prudent positioning.

She says this while supporting the Arizona law, so it can be read as a case of understandable positioning, where she supports the substance but makes a (meaningless) appeal for a nicer "tone."

Since she herself is supporting the Arizona law, she's obviously not calling that racist.

California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina voiced support Friday for Arizona’s new immigration law even as she deplored a “racist tone” that’s developed in some corners of her party over the highly charged issue.

The former Hewlett Packard CEO said the law’s passage stemmed from Washington’s failure to address the problem of illegal immigration through stricter border enforcement and a practical temporary worker program.

But when asked in an interview with POLITICO if Republicans needed to make any changes in their approach to the growing Hispanic community, Fiorina replied, "There has been a very unfortunate racist tone that has emerged in a lot of the discussion about immigration and that's inexcusable. We must be a country that welcomes legal immigrants to this country. We must be a country that recognizes that we have industries like agriculture that have depended on temporary migrant labor for generations."

She also went on to rubbish "comprehensive" solutions:

But she also broke with members in both parties who believe a comprehensive immigration package is needed to address the problem.

“So then Barbara Boxer, President Obama, say, 'oh my gosh, we have to have comprehensive immigration reform.' You don’t need comprehensive immigration reform to secure the border. And you don’t need comprehensive immigration reform to have a temporary worker program that works. Those are responsibilities of the federal government that they have today and they are failing at those responsibilities,” she said.

I'm giving her a little break, because it's always helpful for a politician to appear to have a position somewhere in the middle, rather than fully on one side or another. Based on her comments, she does appear to be almost all on one side -- so she's contriving an "extreme" position to the right of hers, one she says has a "racist tone." Thus putting herself in the middle -- she supports this law, sure, and wants to secure the borders first, but that's not the extreme position.

No, the extreme position is way outside of the mainstream, the one with a "racist tone."

I think that's excusable and even a bit clever, but Chuck DeVore isn't having any of that.

Chuck DeVore said, "It looks like Carly Fiorina believes her own fellow Republicans have a 'racist tone' on immigration -- or at least that's what she tells her friends in the D.C. press. I know better. "Unlike Carly, I know and respect my fellow Republicans. "Unlike Carly, I've been an active Republican and conservative all my life. "Unlike Carly, I've lived in southern California for decades. "Unlike Carly, I've led Hispanic American soldiers -- and been led by them. "Unlike Carly, I've studied the border problem from the standpoint of a senior California National Guardsman. "Unlike Carly, I've engaged the illegal-immigration problem as a lawmaker, a father and homeowner in affected communities. "Most of all unlike Carly, I genuinely respect and understand Californians' concern about this pressing issue. The illegal-immigration problem has everything to do with safe communities, respect for the law, and taxpayer resources -- issues that cut across every divide of race, class, and politics. "In Carly Fiorina's imagination, Republicans are racists who don't even welcome legal immigrants. That's an outright falsehood. Her interviewers didn't bring up racism -- she did. Her interviewers didn't conflate legal and illegal immigration -- she did. If we ever needed an illustration of just how deeply and reflexively Carly Fiorina has bought in to the left-wing and media narrative, this is it. "On the one hand, I'm appalled at her slander of hardworking Americans who demand respect for the law. On the other hand, those same Americans will go to the polls on June 8th."

posted by Ace at 05:19 PM

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