Adventures of the Coconut Caucus

Bigot Fight: Romney and Giuliani Trying to See Who Hates Us More

By Ticatecla, August 17, 2007 3:01 pm

Remember the day when the Latino vote was up for grabs because we love better wages and schools but hate gays getting married and abortion? Well thank you, GOP, for once again making us pick the less screwed up of you two.

Romney, Giuliani, Escalate Their Immigrant Fight

The two leading Republican presidential candidates have turned the GOP primary campaign into a nasty, week-long debate about illegal immigration, accusing each other of supporting efforts to give undocumented residents sanctuary from federal immigration laws.

At campaign stops, in radio ads and with increasingly hostile statements by supporters, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani are talking about little else as they position themselves on an issue critical to conservatives in their party.

“They are trying to rattle their sabers louder than the other and thump on their chests,” said Angela Kelley, the deputy director of the pro-immigrant National Immigration Forum. “Both of these guys are trying to remake themselves.”

And who, might we say, thumps their chest harder?

At the heart of the Romney-Giuliani argument is the role of cities in the immigration crisis. Romney has said that New York, under Giuliani’s leadership, became a magnet for illegal immigrants when city officials refused to strictly enforce federal deportation laws. Giuliani in return has accused Romney of looking the other way as cities and towns in Massachusetts declared themselves “sanctuaries” for lawbreakers.

“Sanctuary policies create virtual amnesty zones for illegal immigrants. While amnesty was just defeated in the Congress, places like New York City offer a promise of amnesty to those who ignore our immigration laws,” Smith wrote. “Furthermore, sanctuary city policies encourage illegal immigration and weaken our nation’s ability to secure our borders.”Romney has focused on a New York executive order that Giuliani inherited — and later supported — that protects illegal immigrants from deportation. Romney aides point out that Giuliani once sued the federal government to keep the executive order in place.

Giuliani responds that his actions in New York — which allowed children of illegal immigrants to go to school, and let such immigrants receive medical care and report crimes without facing deportation — reduced crime and improved public health.

En serio?? Gracias, Rodolfo, gracias!

It’s a good thing he’s not treating us as if we were black….