President Obama Drops The "U" Word On The Republican Party

[kpete]

“This whole anti-immigrant sentiment that’s out there in our politics right now is contrary to who we are. Because unless you are a Native American, your family came from someplace else,” Mr. Obama said. “Don’t pretend that somehow 100 years ago the immigration process was all smooth and strict. That’s not how it worked.” The grandparents and great-grandparents of politicians taking a hard line on immigration, he said, were also “somehow considered unworthy or uneducated or unwashed.”

“When I hear folks talking as if somehow these kids are different from my kids or less worthy in the eyes of God, that somehow they are less worthy of our respect and consideration and care, I think that’s un-American,” Mr. Obama said.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-heads-to-iowa-to-put-education-economy-in-2016-campaigns-spotlight-1442260123

[daleanime]

1. K&R.....

[blm]

6. Yes, K&R…and it's about time!!!!!

Because un-American is EXACTLY how the NWO Republicans have been acting for the last 3 decades.

[daleanime]

8. Too true....

and yet, no one ever seems to call them on it.

[mwb970]

23. And un-Christian, and inhuman. /nt

[tblue37]

17. KnR. nt

[lonestarnot]

2. Good.

[moondust]

3. Class warfare.

I imagine the assumption is probably that these immigrants don't have a lot of money so the GOP's fat cats will have to pay taxes to provide some services. Enslaved by unbridled greed, they don't want "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

[staggerleem]

13. Excuse me - the whole idea of the GOP ...

... is that their "fat cats" DO NOT HAVE TO PAY TAXES! They're above all that. It's YOU and I that will pay those taxes - and speaking for myself, I've got no problem with it!

[The CCC]

4. President Obama Drops The "U" Word On The Republican Party

Partially true. Even the Native Americans came from someplace else. The later immigrants didn't treat them well either.

[merrily]

5. Brilliant. Turn their nationalistic jingoism right back on their ugly asses.

(I thought the U word was going to be "ugly," but un-American is perfect..)

[d_legendary1]

7. Way to go Mr.President!

Eloquent and to the point as always. Its refreshing to finally have a president who can state a full sentence without creating a new lingo in the process.

[roguevalley]

14. Who could forget the signs in big cities, "no Irish or dogs allowed' and the hatred of

Asians. I would said the First Nation people have been most patient.

[oswaldactedalone]

9. Well said President Obama

Now keep kicking these asswipes the way you should have from day one.

[WinkyDink]

10. Just because the POTUS asserts something, doesn't mean it's the historic fact. Ellis Island had

STRICT and SMOOTH operations 100 years ago.
“Don’t pretend that somehow 100 years ago the immigration process was all smooth and strict."

In point of fact, it was, at least, way "smooth(er) and strict(er)" than what he is, and we are, faced with on our SW border.

http://www.history.com/topics/ellis-island

" Immigrants were tagged with information from the ship’s registry and passed through long lines for medical and legal inspections to determine if they were fit for entry into the United States. "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.gjenvick.com/Immigration/EllisIsland/1905-02-HowImmigrantsAreInspected.html#axzz3lpdQINd5

"Inspection of our immigrants may be said to begin in Europe. The immigrant usually buys his steamship ticket in his native town from an agent or subagent of the steamship company. The agents of the best steamship lines are held responsible by the company, for the passengers they book for America, and if they ship one of the excluded classes they are likely to lose their agency. This makes the agent examine the applicants for tickets, and probably quite a large number of defectives are refused passage by agents of the first-class lines. These defectives then usually try some less particular and smaller lines and take chances of escaping inspection at the Canadian or Mexican borders.

The next scrutiny to which the immigrant is subjected is that of the steamship authorities at the port of embarkation. This was formerly a perfunctory examination, and is so still, as far as some lines are concerned, but first-class lines, notably the English and German, examine the immigrants carefully and with due regard for our laws.

The strict enforcement of our laws, and especially the imposition of one hundred dollars fine for bringing to our ports any ease of a contagious character, have occasioned some improvement in the inspection made by ships' doctors at European ports. At the port of embarkation the immigrants' names are recorded upon lists or manifests, each list containing about thirty names. After each name the steamship officials are required by law to record answers to a certain number of queries relating to the immigrant."

Read more: Immigration Archives - How Immigrants Are Inspected at Ellis Island circa 1903
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://becomingauscitizen.weebly.com/ellis-island.html

In order to keep things running smoothly, there were lots of workers. Groupers (people that put immigrants into different groups based on gender, boat, ect.), doctors, inspectors, cooks, maids, dock workers, special inquiry jobs, nurses, administrators, social workers, teachers, interpreters and more. People that could be needed at any time, such as doctors and nurses, lived on the island, sometimes with their families. There were also many volunteers that came to help with or welcome the immigrants.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[treestar]

20. Maybe there, but in those days it would be much easier

to come over a land border or land in some unauthorized boat. Not everyone would have gone through and done it the "proper" way.

[BumRushDaShow]

27. So immigrants from Mexico, Central, and South America came through Ellis Island?

Meaning they weren't going back and forth across the SW border states as a "land bridge", preferring instead to set sail across the Gulf of Mexico and roll up the east coast to go to Ellis Island because it was so "orderly"?

I.e., the assertion in your argument being they apparently didn't exist because the term "immigration" only applies to Europeans, and occasional colonial Africans, Colonial East Indians, etc, coming by ship to NYC)?

Um okay.

[uponit7771]

31. +1

[WinkyDink]

39. Now, exactly to whom do you think Obama was referring, really, with his specific "100 years ago"

reference?

Do you REALLY think he was alluding to the SAME cultural groups currently the subjects of political discussions? HARDLY. THAT reference plus his "wasn't smooth or strict" would serve only to add fuel to the "See? THEY'RE UNRULY AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!" fire.

Given the reality of U.S. immigration history and given this president's penchant for tweaking the noses of his opponents, whether in general or over particular issues, I'd say it's a fairly safe bet he means to conjure up Ellis Island.

BTW: Ellis Island is historic in U.S. immigration history. I don't recall (favorable) documentaries on the Rio Grande as similar.

As for your ridiculous sarcasm about "immigration" and my ignoring South America and Mexico, um, I also know there's an entire West Coast, with Chinese immigrants who helped build our railroads. So? I don't think Obama meant THEM, either. HE WAS SNARKING ON HIS OPPONENETS OF EUROPEAN DESCENT, OKAY?

[BumRushDaShow]

40. What?

The current hullaboo has to do with those currently coming across the SW border. We fought a fucking war with Mexico over that territory about 50 years before Ellis Island opened and to many descendants of the original peoples there, it's still essentially Mexican territory. There is nothing RW about discussing or respecting the folks who were there only to be displaced by our fine European invaders.

How is stating "facts" going to "add fuel" to any fire?

I personally don't give a shit about Ellis island because my ancestors came here like this -



This country has a problem and it keeps reinforcing it by ignoring reality. You keep insisting that the only people coming here 100 years ago were Europeans. Here - have a looksie. More. When slavery ended, along with the free labor of my ancestors, there was a ready source of cheap labor just below the border ready to exploit, many of whom ended up fleeing a revolution "100 years ago" to come here. That is the history of this country. And what you think is "snark" on his opponents - his mother and her family are European descendents. You don't have to pretzel an argument to create "chaos" in immigration.

[Plucketeer]

11. Even ther first couple were deported!

I'm not talking about those in the White House - I'm talking Adam and Eve. They showed themselves to be felons and were consequently expelled from the Garden of Eden - booted out to the Land of Hard Knocks! Sounds like a Republican wet dream - deporting NATIVE residents as a way of criminal justice!

[paleotn]

12. Spot on , Mr. President.

Like most people's ancestors, mine just showed up one day. PA and NC were some of the few colonies willing to take those grubby Gaelic speakers, but only if they headed for the back country or indentured themselves.

There's zero difference between new immigrants and my ancestors. They are all looking for the same thing. The hypocrisy of those who want to slam the door now that they've arrived is beyond disgusting.

[TeamPooka]

15. boom. nt

[ancianita]

16. Fuck the Great Un-American Party.

[Dont call me Shirley]

18. K & R

[treestar]

19. nails it again

there is a saying said by someone that if you study the history of immigration in America, you end up simply studying the history of America.

[Eleanors38]

21. Dropped the "U" in "repubelikkin'?" Hell, drop the "r" with it.

[rbrnmw]

22. K&R

[Starry Messenger]

24. k&r

[spanone]

25. k&R...

[coolepairc]

26. Totally agree

Good on Obama. So true that most all of us came to the US as poor, illiterate and even desperate. Un-American is right!

[IronLionZion]

28. immigrant song

[iandhr]

29. I disagree

It's as American as apple pie. It just used to be

Hiring no Irish, Jews, or Negors need apply

[flamingdem]

30. That's the right word! And kinder than

traitor..

[Judi Lynn]

32. Damned right. Thank you, President Obama. n/t

[hfojvt]

33. it un-American to not allow unlimited immigration?

To not favor unlimited immigration? That's un-American?

My position is very simple. I was born here. My siblings and nieces were born here. My classmates were born here. Before we let ANY person in, either legally or illegally, you show me how doing so will be good for US.

Don't think you can win me over by calling me names because I am against open borders. Not gonna happen. Show me where MY benefit is.

[Surya Gayatri]

34. "Show me where MY benefit is". Says everything I need to know about your politics,

not to mention your philosophy of life.

One is led to inquire what you believe such an egocentric,
self-absorbed, and illiberal frame of thinking can bring to a 'progressive ' discussion board.

No-one is advocating unlimited immigration, but simply a more humane and generous attitude towards our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

I can only hope that life's lessons will teach you the folly of your myopic philosophy before you 'go gentle into that good night'.

[pampango]

37. Indeed. You will never be able to "show" a person that which they do not wish to be "shown".

Climate change deniers can never be "shown" that climate change exists. Those who do not want to be "shown" the benefits of immigration will never be shown.

No-one is advocating unlimited immigration, but simply a more humane and generous attitude towards our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

Thank you. The "open borders liberal" is how conservatives caricature a "humane and generous" immigration policy promoted by Democrats. Every liberal immigration policy does not mean "open borders".

There is a higher percentage of foreign-born in Sweden than in the US.

"Show me where MY benefit is"

Classic conservative rhetoric. "Don't talk about the poor, the marginalized, the disadvantaged. '"Show me where MY benefit is"'.

[Surya Gayatri]

38. As a rule, I assiduously avoid personal commentary, but THIS could not pass.

'Classic conservative rhetoric'.

Says it all, really.

[hfojvt]

44. you cannot show anybody anything

if you think you are too morally superior to even try.

So you think I need to quit voting for Democrats? Since they will apparently never give a rat's a$$ about me?

That seems to be your argument here.

[hfojvt]

42. Does it now?

Do you have a list of policies that you favor that you consider to be harmful to your own interests? "Yes, please Mr. Politician, hurt me some more."

Yes, some people seem to be advocating just that - open borders.

But again, your whole argument for your side seems to be based on calling me names or otherwise belittling me.

For some reason, it is not that convincing to me.

[Hortensis]

36. Hfojvt, read the statement. Only you mention "unlimited."

[hfojvt]

43. nobody says a lot of things

maybe the word should be "uncontrolled".

In practical terms, let's say you have a country of 150 million people in a certain area. In a world of 5 billion people. Should those 150 million try to have some control over how many, and which ones, of the other 4.85 billion they allow to live in their nation?

Or should they just say "laissez faire"? Or Kay surah surah?

Which decision is likely to be better for them and their posterity - controlled or uncontrolled?

[Hortensis]

35. Oh, very good, Mr. President!

[Quantess]

41. Well deserved!