An exaggerated charge

Yesterday I received an e-mail alert and fundraising request from Jim Robb of Numbers USA. At the top of the e-mail it declares in large letters:

Pelosi calls enforcement

“un-American”

In the body of the e-mail Robb writes:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was caught on tape saying that immigration enforcement agents are “un-American” when they acted to enforce the laws.

But here is what Pelosi actually said, as shown in a transcript of her comment posted at the Numbers USA site:

You brought with you your tradition of family values, of faith, of community, of responsibility.

How then could America say it’s ok to send parents of children away? What value system is that? I think it’s un-American. I think it’s un-American.

Pelosi was saying that taking parents away from children is un-American. She was thus attacking one particular aspect of immigration law enforcement that she claims occurs from time to time (though I’m not aware offhand that it has occurred). She was not attacking immigration law enforcement as such. And she certainly did not say that “immigration enforcement agents are un-American.” She did not single out agents at all. She said that America itself is being un-American when it supports such laws.

When the truth is already so abundantly on our side, sensationalist, misleading rhetoric is not only wrong and counterproductive, it’s unnecessary.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 21, 2009 02:50 PM | Send