Weak Teabag
by digby
Speaking of Dick Armey. Here’s a little sign of some trouble in Teabag land:
For weeks, various grassroots leaders of tea parties have been asking NumbersUSA if there is anything to the rumors that former Congressman Dick Armey is soft on amnesty and the costs of illegal immigration. If he were, that would be an unsettling situation for the vast majority of people at tea party events who oppose both vehemently.
Well, today, Dick Armey settled the question. No need for rumors now.
Mr. Armey — labeled as the “uber-organizer of the tea party movement” by a reporter today — seems to have labeled as “goofy” most of the grassroots citizens attending tea party events.
Armey showed his disdain in a speech at the National Press Club for all those who oppose comprehensive amnesties for millions of illegal aliens and who oppose importing millions of foreign workers during a time of high unemployment.
But this is in keeping with his record in Congress. (See below for a thorough analysis.)
During his time in Congress (1985-2002), Mr. Armey’s positions on immigration almost always appeared to be much more shaped by the desires of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for low-wage labor subsidized by taxpayers than by the needs of the average taxpayer and worker.
[…]
Floating around YouTube are videos of Armey’s interesting take on illegal immigration where he compares illegal aliens with a parent running a red light in the middle of the night to get a sick child to the hospital. Sometimes taking care of your family is more important than obeying the law, he says:
These are very good people trying to feed their babies.
— Dick Armey explaining in 2007 that the problem of illegal immigration is that the feds aren’t issuing greencards fast enough.
So the family values crowd now believes that taking care of your family isn’t more important than obeying the law? Or is it just non-American families?(We decent patriots always put God and family first, right? Or is it God and country? I can never remember.)
Anyway, Dick’s not the only Teabagger with a cheap labor portfolio. I suppose for now, as long as he hates “Muslims” (and everyone they can tar with that new epithet) he’ll slide. But this is a big weakness in the teabag that’s just waiting to burst.
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