As
diaried here, the College Republican National Committee last week drew a national firestorm of criticism when one of its operatives announced plans to sponsor a "Catch the Illegal Immigrant Day" as part of the CRNC's fall GOTV effort at the University of Michigan.
That brilliant marketing idea catapulted said operative Morgan Wilkins into her fifteen minutes of shame: in just two blog-hyped days, she shot from the relative obscurity of race-baiting NCRC hired gun to being named Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World, earning the wrath of Howard Dean in the process. No small feat, that. But now, apparently unwilling to let such a repugnant stunt die its deserved death, yet another wingnut from the same campus has re-launched the CAIID brand in the wake of its de facto recall last week:
The Michigan Daily's Andrew Grossman reports
this in today's edition:
The University's chapter of Young Americans for Freedom is planning a "Catch an Illegal Immigrant" game on the Diag for next week.
Participants in the game will try to catch a volunteer dressed as an illegal immigrant, YAF Chair Andrew Boyd said.
Boyd stressed that the volunteer will not represent any particular ethnic group.
The winner will receive a $200 cash prize, but Boyd refused to disclose the source of the money.
As referenced, the first roll-out of this product didn't sell quite as well as hoped for by its sales rep:
Last week, The Michigan Daily reported that Morgan Wilkins, an independent contractor hired by the College Republican National Committee to rally Michigan college students, was considering holding "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day" at campuses around the state.
The Republican National Committee, Democratic National Committee, CRNC and the University's chapters of College Republicans and College Democrats have all denounced the plans.
Enter the rear guard:
YAF, a group further to the political right and more extremist than other conservative campus groups, hopes to capitalize on the publicity surrounding the event.
"It's a huge issue right now," Boyd said.
Some of you may remember Young Americans for Freedom from back in the day. As inferred by their site's front page RIP to President Reagan, the group apparently lost a bit o' steam in the aftermath of the Gipper's passing--perhaps discouraged by their failed bid to have The Great Communicator Lenin-embalmed and installed in a glass crypt outside William F. Buckley's house.
But not for long: as reported by World O' Crap, the YAF believes its Morning In America again--and they're up and ready with coffee and doughnuts, so y'all come in. And wear your steel-toed boots!
Good news, everyone: the Young Americans for Freedom has been reborn!
As you may recalls, YAF...is the conservative youth group started at William F. Buckley, Jr.'s house in the 1960's, but which by later became a club for right-wing thugs and hooligans whose raison d'etre was to try to provoke fights so they could beat the crap out of "commies."
But, apparently the death of Ronald Reagan so demoralized them that they just couldn't summon the energy to clobber hippies anymore. At least, that's what a glance at their site, which hasn't been updated since 2003, seems to indicate.
So, you can understand why we were so excited to learn from Human Events Online that the group has made a come back. (And it's just as thuggish as before!)
Here's the report:
Young Americans for Freedom Is Reborn
by Craig Burgess and Kevin DeAnna
Members of Young Americans for Freedom came from as far away as Michigan to support a start-up chapter of YAF at Liberty University last weekend.
Hey, if any campus deserves a chapter of YAF, it's Jerry Falwell's college. And to think that it took an appearance by John McCain to get things rolling! (The YAFfers weren't there to support McCain's pro-war stance, or even to heckle him for cozying up to the Christian Right after calling Falwell an "agent of intolerance." No, they came to denounce his immigration policies, since McCain has sponsored legislation which would allow illegals to remain alive. (And anti-immigrant rhetoric is a cornerstone of the reborn YAF.)
The enterprising U-M YAF Chair Mr. Boyd won't be alone in staging the mock-stalking of undocumented workers. In a generous gesture of intra-collegiate wingnut solidarity, MSU YAF Chairman Kyle Bristow will lend his red right hand:
The University chapter of YAF will have help playing the game from its counterpart at Michigan State University.
"We're definitely helping out," MSU YAF Chair Kyle Bristow said.
Bristow plans to repeat the event at MSU. Like Boyd, he said the controversy generated by playing Catch an Illegal Immigrant will draw much-needed attention to the effects of illegal immigration.
"It's a game that the U.S. government needs to play about 13 million times," Bristow said.
Bristow had another idea, but said it would be unrealistic.
"The only thing more effective would be if U of M YAF and MSU YAF were to drive down to the border and start building the wall ourselves," Bristow said. "But that would be a lot of work."
Undoubtedly. Its much easier to race-bait on a midwestern university campus than to have to learn on-the-job carpentry skills near Juarez. Plus, sticking closer to home might enable Bristow to snag another photo-op with a Republican pol, a hobby he seems obsessed with. (Love the cute shot with anti-affirmative action shock troopers Ward Connerly and Jennifer Gratz by the way, Kyle. Do we sense a run for office in your future?)
So, it looks like the games will begin, after all. A counter-effort educational event is being planned by a campus-based Latino advocacy group. Let's hope the latest sequel to this racist b-movie doesn't grow into a franchise.