The one thing I learned about Slick Willard Mitt Romney's decision to fire his landscapers is that the decision was decisively glacial. The Boston Globe series about Romney having his lawn cut by a firm that employed illegal aliens ran nearly a year ago in December, 2006.
Apparently, the Mittster is really that thick because he is currently running ads in Boston and New Hampshire touting his tough stance on immigration. To me that seems like a commercial by Il Rudy lecturing Bill Clinton about adultery.
It took the Romney campaign even longer to respond to the story which resurfaced last week when Il Rudy used it to attack Romney.
The reason I refer to this as the My Pet Goat moment is that Romney displayed that deer in the headlights look that Bush had when Card whispered in his ear that a second plane had hit the WTC — and Bush decisively sat for 27 minutes before ambling out of the school and acted like the commander guy that he plays on the teeVee.
Romney tried the ostrich strategy and hoped that ignoring the incredible GOPocrisy that comes with demanding tough security on the border but not at my home. That seems to be the prevailing GOP talking point for Romney, Linda Chavez, and Bernie Kerik to name a few.
Indeed the wingnuttian chorus of "blame the Mexicans" misses every point.
First, we should change our laws to increase the fines on firms that knowingly hire illegal aliens. For businesses like Wal-Mart the fines are not even a franction of the cost of doing business.
Second, it is hypocritical to rail against illegal immigration, but at the same time hire nannies, pool cleaners, construction firms, housekeepers, etc. that are undocumented.
Third, as I have said before, saying "Mexicans" just demonstrates how ignorant and zenophobic the Loudobbs are. In other words, they are too stupid to even be good at be a bigot because they failed Racial Classification 101 and can no more tell the difference between a Jordanian and Guatemalan. Why do you think they get all wigged out by Sikhs (who are not Muslim and calling them insults their religion and culture) at the airport?
Mexicans may not even be the largest ethnic group from the Americas either as Brazillians have emerged as one of the fastest growing ethic groups in the U.S. Also, white illegal immigrants, particularly from Eastern Europe are huge, but they are also white so somehow that's alright.
Fourth, terrorism is and has never been a legitimate concern as all of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were enabled by a clueless state department that issued 15 Saudis visas and the FAA watch list which was ignored.
Finally, recent reports indicate that the number of undocumented immigrants has doubled in the U.S. since 1999. The wing nuts will somehow blame the Clintons for it, but he was signing a bill handed to him by a Republican Congress and that only should pertain to his two years under his watch. What happened during the last six years?
It isn't as if Congress (both parties are culpable) of being slaves to agribusinesses, service industry and others that have literally written the laws that have seen the number of undocumented soar to the level today.
Romney like the rest of the GOP tries to have his cake and eat it too. He likes the fact that he hired Community Law Service with a Heart because the owner, Ricardo Saenz, is also a Mormon. Nothing wrong there, but did you have to give him a contract to cut MassPort land, which would violate Commonwealth law?
Romney claims his two sons, you know the ones that are doing the equivilent of a tour in Iraq or Afghanistan riding around Iowa in an RV, spoke to Saenz last Spring to ask for a reassurance that no illegal aliens were working at Romney's tony Belmont Hill estate.
Romney's account differs from that of Saenz, who said that Romney didn't press the issue of whether his workers were in the country illegally. Asked if the Romney household expressed reservations about rehiring him after last year's story, he said, "Why would they have any problem?"
Apparently neither did Romney or his adult children.
The Globe observed Saenz, the owner of the landscaping company, lead a crew of two, three, and sometimes four workers at Romney's house once a week for the past two months, the only exception being Thanksgiving week. The crew typically arrived around noon, and worked for an hour-and-a-half mowing, raking, pruning, and bagging.
Afterward, the crew retreated to the same Toyota pickup and drove a few houses down the narrow, winding street to the home of Taggart Romney, Romney's oldest son, where they worked for about an hour. The Romney homes were among several other lawn jobs done on workdays that sometimes lasted 10 to 12 hours.
Saenz told reporters from the Globe, that he was only required by federal law to examine any papers his workers submit. The responsibility, he insists, is with state and federal authorities.
That's partially true, but it didn't take the reporters very long to determine the status of two of Saenz's landscapers.
The two workers confirmed in separate interviews with Globe reporters last week that they were in the country without documents. One said he had paid $7,000 to a smuggler to escort him across the desert into Arizona; the other said he had come into the country with a student visa that has expired. Both were seen working on the lawn by either Globe reporters or photographers over the last two months.
Romney of course blamed Saenz for the entire problem, ignoring the fact that he could have fired the firm a year ago, but ignored common sense and kept using them anyway!
To me that says he is even more stubborn than Bush because W. can't help his stupidity because well he's W., but Romney should know better. That's the problem with Slick Willard because he he has a tell just like W. when he is about to serve us a steaming pile of b.s.