Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh lashed out at
Mexican immigrants Wednesday in a radio rant that portrayed them as lazy and
government-dependent -- the latest in a series of anti-Mexican statements
spouted off by far-right conservatives angered by the possibility of a deal to pass
a bipartisan immigration reform.
Limbaugh,
who pundits for a living, described Mexican immigrants as lazy and
government-dependent, though they are well
known for working labor-intensive jobs for lower wages, fewer protections
and less government benefits than the native born.
“They want relatively poor people who depend on government
for their prosperity,” Limbaugh said of Democrats. The radio host went on to
question Mexican immigrants’ work ethic:
For some reason, culturally, they think that they're
invested in hard work. And using the Cuban exile model, they're exactly right.
But the Hispanic demographic, if you will, or population, has shifted. And the
Cuban exile model is no longer the dominant model. The Mexican immigrant model
is. And that -- they arrive with an entirely different view of America. And I'm
sorry if this is offensive, but it's true.
In fact, Latinos
as a whole use less than their fair share of government benefits. According
to a study released last year by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 64 percent of the
population in 2010 and received 69 percent of the entitlement benefits. In
contrast, Hispanics made up 16 percent of the population but received 12
percent of the benefits, less than their proportionate share -- likely because
they are a younger population and also because immigrants, including many legal
immigrants, are ineligible for various benefits.
People of Mexican
origin account for nearly 65 percent of the Latino population, while Cubans
account for just 3.7 percent, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
When making the comparison between Mexican immigrants and
the Cuban exile generation that immigrated in the 1960s, the conservative radio
host insisted that he was “not just asserting it,” and that “the scholarly
research from academia is out there.”
Limbaugh then said that 75 percent of voting Hispanics
believe that prosperity is the job of government, without citing a source or
breaking down the Hispanic population by country of origin.
The unattributed figure was typical of Limbaugh’s approach
during his radio talk. Using no source, Limbaugh estimated the undocumented
population at “11 million, 12 million, 20 million or whatever.”
Roughly 11.1
million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, according to the
Pew Hispanic Center.
While Limbaugh drew an unfounded distinction between the
Mexican and Cuban work ethic, he did not mention a key fact that helps explain
the Cuban-American community’s economic success: Cuban
immigrants qualify for legal permanent residence the moment they set foot
in the United States.
(Ann Coulter)
Limbaugh isn’t the only person to lob insults disguised as
analysis at the Latino community in recent months.
Pundit Ann
Coulter penned a column in December lashing out at Latinos after Mitt
Romney’s loss in the presidential election. Rep. Lou
Barletta (R-Pa.) said Republicans shouldn’t bother to try to cultivate the
Latino vote because undocumented immigrants work primarily low-wage jobs.
In a video posted to YouTube, immigration
hardliner Stephen Steinlight said that if undocumented Mexican immigrants
were afforded a pathway to citizenship, they would lead a bloody civil rights movement.
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Issachar [is] a strong ass couching down between two
burdens:
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And he saw that rest [was] good, and the land that [it
was] pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto
tribute.
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Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they
hate me with cruel hatred.
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