Twelve-point loser, radio lip-flapper and second vice chair of the Arizona GOP Russell Pearce owes his entire political existence, such as it is, to illegal immigrants and the racist lies he spews about them on a regular basis.
Former Arizona GOP executive director Sean McCaffrey has given the marble-mouthed Mesa pol a gig as "president" of McCaffrey's nativist shill organization Ban Amnesty Now, and with it, double duty as a blowhard on KFNX 1100 AM, where Pearce now pollutes the airwaves with hateful rhetoric.
This gives Arizona's biggest bigot a bullhorn with which he can prevaricate incessantly about the undocumented while he plots his return to the state Legislature. The shameless pol, who was removed from office last year in a historic recall election, will likely be running for state Senate in the newly-formed Legislative District 25, though he has yet to formally announce.
Part of his duties for BAN apparently include lending his name to its shrill, incessant appeals for moolah, like this recent one, which repeats the oft-debunked statistic that "9,000 Americans annually are killed by illegal aliens."
That tres-musty stat is in fact a pernicious falsehood, first promulgated by Hispanic-hatin' Iowa Congressman Steve King, who supposedly "extrapolated" it from a 2005 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Problem is, the GAO report never mentions the figure and King's "extrapolation" has no basis in mathematical reality. In fact, it's been disproven so many times that it's become the equivalent of conspiracy theories on faked moon landings and Area 51.
Not only is that particular stat bogus, the notion that more crime is caused by the undocumented than plain ol' Americans is also hooey.
Even the restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies has noted this on more than one occasion. In a 2009 report, it stated the following:
"In conclusion, we find that it would be a mistake to assume that immigrants as a group are more prone to crime than other groups, or that they should be viewed with more suspicion than others. Even though immigrant incarceration rates are high in some populations, there is no clear evidence that immigrants commit crimes at higher or lower rates than others."
This, from an organization that's on Pearce's side in the immigration debate. CIS actually argues for lower legal immigration to the United States.
Moreover, many studies have found that the undocumented commit crime at a lower rate than the general population. For instance, a 2008 report by the Public Policy Institute of California noted that,
"...in California, U.S.-born men have an institutionalization rate that is 10 times higher than that of foreign-born men (4.2% vs. 0.42%). And when we compare foreign-born men to U.S.-born men with similar age and education levels, these differences become even greater."
In other words, "Duh." If you're undocumented, it stands to reason you'd keep your head low and your nose clean, otherwise, once the local po-po collars you, you'll end up on a one-way bus trip back to the border courtesy of Uncle Sam.
But folks like Pearce, and sadly McCaffrey, a moderate Republican (read, "RiNO") who now cops the nativist line to make a buck, have to demonize illegal immigrants and Latinos in order to further their careers.
Granted, Pearce is an actual bigot. McCaffrey knows better, but is using BAN as a way to avoid having to run someone's campaign or work for the Republican Party.
This is much easier work: Send out racist screeds and reel in the suckers.
I mean, jeez, check this post-script from Pearce's money-grubbing e-mail blast:
"I need 10 individuals to serve on BAN AMNESTY Now's finance committee: individuals who are willing to contribute $5,000 annually and help me raise another $5,000. Murder, violent crime, car theft, and many other felonies are way down in Arizona thanks to SB1070."
Five Gs? I reckon that might pay McCaffrey's rent for a few months, which is what you'd be doing, if you're dumb enough to write BAN a check for $5,000. Not that McCaffrey would look down his nose at a $5 or $10 spot. The price of bubblegum's gone up these days.
By the way, the line about Senate Bill 1070 lowering the crime rate is also totally bogus, I covered that in my last blog item about Pearce's racist rants on his radio hour.
I suppose I should be happy I still have Pearce to kick around on the web and in print, but the state and the nation will be better off when nativist Neanderthals such as Pearce are no longer peeping their prejudiced palaver. And when hate-enablers like McCaffrey are forced to make an honest living.
