Can’t this person just go away? (part 2)

(See Michelle Malkin’s take on the Powell “correction,” below.)

Colin Powell released a statement today saying that he “misspoke” on Meet the Press:

“I don’t hire illegal immigrants. On Meet the Press yesterday, I referred to illegal immigrants working around my house. I was referring to the many service contractors who work in my neighborhood [emphasis added], using mostly immigrant workers, who do good work. Some may well be ‘illegal.’ There are 11 million illegal immigrants in this country and most are working somewhere in our economy.”

This statement makes it sound as though the illegal aliens don’t even work on Powell’s property, but only in his neighborhood. But here’s what he said on Meet the Press:

“They’re all over my house, doing things whenever I call for repairs, and I’m sure you’ve seen them at your house. We’ve got to find a way to bring these people out of the darkness and give them some kind of status.” [Emphasis added.]

So he’s being sneaky to lessen the truth. The truth is that service contractors who work for Powell, on his property, not just in his neighborhood, have illegal aliens working for them, and thus working on Powell’s property, and presumably (though the distinction doesn’t really matter) not just on the grounds, but on or in Powell’s house. And he has no problem with this. Indeed, he doesn’t even consider illegal aliens to be illegal, as shown by his use of scare quotes around the word “illegal.” The man’s in bad faith with the laws of his own country.

Furthermore, this one-time greatly admired black moderate Republican, despite the fact that in recent years he has moved well to the left, as well as to black racialism, and also voted for and served as an advisor to Obama in 2008, still somehow arrogantly imagines that he, an Obama supporter, has the standing to tell Republicans what they ought to do, namely to support the legalization of all illegal aliens. Not only that, but this man, who once occupied the third highest position in the U.S. government, has the chutzpah to state publicly that he has illegal aliens working on his property (though today he tried to soften the impact of that statement), and that he thinks this is fine. Eighteen years ago, employing illegal aliens in one’s home was considered a disqualifier for a Democratic cabinet appointee, Kimba Wood. Ten years ago, employing an illegal alien in one’s home was considered a disqualifier for a Republican cabinet appointee, Linda (the Liar) Chavez. Clearly Powell wants it to be ok for anyone, including a former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to employ illegal aliens.

Here is MSNBC’s story from yesterday with Powell’s statements calling for legalization of illegals.

Powell says illegal aliens to his home repairs

WASHINGTON—Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says illegal immigrants do essential work in the U.S. and he has firsthand knowledge of that—because they fix his house.

Powell, a moderate Republican, urged his party Sunday to support immigration generally because it is “what’s keeping this country’s lifeblood moving forward.”

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he said a path to legal status should be offered to illegal immigrants because they “are doing things we need done in this country.”

He added: “They’re all over my house, doing things whenever I call for repairs, and I’m sure you’ve seen them at your house. We’ve got to find a way to bring these people out of the darkness and give them some kind of status.”

Powell did not say whether he’s hired illegal immigrants directly or they showed up with contractors.

Powell was President George W. Bush’s first-term secretary of state and the nation’s top military officer in the presidency of Bush’s father and in the early months of the Clinton administration. Despite his Republican standing—he was once considered a formidable prospect for the GOP presidential or vice presidential nominations but stayed out of contention—he endorsed Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

In lamenting the party’s rightward drift Sunday, he said Republicans must not become anti-immigration and spoke in support of legislation that would give certain children of illegal immigrants a way to become citizens if they pursue a college education or military service.

Immigration, he said, offers the U.S. a chance to maintain a youthful population in contrast with the aging of Europe and Japan.

Powell also said “fringe” elements on the right are taking a low road when they label Obama a foreign-born Muslim and peddle other false theories about non-American influences on the president’s character. Obama was born in the U.S. and is Christian.

“Let’s attack him on policy, not nonsense,” he said.

And he said the tea party may not become an enduring force unless it moves beyond slogans and promotes an agenda that people “can see, touch and actually believe in.” It’s not enough, he said, to call for goals that most Americans support, such as controlled federal spending and adherence to the Constitution.

The former secretary of state said he still sees Obama as a transformational figure, if one who has lost some of his ability to connect with people.

Powell said he’s not giving up on the GOP, even in the face of a rightward drift, and says it might actually help Obama if Republicans win the House in November and gain responsibility for driving policy, not just opposing Democrats.

[end of article]

- end of initial entry -

LA writes:

Michelle Malkin has nothing to do with me, and I sometimes criticize her, sometimes strongly, but I get a kick out of how we sometimes have the same indignant gut reaction to things (though I don’t like the crude, adolescent namecalling she regularly uses). Each of us is like a guard dog, getting our jaws around the leg of an intruder and not letting go. Here she is on Powell:

Crapweasel Colin Powell update: Um, on second thought, I don’t see illegal aliens in my house

By Michelle Malkin, September 20, 2010 06:28 PM

Looks like DREAM Act zealot Colin Powell has been talking to his lawyer in the last 24 hours. Since boasting yesterday on the talk show circuit that he employed illegal aliens to do work on his McLean, Va. manse, he has now performed a whiplash-inducing walk back of the standard Washington variety. He “misspoke.”

Yesterday:

“We have millions and millions of illegal immigrants in our country, undocumented individuals, who are working, who are doing things we need done in this country,” he told NBC’s David Gregory on Sunday. “They’re all over my house, doing things, making repairs. I’m sure you’ve seen them at your house.

Today:

“I don’t hire illegal immigrants,” he said in the clarifying statement. “On Meet the Press yesterday, I referred to illegal immigrants working around my house. I was referring to the many service contractors who work in my neighborhood, using mostly immigrant workers, who do good work. Some may well be “illegal.”

Yesterday, he hired them knowingly and they were “all over” his house.

Today, he doesn’t hire them at all and they are simply “in [his] neighborhood.”

What a classic Beltway crapweasel. Time to head back to the political morgue and stay out of sight for another couple of years until Barack Obama needs his “Republican” endorsement.

[end of Malkin entry]

“Time to head back to the political morgue and stay out of sight…” That is very like the title of this entry: “Can’t this person just go away?”

Also, that entire final sentence of hers is the best size-up and put-down of Powell I’ve ever seen.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 20, 2010 03:54 PM | Send