John Hawkins has his
40 Most Obnoxious Quotes Of 2007.
I didn't realize that Linda Chavez was such a political bigot:
Some people just don't like Mexicans -- or anyone else from south of the border. They think Latinos are freeloaders and welfare cheats who are too lazy to learn English. They think Latinos have too many babies, and that Latino kids will dumb down our schools. They think Latinos are dirty, diseased, indolent and more prone to criminal behavior. They think Latinos are just too different from us ever to become real Americans.
No amount of hard, empirical evidence to the contrary, and no amount of reasoned argument or appeals to decency and fairness, will convince this small group of Americans -- fewer than 10 percent of the general population, at most -- otherwise. Unfortunately, among this group is a fair number of Republican members of Congress, almost all influential conservative talk radio hosts, some cable news anchors -- most prominently, Lou Dobbs -- and a handful of public policy "experts" at organizations such as the Center for Immigration Studies, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA, in addition to fringe groups like the Minuteman Project.
Stripped bare, this is what the current debate on immigration reform is all about.
Out of curiosity, I checked to see how many of the quotes were nominees for Andrew Sullivan's Malkin and Moore awards for right- and left-wing histrionics, respectively. Keith Olberman is the only Moore Award nominee (the winner, in fact) who made Hawkins' list(16). Sully's other nominees are Internet trolls, a Kos columnist, an Australian professor, and Eric Alterman - that last one really should have made Hawkins' Top 40:
"Bush's preference for allowing poor kids to get sick and die for his own ideological obsession is a fundamental fact of his presidency and of the Republican Party's guiding ideology," - Eric Alterman, Media Matters.
Not a single Malkin nominee made the list. Not even Michael Savage. One conservative other than Chavez made the Top 40 - and deservingly so:
39) "I'd say something about John Edwards, but if you use the word 'f*ggot', you have to go to rehab." -- Ann Coulter
(I blogged on her quote here.)
One quote (28) played the fascist card, and three (15, 20 21) played the Nazi card.
Check 'em all out. Mach schnell!
Labels: Blogs, Media, Politics