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Political coalitions are diverse (and there’s no use pretending otherwise)

- May 11, 2013

David Weigel writes:

Immigration reform’s political enemies know–and can’t stand–that racial theorists are cheering them on from the cheap seats. They know that the left wants to exploit that–why else do so many cameras sprout up whenever Minutemen appear on the border, or when Pat Buchanan comes out of post-post-post retirement to write another book about the “death of the West?”

I don’t think this really makes sense. Sure, some of the opponents of immigration reform can’t stand the racial theorists. But others can. Some of the opponents of immigration reform are the racial theorists. That’s the point. Pat Buchanan, in his post-post-post retirement, is, in fact, one of the political opponents of immigration reform.

Also, I don’t really know what “the left” or “the right” is aiming for, but you can’t exactly blame the news media for reporting on Minutemen or Pat Buchanan. Minutemen are colorful, and Pat Buchanan is a fount of outrageous quotes.

P.S. Weigel’s article has interesting detail on the culture of D.C. I’m not trying slam his article, just pointing out that he made what was, to me, an interesting omission, by implicitly excluding racists—some of the strongest opponents of immigration reform—from the group of “immigration reform’s political enemies.”

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