“Most Of Us Don’t Feel Safe On The Phoenix Streets Without Being Armed”
Arizona GOP Despises McCain
WAPO:
PHOENIX — The protesters gather every morning before dawn, monitoring the entrance to a fenced compound called the Macehualli Work Center. They are trying to shut the place down. They wave placards and take photos of anyone driving in to pick up the day laborers who congregate there. They want nothing less than to save America from what they call “the invasion.”
“Most of us don’t feel safe on the Phoenix streets without being armed,” says Wes Pecsok, a contractor who keeps his pistol in an inner vest pocket. “We’re not going to be intimidated by these thugs. ”
The protesters are members of the Minutemen, Riders USA, United for a Sovereign America. They find a common bond in their rage, their fury at the government, their loathing of Hispanics who have come to the United States illegally. They say that many immigrants carry disease, and kill cops, and rape children.
“We’re the Wild West,” protester Craig Tillman says with a smile.
The Wild West is actually a rather ordinary-looking, heavily commercialized artery called Bell Road. Mexico is a three-hour drive south of here, but Bell Road and places like it are where the worlds collide, one culture grinding against the other. And in the home state of Sen. John McCain, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, that clash has driven a wedge straight through the Arizona GOP.
The party is controlled at the district level by activists who detest McCain for his sponsorship, with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), of a comprehensive immigration bill that among other things would have provided illegal immigrants with a pathway to citizenship. They think McCain is a traitor to conservative causes and an advocate for amnesty for illegal immigrants.
“We do not consider him a conservative at all,” says Rob Haney, a Republican Party chairman in McCain’s home district. The candidate’s bus, the Straight Talk Express, should be renamed, Haney says: “We call it the Forked Tongue Express around here. He’ll lie about anything.”
Said John Acer, a lawyer who, like Haney, showed up last weekend at a meeting of the Republican state committee in Glendale: “He’s despicable. Dishonest. Duplicitous.” And so it goes, on and on, all these Republicans who wince at the mention of McCain’s name, and who can think of few things worse than having the state’s senior Republican senator ascend to the White House.
McCain is likely to win the state’s Republican primary on Tuesday. He wins elections here in Arizona easily. Party activists don’t control the Republicans in voting booths any more than they control the senior senator. But McCain’s in-state problems reflect his national quandary as he tries to convince American conservatives that he’s one of them.
Once home to Barry Goldwater, Arizona has a credible claim as the birthplace of modern American conservatism. But even Goldwater, late in life, found himself at odds with many conservatives in the state who laced the ideology with social issues that had nothing to do with low taxes and small government.
“I feel badly that, with a lot of these people, Barry Goldwater would be unwelcome,” says Grant Woods, a moderate Republican and former Arizona attorney general. “I would hope for Arizona’s future in the Republican Party is that it would continue to produce leaders of the caliber of Goldwater, of Sandra Day O’Connor, of John McCain; yet if this posture continues, from the state party, you won’t see those leaders come from within the party anymore. Because no one in their right mind would deal with these people.”
At the GOP meeting, a few volunteers staffed a McCain table, passing out fliers listing misconceptions about McCain — playing defense in hostile territory.
Haney, probably the most vociferous of McCain’s critics, patrolled the hallway wearing a little button on his lapel that read “McCain 2008″ and had a slash through it. He agreed that Goldwater today wouldn’t get his vote: “He’s pro-abortion, pro-homosexual agenda,” Haney said. And he says he sees little difference between McCain and Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton on the immigration issue. “He’s for open borders. He’s for amnesty. Hillary’s for amnesty.”
Nearby sat a man wearing a McCain button — no slash. Horst Kraus, 77, said he immigrated from Germany in 1960. He owns a nudist camp in Arizona (and says the conservative Republicans outnumber everyone else by 2 to 1). The immigration rhetoric scares him.
“I see 1938 all over again,” Kraus said. “Back then it was ‘Jews, raus’ ” — Jews, out.
“Now it’s ‘Mexicans, out,’ ” he said. “I am very disturbed by it.”
On Bell Road, that fear is shared by the many Hispanics who work or shop at the car lots, pawnshops, liquor stores, furniture stores and check-cashing operations that line the highway, one of the main drags in North Phoenix.
“It’s scary,” says Mary Torres, 39, who works at a thrift shop.
“There’s a hatred for rising Hispanic communities in Arizona. They don’t want little L.A.’s in Arizona,” says co-worker Barbara Gutierrez, 40.
“A lot of people are going to other states. Even Canada,” Torres said.
“Less controversy. Less pressure,” Gutierrez said.
Max Romero, 41, proprietor of John’s Olde Barber Shop — a Hispanic-oriented business with “peluqueria” stenciled on the front window — says that most of his customers are more focused on the Super Bowl than on Super Tuesday. But he makes a prediction about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.):
“I think that light-skinned brother’s going to win. Because Oprah backs him up. The senator for us, McCain, he just seems so senile. He don’t make no sense. Homeboy’s young.”
In the parking lot, men congregated around the back of a pickup truck, apparently hoping to get hired. More men gathered on a distant street corner. The day laborer center where the protests are held was vacant. The demonstrations have effectively shut the place down, scattering the workers.
A state law that took effect Jan. 1 heightens penalties on business owners who hire illegal immigrants. The consequences have yet to play out, but some proprietors on Bell Road say business is down as Hispanics either save their money or flee the state, to points unknown. Some people worry that crime will spike. And people are frightened.
The manager of a liquor store, a Palestinian man who gave his name only as John, said the crackdown on employers is going to have terrible consequences among the Hispanics who live in the area. They’ll do “crazy stuff,” he predicted.
“They’re not going to go back to Mexico! There’s no jobs there!”
Down the road on a side street next to the McDonald’s where the protesters have gathered, Tillman said he’d never vote for McCain, or for any of the Democrats.
Rusty Childress, founder of United for a Sovereign America, said he hopes a television personality will come to the rescue: “Our hope would be that you’d get Lou Dobbs jumping in at the last minute.”
Barb Heller said she fears what amounts to an annexation of parts of Arizona by the Mexican government: “The president of Mexico is saying that wherever there is a Mexican, that’s Mexico.”
She showed up for Saturday’s protest with a surgical mask around her neck. “No TB please” was written on it.
A Hispanic man approached on the far side of the street. She put the mask on. She said she does it whenever someone might be carrying tuberculosis. Illegal immigrants don’t have to pass health tests before getting jobs, she says. They might be working right there at McDonald’s, she said.
“Do you know what it takes to spread TB? Would you like a little TB with your Happy Meal?”
She knows what people say about the protesters.
“They say, ‘Why are you racist?’ That’s all they can come up with,” she said.
Noon approached, and the demonstrators began to pack up their placards. They’d be back in the morning.
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Twelve Americans are murdered every day by illegal aliens, according to statistics released by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. That doesn’t count the number killed by illegal alien drunk drivers. Then we also get the rapists, the pedophiles, the gangs and all those other upstanding citizens from other countries…who are here to make a better life for themselves.
McCain says he doesn’t want to call some kid in Iraq to tell him his mom is being deported. Good, neither would I.
To be fair though, how ’bout McCain give some of these victims families a call and explain to them why he wants to open the borders and to reward illegal behavior. I wouldn’t advise it though, some of those familes might get a little pissed off.
“Most of us don’t feel safe on the Phoenix streets without being armed,”
That is not the kind of country I want to live in. I joined the military to help fight the commies. They weren’t my enemy, the real enemy slipped in without a shot being fired.
I thought I had hung my weapons up when I left the military. Now, I have to carry them with me to the local market? Bullshit!
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:53 amLeftist WaPo — “They (demonstrators) find a common bond in their rage…”
So peaceful demonstrating is now classified as rage?
I’ll back off on my criticism of the WaPo when I see Code Pinkos and other leftist Islamofasscit sympathizers described as “having a common bond in their rage” in the pages of the WaPo.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 pmI read this article yesterday - It spins the protesters against open borders as crazed and out of control. It spins the Arizona Republicans against McCain as just a small group of inconsequential haters . . .
Those who are against McCain are just racists.
That is one reason that McCain is ahead - The media is pushing him hard (for now).
Those people loading illegals in the back of their trucks are scared for their life. They should be - they are lawbreakers - And like I have said before, one of these days we law-abiding citizens are going to get fed up and go Joe Horn on them - They should be scared.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:48 pmNo if we could just deport them to China, where we’ve created zillions of jobs, they’d be employed.
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:08 pmtanicacid - Great point. lol.
But a big problem is that the three front running presidential candidates want them here . . . so we are going to be stuck with them.
We - the evil racists who want the laws enforce.
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:15 pmAs an Arizonan, let me just say, this article is BULLSHIT!!
Most of the people that I know are in support of what is happening in this state, and are happy to see the illegals heading back to Mexico, other states or to Canada. Enjoy the illegals Canada!! We should soon be seeing more articles out of Canada crying about the invasion like the recent one about the Canadian town that was overwhelmed when 250 illegals showed up because of the racist Americans…
This article is funny, because it uses two quotes from people that are anything but trustworthy. The first is Grant Woods, a former (yes former for a reason) Arizona attorney general, who would have trouble getting re-elected to any position in this state. Grant Woods is a lawyer whose family owns one of the biggest construction companies in Arizona, so they are flush with money. As such Grant is a silver spoon Republican, with fairly liberal social agendas. What many of you probably don’t know is that after losing his last bid for state office, Grant decided he wanted to get his message out by having his own radio talk show. He took over an afternoon drive time slot on the Phoenix conservative radio station KFYI, and proceeded to tell all of us conservatives how ignorant we are for not thinking like him. He used to expound on how we needed to be conservative financially, but conservative social issues were only for the weak minded, religious zealots and such. Needless to say after a few weeks I had to turn off the radio as I wanted to puke just hearing the idiot. He is such an arrogant, long winded gas bag. Oh did I mention he is a lawyer. Thankfully his show soon disappeared from the station and I realized I wasn’t alone. Grant, just because you are connected due to your family’s money, doesn’t make you right. Take away your money and then see who listens idiot. He said in the article above “no one in their right mind would deal with these people.” Well listen up Grant, you’d better learn to deal with those of us who don’t believe like you do, or you won’t be dealing with America anymore, you’ll be speaking Spanish and dealing with Mexico. Its your way or the highway eh? Did I mention he is arrogant…
The second testimonial was by Horst Kraus. Now I have met Horst Kraus due to my line of work as an engineer, and I’ll just say this. Horst Kraus is nuts. I met with him several times to discuss a construction project that he wanted to do to enlarge his nudist camp. To make a long story short Horst wanted to do some things that he wasn’t allowed to do under his zoning category and essentially decided to deal with this by ranting and raving at me an my boss as if we could control the county zoning codes. The guy is easily unhinged, so if this guy is the only guy that the paper could get to support John McCain then that tells me a lot about the McCain supporters.
Hell the Grant Woods support tells me a lot.
And the paper calls these guys moderate republicans. Sorry. They are not moderates they are liberal republicans.
What BULLSHIT…
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:24 pmhttp://www.outragedpatriots.com/
This is great . . . a townhall meeting in Arizona, a man asked how many anchor babies were being born and McCain said that he would not dignify the question with an answer and then a lady kept asking why McCain would not address the question and she was “escorted out” . . .
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:54 pmLet’s take a trip to Mexico’s southern border and see what happens to the people who cross THEIR border. Rape, robbery, and murder await you if you try to sneek into Mexico from the south. Let’s also let those in the country that carry infectious diseases
yea!
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:37 pmSince when did wanting the laws of our country enforced become anti-anything? I realize that asking politicians and lawmakers to do their jobs is like spitting into the wind. What if we all decided to break the law and refuse to be punished for it? Make demands that we have rights even though we broke the law.
What we need is more people like those in Arizona who are willing to stand up for what is right, simple enforcement of our border laws.
so we only want others out because they illegaly came here, hmmm lots of americans came from europe your not indigenous most illegals arnt criminals other than the fact they are illegal, but let me ask you this is my mother such a bad person for bein an illegal imigrant, shes hard working loves her job feeds my family also my little sister such a threat to US why? I dont aprove of illegaly entering this country but when your in my mothers position for example you got no choice. Keep the bad ones out and let those who want to be in the greatest damn nation in the world stay aint that america stands for?
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:59 pmWhat needs to happen is that when one is escorted out another stands up and ask the question again, and when that one is escorted out another stands up until the question is answered. That needs to happen across the nation to every candidate especially McCain because these schmucks want to sell us down the river.
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:18 pmHDZ - If your mother came here illegally, then my suggestion would be for her to go back home and come here legally - that is all. The step over the border without appropriate papers is criminal. And then there is the part where you are working without paying taxes. That is criminal. And if you are paying taxes, well that means you stole someone elses workpapers - that is also criminal. If you are illegal, when you fill about certain paperwork with lies and often that is illegal/criminal. It is not just one itty, bitty crime. You mom is probably a swell person except for those crimes which she has committed and not paid a penalty for . . .
Sorry for your mother - sorry for your sister, but what part of illegal don’t you get. You and she have benefited on the backs of others who came here and went through the hard work of becoming citizens legally. Europeans and Mexicans - many have done the hard work of becoming citizens legally. Your mother stabs them in the back. You stab this country in the back by not respecting its laws. I can understand why everone wants to be here. I don’t understand why everyone wants to cheat to get here - Get in line.
I know what comes next - I am a racist. I am used to it. Those of us who speak out against law breakers are called racists when there is no other reasonable response.
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:51 pmGo GIANTS ! ! !
WooooHooooooo!!!
February 3rd, 2008 at 6:30 pmI’m not illegal i did say i dont aprove with illegaly entering US, but its gotta be done sometimes by those who want a better life for themselfs and their children i love this country im not a liberal plan on joinin the marines in a few months so dont call me a back stabber.
February 3rd, 2008 at 6:41 pm‘I know what comes next - I am a racist. I am used to it. Those of us who speak out against law breakers are called racists when there is no other reasonable response.’
You ain’t a racist! LMAO!
True Racist are my dead relatives in Louisiana and Mississippi that lived as depicted in Mississippi Burning. Lynchings and other crimes were against blacks were normal conversation. Addressing a ‘Niggra’ as Mam, Mister, Mrs. or Miss got you an ass kicking.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:22 pm@HDZ
I am horney, hungry, in need of a bed and car tonight.
How would you feel if I showed up tonight at your house, told you what was what, ate your food, drove your car around town and then took advantage of your lady friend?
Sounds like a plan doesn’t it?
Well if you think about it, that is what illegals are doing.
Whether the border of your property or the USA there is a reason we must follow laws and processes to gain acceptance.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:48 pmI appreciate people coming here to better themselves or to provide for their families but if that is at the expense of this country then we have a serious problem. When my grandparents came here from Holland they stood in line, back home that is, to get the proper clearance and approval to come to America LEGALLY!!! In addition, they learned english very quickly and didn’t send their money back home, they reinvested by buying homes and other assests. Mexico’s second largest cash infushion comes from American dollars being sent home, second only to their oil production. I work in the medical field here in central California and all of the small town hospitals in the central valley have closed due to illegal aliens getting treatment and never paying their bills, we’re talking millions and millions of lost dollars.
One recent study showed that for every illegal alien family of 4 they are a net drain of 22,500 dollars per year. Thats a net drain, meaning figuring in what the input into society by working. They rarely have health insurance, they pay little if any taxes but they use far more social services than American citizens.
Our country won’t survive as we know it if this isn’t stopped.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:52 pmHDZ - I thank you for your plan to serve our country. That doesn’t make your opinion that some laws are okay to be broken acceptable . . . maybe you will understand that once you get in the Marines.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:56 pmprofessor bill,
Indeed . . . I have worked in healthcare billing for specialists the last 15-20 years in Texas. We know that whenever we get a charge ticket from one of our doctors who sees a patient in the emergency room and the patient has a Hispanic surname, we can guarantee you that 100% of the time they do not have insurance and 99% of the time when we send the statement to the given address, the statement comes back undeliverable . . . they moved with no forwarding or gave a bad address. Now the hospital sometimes gets federal reimbursement (tax money) for that care, but not the specialist. We have to eat it and you wonder why we are pissed off. In Texas, it is getting worse because the illegals are moving out of Oklahoma and Arizona, where they are “cracking down” . . . Texas politicians are doing nothing because they are “in bed” with the cheap labor businessmen.
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:08 pmIf the only rational it takes to break the law to “better” oneself, then hmm maybe everyone should break the law. Gee my neighbor is rich, if only I had what he has then I could live a better life. Maybe I should break into his house and help myself to the things he has. After all it is helping me to better myself….
For some reason I just don’t think that dog will hunt.
By the way, when you join the marines, please tell as many of your bootcamp marine sargents that story. Let them give you their opinion. Let us know how it goes…
February 4th, 2008 at 1:52 amI think Johnny cash said it best, “remember the allamo”
February 4th, 2008 at 2:09 amThe fence alone is not the solution, but rather is a part of the solution. Look at the Great Wall of China. Every 100 meters they had a tower keeping watch and army troops near by. So we need a fence, and the proper amount of agents and we also need to reposition some Army units to outpost near the border.
As Ron Paul stated that is why they invented dynamite. So that people could get around obstacles. Keep that in mind when you demand the fence. We NEED more agents too!!
February 4th, 2008 at 6:34 amI think Texas and rural CA are probably very similar. Just last week a little hospital near my home finally closed the doors on their ER and its due to non-reimbursements.
People don’t seem to realize that we all pay for the illegals healthcare. I went to ER 2 years ago due to symptoms caused by the flu and got 2 liter of fluid and couple generic drugs and the total bill came to 3700 dollars. My portion was over 700 dollars.
One more very serious thought. People think the average illegal alien cares about American and is coming here to better their family. That’s simply not the case, they could not care less about our country and that’s a fact of life I see every day here in Central California. From the actions of the average illegal noone can convince me the average illegal alien has a dime’s worth of American patriotism. They are here to take our services, get some money and send it home, all at the taxpayer and citizens expense.
February 4th, 2008 at 7:39 amAs a resident of the Phoenix valley, I can tell you that indeed, there are places that a gringo/gringa just do not go. Just do not.
Last time I went to an ER was in 2002; the room was so full of hacking, feverish 95% Hispanic individuals, I just turned around and left. TB is a problem here, and I didn’t want to get a present from the border, if you know what I mean. Medicated myself with OTC’s and got in to see my regular doc the next day or two. And this is a common occurrence in the valley. Unless you are having an MI or you’ve been hurt in an accident, don’t even plan on going there without 4 to 12 hours to kill. And that’s before you even see a medical professional.
Jobs - illegal immigration has had a drastic impact on the building trades. Used to be a tilesetter or framer could make a halfway decent living — no more. You only need one bilingual site boss to read plans/specs. The illegals work cheaper, often for cash, no tax or benefits — the companies LOVE IT.
Right now, there is a great deal of outcry over one of the largest construction jobs in the Valley being fubar’d — and illegal immigrant employees possibly being part of the problem. You’ve got non-English speaking illegals in the field being given directive from a field supervisor that may or may not have translated the instructions on the plans correctly…..but for now, that’s just a possibility and I guess we’ll just have to wait for all the investigations to be concluded…
I know lots of illegals, lots of them. One has been here 17 years, was able to buy a car and a house…..
McCain screwed himself last summer over the amnesty act. I don’t know too many AZ voters that would trust him with our nation’s business. Not me for sure. And when people rallied at the front door of his and Senator Kyl’s Phoenix offices, guess what the news media focused on? The one guy who carried his gun in a hip holster — that camera just zoomed in there like a gun had never been seen before. Arizona is a CCW state, so this guy was clear to carry it. But the media focused on that gun in a pathetic attempt to make viewers believe that people against illegal immigration are a bunch of gun toting maniacs…..
I don’t think anyone can secure the border now; too little, too late. Any promises coming from any of the candidates are not going to be realized. The next step is militarizing the border if we still want an America; otherwise, here comes the NAU. As long as corporate America is making gazillions of dollars off the backs of illegals, they are going to keep coming just like they’ve always been.
Just today, read an article about a bunch of illegal Mexicans and the Palestinian and Iraqi the agents caught with them……in the southeast coast……and there is where I believe the real danger of the open border lies now. The term “OTM” [other than Mexican] has a lot more meaning than just South America…..
February 4th, 2008 at 9:54 am