Do we need yet more proof that some politicians will say anything — LITERALLY — anything to try and demonize a group or person to try to get votes for their side? To some these days, politics is no more than The Fear Factor. In this case, just watch this attempt to demonize illegal immigrant children and also justify changes in the 14th amendment.
Watch CNN’s Anderson Cooper trying to interview a yelling, virtually filibustering GOP Congressman Louis Gohmert (R-TX) about his claim that some illegal aliens are “terror babies” who are planted with bombs that’ll go off in the future. The little problem: Gohmert has no proof and says it’ll take place 20 years from now.
Oh.
Watch this carefully and it’ll cross your mind that not all nuts are found in your supermarket. Also, his style of speaking is further evidence of 21st century America’s talk radio political culture which puts a premium on making charges, talking aggressively and talking over someone. The apparent idea is that he who is the angriest, shouts the loudest and makes the most charges therefore must be intelligent, informed, and correct. (NOT!)
But watch it and judge for yourself:
Bravo to Anderson Cooper for conducting this interview the way interviews need to be conducted: the interview subject is asked to support his/her contention and challenged if he or she tries to fillibuster or change the subject. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Democrat or a Republican. News interviews aren’t supposed to be p.r. or a gifted block of air time where someone can say what they want without responding to questions. Cooper correctly notes that Gohmert has provided no evidence and that the FBI says there is no evidence. Note Gohmert’s response to this.
In other words: you can’t discuss illegal immigration on the basis of facts, concepts of how best to deal with it and keep it on the level of energetically advocating a given approach. You have to try and frame it so that little kids are “terror babies” being planted into the U.S. to explode. Without any proof.
All that’s missing is using THIS SONG for Gohmert’s intro and exit. We will not be so impolite as to point to this song.
FOOTNOTE: It’s a waste of time to write anymore about lowering the bar on our political debate; the bar is now gone.
Except some of the talk these days sounds like what people used to hear very late at night in a bar.
Seconds before closing time.
PS: Cooper has invited anyone who has any evidence of this plot to bring down America via babies with a different skin color from a different country who are implanted to go off a decade or so from now and destroy America to come foward.
On the other hand: Gohmert’s reason, logic and evidence is something that could make thoughtful people of both parties’ heads explode…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.