Apparently playing some kind of headline madlibs, Rep. Todd Rokita said that we should be careful about having the Central American immigrant kids in the U.S. because they might have the ebola.
He’s not wrong that we should be conscious of the health status of people entering the U.S., but with this, he’s just looking for excuses to hate on President Obama’s immigration policies in a way that will maybe rile up his supporters. I guess with ebola also in the news, it seemed ripe for a mash up with the immigration issue.
Inconveniently, however:
No human Ebola illness ever has been contracted in the Western Hemisphere and none of the 30,340 unaccompanied minors released this year to relatives or sponsors, including the 245 children placed in Indiana homes, have Ebola, according to the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Rep. Rokita also opined that, if the kids are settled with relatives in Indiana, they’ll go to school and our property taxes will go up.
Inconveniently, however:
Classroom instruction in Indiana schools mainly is funded by state sales and income taxes, not local property taxes.
U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement Press Secretary Ernie Dobthorpe then went home and contemplated a world in which it was his job to actually clarify that — and I’m quoting here — “No, you idiot. They do not have ebola. Jesus.”
Exactly.
It would be kind of nice for a citizen of Indiana that is elected to Congress to have a basic understanding of how property taxes and school funding work in his home state.
Might be too much to ask.
I wonder if the spineless Democrats (not sure if John Dale is of that ilk or not) will point out the above fact. Immigration reform and worrying about the dirty, disease ridden Other is one thing, but to not how our state operates. Seems like a juicy target.
But what do I know.
From what I know of John Dale, he is not of that ilk. I’d like to see him really take Rokita to task on this, but not sure is the press in this district would take much notice, anyway.
Exactly – Dale is making a lot of pointed commentary regardless if you see if in the press or not.
We all say stupid/silly remarks that we regret. Hopefully, for the readers of this blog, those events don’t occur on a regular basis, but if one is an elected official, you would expect a higher level of circumspection and self-monitoring so as not to demean the office and remove all doubt about whether one has a working brain. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, perhaps these kinds of statements stem not so much from pure ignorance as they do from a desire to stir the pot. This sort of thing is not just a reflection of the guy’s inclination to make irresponsible comments.. It says something about the people who elected him and who are getting the sort of government representation they deserve.
Unfortunately the sort of representation “they” deserve to get is also inflicted upon everyone else.
Yup. We all get painted with the same brush. He’s the rep from Indiana.
You’re Beautiful But You Have To Be Honest…
Okay, here’s the situation: Have any of you noticed that Ebola contains 5 letters, the 2nd letter ‘b’ and the 5th an ‘a’ just like Obama? Coincidence? I think not!