BIAS ON IMMIGRATION REPORTING

Journalism or press release? I link--you decide. Check out this story--it's about some union-funded effort to help illegal aliens move about the country, and about granting them amnesty and making citizenship easier for them to attain. But the story, which is entirely about the status of illegal aliens, never once uses the word "illegal." When it refers to legal status, it uses the more innocuous "undocumented immigrants." Illegal, by a better-sounding name. It never uses the word "aliens" either, and nowhere will one find any discussion of the possible flaws in the AFL-CIO sponsored effort, which one of the participants helpfully describes as a way to build a political power base.

Which, to the reader, should constitute an "Aha!" moment. The "freedom ride" isn't really about the "immigrants" at all--it's about cementing them to a fixed political point on the compass. And given the union's involvement, it's a sure bet that that point is on the left. It's really all about the Democrats. Ordinary Americans don't like them anymore, so why not turn millions of law-breakers into new Americans who will like them. Who cares it might just make it easier for criminals and terrorists to slip in, too.

The Dems have done this kind of thing for years, but post 9-11 it's just one more illustration that they don't understand national security as anything other than a political issue, one to be ignored when possible and exploited when useful. Ditto for immigration policy, tax policy and scores of other issues--no principles, just politics and power. And it's one more illustration that the media is manifestly on the Democrats' side.