Last Call

Digby wisely connects the dots on three stories today:  the American killed in the Israeli raid earlier this week, the Tea Party wanting to overturn the 14th Amendment, and the Village backlash against Turkey.  You see, the Wingers have decided that the young man killed in that deadly raid wasn't really an American at all.

The facts are not entirely clear, but it appears that Dogan was born in the United States to Turkish parents who returned to Turkey not long thereafter. (The ABC story says he was two years old.) Apparently Dogan had lived in Turkey with his family since that time. He apparently was, in other words, a "birthright citizen," solely by virtue of the fact that his parents were residing in the U.S. when he was born.

So, screw you, 14th Amendment! Digby lays it all out for those of you who still aren't getting the whole "Why do they hate the 14th Amendment anyway?" thing.

Wow, there's a lot to consider in those paragraphs. First there is the idea that actual American citizens under current law, shouldn't be called Americans. I don't know who will decide which Americans deserve the designation, but perhaps the next teabagger convention could set up a system for the press so they'll know what's appropriate and what isn't. (No profiling please!) This is followed by the use of the phrase "birthright citizen" which I haven't heard before. Is it the politically correct version of "anchor baby?" If so, why would proudly politically incorrect right wingers bother? Call 'em all terrorists and let's be done with all the subterfuge. 

Starting to get the picture?  Add "anyone not from round these parts" to minorities, gays, liberals, sympathizers, latte drinkers, gun control freaks, non-Christians and people who drive Volvos to The List.

The old neocon "spreadin' democracy" we're all one big happy family of wingnuts is really out of fashion if even the Bush loving Powerline is pushing the 14th amendment repeal line.In fact, even the Bush administration didn't try to make the argument that American citizens who were born of foreign parents shouldn't be accorded their rights. We are seeing a joining of the neocons and the teabaggers in the spirit of shared nativism. It figures. When you strip them down to their essence they are all garden variety paranoid, neo-confederate birchers and not much more. It's all a matter of emphasis.

It's not racism if it's knee jerk cultural purity, see.