The New York Times sometimes takes its politically correct blandishments to
humorous extremes, as in Randal Archibold's lead story Saturday, "Arizona Enacts Stringent Law On Immigration [1]." Check the curious way Archibold referred to a protest against Arizona's new anti-immigration law:
As hundreds of demonstrators massed, mostly peacefully, at the capitol plaza, the governor, speaking at a state building a few miles away, said the law "represents another tool for our state to use as we work to solve a crisis we did not create and the federal government has refused to fix."
Achibold didn't go into why he felt obliged to include the modifier "mostly." For that, one had to check out a local report filed Friday night [2] that included details the Times left out:
Three people were arrested during the immigration rally at the state capitol Friday afternoon.
Two were arrested after they were seen throwing water bottles at police, according to a news release from the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the state police agency.
Evidently, "mostly peacefully" means "somewhat violently" at the New York Times.
This local news clip [3]
is even more dramatic, showing a police officer being nailed with a
water bottle, one of many hurled in the semi-chaotic "march" that the
headline terms a "small riot."
It's interesting that, for all the Times' hand-wringing [4]
over how the Tea Party movement is potentially inspiring violent acts,
there has evidently yet to be a single documented case of violence or
arrest at any of the many Tea Party functions. Meanwhile, here are
three actual arrests at a single medium-sized rally dominated by
left-wingers, and the Times doesn't find the fact worth mentioning.
Archibold
followed up on Sunday with a "Woman in the News" profile of Arizona
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, after signing Arizona's tough
anti-immigration law: "An Unexpected Governor Takes an Unwavering Course [5]."
One night last week, Grant Woods, the former state attorney general, spent more than an hour on the telephone with Gov. Jan Brewer, a fellow Republican who was considering whether to sign into law the nation's toughest immigration enforcement bill.
The governor listened patiently, Mr. Woods recalled, as he laid out his arguments against the bill: that it would give too much power to the local police to stop people merely suspected of being illegal immigrants and would lead to racial profiling; that some local police officers have been abusive toward immigrants; and that the law could lead to costly legal battles for the state.
When he hung up, Mr. Woods knew he had lost the case. "She really felt that the majority of Arizonans fall on the side of, Let's solve the problem and not worry about the Constitution," he said.
Archibold continued his labeling slant [6]
in his coverage of the Arizona legislation, painting proponents of the
law as "conservatives" but calling liberal opponents more flattering
terms like "civil rights groups."
Ms. Brewer said she had pushed for language that explicitly bars the police from racial profiling, though that failed to mollify civil rights groups who complained that Latino citizens would inevitably be harassed or mistaken for illegal immigrants.
....
He saw that in her decision on the tax increase and to an extent her decision to support the immigration bill, despite the negative attention from national civil rights, religious and immigrant advocacy leaders.
"She is in Arizona running for governor as Republican at a time when Republicans are being controlled by different, conservative factions," he said.
Mary Rose Wilcox, a Democrat who served with her on the Board of Supervisors, said she had warmed to Ms. Brewer when they worked together to improve services to the homeless and the mentally ill.
But, Ms. Wilcox said, political considerations were never far from her mind, and Ms. Brewer kept close score on who was supporting which piece of legislation. She has approved much of the socially conservative legislation, including abortion restrictions, promoted by the Center for Arizona Policy, a conservative research group.
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