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The Arizona law that requires all of us to carry valid residency papers in that state in case a police officer should suspect us of being a foreigner without a visa received yet more scrutiny. CBS' John Blackstone covered the backlash against the law Monday. Now NBC's Andrea Mitchell kicks off with ridicule from Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show and follows up with an anti-tourism advisory from the government of Mexico warning their citizens that they may be "bothered and questioned without much cause at any time." ABC's Barbara Pinto reminded us of a previous boycott of Arizona over its refusal to recognize Martin Luther King Day as a public holiday even as the Phoenix Convention Center braces for a renewed loss of business.
ABC's Pinto concluded: "Still, most Arizona residents, 70%, support this new law. Their fears about crime seem to outweigh any worries about the economy." Let's unpack that conclusion: Pinto implicitly argues that the law is motivated by no other consideration except crimefighting, thereby exonerating its supporters of any taint of racial animus; then she implicitly argues that only economic self-interest could account for opposition to the law, thereby discrediting the arguments of civil libertarians. Pinto's saving get-out is that weasel word "seem" in her formulation.
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