That was the worst worst person I've seen. There are in fact American citizens and legal immigrants who will cut lawns and clean up after horses. They demand higher wages than Mexicans, however. Refusing to hire illegals is not necessarily racist ("allowing people to hate"?). I sympathize with undocumented workers; I've known some personally and I could never "turn them in". But I don't agree with workers coming to this country and undermining all of the legal protections and wage levels that American workers and fought so hard for. That's not racism, it's solidarity.

True, Guiliani's and Romney's records on immigration run from sensible to overly liberal, and now they're trying to run away from them, possibly just to win an election. But I don't think that makes them the worst persons in the world. More and more Olbermann needs this long winded explanation for how "worst" the person is. And it's always O'Reilly.

Dende blogger, I thought this Worst Person segment was a little shaky too, but I think I know where Olbermann is coming from: It's not so much that the immigration policies themselves are usually explicitly racist, its that the language, conduct and attitude of the people promoting these policies most certainly is (these interpretations are partly subjective though, and that's the trick.)

Olbermann is trying to point out that the real objective of these politicians is less about legal and labor issues, and more about punishing Mexicans for being Mexican.

However, the way Olbermann's rants were shoe-horned into this segment (and the way this Worst Person shtick is getting quite tired) left me unimpressed, but welcome to American television news, circa 2007. At least someone's trying to get people to take a closer look at things.

The tacit charge of racism is like saying there is no room to have a considerate discussion about the consequences of illegal immigration, as a principle integral to a sovereign country. In addition, one must never utter the words "illegal immigration"or you're branded a racist. You'll never pass go with the Olbermann mindset, which will have you reflexively tarred every time. It's a tactic that I find sooooo easy as to be infantile and, worse, about it's as intellectually bankrupt as it comes (that's all you've got?). Unfortunately, in political circles, it's the kind of muckraking that tends to do the job handily.

[not a Romney fan, for those inclined to see everything across the party divide]

Christians have their war on xmas. Maybe Billo should invite these guys on his program.

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=5XEuzmu7ocM

Well, I did like watching Keith Olbermann, but I think I've lost all respect for him now. He, like most liberals, love to forget the illegal part in illegal immigrants. There are plenty of legal Americans, including legal immigrant Americans, who will do the jobs illegals are doing. However, they simply will not do them for low wages that companies pay illegal immigrants. There are two forms of exploitation going on here. One, the companies and/or people hiring the illegal immigrants exploit the illegals by paying them low wages knowing they have few options of employment without proper documentation. Because of this, they can get away with paying them $4.00 an hour rather than $12.00 an hour. Secondly, the illegal immigrants are exploiting the United States by coming here illegally, taking advantage of benefits which they have no right to, all paid for by the American taxpayer, meanwhile sending billions of dollars into the Mexican economy which is simply lost. Mexico's second largest source of income is money sent by immigrants back to Mexico. We have an immigration system that works. It's the illegals who cheat the system that are the reason why we have an immigration problem. America lets 2 million immigrants become citizens every year, more than any other country. Those who come here illegally and those who hire illegals need to be punished for their crimes.

We have an immigration system that works. It's the illegals who cheat the system that are the reason why we have an immigration problem.

ahahahahhahahahahahahah!

I'm sorry, but the immigration laws we have are the reason we have people who "cheat" the system.

I bet you think the "war on drugs" is working too. Listen, Police the frakin people who hire illegal immigrants and the problem ends. No jobs, no reason to break the law to get here.

I feel like I've entered the twilight zone. Please! Someone tell me how Murrowesque he is or I'll have to find another 'liberal' blog to haunt ;-}

He, like most liberals, love to forget the illegal part in illegal immigrants.

We have to recognize why illegal immigration has peaked in recent years. Though there are clearly many reasons that we could put on the table, NAFTA seems to be the main culprit here. It worked excellently to depress wages in Mexico and thus we now face a monumental influx of illegals to the U.S. Whining about the illegals not assimilating or that they are leaching off programs isn't doing anything to solve the issue. Until we cancel and renegotiate trade agreements for workers rights, decent wages, and environmental quality then workers in Mexico can start to have decent living standards in their nation without seeking financial opportunities abroad. Don't even think about this as helping foreigners, if you want to be cynical and callous, think about this as helping ourselves. Great Walls of China will only waste money and is a superficial "remedy" that overlooks the bigger issue. This needs to be dealt with from the root of the problem, not simply adding band aids to a foot with gangrene and expect miracles to occur. We need to start understanding that the "illegals" are a symptom not a cause.

Moreover, it's also rather amusing that the moment we became stricter on our border security the more it exacerbated, rather than alleviated, the problem. Because security is much stricter now than it used to be immigrants now make a one-way trip with their entire family rather than enter and leave the country. It seems as though we've been shooting ourselves in foot repeatedly.

In terms of raw resources and potential, Mexico could do extremely well. If you took the collective initiative of those willing to work their asses off by crossing into the states and, instead, mounted some grass roots political reforms, you'd take the focus off of the constant drum beat of: "what is America going to do?". Everyone is so used to talking about this equation and blind to the fact that the Mexican people have a problem with the Mexico! The catalyst that keeps the debate so caustic is basically guilt, because we know that illegal immigrants work so hard for so little. So for Olbermann, this tag-your-it game is just mindless point scoring on a slow news day.