Colin Powell Doesn't Hire Illegal Immigrants … Directly or, We're All "Crapweasels" Now

Yesterday, I blogged (approvingly!) comments from former Secretary of State Colin Powell about the work illegal immigrants do for those of us who are fully legal.

Powell had made the comments on a Sunday morning show (do those still exist?) and now has rushed to "clarify" his statements:

"I don't hire illegal immigrants," Powell says in a statement today. "On Meet the Press yesterday, I referred to illegal immigrants working around my house. I was referring to the many service contractors who work in my neighborhood, using mostly immigrant workers, who do good work. Some may well be 'illegal.' There are 11 million illegal immigrants in this country and most are working somewhere in our economy."

Whew, thanks for the clarification. For a second there, it seemed like you were really going out on a limb there.

Let me suggest that any of us who have eaten in a resataurant in any major and virtually all minor American cities have hired illegal immigrants; and that any of us who have eaten chicken or vegetables or fruit in the past 25 years have also hired illegals at least indirectly.

Does that make us a "crapweasel" like Colin Powell (that's internment enthusiast Michelle Malkin's epithet for Powell on the Twitter)? If it does, then let me be the first to admit I'm a crapweasel too you know! (And let me be the first to suggest that crapweasel is a real "jerk store" level insult.)

Here's another former high-ranking official and honorary crapweasel, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (now with FreedomWorks) talking at a Reason conference a coupla years back, explaining why we illegals come here and why we should "bless their hearts."

Comments

[Mongo]

What -- was the little vial of white powder photoshopped out of Powell's photo?

[Government of Wolves]

I love Dick Armey.

Another of his greatest hits: Telling Joan Walsh "I am so glad you can never be my wife."

[Virginia]

Comparison:

Labor Cost
Illegal = $15/hour
Legal = $15*/hour + FICA match (7.65%) + FUTA (6.2% with 5.4% SUTA credit) & SUTA

*does not include atypical grossing-up to cover state & federal withholding and employee FICA

Extra Pain-in-the-Arse
Illegal = having enough cash for payroll
Legal = quarterly or annual state & federal filing

So a ~14% increase in labor cost and the joy of filing versus being charged with tax fraud.

[Number 2]

I am far less troubled by Powell's "immigrants all over my house" comment than his assertion that Barack Obama is a "transitional" figure who "transformed" health care and education. For those statements he richly deserves the label of "crapweasel."

[Number 2]

...whatever a crapweasel is.

[dave b.]

It's like a ratfucker lite.

[Virginia]

It's like a garden weasel, but for compost.

[Max]

Jesus, Gillespie, can't you think of your own stupid epithets? Does slavishly toeing the libertoid party line mean never ever having to have an original thought of any kind?

[Jason]

Haven't I read this comment before in another thread? Does slavishly towing the trollish lion mean never ever having to have an original thought of any kind?

[Apogee]

Jesus, Max, for some people the epithet isn't the entire point of everything they write.

[Max]

ARFARFARFARFARFARFARFARFARFARFARF!!!!!!!!!!

[Elambend]

Isn't Crapweasel from some terrible Steven King movie?

[Episiarch]

Did Malkin really use the term "crapweasel"? She has really gone batshit insane. It's such a shame for such a good looking woman to be that insane. You know, the bad insane, not the sometimes enjoyable insane.

Also, if she had the balls, she would have used "shitweasel" instead, from Dreamcatcher. Much grosser.

[alan]

Not usually a King fan, but that was pretty damn decent (Christine being the best of the books of his I have read). He killed his best character off early though, and on the shitter.

[alan]

Oh, and though not favorite, reading Pet Cemetary on a night a cat in heat decides that night of all nights would be the one she wails outside of your window with a high pitched voice like a baby crying as it is being dragged by demons into the pits of Hell is something you don't forget.

[R C Dean]

So, if I understand Powell, he was backstroking to dodge the natural implication that he had knowingly violated federal law, and instead he admits to having engaged in racial/ethnic stereotyping and profiling.

I wonder if any of our oh-so-sensitive media mavens will call him on it.

[DJF]

"""I wonder if any of our oh-so-sensitive media mavens will call him on it.""

Only if he suddenly declares himself to be a Tea Partier and says that he is voting for Palin for President.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

All them Mexicans look alike to Colin Powell who, like most people, assumes that anyone who looks Latino and is mowing lawns, cleaning hotel rooms, or cooking at the local taco shop is an ILLEGAL!

[Woodrow]

Breaking News: Two rich guys are in favor of cheap illegal labor!

[Abdul]

To be fair, Jonah Goldberg invented the term "crapweasel." With the predicate "feckless" it was a googlewhat for a while.

It's become cheapened, which is why "fecesferret" is preferred among those who make bold assertions, but immediately walk it back when it looks like it will be held against them.

[Tulpa]

Is a crapweasel better or worse than a ratfucker?

[Almanian]

Depends if you're buying or selling.

[Masturbatin' Pete]

Let me suggest that any of us who have eaten in a resataurant in any major and virtually all minor American cities have hired illegal immigrants; and that any of us who have eaten chicken or vegetables or fruit in the past 25 years have also hired illegals at least indirectly.

Let me suggest that anyone who has eaten anything in the past 25 years has, at one time or another, eaten something picked or prepared by a kid-toucher.

So let's legalize kid-touching and bring these people out of the shadows.

[Mike Laursen]

Wow, I have to say that was a pretty damned impressive spurious equivalence!

[Masturbatin' Pete]

As spurious as blurring the distinction between someone who goes to Home Despot to pick up Manuel Labor and someone who unwittingly benefits from illegal labor?

[Kreel Sarloo]

Illegal labor is as stupid a concept as illegal breathing.

Thinking you can make something as fundamental as making a living illegal is the mark of a true prick.

[Masturbatin' Pete]

Someone who wants to make it illegal for eleven-year-olds to make a living renting out their buttholes: "true prick"?

[Mike Laursen]

Your mind seems to always go to that child molesting analogy pretty quickly. In combination with the "Masturbatin'" nickname, that is not good.

[MWG]

11 year olds are minors and, as such, unable to consent. Who Powell, or anyone for that matter, hires to mow his lawn, or paint his house is none of your or anyone else's damn business.

[Tulpa]

Working as a hit man is illegal.

Working as an indentured servant is illegal.

[MWG]

Way to miss the point.

[Tulpa]

Mike, it's not an equivalence. It's an analogy. Look up the word.

[Mike Laursen]

No, I meant equivalence, not analogy. If I had meant analogy, I would have used that word.

[ChrisH]

Colin Powell was in the Village People?!!? Cool!!