Erin Burnett was not going to let Ken Cuccinelli off the hook for his despicable rewrite of Emma Lazarus' poem on the Statue of Liberty. Instead, she pinned him to the wall and watched him squirm like a worm on a hook.
There was a back and forth where he ultimately accused her of "twisting this like everybody else on the left has done all day today." That accusation simply prompted her to bring receipts.
"You're saying -- it's important -- you're saying it's important to stand on your own two feet," she said. Cuccinelli agreed with that.
Burnett then informed him (again) that the poem did not say that, and again he deflected, first blaming the NPR reporter for bringing it up (how dare they?) and then Burnett.
She was having no part of his little dance, coming back to bring her receipts, after repeating how he had bastardized the poem to be one for ugly xenophobes instead of an inspiring invitation.
"However it came up, you said, 'Give me your tired and poor who can stand on their own two feet, not become a public charge," she reiterated.
Again, he agreed, unapologetically.
"The poem reads, give me your tired your poor huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! Wretched refuse. That's what the poem says America is supposed to stand for. So what do you think America stands for?" she asked.
The answer was what one might expect from the acolyte of Donald Trump, white supremacist and champion of a twisted form of prosperity gospel.
"Well, of course that poem referred back to people coming from Europe where they had class-based societies. Where people were considered wretched if they weren't in the right class. And it was introduced -- it was written one year -- one year after the first federal public charge rule was written that says -- I'll quote it -- any person unable to take care of himself without becoming a public charge, unquote, would be inadmissible in the terms that my agency deals with, they can't do what's called adjusting status getting a green card becoming legal permanent residents. Same exact time, Erin, same exact time. And the year is went on the statue of liberty, 1903, another federal law was passed expanding the elements of public charge by Congress. This is a -- this is a central part."
Oh, I see. Europeans were wretched because of class. Sure thing. Let's ask the Irish, or the Germans, or the Norwegians, or the Poles who came here whether it was just a little technicality over class distinctions. Sure. And the implication is clear -- only white folks need immigrate. Brown people need not apply.
Cuccinelli is as trashy as his boss. Both of them are white trash. I'll trade them for the folks holding green cards every day.
