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Saturday, June 5, 2010

Brewing Discrimination: AZ Gov Meets Obama

By Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Zaid ilani and Alex Seitz-Waid
The Progress Report
June 4, 2010

Since Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed SB-1070, the nation's harshest anti-immigration measure, into law, the White House has made clear that it disapproves of the measure. At a press conference after meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderón, President Obama said that he was concerned the new law would be "applied in a discriminatory fashion." For weeks, conservatives have taken up Brewer's crusade for a face-to-face conversation with Obama. Although Justice Department officials had been in touch with Arizona officials to voice their concerns over the law, Brewer bristled when the White House initially said that the President's schedule couldn't accommodate a personal sit-down. Yesterday, however, Brewer finally received her Oval Office meeting. The White House said the discussion was "good," and Brewer said it was "very, very cordial," underscoring the fact that the two came to very little agreement on immigration reform and the encounter didn't appear to change the relationship. Indeed, immediately after the meeting, Brewer continued to throw around misinformation about the law and conservatives continued to complain that Obama wasn't doing enough to reach out to their side.


DISTRACTIONS FROM REFORM: In a press conference after her White House visit, a reporter asked Brewer whether Obama "understands what's in your law." Brewer replied, "You know, he's a well-learned man and a lawyer. If he has read the law, I'm sure he understands the law." In response to a follow-up question about whether she believes "he's read the law," Brewer simply gave a smug smile and went to the next question. For weeks, conservatives have been trying to distract from the real problems with the law by insisting that the people who are criticizing it haven't read it. Brewer even created an ad featuring a singing frog puppet lamenting how not enough people have actually read the law, echoing a hollow GOP refrain during the health care debate to "read the bill." Brewer and other conservatives used the high-profile meeting as a stage for their continuing political theater. Fox News basically pretended the meeting didn't happen. Fox News host Megyn Kelly continued to gripe that Brewer "had to shame" Obama into seeing her. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee went after Obama for originally saying that he couldn't "squeeze" Brewer in, even though he hosted Sir Paul McCartney at the White House this week.  

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