Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Tyche Hendricks - propagandist - is at it again!

Another sly piece of pro-illegal alien propaganda made it's way into SFGate again today, and, as usual, the author was none other than pro-illegal alien propagandist extraordinaire Tyche Hendricks.

Hendricks, who asserts rather incredibly that 4 out of 5 Californians favor legalizing illegals, plays fast and loose with the facts. He cited a Field Poll on immigration as his source for his conclusions, so I thought it might be fun to get a copy of the report and see if what the report says and what Hendricks SAYS it says match up. And, as you will see, they kinda don't...

Hendricks asserts...

Support among California voters for legalizing undocumented immigrants rose to 83 percent from 75 percent last April, while 67 percent of respondents backed a guest worker plan, up from 60 percent a year ago.

But Hendricks, as usual, leaves a couple things out. While his numbers are accurate, his conclusions as to what they constitute are not. One might get the idea that the Field Poll question was "Do you favor legalization for illegal immigrants?"

But, what the Field Poll ACTUALLY says is this (emphasis mine)...

(Should we) Create a program that would allow illegal immigrants who have been living in the U.S. for a number of years an OPPORTUNITY to stay in this country and apply for citizenship IF THEY HAVE A JOB, LEARNED ENGLISH, AND PAID BACK TAXES?

To take that statement and word it to make it sound like a blanket amnesty is dishonest, and, unfortunately, typical of Hendrick's style.

Another example...

Support among California voters for legalizing undocumented immigrants rose to 83 percent from 75 percent last April, while 67 percent of respondents backed a guest worker plan, up from 60 percent a year ago.

Again, there are some important qualifiers (in regards to the GWP) that Hendricks has conveniently left out.

The question posed by the Field Poll was not, as Hendricks suggests, do you support a GWP, but was, in fact (again, with my emphasis)...

(Should we) Create TEMPORARY worker programs for illegal immigrants that would LEGALIZE THEIR STATUS (presumably, as temporary workers) and allow future immigrants to work in this country?

Here's more...

California voters increasingly oppose a federal plan for 700 more miles of border fence -- with just 37 percent favoring it this year, down from 47 percent last April, the Field Poll found. And just 53 percent of those polled voiced support the current policy of federal agents rounding up, detaining and deporting illegal immigrants.

JUST 53%? That sounds like a majority to me, and, again, there's a hidden bias here. Hendricks speaks gushingly when the numbers back his opinion (67% support for creating temporary GWP) and dismissively when they don't (as in "JUST 53%")

and still more...

By wide margins, the state's voters also favor creating a temporary worker program to allow future immigrants to enter legally, increasing the border patrol and imposing stiff penalties on employers who hire unauthorized immigrants, the Field Poll found.

While Hendricks is quick to offer numbers when they support his position, he conveniently leaves them out when they don't. Case in point... border security. The numbers that Hendricks chooses not to divulge is that 71% of Californians favor increasing the number of federal agents along the US-Mexico border, and that number has remained UNCHANGED from the previously cited poll - even as Hendricks concludes that support for legalization has gone up.

But wait, there's more...

Kelley said she was not surprised by the Field Poll's finding that California voters endorse a combination of tougher enforcement, a legal foreign worker plan and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already here.

Tyche once again leaves out the parts he doesn't want to emphasize, like the facts that this legalization has the qualifiers of having a job, learning English and paying back taxes, and that "tougher enforcement" includes a strong, unwavering desire for more border agents, and a firm majority who would seek to impose stiff penalties on employers and individuals who hire illegal immigrants.


Read the SFGate article
See the actual Field Poll #2229

And click here to read a much more honest assessment of the data by Brandon Bailey from InsideBayArea.com

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is of course clear that the Chron has an agenda on most questions related to immigration, and a lot of what they publish about it can be not unfairly labeled as propaganda.

But these polls, whatever the result, are problematic for two reasons: 1) the pollees are never given full background info, either at the time the questions are posed or beforehand (i.e. in the MSM), and 2) the race/ethnicity aspect is almost impossible to overcome -- everyone has heard so often that people who oppose amnesty ("reform") are racists, xenophobes, nativists, hardliners, etc etc.

Anonymous said...

Hendricks, who asserts rather incredibly that 4 out of 5 Californians favor legalizing illegals, plays fast and loose with the facts. He cited a Field Poll on immigration...

Emphasis mine.

BTW, and FYI, while I was never sure as it is not a common name, I had always assumed that Tyche was a woman's name; this page lends some support to that.

Anonymous said...

I have also always assumed, for whatever reason (not sure, I guess the exotic name), that Hendricks is black.

I could very well be wrong -- it is just an impression.

But if true, her (? -- see my previous comment) propagandizing for illegals is all the more curious, given a reality like Blacks Crushed By Immigrant Job Juggernaut:

Blacks, arguably the group competing most directly with immigrant workers, suffered significant job losses in March. They were the only group whose unemployment rate rose.

Black males fared particularly poorly. Their March unemployment rate was 9.0 percent, up a whopping 1.6 points from the prior month. This occurred despite a decline in labor force participation among Black males—a sign that they are "giving up" and simply not looking for jobs—and thus not counted as unemployed.

Jobs that Americans won’t do? Don’t tell that to unemployed African-Americans.


The original text has a few links.

XLBRL said...

Thanks for the comments.

I suppose I will have to do a little research so I get Mr./Mrs./Ms./??? Hendicks' gender correct...

...though no doubt I'll be immediately attacked for doing so by the gender lobby! :)

Wayward Son said...

A poll shows that there is widespread belief that people who believe polls are idiots! Of course the methodology of this study is that it is a polling of one respondent (me) with an error percentage point plus/minus of zero. Revealing the methodology used in the poll regarding the intelligence of poll believers undercuts the validity of the opinion. I do so here because my opinion is not the point... or maybe it is. It's a circular logic that's easy to get lost in. (at least for me which is substantiated by a similar poll)


I won't even consider giving credence to a poll I am not part of and, certainly, not for any conjecture on an opinion that is presented with a lack of context around the poll it is based on. Who the hell are they asking these questions of anyway? Telephone calls to who? I don't think so Mr./MS poll person. Unless it is a direct mail marketing effort, the chances of anything productive coming out of a poll are slim.

I haven't even offered up a comment about illegal immigrants!

I have repeatedly forgotten to ask about your "happy" site despite actually wanting to check it out. Can you e mail it to me via the e mail link at CCP?

Thanks for the recent visit. I always appreciate and am encouraged by your comments. They also invariably lead me back to here where I may not necessarily agree, present opinion excluded, but I always get a charge out of reading your thoughts!

WS

Anonymous said...

FYI, Tyche Hendricks is female and caucasion.

XLBRL said...

Thanks! I sort of suspected as much...