The following is a transcript of PR Director Jeff Emanuel's appearance Tuesday as a guest on the Los Angeles-based nationally-syndicated radio show "Talk Back with George Putnam." The original blog posting on this subject can be seen here.//BEGIN TRANSCRIPT//
George Putnam: …and all across the world we have youth on a rampage. Mob-ocracy. In France, they’re turning out by the thousands. They’re in the streets. They say that it’s because of jobs—they’re looking for jobs, they’re looking for work. Of course here in the United States of America, they’re protesting with an organized operation. It’s fascinating to me that yesterday when we talked with Ponty Lambrose [sic] he said, “George, don’t you understand that these mass, mass groups—that they didn’t just happen to turn out. No, no—they were sent by communist, Marxist elements. And so we bagan to take another look.
And so its so refreshing when we turn to a youngster who makes only good sense. His name is Jeff Emanuel, a highly-decorated military veteran. He’s a senior at the University of Georgia, where he’s the Public Relations Director of the College Republicans. Oh, my—let’s go to him right now. Hello, Jeff, how are you?
Jeff: Hi George, how are you doing
George: I’m doing fine, and I want to commend you. You are one of the fine young Americans we support, and back, and say, “Hey! Let’s have more of it! Let’s talk about the Constitution, let’s talk about the Bill of Rights, let’s talk about the things that our Founding Fathers pledged themselves to, and gave themselves to us—it’s all been handed to us, hasn’t it, Jeff? All of it.
Jeff: (laughs) Yes, sir, it’s been handed to us very nicely, and we just have to fight to protect it and keep it that way.
George: And we appear to be screwing up! However, in Georgia—in Georgia at this moment, they say, [unintelligible] is going on with an illeg—illegal immigration proposal that’s the most comprehensive to come before the Georgia legislature. Would you outline it for us? Tell us what it’s all about.
Jeff: Yes, sir. What is known as Senate Bill 529, which just passed both houses now of the, uh—the Georgia state government and is waiting for the Governor’s signature, is not only the most comprehensive piece of illegal immigration legislation to come before the Georgia state government, but to—but to be passed by any state of this country. It basically focuses on employers who employ illegal ali—aliens, rather than focusing on the immigrants themselves and rounding them up and sending them back. What it does, is it penalizes employers for—for hiring illegals, especially when they do so at below the minimum wage—pay them under the table, so the folks don’t pay taxes into the system. It—
George: Uh-huh.
Jeff: —it encourages employers to—actually requires employers to register all their workers with Homeland Security, so that we know who’s here, who’s working for them, so that everyone’s paying into the system, and it penalizes employers for hiring illegals who are here.
George: Jeff, tell us about your background. I know that you’re decorated; tell me about your own career.
Jeff: Well, I, uh, graduated from high school in 1998, and after a year of college went into the United States Air Force, and found my way after, uh, quite a few toils and troubles into a—a pretty fun career field which was, uh, had a special operations emphasis, and I ended up fighting in Iraq in the initial—the initial force there, and doing several other things and, basically, getting a chance to be on the enforcement end of the United States Constitution, helping to protect the freedom of folks here and helping to fight global terrorism around the world, which was a great experience to have.
George: Give me your reaction to what you’re witnessing across the world. I talked about “mob-ocracy”—what’s happening among the youth of the world, not over here, but in France and all or—wha, what the hell’s going on?
Jeff: Well, sir, I think a lot of it is, folks are getting caught up, especially in Western civilization, in an “entitlement generation.” Folks expect a lot of things to be handed to them, and when they find out they have to work for it, or follow the rules, they get a little bit upset, and throw in a little bit of organization and getting folks out on the street, and you get what you see in France; you get what you see across the country right now with the immigration protests. Folks think that the laws and the rules don’t apply to them, and that they deserve whatever everyone else has, without working for it, so they get a little upset when they don’t get it.
George: Well now, when I look at the legislature in Georgia, and what is happening there, does it mean that Georgia is going to have to fight this all alone, or do you think it’s, perhaps, a model for the rest of us?
Jeff: We hope that it’ll be a model for the rest of the country, and not only is Georgia’s state legislature doing a good job with it, but one of our—one of our, um, Senators from the state of Georgia, Senator Johnny Isakson, uh, dropped a bill, um, in the United States Senate a couple of weeks ago proposing vast reform along the border, to better equip border patrols, and to better keep illegals out of the country in the first place. We hope that not only will that help, on the national level, uh, the national government picking up its responsibility in keeping illegals out and making sure that folks are rewarded for coming here legally, but are punished for coming here illegally, but also that our state legislation, in this case, will serve as a model, basically to make it an inhospitable environment and discourage illegals from coming here. If every state can discourage illegals from coming, and not provide them the benefits that citizens get, then folks will be more encouraged to come here legally, and to gain citizenship and be naturalized, rather than break the law and come here to hopefully gain benefits.
George: Jeff, don’t go away. This is fascinating, to talk with you. How old are you now?
Jeff: Twenty-six, sir.
George: Twenty-six. That’s just right, and ripe for politics. In a moment I want to talk with you about your own future, and what the future holds for the rest of us.
(Commercial break)George: And you’re back to the original Talk Back. George Putnam here, speaking with a bright young man twenty-six years of age, and, in my opinion, on the right track. His name is Jeff Emanuel. Highly-decorated military veteran, senior at the University of Georgia, where he’s the Public Relations Director for the College Republicans. And we’re talking about this bill in the Georgia state legislature. The most comprehensive illegal immigration proposal to come before the Georgia legislature, and I’ve got to wonder if this is going to make it through. If the, uh, bill in its present form makes it into law, because it’ll be the strongest state immigration law in all of America. How does it look to ya, Jeff?
Jeff: Well, George, fortunately, uh, we have a strong Republican Governor right now who, uh—
George: Good.
Jeff: —who is in an election year also, so it looks like he’ll sign this bill into law, being for him an election year because 80% of Georgians want something done right now about illegal immigration. The bad news is, it’s going to be tied up in the courts almost immediately, and how long that lasts, and how that comes out, one, you know, one can only wonder.
George: Tell me about the kids on the campus there, among the student groups—pretty, uh, liberal, aren’t they?
Jeff: Well, sir, there are quite a few activist liberal groups here, and a lot of them participated in the Latino walk-out on Friday—
George: Oh, boy.
Jeff: —the “day without Hispanics”—
George: Oh, boy.
Jeff: —and, uh, the—the problem with a lot of that is, one can understand folks protesting something that they’re against, that’s part of the free speech that makes America great, but part of the problem is a lot of them aren’t informed about what’s actually in this bill, and—
George: Exactly!
Jeff: —they’re protesting several measures that are not even in it.
George: Well let’s talk about some of those measures. For instance, it prohibits adult illegal immigrants from receiving many taxpayer-funded benefits; financially penalizes private employers who hire illegals; requires public employers who have—with public contracts, to verify that the workers are in the country legally; and a crack down on human—trafficking.
J: That is all correct, and the human trafficking is a big deal with that, as well.
George: It all makes damn good sense to me, Jeff, and for thirty, thirty-five years I’ve been fighting this battle. I talked about—out here in California—about the invasion of illegal aliens in violation of not only our—our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, everything that’s right about taking an oath to office, but also about the sanctity and sovereignty of the United States of America. What’s happened to these people; what’s happened to the President? Now, are you a Republican?
Jeff: I am, in fact, a Republican and, as you mentioned, the Public Relations Director for our, uh, University of Georgia College Republicans which fortunately is the—the largest chapter of the College Republicans in the country, here at the University of Georgia.
George: Well, how do you feel about the President and his approach to the temporary workers permits, and all that type of thing?
Jeff: Well, one thing about President Bush is he’s always wanted to focus on uniting the country and, and—and being seen as being behind every group, not being against African-Americans, not being against Hispanics, but in this case, it’s what—his guest worker program could be seen as being tantamount to endorsing illegals coming here, and that’s a problem. I—we have to agree with him in a sense that people come here and work hard, and, legally they come here and work hard, they contribute to the economy, and they benefit from the economy; but coming here illegally, a lot of the time they contribute their labor, but they also skew the job market by being paid below minimum wage; obviously, letting them stay here is an endorsement of breaking the law, and, uh, as you mentioned before, the—the United States House passed Resolution 4437 which would make that a felony, being here illegally, um, which seems to be a little bit out of kilter with President Bush proposing a guest worker program which would reward folks being here illegally.
George: Do you believe that the Senate of the United States is sold out to special interests?
Jeff: I believe that special interests have a large voice in government, and that is good and bad. A voice in government by the people is always necessary, and that is part of what makes America great, is that anyone can have a voice in government. However, when those special interests start controlling what is being passed in the Senate, and what isn’t, to the detriment of our society and to the detriment of the application of our laws and the enforcement of our laws, then it becomes a problem.
George: You know, Jeff, as I look at the interference by the Mexican government in particular, Vicente Fox, Manernd, uh, Durbez [sic], another named Castineta [sic], they want the whole enchilada, but they want it on this side of the border. Now, what in hell’s wrong with this, because I look at the Constitution of Mexico, Chapter 3, I’ve got it right here, “Foreigners. Foreigners may not, in any manner, involve themselves in the political affairs of the country.” Those are the Mexicans, speaking about the way they run their government! What about us? What about tit-for-tat?
Jeff: Well, that’s true, and, uh, as you can see in the column that I wrote that was published on Townhall.com on Sunday regarding this immigration bill and immigration policy as a whole, um, part of that is a sign of the greatness of America, and how it’s—and its standing in the world, that folks are fighting, legally and illegally, to get in here, to take advantage of the opportunities that we have, and the great benefits that can come from being in America. The problem is, and we’re going to have to fight it as long as we have this standing as being the greatest nation in the world, is that folks are going to try to circumvent the system and come here illegally, and as long as they can come here and make money that they can’t make in Mexico, then they’re going to be wiring it back home, and, uh, that partly will help the Mexican government encourage folks to come here—so that they can bring money back and contribute to the Mexican economy, rather than contributing to the American economy.
George: Jeff, you speak, of course—(clears throat) pardon me—of the passage, sparking controversy among student groups on the state’s more liberal university campuses, and the pro-illegal-immigration groups. How powerful are they, or are they just a loud minority?
Jeff: Well, I think that we’re seeing a little bit of how powerful they are by these massive, massive protests, across the state and across the country. If you remember, about a week ago we had the third-year anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war, which as you mentioned before I participated in, and folks expected these kinds of numbers for that, and I think we’re seeing which base actually has the numbers, and has the power and the ability to turn out. It’s not the anti-war left, it’s the pro-illegal-immigration left, and the problem with that is, like you mentioned before and like I mentioned before, a lot of folks are turning out because there’s so much fear-mongering going on. They’re turning out because they thing things are being proposed in legislation, and being passed in legislation, that are not. They think they’re in imminent danger of having their rights taken away; they think legals and illegals are both in danger; the problem is that folks don’t know the facts, and that they haven’t gotten—they haven’t gotten out and actually read this legi—this legislation themselves; they’re rather getting taken up in the group dynamic, the “mob-ocracy” as you called it, and getting turned out on—on, uh, basically scare-tactics.
George: Well, when you look at the immigration enforcement bill, and you talk about alien amnesty, guest workers and all that type of thing, as twisting of words these days. You’ve got the President of the United States, you’ve got the Cardinal Mahoney here, of the Catholic Church—five million Catholics under his jurisdiction—all taking a stand. One of the hottest, uh, Spanish-language radio personalities here, one of the hottest in the nation, uh—a deejay, joining hands with the radio rivals to urge listeners to turn out for the pro-immigrant rally in downtown Los Angeles; and the organizers all shouting, “Come! Come! Come!” All of them speaking out against America, and, tragically, all of them waving the Mexican flag, and not our great red, white, and blue.
Jeff: That is true, um, and, part of that is—it’s the misconception that is thrown out by those folks who call it “pro-immigration,” “anti-immigrant legislation,” and things like that. Both sides of the political spectrum are far and away pro-immigrant. But, the problem is, one side is pro legal immigration, and the other side is pro-rewarding-illegal behavior, and pro-rewarding-illegal activity, and to—to call it prejudice, racism, anti-immigration, things like that, it’s such a misnomer, and it’s—it’s tapping into that “mob-ocracy” that you’ve mentioned several times, where folks get a little bit scared that something’s going to happen to them, or to someone they know, and everyone else around them is scared of it, so they turn out too, even without understanding exactly what it is they’re protesting for or against.
George: Well, I want to thank you so very much for bringing us up to date on what is being done in the state of Georgia. God bless you for your work, and, uh—
Jeff: Thank you, George, and thanks for having me.
George: I’ll have you again if I may, thank you very much! Jeff Emanuel. Remember the name.
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END TRANSCRIPT//
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