A classic example: Ben Wattenberg. When I arrived at Diane Rehm’s celebrated WAMU talk show in Washington at the beginning of my book tour, I found Wattenberg was to appear with me. We had a perfectly affable disputation, not surprisingly since (we agreed) we had substantial policy proposals in common — such as the utility of an English-language preference, which would have a dramatic impact, particularly on the Hispanic influx. Wattenberg undertook to send me his forthcoming book for a possible Forbes article.
A month later, with Alien Nation getting famous and legislation reducing immigration being introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith and Senator Alan Simpson, Wattenberg was transformed. He bristled with determination to anathematize me for mentioning the fact that government immigration policy is shifting the U.S. racial balance. He was comically baffled because (at a Congressional briefing with him sponsored by Jane DeLung’s Population Resource Center) I instead talked about how immigration policy is also in effect second-guessing the American people’s implicit decision, evidenced by their generally smaller families, about the ideal U.S. population size overall
Even more comic was Wattenberg’s behavior when we taped his PBS TV show Think Tank. (Me versus two critics and Wattenberg as a self-declared 'immoderator.” Balance!) He made the very common error of claiming that Alien Nation advocates a shift to white immigration, instead the “time-out" from all immigration I actually recommend on p. 262. I challenged him. Confidently, he started to read something from his lectern. It began “Brimelow says … “
“That’s a review!” I interjected. It was a knockdown blow. So much so that before the show appeared, Wattenberg (or his handlers) took the unusual but masterful step of going into the tape and editing out the exchange.
His book never arrived at Forbes, presumably because it tries to shrug off Alien Nation as “half hokum, half racism.” Without explanation, of course. Its title: Values Matter Most.
You said it, Ben.