To borrow Al Franken's description of Rush Limbaugh, Newt has gone to new lengths of out-and-out lying. In a shameless attempt to fire up immigration policy opponents — and bolster his support with that crowd for a possible 2008 presidential run — Gingrich released a video yesterday on his website and at YouTube.
In the video, he makes the highly inflammatory — and completely false — statement that "Mohamed Atta, and several other 9/11 hijackers were in the United States illegally." In fact, the 9-11 Commission Report found that all 19 of the men who were responsible for the hijackings on 9-11 entered the United States legally on either a tourist or student visa. Which makes my head throb all the more when I try to follow what seems to be a Republican trail of logic these days. Gingrich follows his lie with this statement: "Today, more than five years since that tragic day, our borders remain open to gangs, drug dealers and terrorists."
Huh? This is a new low, even for Gingrich, to tie the immigration debate to the violence of 9-11. Read more here.
