A well-dressed hate group

The folks at the Southern Poverty Law Center are again talking plain English. They always do.

The center has added the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR, hah) to its list of hate groups.

FAIR was founded in 1959 by John Tanton, one of our country's leading racists and nativists. Its connections to hate groups has been well documented by the SPLC. (www.splcenter.org and www.tolerance.org)

Perhaps the worst part of the whole picture is that the mainline media often turn to FAIR as a resource. The SPLC says in its winter report: "FAIR's history of hatred is troubling, but even more so is the fact that the mainstream media frequently rely on the group for information and commentary. In just the first 10 months of 2007, the group was quoted in mainstream media outlets nearly 500 times with virtually no mention of its more unsavory aspects. Its president was featured on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight at least 12 times during the same period... FAIR also has been taken seriously by the Congress, which has called upon its officials to testify on immigratiion more than 30 times since 2000."

There's just no excuse for this.