It appears that, having lost the battle over President Obamaâs birth certificate and citizenship, at least one birther has selected Ms. Victor as a proxy and next victim.

Searching for a photo of Ms. Victor to accompany another blog post, I stumbled into something called, aSorry to burst the happy bubble, but.The blogger, who goes by Dr. John, isn't at all sorry about bursting the happy bubble--the good feeling--near tears for some of us--that we enjoyed when we heard about Ms. Victor;s determination to vote, despite the obstacles placed in her way by Florida's official voter suppression brigade.

He quotes President Obama's speech, citing the line about immigration in which he said that American immigration policy should "attract the highly skilled entrepreneurs and engineers..."

To which Dr. John replies:

Like Desiline Victor, right? How much has she contributed to the system? How much has she paid in income and social security taxes? We're going to strengthen the economy by importing 80 year olds with no skills and who cannot speak English and who are wholly dependent on the government for support? Seriously? Or are we merely importing elderly dependent future democrat voters who are willing to wait three hours to vote for their "son?"

That's pretty uncharitable, as well as unfeeling, xenophobic, politically selfish [I'm assuming that he's a Republican] and downright nasty.

Also, Dr. John can't believe that Ms. Victor, who came to the U.S. in 1989 when she was 79 years old, could have become a citizen without being able to speak English. He backs up this line of "thinking" with a citation from the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service, which states that, to become a U.S. citizen, a person "must be able able to read, write, and speak English and have knowledge and an understanding of U.S. history and government (also known as civics)."

That citation is accurate. However, conveniently, Dr. John has omitted the perfectly legal exemptions, listed farther down in the official website, that may have applied to Ms. Victor. The part he left out states that there are three exemptions from the English language requirement for naturalizations.



The law provides three exemptions from the English language requirement for naturalization. The exemptions are for applicants age 50 or over who have been permanent residents for at least 20 years; those at least age 55 with at least 15 years permanent residence; and those who have a mental or physical disability that prevents them from learning English. If your wife qualifies under the 50/20 or 55/15 exemptions, she can answer questions in Spanish. Individuals with a mental or physical disability may sometimes become U.S. citizens without taking the naturalization exam Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/...

As we don't know the details of Ms. Victor's life and immigration path, it's rather unfair to imply that she either cheated or got some kind of special treatment, or is--oh yeah, there it is--not actually a citizen and shouldn't have been allowed to vote at all and must have been one of those imposters who are wrecking America and sapping us of our precious bodily fluids.

I'm not usually this angry--in print. But I just thought you might want to know.

Crossposted at Occasional Planet