Last night on The O'Reilly Factor, Michelle Malkin was asked about conservative commentator Linda Chavez's latest column, Latino Fear and Loathing. O'Reilly characterized the article as calling anti-illegal immigration proponents racists. Having read Chavez's columns before, I thought that maybe he was being a little harsh. To my surprise, it was actually worse. Chavez writes:

Some people just don't like Mexicans -- or anyone else from south of the border. They think Latinos are freeloaders and welfare cheats who are too lazy to learn English. They think Latinos have too many babies, and that Latino kids will dumb down our schools. They think Latinos are dirty, diseased, indolent and more prone to criminal behavior. They think Latinos are just too different from us ever to become real Americans.

...

Unfortunately, among this group is a fair number of Republican members of Congress, almost all influential conservative talk radio hosts, some cable news anchors -- most prominently, Lou Dobbs -- and a handful of public policy "experts" at organizations such as the Center for Immigration Studies, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA, in addition to fringe groups like the Minuteman Project.

Does she seriously believe this? Many conservatives (myself included) went to bat for Linda when she was nominated for Labor Secretary. She was then forced to withdraw her name over criticism that she had allowed an illegal immigrant to stay in her home. It seems that we were wrong to jump to her defense. Many of us viewed it as an isolated incident because she was just helping a (supposed) battered woman in need. Now it seems as if it is actually a part of her philosophy on the rule of law and our country's borders. Regarding Chavez's critics then, I wrote, "when you can't go after the policies, go after the person." This time, Chavez is doing just that.

UPDATE: I neglected to mention that Bill O'Reilly agreed with Chavez's premise that the right dislikes Latinos. (H/T: Ann Coulter)

Partial transcript from Tuesday night:

O'REILLY: Thanks for staying with us. I'm Bill O'Reilly.

In "The Factor Follow-up" segment tonight, racism and the immigration Bill. FOX News contributor Linda Chavez writes in a Town Hall column, quote, "Some people just don't like Mexicans, or anyone else from south of the border. They think Latinos are freeloaders and welfare cheats who are too lazy to learn English," unquote.
Now on the other side, the open border people want a huge influx of foreign nationals to become American citizens, because they don't like the white Christian male power structure that's in place now.
With us now to analyze racism and immigration, from Milwaukee, Laura Schwartz, sitting in for Kirsten Powers tonight, and from Washington, Michelle Malkin.

I think Linda Chavez is on to something. I don't know how much. It's so hard, but I think there is some basic racism on the right. We don't like Latinos, you know, for all the reasons Linda listed. Am I wrong?

Si.