Indiana's Mike Pence Becomes the First GOP Governor to Refuse Entry to Actual Syrian Refugees

What the GOP is afraid of.

I learn at Daily Kos that Mike Pence of Indiana is the first to refuse entry to specific Syrian refugees.

One of the families has been has been waiting in Jordan for three years before getting approval to move to the U.S., according to the New York Times. The family of three will be resettled in New Haven, Conn., the Times reports.

Waiting for three years. I think they might have been vetted, don't you? In any case, it's entirely established that these refugees are not dangerous, making it so obvious that Pence is doing this for political reasons, not for the safety of Indianans. Disgraceful.

The lines are drawn: Red states are xenophobic, blue states are welcoming.

But, as Atrios at Eschaton points out, today's America may be ready for this kind of bullshit. Sounds ridiculous until you remember that George W. Bush was re-elected after considerable failure in Iraq and Afghanistan and just after the unveiling of the Abu Ghraib horror in 2004.

Abu Ghraib: the Bush years writ large.