Chicago Tribune: Miller Beer Sponsors Pro-Illegal Alien March

Michelle Malkin provides today’s LOL moment in supposed corporate conservatism. The Chicago Tribune reports that Miller Brewing paying out $30,000 to sponsor an illegal-alien advocacy march from Chicago to Denny Hastert’s office in Batavia. Their motto: “Live responsibly.” (Perhaps that might be contradicted a bit by the illegal immigrating.) What next? The coyotes bringing illegal aliens across the border with teams of Budweiser Clydesdales?

In the Tribune story, a Hispanic marketer warns: "A company sponsoring one of the two sides of the immigration debate is no different than a company sponsoring groups for or against abortion [rights]. It's one of those heated political debates that companies should stay clear of." You have to love the Tribune throwing "rights" in brackets after the word abortion. The Trib's headline calls this an "immigrant rights march."

Reporter Oscar Avila is pretty straightforward: "But this march is no Cinco de Mayo parade. The politically charged event will promote a controversial plan to end deportations and offer legal status for all 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants. That creates potential pitfalls for any businesses lending support, experts say."

This is not really out of line in Chicago, if you remember the NBC Chicago affiliate and the Chicago Sun-Times (and New York Times) sponsoring the Gay Games in Chicago this summer, which was pretty much a "civil rights" protest event with sports attached. The Trib merely provided an in-kind contribution in its pages.