Dallas Morning News cites ‘illegal’ as Texan of 2007

Texas, with a population of about 24 million --- from cattle ranchers to community leaders and bank executives --- certainly must possess scores of exceptional candidates noted for leadership and vision that could have been branded “2007 Texan of the Year.”

So who does the Dallas Morning News select?

The newspaper bestowed the honor to (deep breath, now) --- the illegal immigrant.

Not unexpected, a number of readers were angry, notes Grumpy Editor.  So far almost 1,000 have responded via e-mail and snail mail.

As DMN editorial page editor Keven Ann Willey put it:  “But let's be candid: 95 percent of all that reaction to our choice was negative. Readers we heard from were angry, insulted, in disbelief that we'd do such a thing. Some cancelled their newspaper subscriptions.

“It was never our intent to anger readers – at least not gratuitously. Our goal was to provoke, yes, but in a way designed to elevate the issue of illegal immigration to the prominence it deserves and to increase the pressure on Congress to enact meaningful reforms to a system we called ‘a joke’ in our essay.”

She added, “We've chosen to interpret ‘Texan’ rather generically, colloquially. To us, it means somebody who lives here, or who has lived here, or who has spent considerable time here - somebody who's affected Texas in some major way.”

Past recipients of the “Texan of the Year” title include President Bush in 2003 and Karl Rove in 2004.