Update February 11: Ford continues to defend his remarks, this time speaking on the South Carolina Floor.
In a nutshell, Ford's argument is that he was trying "to paint a picture to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the work habits of America starting in early 1580-to present" and of how America has always had a harder working immigrant class.
NBC News 2 has a full transcript of his remarks.
Oh, and Ford had had this to say to the media: "I would like to inform the news media that this is the age of the internet and the social networking era. ... So you can keep your ignorance and bigotry to yourself, just don’t ask me anything else in the future."
Update February 10: The Post and Courier has followed up with Ford on the matter.
In that piece Ford defends his remarks, and the paper prints a clarified quote from Ford. Get the story here.
First reporting February 8: Oh, Robert Ford, there was your campaign to return video gambling as a good thing for the state, and the campaign to force a day off for Confederate day, the battle against sagging pants, the attempt to make it a felony to curse, and now this ...
Three hours ago S.C. Senator Tom Davis (Rep, Beaufort) tweeted that colleague Ford (Dem, Charleston) said, "brothers won't work hard like Mexicans will so we need to make sure enough Mexicans are here," in a committee meeting on Arizona-style immigration hearing.
Ah, that's classic Ford.
The Post and Courier has a report on the snowball that is likely to roll through The Daily Show at some point; take a read here.
