Immigration

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is one of the legislative giants of a generation, and in this case, he produces a compromise that would improve immigration enforcement while providing social equity.

In response, the faction of the Republican Party that one prominent Republican refers to as bigots may well sabotage the legislation.

The most likely outcome today is:

1. President Bush achieves formal lame-duck status.

2. Hispanics, the fastest-growing demographic in American politics, continue their long-term march towards the Democratic Party.

3. The Republicans are split in half, victims of the rightist rage they have fomented for some time, now turned Republican against Republican. Read more...

Roger Gutierrez is a third-generation Hispanic living in the United States. His grandparents on his mother’s side came here illegally. Roger, now in his 30s, is married to Kate Simmons-Gutierrez, who is a fourth-generation European mutt living in the United States. Roger and Kate have two children, Tabitha and Tony, who attend private school in the suburbs. Tabitha advanced to her orange belt in karate last weekend, and Tony has a soccer game tonight at 5 p.m.

According to Dick Morris, if Republicans don’t pass immigration reform, Tabitha and Tony will never, ever vote Republican as long as they live. Nor will their children.

Oh.

I’m sitting here stewing over the fact that Bush is going to try to ram an immigration bill down our throats, and stewing over the fact that the Wall Street Journal thinks the GOP has gone “nativist” for not supporting the bill, and then it hits me what’s really going on here.

A bunch of mostly white men in Washington, D.C. with advanced degrees are in a political struggle to force 12 million to 20 million illegal immigrants to take a standardized test with a No. 2 pencil. But did anyone ask these immigrants if they want to be legalized? How do we know they all want to become U.S. citizens? We just assume they want to be quizzed on obscure facts from American history and learn a new language. Read more...

I have such a GREAT idea for C-SPAN. Picture watching this: The Senate grinds on up to the point that someone announces debate is about to begin on the immigration legislation. Then the screen goes blank. Well, in this case, maybe it simply shows a 700-mile-long fence. But the point is that no one would have missed anything.

Think of the possibilities: On the cable news networks, aerial shots of Paris Hilton's motorcade could suddenly end. Fade to black.

Of course that will never happen. There would be an uproar. Besides, ratings would plummet. I mean, people really care about Paris Hilton. And as we found out, they really care about the "Sopranos"' ending, too, or the lack thereof.  Read more...

Just days after shelving the high-stakes immigration reform bill, today the Senate takes up a no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. Democrats are fine with it failing; they just need to get the Republicans on the record defending Gonzalez for future use in campaign commercials. We’re not getting anywhere on substance but you can sure take the political temperature of Congress these days and it’s clearly so hot they can’t do their jobs. What’s on for tomorrow? President Bush will attend the GOP Senate lunch and implore his fellow Republicans to forge ahead with the immigration package they rejected. They will listen, hot under the collar, but the reception could be chilly.

With the death of the “grand bargain” on immigration, Washington observers are mourning the death of bipartisanship. But bipartisanship is alive and well — both parties, working in concert to torpedo the bill, hated it equally. The grassroots, not the lobbyists, spoke loud and clear and the voice of the opposition was much noisier than those advocating reform.

Yes, the atmosphere is still partisan on Capitol Hill, and too politically volatile for compromise. Democrats who just won Republican seats last fall are scrambling to keep them. Republicans who just lost them are scrambling to get them back. Until there is a new president, and a new season of true bipartisan goodwill, both sides have too much to lose. In his first months in office President Bush enjoyed the cooperation of Democrats on education reform, and even some on tax cuts, and it is possible the next president will convince the Congress to pass an immigration compromise that looks much the same as the one both parties now love to hate. Read more...

Watching the final episode of “The Sopranos” last night was kind of like watching the downfall of the immigration bill in the Senate. It is as if David Chase was studying Harry Reid’s every move.

Great anticipation followed by a dull end.  When is the movie coming out?

Ted Kennedy is like Tony Soprano. Lots of charisma but a little on the heavy side. He is barking orders but he can’t finish the job of winning his battle without the help of the feds (George Bush, in this case).

Talk of a sequel is already starting when it comes to immigration. Democrats say that they will bring it back if there is an agreement on the number of amendments that Republicans bring up. Kind of like the agreement reached by the New Jersey and New York crews, to the ultimate downfall of Phil Leotardo.

Tom Tancredo is kind of like Phil. All this attention is getting to his head. He loves to bash immigrants so much he has decided to run for president. Read more...

If the Bush bill on immigration does not pass in 2007, the Clinton immigration bill will pass in 2009. In other words, if the Republican president does not get credit for liberating millions of Hispanics from illegal status, a future Democratic president will. The consequences of a defeat of the immigration bill at Republican hands will be as profound among Hispanic voters as Goldwater’s opposition to the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 was among black voters. Hispanics increasingly want to vote Republican. Republicans should not drive them into the arms of Democrats by rejecting this bill.

The president went to Europe and won a big victory. Vladimir Putin has changed his mind and won’t aim missiles at Europe, and actually agreed to talk about cooperation on missile defense.

This is the kind of victory that made Ronald Reagan the icon that all Republicans love today. But for Bush it was largely hidden by the setback on the immigration bill.

It is hard to say whether this immigration bill will be revived. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says that it will be, but I wouldn’t count on it. The failure in the Senate is a failure of Senate Democratic leadership, but that is not how the majority leader spun it. He blamed President Bush, even though it was Reid’s decision to move forward on a cloture vote that few of the supporters thought was yet ripe. Read more...

I'd like to borrow from the debates and ask everyone who thinks the immigration problem is about to be solved to raise his/her hand.

Oh come on: NOBODY? Congratulations, everybody.

But what we're witnessing is not about fixing this problem. It's about politicians trying to finesse the issue ...t rying to make as much political capital as they can and then moving on to something else.

And of course, we in the media, who have the collective attention span of a gnat, are all too happy to move on to something else. I mean, Paris Hilton is out of jail for crying out loud.

And besides, how many stories can we do about the "Human Side of the Immigration Debate" ("This is Maria ... she doesn't want her name used because she is here illegally, etc., etc. ...")?  Read more...

Reading the lead editorial from The Washington Post this morning, I was struck by the overt admission that current immigration “reform” efforts underway on the Hill will create a new class of illegal immigrants — and this in an editorial that advocates for passage of the immigration bill!  “The Senate is ensuring that over time it will create a new class of hopeless and mired illegal immigrants,” the Post opines. Are you kidding me?

I can’t imagine anything more irresponsible than to openly advocate for passage of legislation that even supporters believe will bring more, rather than fewer, illegal immigrants to the United States. I believe America’s greatest strength is our diversity. At the same time, I can’t fathom creating a new system that not only rewards those who have broken the law in the past to get here but will also encourage more illegal immigration. Unbelievable. Read more...