La Raza Republicans are Clueless
Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 3:53 pm by Neal
(Hat tip: GPBurdell)
Don’t miss Jonah Goldberg’s piece in today’s National Review, “The Wrong Side of the Immigration Story:”
But since the 1980s, the debate has changed. Whereas in the past the debate was about what our policy should be, today the argument is really about whether we should have a policy at all. Because if you don’t care about enforcing existing immigration laws, you’re really saying that you’re not in favor of having any immigration laws at all. It is difficult to think of another sphere of public policy in which liberals would be nearly so cavalier about lawbreaking.
The most important immigration policy is to enforce the policy, whatever it is. Then, if it’s not working, you can change it. But by turning a blind eye to illegality while spouting empty rhetoric, you incite populist rage from citizens who don’t like being played for suckers.
…The White House says it cares about enforcement, but Bush’s credibility – indeed all of Washington’s credibility – on illegal immigration is simply nonexistent. Bush and his supporters have bought into the idea that being pro-enforcement is anti-immigrant, which is why every move he makes on the issue is the political equivalent of Foghorn Leghorn trying to walk through a field of garden rakes. Conservatives dislike being called bigots and yahoos by liberals. They’re even more vexed when such barbs come from the leader of their own party.
Bush and his sellout Republicans have been mighty wrong in the past, but they’ve never been this wrong before. They are clueless.