That is what the immigration debate has been. It seems it is dead, after months and months of telling us that we are in crisis, the hardliners are refusing to even compromise on a guest worker program. I guess the lettuce will just pick itself. God knows the guys who signed this won't be doing any field work anytime soon. I find it difficult to believe that a decent compromise would have been all that difficult to reach if the desire had been there to reach it. So much for the 70% of the population who supported Bush's program. He finally gets majority support on something and his own party stabs him in the back. Again.
I wonder how that registration drive to sign up a million new voters is going for the proimmigration folks? I would say this will give them an oppurtunity to beef up their numbers for a more liberal bill in the future.
I also wonder why it is that George Bush can not count on his own party even in a war. With friends like this, the man does not need enemies. Lucky for them Murtha is out there keeping people like me from voting for Democrats.
5 comments:
david:
I hope you are right.
The thing that bothers me is not this particular issue, not really, it is the pattern I see developing of bands of vocal people on both extremes of the politcal spectrum who seem bound an determined to undermine any sort of consensus on any issue.
Even when they are the ones bound and determined to create the issue.
I wonder what the next hissey fit will be about?
I think they need a guest worker program to take pressure off the border. But they do not seem concerned at all about who will do the work these folks are presently doing.
Terrye,
No action is probably the right action. Following the "rise" of this "problem" leads back to the same people and organizations responsible for generating the idea that the electorate was "hungry to get money out of politics". Once they found the dim bulb with a loud voice on the Rep side to help carry the water we wound up with CFR - and 527's.
They haven't found anyone as dumb as McCain to help out with the "immigration problem" so all that has happened is blather - and some increased enforcement of existing laws.
As to the "1 million" registration figure - think of it as a "Million Mom March" - they might get 10,000 registrations with a 40% turnout rate. Big deal.
An even bigger deal will be the word passing around in the illegal's communitites that all the Mechista noise has attracted La Migra and that Uncle Juan hasn't been seen lately. Thanks Democrats!
Better no bill than a stupid bill - expecially when enforcement of existing laws will achieve more than anything concocted in the Senate or House.
No bailout for LA either - they created the mess they are in and they can buy their way out of it. That's why I like the initial enforcement focus south of Tucson. It's always better to help those who've started helping themselves.
Rick:
Well considering the fact that everybody thinks everybody else's bill is a stupid bill I guess that means we will never be able to deal with this.
The thing that pisses me off is that the people who killed any hope of a compromise are the same people who were demanding action in the first damn place.
I mean it was not Bush or McCain or Frist who were ranting about and invasion of illegals who were trying to destroy the country and give it back to Mexico and all manner of nonsense, it was Tancredo and Sessions and Hastert who were making a big deal out of it in the first damn place.
They could have increased border security without all this drama and instituted a guest worker program of some sort without it all being such a big deal. They just end up looking like morons and polarizing people even more than they already were.
"we will never be able to deal with this."
Terrye,
There is no "this" to deal with - at least in the sense that a new bill is required. "This" is a phantasm concocted by the Pew Center for Hispanic Studies and some other left wing foundations in the same way that they concocted "too much money in politics". Pew deliberately jacked up the numbers to 11M to get "this" in the news and it's worked pretty well. Just not well enough for it to have its desired effect. O' Reilly, Tancredo and J D Hayworth beat their little nativist tom-toms and stirred up the "protect our precious bodily fluids" fringe out on the right wing and generated the stupidity which you rightfully despise.
You have it right in your title "signifying nothing" is precisely what this has been. The better focus (IMO) is how Pew managed to get teamed up with Tancredo.
Steve;
It is not bull, I was referring to a Gallup poll done right before the presdient;'s speech and to the RNC poll. Believe it or not most people feel like we have enough problems to deal without trying the mass deportation of 11 million people.
Anyway, nothing is going to get fixed. Too many people would rather bitch.
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