Jun 11 2007
Democracy At Work
Well, it seems we will have another chance to test the true nature of the far right and its respect for diversity of views and living under a democracy.
ABC World News said Bush “will be greeted by a host of political problems” on his return — among them the President’s effort to “win over Republicans who oppose anything that smells to them like amnesty for illegal aliens.” USA Today quoted Sen. Mel Martinez, chairman of the Republican National Committee, saying, “The fact that he’s coming to the Hill is kind of dramatic and shows his dedication to this issue.” The Christian Science Monitor considers “How To Revive Immigration Bill,” saying the President “needs to convince skeptics on both sides of the aisle that the government can be trusted to enforce the law.”
If the immigration bill comes back up and is passed (which is a distinct possibility) then I hope they all applaud the greatness that is democracy! Of course, this time it will be in defeat instead of the current crowing about their transient victory to keep us in the mess we are in now. This should be quite enlightening to watch, if it happens.
Update: And I hope the GOP will respect John McCain for battling for his beliefs in the open debate that defines democracy:
TRUE TO his reputation as a maverick, Sen. John McCain is obviously fed up with the jabs he’s taking from conservatives on the immigration issue. And he’s hitting back — hard.
…
McCain is correct about the need for comprehensive immigration reform as opposed to what’s behind door No. 2: the “faith-based” enforcement-only approach of building walls, hoping illegal immigrants self-deport and calling it a day. Congress did something similar with immigration reform in 1996, and — as Sen. Sam Brownback noted in last week’s GOP presidential debate — all we have to show for it is a population of illegal immigrants nearly twice as large now as it was then.
…
Pandering for votes on this issue, while offering no solution to the problem, amounts to doing nothing. And doing nothing is silent amnesty.”
Remember that phrase. Silent amnesty. McCain is right again. If Congress ultimately fails to enact meaningful immigration reform, the world won’t end for illegal immigrants. They’ll still wake up at 4 the next morning and go to work just like they did the day before. Nothing will change. No one will be fined or brought into the system, or held accountable in any way. That’s amnesty.
We shall see more on this tomorrow. But Reid probably did the right thing. He pulled the bill forcing the GOP to stop stalling. And what is happening is the fission between the far right and the pragmatic right have opened up to the point where Kyl and many others are now tiring of the far right’s stalling games. They were going to allow them to lose with grace, get their amendments up and voted on. Now they are even limiting that. Lacking grace on the far right, it was clear that was an offer the far right could not step up to. Now they may lose without grace.
In the spirit of democracy in action, may one please
suggest an amendment for consideration in the Senate version
of the bill?
For those who entered this country illegally and whom may
be granted some form of amnesty, during the remainder of their
tenure in the USA they forfeit by acceptance of their pardon the
right to vote in any of our elections.
This is more than fair. And it short circuits one of Ted Kennedy
and his Democrats primary aims, which is to change the voting
demographics inside our country.
Remember, demographic warfare IS warfare.
There is no way this amendment could be argued against –
well unless you’re Mr. Soros.
In all other respects, such as paying minimum wage, we say
welcome amigos.
Dave M,
Sorry, but it is too late to add to the list of amendments. They are trying to whittlle it down so they can be defeated. I am not keen on your idea (removes some incentives) but to be honest it wouldn’t bother me one way or another. But the window for ideas is closed. The far right have made this a battle of wills. While vocal, they don’t carry the numbers in the country.
New York Times:
In Return Home to Mexico Grave, an Industry Rises
By EDUARDO PORTER
Published: June 11, 2007
CONWAY, Ark. — Héctor Acevedo was 22, in this country illegally and far from his mother when he died last month in a car accident outside of town just across the Arkansas River.
But mother and son were soon reunited. The tight-knit immigrant network rallied to repatriate the body, adding Mr. Acevedo to a procession of thousands of dead Mexicans making their way home each year. A survivor of the accident approached a relative of another victim, who worked in a restaurant owned by one of Mr. Acevedo’s relatives.
An uncle identified the body, contacted the Mexican consulate in nearby Little Rock and arranged the paperwork. For $2,300, and a $500 contribution from the consulate, they bought the “Hispanic Package� at Brown’s Christian Funeral Services, which specializes in repatriation of remains to Mexico. Six days after the accident, Mr. Acevedo was buried next to his grandfather in the family plot in González, Tamaulipas, in northeastern Mexico.
“Waiting for the body was agony,� said Juanita Soto, Mr. Acevedo’s mother. “I had to see him, to caress him.�
The intended point of this typically verbose New York Times articles is typically opaque.
One suspects it is to argue that the US needs to spend more money helping these poor people send the bodies back. Or at least to pass legislation forcing the employers of illegal aliens to pay their shipping home.
But isn’t the inadvertent message that Mexicans have no desire to become Americans?
Also note the other bit of information that slips out.
Mexicans are involved in a lot of fatal accidents.
President Bush wants to win over people who oppose anything that smells like amnesty for illegal aliens? Good luck, Mr. President, but it seems that an awful lot of things that involve making illegal aliens pay fines and back taxes but that DON’T involve deportation or going back to Mexico are going to “smell like amnesty” to some people. Some people seem to believe that if there is any way at all for an illegal alien to end up as a tax-paying citizen of the U.S., then that’s amnesty.
I salute the President for making the effort, but there seem to be too many people who are simply not open to further movement on the issue — unless they can get either (1) 12 million people somehow motivated to self-deport (supposedly by squeezing the balls of employers hard enough that they’ll never dare to hire someone who might turn out to be illegal — never mind that some illegal aliens have actually started businesses and would thus be in a position to hire other illegals), or (2) the wall between U.S. and Mexico built (which, as Big Lizards will tell you, will take years if not decades, and will thus in the meantime be totally ineffective in stopping the flow of illegal immigrants into this country for quite some time).
AJ
The window in the Senate is closed but it still could be put in at the House bill.
Pulease! John McCain is no hero. He is a nasty vindictive piece of crap. His fellow POW’s called him “Songbird McCain” because they say he sold out to the enemy to get better treatment, food, and female visitors. He admitted he told them what they wanted to know in exchange for medical care, which he claims saved him from coming home a cripple. Now he is colaborating with the disreputable likes of Ted Kennedy and Harry Reid. This country needs a president like him like they need another 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants.
AJ(Andrew Sullivan)–
You said, “…the window for ideas is closed.” That’s some slick language right there. I’d imagine that window would open mighty quick if, say, the idea was to bring up the bill once more. Oh, that’s right, you’ll close it as soon as the immigration bill comes back up.
Oh Mighty Enlightened One (?) how wise and crafty art thou.
Your Pal,
hypochondria
Well McCAin is right about the silent amnesty. If they have their way these people will just stay where they are. Unless they want to round them all and process them and deport them. Which is not possible. It seems to me the right has done a good job of demanding answers from other people while offering none of their own.