Immigration Confusion
Okay, somebody hasn't been reading the paper lately. And as usual, it's all those people writing for the paper. In particular, George Will is just not keeping up.
Willy's got a bit in the WaPo today entitled "Harry Reid's Sham." Reid, by Willy's reasoning, is the reason that his great Churchillian leader didn't get to pass the immigration bill that he wanted. It's implicit (though unsaid) in the piece and in conventional wisdom that everything else that Georgie Bush has done has been an unmitigated historic failure, so the immigration bill might be something he can point to in his dotage as not being the very definition of humiliating failure.
The problem is that the Bush Junta has been feeding red meat to the most cro-magnon of right wing extremists for nigh six years now. So asking them to accept a compromise bill on immigration at this point is like asking Cujo to settle for a nice plastic chew-toy.
But not to Willy. According to Willy, this is all Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's fault. Reid, understanding that Democrats are not lining up to ban immigration, seal the borders, and expel everyone suspected of having an accent, is in no great hurry to pass the bill. And since it's the rightists who are threatening a filibuster over it (gosh - funny how the Junta has stopped talking about eliminating the filibuster now that they need it, huh?) why should Reid twist himself into a knot to get it passed?
To Willy, Reid is standing in the way of Georgie's only positive legacy. Not the rightist fellow travellers who are actually blocking the thing.
Of course, the headine in the NYT goes like this: "Bush Lobbies GOP Senators on Immigration." According to Willy, he shouldn't bother. Just send a nasty-gram to Harry Reid, right?
The right wing have been led further to the right than ever before. They want what they want and they're used to getting it.
This is also the result of the racial politics that the Rove strategy has used to get and keep power. All the voter suppression stuff and the appeals to outright racism has an effect. It's made the rightists that much more eager to enforce their racist beliefs.
The best way to view racism is through the prism of immigration policy and attitudes. Immigration reform is the legitimate facade on the structure of wanting to suppress people of colour. Politicians and media heads can't go on Lou Dobbs and say "let's act against brown people." But they can (and do) go on Dobb's hateful show and talk about sealing the border and expelling "illegals."
Hey: "illegals" aren't Irish. They aren't Swedes. They are brown people from South of the border, and the right wing has an irrational hatred for them.
George Will can say what he wants about Reid. He notes that Harry has only a 19% approval rating which he compares favourably to Georgie's 36% (which is a high number lately).
But the disapproval that Congress is receiving has more to do with a lack of fight than too much. People want Democrats to stop the madness in Iraq and confront a genuinely evil White House. Congress has not done that in their first six months, so people are on them.
People are not disapproving Harry Reid because he derails Bush's plans - quite the opposite. Which Willy knows - but Willy also knows that the days of journalists telling the truth are long gone now, too.
Bush - and Will - have a problem with their own extremists, not Harry Reid.
Willy's got a bit in the WaPo today entitled "Harry Reid's Sham." Reid, by Willy's reasoning, is the reason that his great Churchillian leader didn't get to pass the immigration bill that he wanted. It's implicit (though unsaid) in the piece and in conventional wisdom that everything else that Georgie Bush has done has been an unmitigated historic failure, so the immigration bill might be something he can point to in his dotage as not being the very definition of humiliating failure.
The problem is that the Bush Junta has been feeding red meat to the most cro-magnon of right wing extremists for nigh six years now. So asking them to accept a compromise bill on immigration at this point is like asking Cujo to settle for a nice plastic chew-toy.
But not to Willy. According to Willy, this is all Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's fault. Reid, understanding that Democrats are not lining up to ban immigration, seal the borders, and expel everyone suspected of having an accent, is in no great hurry to pass the bill. And since it's the rightists who are threatening a filibuster over it (gosh - funny how the Junta has stopped talking about eliminating the filibuster now that they need it, huh?) why should Reid twist himself into a knot to get it passed?
To Willy, Reid is standing in the way of Georgie's only positive legacy. Not the rightist fellow travellers who are actually blocking the thing.
Of course, the headine in the NYT goes like this: "Bush Lobbies GOP Senators on Immigration." According to Willy, he shouldn't bother. Just send a nasty-gram to Harry Reid, right?
The right wing have been led further to the right than ever before. They want what they want and they're used to getting it.
This is also the result of the racial politics that the Rove strategy has used to get and keep power. All the voter suppression stuff and the appeals to outright racism has an effect. It's made the rightists that much more eager to enforce their racist beliefs.
The best way to view racism is through the prism of immigration policy and attitudes. Immigration reform is the legitimate facade on the structure of wanting to suppress people of colour. Politicians and media heads can't go on Lou Dobbs and say "let's act against brown people." But they can (and do) go on Dobb's hateful show and talk about sealing the border and expelling "illegals."
Hey: "illegals" aren't Irish. They aren't Swedes. They are brown people from South of the border, and the right wing has an irrational hatred for them.
George Will can say what he wants about Reid. He notes that Harry has only a 19% approval rating which he compares favourably to Georgie's 36% (which is a high number lately).
But the disapproval that Congress is receiving has more to do with a lack of fight than too much. People want Democrats to stop the madness in Iraq and confront a genuinely evil White House. Congress has not done that in their first six months, so people are on them.
People are not disapproving Harry Reid because he derails Bush's plans - quite the opposite. Which Willy knows - but Willy also knows that the days of journalists telling the truth are long gone now, too.
Bush - and Will - have a problem with their own extremists, not Harry Reid.
posted by fiduciary at 8:32 AM
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