Chris Cannon, Howard Berman promote immigration "reform" compromise

From "Bush eyes Democrats for help on amnesty":

"With alignment now in Congress and the White House, this is a unique opportunity [to pass 'comprehensive immigration reform']," said Rep. Howard L. Berman, California Democrat, a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and a leader on the issue.

Berman also signed on to the Graf/Hayworth meme. Then, they quote Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT/AILA/MALDEF):

"Over the last two years, people who have been in my position on immigration have done well, and people who have been more extreme have done badly"...

He said Republicans goofed by not passing a bill, because they will now be forced to accept Democratic legislation far closer to amnesty.

"If we'd done this as Republicans, we wouldn't even have the argument of pathway to citizenship," he said.

Mr. Cannon said Democrats will now get credit for solving the problem, and said Mr. Tancredo will be left with "a soapbox to pound the living daylights out of people who are scared of America changing."

Obviously, whether the "pathway to citizenship" is in the bill or not, it's going to be there in any form of amnesty or long-term "guest" worker plan: we aren't, for instance, going to have much luck deporting "guests" who've had U.S. citizen children. And, of course, one of the reasons why people like Cannon are able to win is because they're supported by the establishment: the Democratic Party, the GOP, and the media.

Cannon also thinks the Democrats will back Tancredo's potential presidential bid as a way of splitting the GOP vote. Unfortunately for people like Cannon, there's also the possibility that a less polarizing figure will decide to run on a pro-American platform and will rhetorically indict the GOP, the Democrats, and the media for their support for illegal activity.

Politics · Thu, 11/09/2006 - 14:17 · · Importance: 1