Shailagh Murray/Jonathan Weisman/WaPo insert infomercial into immigration coverage

Shailagh Murray and Jonathan Weisman of the Washington Post offer "Talk of Resurrecting Immigration Bill Begins as Autopsy Goes On". I see that Mickey Kaus has also pointed to this paragraph:

Within policy circles, immigration reform is viewed as vital, addressing both the growing demand for workers and the social costs of an illegal underclass. The public also generally supports the idea. In last week's Washington Post-ABC News poll, a narrow majority of voters -- 52 percent -- said they supported allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the United States, as long as they are penalized, while 44 percent opposed the idea.

Certainly, some policy experts - particularly those funded by the Ford Foundation, George Soros, and the like - see "reform" (aka amnesty) as vital, but there are others who do not. Some of the latter are even suggesting simply enforcing the current laws! I guess Murray and Weisman need to either get out more, or stop misleading people. And, the idea that the "public also generally supports the idea" is based on misleading polls that fail to include all the downsides of the subject or offer false choices.

I also can't figure out whether he's being disingenuous or not (I suspect the former):

[Harry Reid] bristled when he was asked why he gave Dorgan a second chance. "This is a killer amendment? After five years, you'll take a look at how the program is working? I can't fathom why this is a bad amendment," he said.

And, showing surprising self-awareness as to what everyone else thinks of him and the Bush administration:

Chertoff rejected the suggestions that the administration had not hustled. "They are going to have to fumigate the room because we were basically living there. Anyone who says we weren't engaged is ignorant of the facts."

Immigration2007a · Sat, 06/09/2007 - 11:05 · · Importance: 1