Bruce McQuain of the site QAndO hasn't (as far as I know) contributed to the HotAir front page before. But, he's kicked off his premiere appearance [1] in a big way: by supporting comprehensive immigration reform, aka amnesty.

I'll admit to being suckered in by the post title ("Paul Ryan faces immigration questions in townhall meeting"). When I saw that I was hopeful that someone had used the Question Authority plan to call Ryan on the huge downsides of amnesty.

Instead, the post is about the recent Paul Ryan immigration meeting, and the questions in McQuain's title were from other amnesty supporters.

In the post, McQuain breaks out old chestnuts like nation of immigrants [2]. He says "the House’s approach seems much more sane and manageable than that of the Senate", without acknowledging that several piecemeal bills would end up having the same effect as one comprehensive bill.

While McQuain has a few cavils, the upshot is that he's trying to sell amnesty to the Hot Air readership:

Some argue that we really don’t need new laws for illegal immigration but only a federal government that will do it’s sworn duty and enforce the existing laws. There is definitely truth to that argument. But we also need to address and streamline the path to citizenship for those who do it properly and legally. If we are going to permit a path to citizenship for those who came here illegally, and it seems we are, it shouldn’t be either shorter or easier than those who applied legally. In fact it should be anything but that. If it takes 15 years for an illegal immigrant to finally win citizenship, we should put in place a system that rewards legal immigrants with citizenship much sooner – say 7 to 10 years. Human nature 101 tells us that people respond positively to incentive. That sort of incentive would likely see potential immigrants who were indeed interested in becoming citizens choose the proper path for achieving that... That said, we also need to see border security properly addressed, the guest worker and agricultural worker programs streamlined and our immigration policy join the 21st Century (and use 21st Century technology as a means to address these problems and achieve solutions)... it seems as though Paul Ryan is mostly headed in the right direction concerning this problem... ...it seems that amnesty is indeed going to be a feature of whatever comes out of Congress when immigration is finally settled.

As commenter "True_King" says:

It seems that the author of this post is doing exactly as I’ve told is done here, with the exception of AP - They are easing you all into accepting this as something that’s going to happen, and hopefully calming the herd.

In addition to that, McQuain's incentives won't work. Many people come here illegally because they weren't allowed to immigrate legally in the first place. In order to make McQuain's incentives work, we'd need to dramatically increase limits on low-skilled immigration. Plus, many will consider waiting inside the U.S. a long time for the next amnesty or for their chance at legalization the actually easier course than waiting patiently outside the U.S. to be admitted legally. See the related immigration line.

Note also that McQuain says nothing about Paul Ryan's use of "undocumented Americans".

Want to do something about this? Look up those who talk with @McQandO and ask them if, like McQuain, they support amnesty and all its downsides. Don't concentrate on specifics of one particular bill, just the huge downsides of mass legalization in general.

UPDATE: On Twitter, McQuain writes [3]:

@24AheadDotCom_ a) I'm not a "conservative" and b) I didn't "hype" amnesty. I simply pointed out the apparent reality of reform.

I didn't accuse him of being a conservative, but Hot Air is a conservative site full of commenters who seek to define themselves as True Conservatives. They're also an echo chamber that can't stand contrary ideas. So, one would expect to find posts there expressing whatever is the current conservative ideal. A tweet mentioning "conservative" [4] wasn't accusing McQuain of being that, I just asked whether his ideas fit in with the Hot Air ideals.

As for my use of "hype" in the tweet at [4], perhaps that word is too active to describe what McQuain did. His was more a passive acceptance of the inevitability of amnesty. Instead of fighting amnesty as this site does, he just wanted to negotiate the terms of the surrender.

A concerted effort based on my ideas (see Question Authority) could block amnesty fairly easily. Either McQuain can't figure out a similar effort, doesn't want to figure out a similar effort, or won't help me with my effort. None of those are the actions of someone who truly opposes amnesty.

In the post, McQuain even says, "it seems as though Paul Ryan is mostly headed in the right direction concerning this problem".

Can anyone familiar with this site imagine me saying anything like that?

Compare McQuain's post to how I do things. See my post about the same Paul Ryan event. Instead of accepting amnesty as a foregone conclusion, I provide links show how Ryan is wrong and urge people to take action.

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[1] hotair . com/archives/2013/07/27/
paul-ryan-faces-immigration-questions-in-townhall-meeting/

[2] Where have we heard things like this before?

We are indeed a nation of immigrants, including those who now like to call themselves Native Americans. Immigrants have built this nation, have added to its rich heritage and have proven that a “melting pot” can indeed produce a vibrant nation that is a world leader.

But this country is also a nation of laws. And our laws outline how legal immigration is to be pursued. No one questions the need for the reform of those laws. But that doesn’t excuse scofflaws and those who refuse to abide by our laws. That is one major focuses for reforming immigration laws.

[3] twitter . com/McQandO/status/361275334403948545

[4] twitter . com/24AheadDotCom/status/361219196715155458:

.@gerfingerpoken: how "conservative" is it of @McQandO to hype amnesty at #HotAir? #immigration #teaparty #tcot #tgdn #sgp #tpp #GOP