Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Take a Deep Breath: Immigration

Friday May 18, 2007

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Dear Mr. Mullings

NOTE: Nothing, absolutely nothing, generates e-mail traffic like a column on immigration. In spite of the fact that this is a Friday (when I tend to slide into movie reviews and national security issues relating to American Idol) I step into the breach an present the following.

NOTE II: If you haven't been checking out the extremely popular Dear Mr. Mullings feature, there's a new one every Friday which, as it happens, is today!

The Immigration Bill which was announced with great fanfare yesterday will (a) be about 738 pages long and (b) will not pass the House as it is currently written.

Don't start with me about shipping 12 million illegal immigrants home. I know your position on that. Also don't tell me that we are rewarding illegality. I understand that, too.

A bi-partisan group of Senators has cobbled together an immigration bill which has so many moving parts, that it is almost impossible that it will survive in its current form so � RELAX!

Any piece of legislation which is fronted by Ted Kennedy is suspect on its face. However, Kennedy said at his press conference that this was the best deal anyone was going to get. So, anyone who is serious about immigration ought to take a close look before they oppose it out of hand.

It is in the nature of a legislative compromise that if you are a true believer - on either side - you will not see it as a compromise. You will see it as a sell-out.

If you truly believe that illegal immigrants should be evicted then you will oppose this. On the other hand, if you truly believe that undocumented aliens should be fully accepted into American society, then you will oppose this.

It will not be lost on anyone watching the Presidential campaigns that Senator John McCain positioned himself immediately behind Senator Kennedy during the press conference announcing the deal.

On CNN's Strategy Session with Wolf Blitzer yesterday, I pointed out that Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) was the leading Conservative negotiating this deal and Kyl gave McCain some necessary political cover.

I was interested in the fact that I did not see Sen. Kyl during that press conference, but I might have been watching the only channel which switched away prior to his stepping to the microphone to pledge his fealty to the deal.

On the other side, according to the Associated Press, the former Darling of the Democrats, Barak Obama said:

"Without modifications, the proposed bill could devalue the importance of family reunification, replace the current group of undocumented immigrants with a new undocumented population consisting of guest workers who will overstay their visas, and potentially drive down wages of American workers."

I am willing to bet a month's worth of Grande Mochas at the Old Town Alexandria Starbucks that those words did not come out of Barak Obama's mouth. I am also willing to bet he has no idea what that means.

Mitt Romney said it was "the wrong approach," although he did not take the opportunity to suggest the "right approach."

Fred Thompson, who is trying to figure out the best moment to do his "Here I come to save the day" Mighty Mouse routine said, "With this bill, the American people are going to think they are being sold the same bill of goods as before on border security," although he did not make clear what the first bill of goods was.

Hillary Clinton was apparently waiting for the polling numbers to come in before she stuck an enameled toe into the immigration waters saying according to an AFP report, "she would scrutinize the pact to see if it honored America's 'proud immigrant heritage,'" which is as good an example as any why she will never be President of the United States.

And � as we learned in seventh grade when we read "How a Bill Becomes a Law" the House has to weigh in on this as well.

Neither the far Left nor the hard Right is going to be happy with this bill. The Left thinks it is demeaning to illegal aliens, the Right thinks it rewards illegal activity.

This deal is a long, long way from being done.

Ok. NOW you can hit the "reply" key.

On a the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A representative sampling of news articles about the immigration bill, a Mullfoto showing the Confederate flag in front of the South Carolina Capitol Building, and a Catchy Caption of the day.

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