White House compares illegal immigration to speeding

The Examiner ^ | May 26, 2006 | Bill Sammon

[VU4G10]

WASHINGTON - The White House on Friday said a Senate bill that would grant legal status to illegal immigrants is analogous to a traffic law that allows a speeder to pay a fine and continue driving.

"If you had a traffic ticket and you paid it, you're not forever a speeder, are you?" White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said in response to questions from The Examiner.

"So the fact is, you have paid your debt to society," he added. "And we have come up with a way to make sure that the debt to society gets paid. Then you move forward."

The "traffic ticket" analogy raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill, where many House Republicans regard illegal immigration as a grave crime.

"I don't know if Tony meant to trivialize it or not," said Will Adams, spokesman for Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. "But it's certainly misleading."

"The penalty for a speeding ticket is a fine," he added. "The penalty for being here illegally is being removed from this country. But the president doesn't want illegal aliens to go home."

Snow emphasized that illegals would have to pay fines, learn English and wait years for a chance at full citizenship. But Adams called that "a slap on the hand" compared to deportation.

"Here's a more apt analogy," he said. "You get stopped for speeding, and you say to the cop: "Hey listen, you're about to give me a $300 ticket. How about we make it 20 bucks and just call it even?"

Snow predicted that House Republicans would eventually drop their opposition to the Senate bill, which passed Thursday. The bill, which includes a guest worker program that would grant legal status to aliens, is headed to a conference committee for possible reconciliation with a House bill aimed at beefing up border security.

Snow suggested the guest worker program could be sold to even ardent opponents like Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

"Chairman Sensenbrenner, who's got some real problems with various aspects, has said publicly that the temporary worker program has merit," Snow said.

"There are areas in which members of the House are going to agree with the president," he added. "I certainly don't want to be speaking for Chairman Sensenbrenner, but the fact is, you know politics."

But Sensenbrenner appeared unmoved.

"What's going on now, in calling it a pathway to citizenship or earned legalization, is not honest because it is amnesty," he said at a news conference.

[mnehring]

See the reasons, laws were put in place in the late 90s that prevent/limit prosecutions and deportations. You are falling into a statistical fallacy of applying coordination to correlating trends. The same statistics/trends would apply if Gore were elected because the variable was not the Presidential election, but the laws cited.

People keep saying over and over, why don't we enforce the laws. It is because there are so many conflicting laws, they aren't enforceable.

[BW2221]

Maybe he should change his name to "Tony Snowjob."

I'd like to see him debate the speeding analogy with Bill O'Reilly.

[Rockitz]

He's really had to sacrifice his principles for this job, hasn't he?

[FreePaul]

Tony Snow is going to destroy his credibility trying to cover up for this disfunctional White House.

[RobRoy]

"Only instead of a speeding ticket you get free healthcare and social security. Its a lotto ticket basically."

So I should speed more often?!!!

Again, cool!

[Racer1]

Ya know. I have lost any respect for this administration that I had because of this and many other things. After dumb statements like the speeding ticket analogy I am also questioning there intelligence. Do they really believe we were going to buy this crap?

[RobRoy]

"Only instead of a speeding ticket you get free healthcare and social security. Its a lotto ticket basically."

So I should speed more often?!!!

Again, cool!

Doggone it, maybe this amnesty thing has merit after all. On second thought, next time a cop pulls me over I should just say, "It's ok officer, I'm an illegal alien."

[samadams2000]

He use to be a respected person. Trying to sell THE BIG LIE is really unbecomming.

[Rockitz]

"Snow predicted that House Republicans would eventually drop their opposition to the Senate bill, which passed Thursday"

...which is why everyone should be calling their reps and getting them to stick by HR 4437.

[Lurker]

You're making the assumption that he had any principles to begin with.

L

[Racer1]

I did first thing this morning.

[upchuck]

Methinks maybe Tony has gone over to the dark side.

He obviously is not a conservative.

[middie]

Poor Tony, a good guy stuck with horrible job for an inept, incompetent and ill-intentioned boss whom history will place right next to Coolidge in the Pantheon of presidents.

[Sloth]

"So the fact is, you have paid your debt to society," he added. "And we have come up with a way to make sure that the debt to society gets paid. Then you move forward."

A closer analogy is that, instead of being ticketed, you get to pay a low one-time fee in exchange for the right to speed anywhere for the rest of your life.

[FreePaul]

Except that when a speeder is stopped, he does get a ticket.

If the speeder doesn't have insurance, a driver's license and/or proper identification and he is hiding from the law he will probably get more than a ticket.

[Luke21]

Daffy. Absolutely daffy.

[michigander]

"If you had a traffic ticket and you paid it, you're not forever a speeder, are you?"

Geeez, this is going to be ugly.

[VOA]

"Here's a more apt analogy," he said. "You get stopped for speeding, and
you say to the cop: "Hey listen, you're about to give me a $300 ticket.
How about we make it 20 bucks and just call it even?"

I like Tony Snow.
But he just showed himself to be as out of touch with Joe SixPack reality
with that comment...as Papa Bush was with supermarket scanners.

Everyone knows that the next words out of the cop's mouth are
"You are under arrest for attempted bribery of a law enforcement officer."

Well, unless you are an illegal immigrant.

[BW2221]

Why Snow took this job is beyond me. Giving up a good job, taking a pay cut, less time with your family and sacrificing your independence.

[clawrence3]

Because the momentum and more recent, reasonable thinking are on the Senate's side. Even Sensenbrenner has backed off some provisions in H.R. 4437 (hopefully neither he nor Tancredo are on the Conference Committee ; )