How Ted is enjoying this. Bush is begging him to help destroy the GOP.
I often do wonder if, behind closed doors, the Left/Democrats are laughing at how the GOP leadership is seemingly eager to destroy their party.
As to the pending bill, this alleged unrest about it from the left is hard to believe. I almost believe that its orchestrated to give the bill a false appearance of being ‘centrist’, of ticking off both sides equally. The parts the Left dislikes the most are very likely never to come to pass even if the bill passes.
They don’t like how ‘guest workers’ aren’t given a path to citizenship, but the bill does nothing to make sure they go home, which means most will stay, and be given their own amnesty/path to citizenship. As George Borjas points out, the truth is that a large increase in permanent immigration is being disguised as a guest worker program. Smart leftists know this.
They also really don’t like how the bill will allegedly end extended family chain migration. The reason for the dislike is obvious; it would threaten the certainty with which immigration delivers huge net gains in new voters for the Democrats, and in growing the power of professional ethnic grievance groups like La Raza. But the bill would not bring about the switch to a point-based merit system until after 8 years of greatly expanded chain migration to ‘clear the backlog.’ If the Dems control Congress and the Presidency (or if there is a GOP President like Bush), then who thinks this change will ever take place? It will never happen. I could see them actually adopting a point system to increase high-skilled, highly educated immigration...while also maintaining unending chain migration, but I can’t see them letting go of a policy that will destroy the GOP demographically.
I’ll give otherwise stellar Senators like Kyl the benefit of the doubt and say that I believe that he actually believes the bill does create a genuinely ‘temporary guest worker program’ and that it will end chain migration. But I am greatly disappointed that with the former there is nothing with teeth in the legislation to make sure the ‘guests’ leave, while with the latter, we are supposed to believe it will actually go into effect eight years from now. How could Kyl go along with something he must know the Democrats will be working tirelessly to gut? And indeed, Pelosi has said that the end to chain migration is a deal breaker, while Kennedy himself has said they will work to ‘fix’ the legislation as soon as it becomes law! Is there any doubt that by ‘fix’, Kennedy means to abolish and half-way conservative provisions in the bill?
And finally, this talk about about how ending chain migration will ‘separate’ and ‘tear apart’ families is just infuriating, and insulting. Why is it the duty of the United States to be the location where all families are reunitied? Noone is making immigrants come here. In making that choice, they are the ones deciding to risk the break up of their family. They are the ones ‘tearing apart’ their own families, not our immigration policy. If its so crucial that they be together, then they could easily reunite in the home nation.