May 2, 2006
The Immigration Debate Today Posted by John Steele Gordon at 01:00 PM EST Joshua Zeitz writes in his recent post that “perhaps, in the coming weeks, a coalition of Democrats and principled conservative Republicans like John McCain and Sam Brownback can revive hopes for a sane immigration bill.” This would seem to imply that all Democrats and only some Republicans—especially conservative ones—are principled on this issue. Perhaps this is a typo and Mr. Zeitz meant to write “a coalition of principled Democrats and Republicans.” If not, I would remind him that the Senate, only a few weeks ago, had a deal on a sane immigration bill, one endorsed by a coalition wide enough to include the likes of John McCain, Ted Kennedy, and George Bush. But Senator Chuck Schumer, who is a Democrat, decided he preferred having the issue of immigration as a means of winning the Senate in November to having a good immigration bill passed in April. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid promptly sabotaged the compromise that had been so painstakingly worked out the day before. That is not my idea of being principled.
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