Michael Barone, Refusing to Throw Up His Hands
Peter Robinson ·
Jul 5, 2010 at 3:13pm
Michael Barone, in his column on President Obama's immigration speech last week:
[Obama] said it would put pressure on state and local budgets without stating how (isn’t that Arizona’s problem?) and seeks to “enforce rules that ultimately are unenforceable.” But federal law has required legal immigrants to carry proof of status for decades, and if that law is unenforceable, we might as well throw up our hands.
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May '10
Re: Michael Barone, Refusing to Throw Up His Hands
I'm guessing most here would agree that Obama's immigration speech reflects bad policy - but what about the politics? Amnesty is a winning proposal for Democrats in the long term, assuming they can get something passed. Unfortunately for President Obama and other true believers, politicians are not known for thinking long term... especially during a campaign year!
Jun '10
Re: Michael Barone, Refusing to Throw Up His Hands
City of Albuquerque under its new republican mayor just repealed its status as a sanctuary city. As of May everybody arrested is questioned about their residency status at the Criminal Processing Center. Aliens are immediately turned over to ICE which has an office in the CPC. Results so far have been excellent. Unenforceable? Hardly.
Jun '10
Re: Michael Barone, Refusing to Throw Up His Hands
Back when I was a kid, I recall that the local movie theater owner felt strongly, that there was an important distinction between buying a ticket for the 7:00 show, and just sneaking in through the back door as people from the 5:00 show were leaving. He made it clear to me on one occasion just how important it was to buy a ticket, if I ever wanted to see a movie there again. I doubt that he's still around, but he seemed to understand the difference between legal and illegal entrance very well, and would be a great one to explain it to the President.
Jul '10
Re: Michael Barone, Refusing to Throw Up His Hands
The argument is made that making illegal immigrants legal helps the Democratic Party in the long term, and as a theoretical proposition I suppose that is true. But in the long term, as Keynes said, we're all dead. In the meantime, Hispanics are 12 percent of the population, the same as African-Americans. Everybody else is pretty much white. That comes to around 75 percent. Why are both parties in conflict with the will of the majority of voters just now -- is the present without importance? This disjunction is one of the reasons for the rise of the Tea Party movement and why so many Democrats have decided on early retirement and others will follow them into the well-paid ranks of lobbyists. It is also why RINOs are vanishing so rapidly. It looks like John McCain will be renominated, but only because the conservative looks as slippery as an eel in an outhouse. If the Democrat in the fall runs to the right on immigration, whoever he or she is would seem to have a good shot at the seat.
Re: Michael Barone, Refusing to Throw Up His Hands
Republicans need to find a way to identify with the core beliefs of Catholic Latin American immigrants. A public pro-life campaign organized by Latinos attacking Democratic wishes for unfettered abortion access might put the left in fear of losing at least some of these new voters to the other side. Even if this didn't sway a lot of actual new voters, the perception might lead to a more rational, and less politically motivated immigration policy from the Democratic party.
May '10
Re: Michael Barone, Refusing to Throw Up His Hands
The problem with trying to ascertain the meaning of an Obama speech is that they sound like they were written by a 22 year-old staffer using a left wing version of Mad-Libs to string together a confabulation of leftist cliches.
May as well try reading tea leaves or the I-Ching.
May '10
Re: Michael Barone, Refusing to Throw Up His Hands
I am blown away that the President can make that speech and still survive. Here we have a President of the United States who refuses to do his job and defend our borders and enforce our laws - and is allowed to redirect the debate, castigating others while being holier than thou. I can't think of a better example for the state of the media in the states today.
May '10
Re: Michael Barone, Refusing to Throw Up His Hands
Barone is a national treasure. Assuming he has an extra minute in any of his days (not a safe assumption, based on his output), he'd make an ideal Ricochet contributor.