Friday, June 08, 2007

The piece of s**t bill that isn't dead

The best thing about yesterday's failed final cloture vote on the immigration reform bill, which lost 45-50 (for-against) after a previous vote honked by 33-63 (we noted that one, see below), is that it caused Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to pull the bill. The worst thing is that this "piece of s**t" bill, as John Boehner called it, isn't dead. Like the original terminator, it may be battered and skinned, but the core can emerge from the flames, red-eyed and angry, to try to kill again.

Ultimately, yesterday's failed cloture vote proved that occasionally Senators actually do smarten up and listen to the voters, who overwhelmingly disdain the bill regardless of whether they are liberal (don't like guestworker status, want amnesty, no border wall) or conservative (don't like free pass for illegals, don't like point system, want enforcement against illegals first). Indeed, Mickey Kaus' dislike of the bill provided good reasons for even moderate liberals to think the thing stank to high heaven.

Ultimately, immigration reform could be passed in smaller pieces, bit by bit. But that's where the moderates cannot win: if enforcement and more restrictive immigration is priority one, liberals will balk; if the Senate seeks amnesty first, the conservatives will kill it. And because the federal government and business interests are each inclined to loosen border control as a default position, any acceptable legislation MUST begin with greater enforcement and prevention as its core.

No matter what happens, though, when Ted Kennedy and George W. Bush are in agreement, the bill in question will not be effective for obtaining the underlying conservative goals Bush allegedly espouses (four words: No Child Left Behind). It's like mixing dog feces and ice cream together -- it tastes more like the dog poo.

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