Wednesday, November 08, 2006

The Weekly Standard the Morning After

I turn again to Fred Barnes for analysis of the post-election (GOP) post-mortem:

Already the wails of the immigration restrictionists are rising, insisting Republicans lost because they weren't tough on keeping illegal border-crossers out. Not true. The test was in Arizona, where two of the noisiest border hawks, Representatives J.D. Hayworth and Randy Graf, lost House seats. Graf lost in a seat along the Mexican border, where illegal immigrants flock.

What Americans want is a full-blown solution to the immigration crisis. And that will come only when Republicans come together on a "comprehensive" measure that not only secures the border but also provides a way for illegals in the United States to work their way to citizenship and establishes a temporary worker program. If Republicans don't grab this issue, Democrats will.

Immigration was a big failure of Republicans over the past two years...


As I mentioned earlier today, it is time the nativist hardliners gave up their destructive rhetoric and accept the reality of a changing (and changed) America. If the folks along the border, who have to live with the realities of undocumented immigration in their faces everyday, turned their backs on the "enforcement only" strategies of the last congress, then the rest of the nation should take note. Short term stunts, like fences and border webcams, will not stop undocumented immigration, nor will it stop time, transporting us back to the era before immigration.

Another noteworthy point: 75% of all Latinos who voted yesterday voted Democratic. That should not be a surprise, but it should a wake up call for all concerned.

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