AS THE DEMOCRATS brought their weary road show to Vegas tonight, most analysts suspected that Hillary Clinton would get a mulligan on the illegal immigration question that she botched so badly at their last tussle. It played out as expected. Right out of the box, Campbell Brown asked the candidates about illegal immigration. Rather than focus on their own purported solutions to the crisis, they collectively decided to focus their ire on George W. Bush for not solving the problem first.Okay, there is one valid point to be made about Hillary's criticism of Bush—when she complains that he didn't pass "comprehensive immigration reform" (amnesty) what she's complaining about is his failure to get it through the Senate—where she's not only a member, but a member of the majority. That would her failure, for those who consider the defeat of amnesty a failure, rather than a glorious victory.This has become the default refrain for Democrats when they have nothing to say or no real means of moving the ball forward—blame Bush. Among the more fevered elements of their base, it usually works. They blame Bush for everything, so of course they were willing to blame him for a liberal governor's dreadful plan to grant licenses to illegal immigrants, and a presidential aspirant's clumsy refusal to distance herself from such foolishness.[Slouching Towards Disaster The Democrats' immigration time-bomb. by Dean Barnett, 11/16/2007]
But Bush wasn't trying to get the illegals drivers licenses, he was trying to get them citizenship. The whole thing, for them and their heirs forever. And leading the amnesty charge, in the name of votes from imaginary Hispanic Republicans, was the Weekly Standard.
See, especially, Y is for Yahoo | Turning the GOP into an anti-immigration party could dash Republican hopes of becoming a long-term governing party, by William Kristol, April 10, 2006, but also Bordering on a Victory, Barely Illegal, Law and Borders , and Republican Border Wars.
