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May 12, 2006
A Chance For Action?
Today in The Corner John Podhoretz writes:
This is total arrant speculation, but it strikes me that the president would not be giving a major speech on immigration at this point, given the general meltdown in the GOP polling numbers on the subject, without offering a primary focus on border security. And that means...he's got to switch gears and offer support for the idea of the border fence. If not, the speech is a spectacularly ill-considered political move
Emphasis mine.
As I scanned the newspaper this morning I saw a headline that mention Congress' work on an immigration bill. I didn't read it; instead I just imagined a predictable snippet: "The bill contains provisions for increased border security."
Such watered-down (and that may be too strong a term) gestures will be worse than useless. As Podhoretz notes, correctly I think, in this unmistakable climate of conservative near-rebellion, anything less than very assertive action could be the final nail in Republicans' chances in 2006.
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