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08 Jun 2007 11:00 am

Mickey Explains

His explanation of the collapse of the immigration bill:

Maybe it's about not being able to take the worst ideas from the left (instant legalization of illegals) and the right (second class guest workers), put them together, call it centrism, bask in fawning MSM coverage and ram it down the throat of voters who don't want it!

Maybe it is. And maybe it's all about the collapse of the Republican coalition. My feeling is that this kind of bill requires a president to corral it through the Congress, a president who is able to persuade his own supporters and explain to the public why this kind of compromise is the best available. We don't have such a president right now. He is despised by the entire middle and left, and he has alienated the base of the right. As a lukewarm supporter of the bill - I can't see any other feasible rubric to deal with border security and the 12 million people who are already here, won't leave, and have jobs to do - I was nonetheless never persuaded that this bill was essential. The president's arrogant condescension toward his critics didn't help. And the passion was almost all on the extremes.

So no tears. In general, I'm happy to see laws not being passed. I'm not convinced that this bill or any bill would dramatically increase national security, and so fail to see the urgency. If this means that we can concentrate on border enforcement in the near future, so be it. Politically, I tend to think this will hurt the GOP badly in the long term. The reason is not the cogency of many of the arguments; it's the patent cultural and social panic that animates the Republican gut. This fear of the other and need to demonize and objectify it is obviously the emotional core of the opposition. You can see it in their faces. If these immigrants were Poles or Italians or Irish, I can't see the Mickey-Dobbs-Limbaugh coalition getting so upset. I say that not from the basis of their arguments (which are largely respectable) but from the hysterical tone of their remarks. I guess as a gay man, I have come to recognize that tone. More and more members of minorities hear it coming from the GOP. It will come back to haunt them.

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