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August 19, 2006
Immigration Issue Fracturing the Right
I saw an article a couple weeks ago on how the immigration debate has split conservatives. I knew there were internal conflicts on the right over immigration and I knew it was important, but didn't know quite what to make of it. Tom Barry is writing about it today, and it has reminded me again that this is a most curious thing. Because the thing is, it would appear that the immigration issue is splitting apart coalitions that one might never have thought would split apart. I mean, you have former fellows fiercely at odds all of a sudden.
On the one side are those who call for a hard line on enforcement of immigration law because of the war on terror. They believe that until we enforce existing law we have no business debating other solutions to illegal immigration. On this side are Newt Gingrich, William Bennett, Thomas Sowell, Robert Bork, Daniel Pipes, David Horowitz, Ward Connerly, William F Buckley, Rich Lowry, Phyllis Schlafly, Paul Weyrich, Peter Collier, David Frum, Michael Ledeen, John O’Sullivan, Kathryn Lopez, and Jonah Goldberg, among others.
On the other side are 33 pro-immigration conservatives who believe other solutions must be explored because enforcement isn't enough. These conservatives include Jack Kemp, George Schultz, Grover Norquist, William Kristol, Jeff Bell, Linda Chavez, Steve Forbes, and Max Boot.
Tom Barry thinks this split on the right is a battle over how to best position the party at election time.
In part, it's a battle over contending right-wing ideologies. It's also a high-stakes race to determine which approach to the immigration crisis will win the most votes for Republicans.
Perhaps he's right, but somehow I don't think so. The first group seems to me to be true believers who, though perhaps a bit nutty and extreme, are patriots nonetheless, while the second group seems more to be more the just-plain-evil, snake-oil salesman, secret-society, world-domination types. You know, members of the Council on Foreign Relations, Skull and Bones, or the Project for a New American Century (PNAC).
One exception to this is Frank Gaffney, one of those who has sided with the enforcement-first group, but who also is a PNAC signatory. But I can't help but like the man because he is also the person who revealed Grover Norquist's dangerous ties to Islamic terrorists. Maybe that is why he has sided as he has - Norquist is with the more open borders group. Or maybe it's the true patriot thing that has pushed him to that position.
It is all very curious. I'll be pondering it for quite awhile, I think.
Posted by Becky at August 19, 2006 01:52 PM