An Apology in Order

Republicans who supported the recently failed immigration bill owe the millions who opposed the legislation an apology. Opponents of the bill, including many prominent think tanks, made an exceptionally strong case that the legislation would grant illegal immigrants virtual amnesty and that it would have a ruinous effect on the American economy.

Instead of countering their opponents' arguments in a constructive, systematic way, Republicans who fancied the bill subjected their critics to an avalanche of vituperation, vilification, abuse, and buffoonery. President George W. Bush alleged that those who charged that the legislation would grant amnesty were using "empty political rhetoric" to "frighten" the American people. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is apparently prone to conniptions, repeatedly questioned the intelligence of the bill's opponents, and on at least one occasion he called those who criticized the bill "bigots." Georgia Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson also charged, in so many words, that those who questioned the soundness of the legislation were a bunch of clueless dullards. I guess those Ph.D. economists at the American Heritage Foundation who took issue with the bill just do not know what they are talking about.

Politicians who deride critics on a personal level do so because it is the easy way out; if you don't have an easy answer to criticism or if you know your point has been exposed as wrong, dodge the issue and sling mud. It's an old Democratic trick that some Republicans have obviously learned all too well.