A MAN WITH A MEMORY LOOKS AT IMMIGRATION | 2002-03-30
I was around before liberals gave conservatives permission to TALK tough about the INS.
Before September 11, being for immigration enforcement meant you were anti-Mexican, and that meant you were anaziwhowantedtokillsixmillionjews. As always, when liberals use that label, conservatives hit the floor groveling.
Many years ago Pat Buchanan announced on "Crossfire" that American troops had fought World War II to open Europe to third world immigration. Believe me, back then this was a standard and typical conservative statement about immigration.
The Wall Street Journal still demands a constitutional amendment that says, "There will be no borders." Jeff Bell, the 1978 conservative Republican candidate for the United States Senate in New Jersey, told me he was for open borders.
What happened on immigration was what always happens when liberals dictate to conservatives. The moment that liberals announced that conservatives had better not take a position because it was "racist," conservatives rushed to be more liberal on that issue than the liberals were.
President Carter's head of the INS announced that, if it were up to her, she would not enforce a single immigration law. No conservative but me said one single word about that.
I worked for one of the few congressmen who had the guts to criticize illegal immigration, and we had more liberal allies than conservative ones.
When the liberals told them not to say bad things about Jane Fonda, conservatives led the lynch mob against anybody who dared call her a traitor. Now, with John Walker, it's "Hold me back, hold me back!"
Any time you see conservatives yelling "Hold me back!" it's on a subject where they were on their knees groveling a little while before.
What a bunch of trash respectable conservatives are!