Do Democrats really want immigration reform?

There was a chance that before recessing for five weeks the House Democrats could have convinced enough Republicans to join them in voting for a discharge petition that would have forced the House into an up-or-down vote on the comprehensive immigration bill that the Senate passed with a strong bipartisan majority of 68-32 way back on June 27. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, however, has steadfastly refused to send the bill over to the House so that it could be considered there. Why?

Could it be that enthusiasm has waned as opposition from elements in both parties has coalesced? Is the bill being reassessed in light of what may realistically be expected to pass in the House? Then again, maybe the Democrats don’t really want to pass immigration reform now; they only want an issue to run on in the 2014 midterms.

Whatever the reason, it’s probably just as well that this particular bipartisan bill’s passage is stalled, since a study of the details contained in its some 1,200 pages sadly confirms the accuracy of the wicked insight that journalist and sage M. Stanton Evans presented in a 2007 speech: “We have two parties here, and only two. One is the evil party, and the other is the stupid party ... Occasionally the two parties get together to do something that’s both evil and stupid. That’s called bipartisanship.”

Bob Foys

Inverness