Revealing Interview With Congressman James Sensenbrenner
Reuben Navarrette, Jr., is a newspaper columnist who writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune, and whose column is syndicated in many other newspapers, including the Dallas Morning News. Not every column is printed in the Morning News, however, so maybe that's why I'm just finding his column from August 9, 2006.
This column is a summary of his interview with U.S. Representative James Sensenbrenner, the primary sponsor of the House version of a new immigration bill. While I frequently disagree with the conservative Navarrette, I do agree with his opinions in this column. Please read the entire column. Here are the concluding paragraphs:
"I have tried my darnedest to keep the debate on the issue and not get involved in race-baiting by anybody," he said. "I'm trying to get a responsible immigration bill passed that treats with fairness Hispanics who wish to immigrate into the United States. . . . "
Yet Sensenbrenner thinks it's fair to object to a proposed solution on the grounds that it would allow in too many Latinos, and then insists that he's not appealing to bigotry.
You could have fooled me.
But interestingly, Sensenbrenner may not be all that wedded to his bill. He told us that the way out of the impasse between the House and Senate is "to start with a clean piece of paper and put together a clean bill that is neither the House bill nor the Senate bill . . . and then make sure it passes."
Fine. Then get to it.
