I see Mark Krikorian, the National Review Beard on Immigration, has been allowed to write an effective piece on Rick Perry’s rotten record on the issue: Perry: Pay No Attention to That Amnesty Supporter Behind the Curtain! NRO August 29, 2011.
"Rick Perry’s letter earlier this month to DHS Secretary Napolitano demanding $349 million in compensation for having to house illegal-alien criminals is, I’m afraid, a political stunt — basically, shooting a coyote to distract attention from his bad immigration track record. And there’s a lot to distract attention from…"
Krikorian lists (and documents via hyperlinks) Perry’s support for Amnesty, approval of illegal alien in-state tuition subsidies, opposition to E-Verify even in hiring for state agencies (very correct emphasis by MK) and to fencing the border.
All of this was discussed here earlier this month by Washington Watcher in Rick Perry—Another Texas Governor for Amnesty and celebrated in the Washington Post by Open-Borders fanatic Jennifer Rubin. Personally, I think Krikorian too generous in giving Perry some credit for allegedly supporting action in Texas against sanctuary cities – the overwhelmingly Republican Texas legislature failed to do anything on the subject this session – an utter condemnation of Perry’s commitment and leadership on the issue.
Then Krikorian…just peters out. Not even mentioning Ron Paul, he dodges on Bachman:
"Bachmann is much better on immigration, but since she’s not going to be the nominee (spare me the e-mails), it looks like it’s going to be Perry vs. Romney for the coming year…"
Feebly concluding that
"…neither Perry nor Romney seem to have strong views on immigration, their positions apparently driven by a desire to curry favor with big campaign contributors or the Mexican government. This is in contrast to Bush, who actually believed all his immigration baloney, and that contrast is a good thing, because a craven pol with his finger in the wind is much easier to sway with political pressure than a true-believer."
Of course on the evidence Perry is at least as bad as GW Bush seemed in 2000. (Romney, maybe not.) What a pathetic decline from a magazine heavily involved in the Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan insurgencies!
The message the NR management is using Krikorian to send: we’ll run Immigration entertainment for you Rubes from time to time, but we belong to the Republican Establishment and they want to keep the issue out of politics!.
