05/27/2006
Ginger Thompson has a story today in The New York Times about Fox thanking Bush for all his help:
A White House spokeswoman, Jeanie Mamo, said, "The two presidents reaffirmed their commitment to work together to secure the border and build economic prosperity in both countries."[Mexican President Thanks Bush for Support on Changes in Immigration ]
I have no idea about what they mean by working "together to secure the border" since both Presidents are opposed to border enforcement.
There’s also this quote.
But they said Mr. Fox achieved his goal of making Mexico’s views heard by the conservative forces opposed to them, without appearing to meddle in American affairs.
That’s without "appearing to meddle in American affairs," not without actual meddling, since
Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center, said he did not believe that those messages had been heard in Congress. But in the meantime, he said, Mr. Fox had succeeded at beginning to build a political base for his cause from the bottom up."What the Mexican government can do effectively is to build support for its cause at the state level," Mr. Selee said. "It’s a longer-term effort, but if you want to change votes in Washington, it’s important to reach their constituents. That’s where the real debate lies."
Of course, as Allan Wall has written, an American, or any foreign politician, doing this in Mexico would cause a firestorm of media and diplomatic reaction. Sam Francis wrote a column in 2003 called "Vicente Fox Should Be Arrested And Thrown Out Of U.S. For Good."
There are a couple of little problems here. The most obvious is that the head of state of a foreign government, which is about to enter negotiations with the United States over the issue of immigration, is actively and openly seeking to apply political pressures within this country to influence both the negotiations and the internal politics of the nation. Back in the Cold War, when foreign nations did this sort of thing, it was called "subversion," and foreign agents who engaged in it were either kicked out or locked up.
That’s still Vdare.com’s position, but it’s fairly rare among American politicians. Some signs of resistance were seen in California, probably hardest hit state in the US. While what the NYT called "Democratic and Latino members" of the California assembly "embraced" Mr. Fox, some Republicans boycotted his speech, while others attended wearing buttons that said "No Más ," showing that they have been learning Spanish:
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, Republican of Orange County, refused to attend Mr. Fox’s speech because, he said in an interview, a foreign leader has no right to come to the United States to lobby openly on a piece of domestic legislation."I do not at all appreciate a foreign head of state telling my nation how to deal with its own sovereignty and the issue of immigration," said Mr. DeVore, an aerospace executive and a lieutenant colonel in the California Army National Guard.[In California, Fox Gets Warm Embrace and a Cold Shoulder By John M. Broder, May 25, 2006, New York Times]
Congratulate Assemblyman/Lieutenant-Colonel Devore, and check out his blog on the Fox visit.
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