Ted Kennedy Memorial Immigration Act, RIP

08/28/2009

Upon hearing of Ted Kennedy’s diagnosis of terminal cancer last, Marcus Epstein blogged on VDARE that the open borders lobby would name the the next amnesty legislation, ”The Ted Kennedy Memorial Immigration Act.”

With healthcare rather than “comprehensive immigration reform” on the agenda right now, but Rush Limbaugh had the same idea when predicting that ”Before it’s all over, it'll be called the Ted Kennedy memorial health care bill."

As you can imagine the left went nuts. Brian Wolff, the executive Director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, called Limbaugh’s comments, "truly outrageous…Leader Limbaugh crossed the line. National Republicans must stand up to their leader, Rush Limbaugh, and tell him that enough is enough.”

One problem. Limbaugh’s right. Democrats took no time to exploit Ted Kennedy’s death for political gain. ABC News recited a laundry list of statements

"You've heard of 'win one for the Gipper'? There is going to be an atmosphere of 'win one for Teddy'" — Ralph G. Neas, the CEO of the liberal National Coalition on Health Care
”Ted Kennedy’s dream of quality health care for all Americans will be made real this year because of his leadership and his inspiration." — Nancy Pelosi
"Ted would want nothing more than for his colleagues to continue his life’s work and to make real his dream of quality health care for all Americans." — Al Gore

Most relevant to the Limbaugh’s statements is this from Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV):

"In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear [Kennedy’s] name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American.”

Republicans would have done the same thing if one their own had died, so I’m not particularly shocked or outraged by this hypocrisy.

I also take no joy in Kennedy’s death. Most of us have friends who have terrible views on immigration; Kennedy just had the power to change them, and we don’t wish them harm. The only difference between them and Kennedy is that he had more power.

That said, if he had to die, this is the best time from a patriotic immigration reform standpoint. Socialist healthcare and amnesty for illegal aliens were Kennedy’s two great causes of the last several years.

Epstein gave two scenarios where Kennedy’s death/illness would be used to promote amnesty,

The first would be an ailing Kennedy pressing to get his long sought after ”immigration reform” before his passing. The other would be if he dies and there’s a call to pass amnesty as a form of memorial to the late Senator, just as there was with his brother and the 1965 Immigration Act.

Scenario one is obviously out of the picture, but so is scenario two. The earliest they will take on immigration reform is the end of the year, long after the tributes stop and the Ted Kennedy Memorial Healthcare Bill is signed or defeated. I don’t know if Obama Kennedycare,will win or lose, but we can be sure that Ted Kennedy’s ghost will not be looming over an immigration disaster as his brother’s was in 1965.

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