Wednesday, April 12, 2006
This Week In Bullshit: Hastert and Frist blame Democrats for allowing the Republicans to pass a bill making illegal immigrants felons.
I wish I was kidding....
Let me get this straight. A Republican Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman, drafts and sponsors a bill that would make it a FELONY to be an undocumented immigrant in the United States. That bill, making it a FELONY to be an undocumented immigrant, PASSES the REPUBLICAN controlled House of Representatives in December.
And somehow in the Fantasy Land of the Republican Blame Game, this is DEMOCRATS fault?
Here's how it goes:
Before the House approved the legislation, Sensenbrenner offered an amendment that would have reduced the infraction from a felony to a misdemeanor. At the time he said he was making the change at the request of the Bush administration to ease court procedures: A felony would require a grand jury indictment, a jury trial and give the defendant the right to a public defender, but a misdemeanor would not.
Democrats, and 65 Republicans voted against this amendment because it would have still made it a criminal offense for violating immigration laws rather than a civil offense as is the current law. Violation of the law leads to deportation, not jail.
Yet somehow, the Republicans are trying to spin this to make it the Democrats fault.
In their statement Tuesday, Hastert and Frist cited the amendment vote, accusing Democrats of opposing the Sensenbrenner amendment because of a "lack of compassion." Remember, the REPUBLICANS voted to PASS this bill even with the Felony Provision still a part of the bill.
"There were 191 House Democrats who voted to oppose House Republican efforts to reduce the crime of unlawful presence in the United States from a felony to a misdemeanor," Hastert and Frist said. "Instead, they voted to make felons out of all those who remain in our country illegally."
Notice the disconnect, “they voted to make felons” because they opposed an amendment that STILL WOULD HAVE MADE BEING UNDOCUMENTED A CRIME. The democrats then voted AGAINST THE BILL while the Republicans VOTED TO PASS THE BILL MAKING IT A FELONY TO REMAIN IN THE COUNTRY WITHOUT DOCUMENTATION. Yet, somehow, in Hastert and Frist Fantasy Land, it’s the Democrats fault that the Republicans passed this bill.
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. If you don’t understand the bullshit grandstanding by Frist and Hastert and the Amazing level of HYPOCRISY they displayed with this statement, you need to get a basic civics lesson. Or at least go watch School House Rock.
Let me get this straight. A Republican Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman, drafts and sponsors a bill that would make it a FELONY to be an undocumented immigrant in the United States. That bill, making it a FELONY to be an undocumented immigrant, PASSES the REPUBLICAN controlled House of Representatives in December.
And somehow in the Fantasy Land of the Republican Blame Game, this is DEMOCRATS fault?
Here's how it goes:
Before the House approved the legislation, Sensenbrenner offered an amendment that would have reduced the infraction from a felony to a misdemeanor. At the time he said he was making the change at the request of the Bush administration to ease court procedures: A felony would require a grand jury indictment, a jury trial and give the defendant the right to a public defender, but a misdemeanor would not.
Democrats, and 65 Republicans voted against this amendment because it would have still made it a criminal offense for violating immigration laws rather than a civil offense as is the current law. Violation of the law leads to deportation, not jail.
Yet somehow, the Republicans are trying to spin this to make it the Democrats fault.
In their statement Tuesday, Hastert and Frist cited the amendment vote, accusing Democrats of opposing the Sensenbrenner amendment because of a "lack of compassion." Remember, the REPUBLICANS voted to PASS this bill even with the Felony Provision still a part of the bill.
"There were 191 House Democrats who voted to oppose House Republican efforts to reduce the crime of unlawful presence in the United States from a felony to a misdemeanor," Hastert and Frist said. "Instead, they voted to make felons out of all those who remain in our country illegally."
Notice the disconnect, “they voted to make felons” because they opposed an amendment that STILL WOULD HAVE MADE BEING UNDOCUMENTED A CRIME. The democrats then voted AGAINST THE BILL while the Republicans VOTED TO PASS THE BILL MAKING IT A FELONY TO REMAIN IN THE COUNTRY WITHOUT DOCUMENTATION. Yet, somehow, in Hastert and Frist Fantasy Land, it’s the Democrats fault that the Republicans passed this bill.
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. If you don’t understand the bullshit grandstanding by Frist and Hastert and the Amazing level of HYPOCRISY they displayed with this statement, you need to get a basic civics lesson. Or at least go watch School House Rock.
# posted by The Punisher @ Wednesday, April 12, 2006 
