Bush signs border fence bill...

President Bush signed a border fence bill yesterday. It's disappointing for me - largely for the same rationale that Big Lizards has laid out for opposing a border-fence-only bill. The President still wants to get reforms, but he is running out of time.

Because what will happen in 2007 is that the President will push for other critical components:

We must reduce pressure on our border by creating a temporary worker plan. Willing workers ought to be matched with willing employers to do jobs Americans are not doing for a temporary -- on a temporary basis.

We must face the reality that millions of illegal immigrants are already here. They should not be given an automatic path to citizenship; that is amnesty. I oppose amnesty. There is a rational middle ground between granting an automatic pass to citizenship for every illegal immigrant and a program of mass deportation.

But then, Tom Tancredo, Michelle Malkin, and others will immediately begin to claim that what he wants is an amnesty - never mind what the President has actually proposed, or the penalties that would have to be paid. They will falsely claim there is no middle ground, they will insist upon the "rule of law" (albeit on a selective basis as opposed to general principle). And they will probably succeed again - after having done so in the past.

If it weren't for how bad the Democrats are, I'd want to stay home.