Dr. Krauthammer: Good Intentions Not Enough

Charles Krauthammer isn't impressed with this week's proposals on border security.

He also wonders why liberals are so friendly to illegal immigration, which depresses lower-class wages. I think the answer there is that liberals see the poor and especially illegal immigrants as a potential government-dependent voting bloc.

He concludes: "Serious border enforcement is what's missing in the president's 'comprehensive' program. And that is why so many 'conservatives' are extremely unhappy. Not out of nativism. There are many like me who cannot wait to end the shadow life of the illegals. But doing so while fraudulently promising to close the border is a simple capitulation..."

Ed Morrissey discusses the Krauthammer column and also discusses the sympathy of some liberals for the "reconquista" movement: "Having grown up in the Southwest, I can tell you that the notion that we 'stole' the region from Mexico has plenty of traction, and those inclined to worry about that a century and a half later will not be sympathetic to robust American claims to sovereignty and control over the territory."

Mark Levin warns that we're not accomplishing "comprehensive reform," but "comprehensive surrender."