Hutchison stuck between principle and politics

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/new...ics-852550.php

Hutchison stuck between principle and politics

On the DREAM Act, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is stuck somewhere between principle and politics. How she got there wasn't so much a slow slide as a hard shove when she challenged GOP darling Rick Perry in the Texas primary.

Supporters of the immigration legislation aren't blind. They get the politics. But you'll pardon them clinging to hope that she'll resurrect the open-minded approach she had three years ago to the merits of the proposal.

The DREAM Act would offer a path to legal status to immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as minors if they attend college or serve in the military for two years. In 2007, Hutchison supported a failed effort to bring the legislation to the Senate floor for debate.

To be clear, Hutchison didn't back the bill as it was presented, and she said as much in brief comments on the Senate floor. But she was willing to talk about changes that would make the measure more palatable to her and her GOP colleagues.

Hutchison's stance at the time was what once was known as a “moderate” position. And it was the position of a leader. She treaded lightly, but she stuck her neck out. These days a moderate Republican may as well be a “pinko Commie.”

There wasn't anything especially radical about her empathy and interest in working toward a bipartisan compromise when she addressed her colleagues on Oct. 24, 2007. Indeed, the bill, since it was first introduced 10 years ago, has enjoyed bipartisan sponsorship.

Her comments, however, do reveal a spirit of cooperation that long since has evaporated — and not just on immigration.

“(The) Senator from Illinois has given me his word,” Hutchison said then. “I have been working on something that I think would take us on the right path.

“This is such an important piece of legislation,” Hutchison continued, “and I do think this is isolated from the entire immigration issue because there ... are young people who have been brought to this country as minors, not of their own doing, who have gone to American high schools, graduated, and who want to go to American colleges.

“They are in a limbo situation,” Hutchison added. “I believe we should deal with this issue. We should do it in a way that helps assimilate these young people with a college education into our country. They have lived here most of their lives. If we sent them home, they wouldn't know what home is. There is a compassionate reason for us to try to work this out.”

Here's what politics does to principles.

In a statement her office released Tuesday, Hutchison said she supported giving temporary student visas to those seeking relief under the bill. The offer is cynical. Student visas, by their nature, require holders to eventually “go home.” The so-called DREAMers want legalized status that will allow them to work and contribute to their adopted country, the only home many have ever known, as Hutchison herself noted to her Senate colleagues.

She's put up other protests, but they ring hollow against the backdrop of her 2007 address. In her words, there is a “compassionate reason” to break through the political logjam.

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What I think is the main-point to draw from the article is highlighted above in BOLD; that is when you call Senator Hutchinson, quote what she said on the senate floor in 2007, word by word, and asked her to approach the issue with same reason and work to find a resolution. Let's be more aggressive on the phones this coming days Dreamers, the opposition is doing the same
Tell the Senator's to have courage and support D.A.

She says that we wouldn't know what home was if we were sent "home", and yet she wants us to get student visas, which would require us to leave the country.

And how would student visas work for those DREAMers who already have a degree or will join the Military? I hope Hutchison can agree to the compromise of the non-immigrant visa for 10 years.

Doubt it!!!!!

I honestly think that if Hillary Clinton had been elected, dream act would have been law now. Stupid ass tea party really killed us.,

:sigh:

The Democrats killed us. The GOP is just doing what they've always done.

Stop playing the blame game with democrats. Obama could have made it the first thing on the Agenda but it would all be up to congress, not him. All he has to do is sign the bloody thing.

Democrats as a whole decided to wait last minute to get this passed, republicans are doing what they said they would do the moment Obama took office and Dems controlled congress.

Obama has been a terrible leader though. The tax cut compromise is a perfect example of that, because it is not a compromise at all but just an act of giving in to the Republicans without getting anything in return.

I agree with the original post, the country would have been much better off if Clinton had been elected. The right has had an allergic reaction to Obama, he is completely ineffective as an administrator, and he is on track to lose in 2012. If DREAM does not pass now, I think our only hope is that a Republican who is moderate on immigration--a la Jeb Bush--gets elected in 2012. It is pretty bad when that becomes the best hope for the nasty rhetoric on the right to subside and allow rational people to take a lead on this issue again.

It is all very depressing, to be sure....

There is no way Obama will lose in 2012, especially to a Bush.

Have your heard of George P. Bush? He's Jeb Bush's son and George W. Bush's nephew.

He's LATINO