On Friday morning I wasted an hour listening to the Attorney General to see whether the administration had gained any respect for the majority opinion of Americans about immigration. Alberto Gonzalez spoke at the Commonwealth Club in Santa Clara, California, pitching the Bush plan for “reform.”

The same old same old was evident from the first sentence. The AG was rhapsodic about his “immigrant” grandparents, and how their experience made immigration “close to my heart.”

Of course, the grandparents came from Mexico to America for “freedom.” (There was no churlish interest in MONEY on the part of the Gonzalez familia, certainly not. He characterized them as patriotic Americans before they even were Americans — if they ever were citizens, that is.)

Was there any cliche that he didn’t recite? I don’t think so. The AG is proud to be part of a “nation of immigrants” where “diversity is a strength.” He argued that the President’s forgiveness of national breaking and entering is “not amnesty” because miscreants will be made to “pay their debt to society.” Those “willing workers” will still be matched up with “willing employers.” Furthermore, “Mexico is not an enemy; Mexico is a friend,” he lied.

ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The president appreciates that people are willing to risk everything, everything for the dream of freedom. And he appreciates the vital need to protect Americans from those who will do anything to take our freedoms away.

I believe his reform proposals are an excellent, multifaceted approach to this very delicate, very complicated issue. [Lou Dobbs Tonight transcript 7/21/06]

On more substantive matters, the open-borders brain trust plans a shiny plastic immigrant ID card to “ease employer accountability.” But there was no mention that employers could be required to check all employees in a central database of Social Security numbers, a policy that actually would stop illegal hiring.

A disturbing aspect of the speech was the AG’s use of the future tense to discuss policy. Nearly five years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, border security remains to be implemented at an unspecified time, some day. For example, “steps are underway” to end the embarrassing catch-and-release policy. Underwhelming.

Gonzalez’ snoozeball litany could have been rescued by challenging questions from the audience, which contained some friends of sovereignty. But the person choosing the questions was a dependably corporate lawyer, Mary Cranston, of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, who picked softballs. And despite the immigration topic of the day, she asked six questions on domestic survelliance and the human rights situation at Gitmo.

Fortunately there were several pro-borders voices in attendance who were interviewed by the press, including Rick Oltman of FAIR, Minuteman Al Garza and Assembly candidate Tony Dolz. So the event wasn’t a complete loss.

I was looking through Reader’s Digest on the Internet. (It’s been a while since I’ve been in a doctor’s waiting room, and I missed it.) They have an ad for their line of American made products, a theme we’ve raised a couple of times here at Vdare.com, but I was justlooking for more of the dumb jokes they’re famous for, Humor In Uniform, All In A Day’s Work, et cetera. This one should sound familiar, not only to church-goers, but to Vdare.com readers:

The pastor of my church hates to plead for money. But when the coffers were running low, he had no choice. “There’s good news and there’s bad news,” he told the congregation. “The good news is that we have more than enough money for all the current and future needs of the parish. The bad news is, it’s still in your pockets.”

Have I mentioned recently that you can donate to Vdare.com, to help keep our writers from starving? Oh, yes, I mentieoned it in passing. Now I’m mentioning it again.

Hank Johnson recently force Cynthia McKinney into a runoff election for her congressional seat. Now the thing is Johnson has already done VDARE.COM readers a huge favor. He’s helped cause Ms. McKinney to miss congressional votes. The one redeeming feature of Ms Mckinney’s immigration policy is her moderation on the issue of H-1b/L-1 compared to ultra-radicals like McCain and Kennedy.
So just by keeping Ms. McKinney occupied elsewhere Mr. Johnson has done a substantial service to VDARE.COM readers position.

It isn’t obvious to me from reading his web site what Johnson’s position might be on immigration(I’ve written him and pointed to some of my own articles). Johnson is making increasing jobs for his constituents a centerpiece of his campaign. The simple fact is that US immigration policy is making things harder for African American workers-who often compete in labor markets against recent immigrants. It is unlikely that Mr. Johnson can deliver on his promises unless immigration policy is seriously reformed.

I sincerely hope that Hank Johnson adopts at least a more moderate immigration stand that Ms. Kinney-perhaps one more inspired by that of Barbara Jordon or A Phillip Randolph-and proceeds to win a seat in congress.

It remains to be seen if that will happen-in the meantime, thank you Hank Johnson for what you have done so far.