Alex Hamilton writes

An example of liberal bias: the New York Times writes that “Some Republicans are ignoring Mr. Rove’s efforts to hold the party together on issues like immigration and Iraq.” [Rove’s Word Is No Longer G.O.P. Gospel]

The Republican Party is, in fact, united something like 4:1 on immigration: united against amnesty for illegal aliens; united for securing the border; united for reducing legal immigration materially.

The people who are splitting the Party, and preventing it from using immigration as an issue to browbeat the Democrats, are Bush and Rove. The sooner we are rid of these two clowns the better.

In Mexico City on Friday, PRD politicians in the legislature raised such a ruckus with whistles and shouting that el Presidente Vicente Fox could not give his farewell State of the Nation address, the first ever executive to be so shut out.

The insult was part of the rancorous national split over the July 2 Presidential vote which was very close, less than one percent; the loser, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador, has refused to accept defeat even after a recent court ruling upholding the election (the final ruling will be given on Sept. 6). The streets of Mexico City have been filled with supporters of Lopez-Obrador, who threatens to set up a shadow government.

The incident deepened an ongoing political crisis in Mexico, where the dispute over the election to replace Fox has brought huge protests and chaos to Mexico City’s downtown. More than any event in the past two months, the congressional takeover seemed to signal that Lopez Obrador could create an effective opposition that would make life miserable for Felipe Calderon, the candidate from Fox’s party who has apparently won the presidency by a narrow margin.

The night’s strange events were also sure to add to the checkered legacy of Fox, who improved the transparency of government but failed to achieve the economic gains that he had hoped for after ending seven decades of one-party rule in Mexico with his victory in 2000.
[Mexican lawmakers block Fox's address, Washington Post 9/1/06]

Interestingly, el Presidente Fox responded by declaring, “Whoever attacks our laws and institutions also attacks our history and Mexico.”

Mexico is a nation of laws? Who knew? It looks more like a nation of anarchy, and it’s coming this way.

Yuri Filippov writes in the Russian News and Information Agency Novosti:

By the most liberal estimates, Russia now has about 15 million immigrants, but its immigration potential is far from exhausted. Ara Abramyan, president of the Union of Russian Armenians, said that in two decades Russia might have ten million Armenians, who would become one of the country’s largest diasporas.

Of course, the mass migration now under way all over Russia gives rise to numerous problems. The country, which for several decades strictly regulated the travel of its own citizens, is not totally ready for this new reality. It is enough to say that no more than 20% of the 15 million immigrants reside in Russia legally.

The US has had a tradition of welcoming immigrants. I somehow expect this practice of illegal immigration is even less popular in Russia than the equivalent policies have been in the United States.

Regarding my September 1blog entry:

1. My photo didn’t come through very clear, [click here for the large version]and it wasn’t captioned. So I should point out that it shows Congressman Tancredo, in appealingly informal attire, talking with a member of the audience a few minutes before the hearing started. He threw on a sports coat for the actual proceedings.

2. A couple of correspondents have objected that the Hamilton newspaper’s article mentioned Eugene McCarthy but should have said Joe McCarthy. That’s what I had tried to imply.

3. In an email to me, VDARE’s Steve Sailer wrote, “[Eugene] McCarthy’s strong showing in the 1968 New Hampshire primary led to LBJ [Lyndon Johnson] deciding to retire rather than run again. That’s a pretty good analogy for the relationship between Tancredo and Bush.” ( The analogy includes the fact that McCarthy did well by running against Johnson on the Viet Nam war, while Tancredo is leading the efforts against Bush’s knavery on immigration.)

I wish Steve’s point had ocurred to me. Of course, Johnson could have run again and Bush can’t, so the political leverage on Bush may be much less.

4. In one-on-one conversation with Tancredo, I told him that Montana State Representative Roger Koopman, a conservative Republican campaigning for re-election in a district near Bozeman, had written me, “What has been encouraging is that many of the people I’m meeting at the doorsteps bring up the immigration issues and are VERY concerned. On the state level, they want Montana to get out in front on this. ”

Tancredo said to me, “I know! It’s everywhere! My inlaws [wife's parents] live in Billings, and people regularly call them up–knowing their connection to me–reporting problems with illegal aliens and asking them to do something!”