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God love Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, who with his colleague Chuck Schumer of New York, is beginning to discuss how comprehensive immigration reform can be achieved in this Congress. Graham sees what many in the GOP prefer to ignore, that given demographic realities, adopting a hostile posture to Latinos on the immigration issue is a long-term loser. The difficulty is that many in the GOP base consider immigration one of their top concerns, and they do not favor comprehensive reform.
I have suggested before that one way to defuse some of the partisan edge on this issue is for the President to send up the exact same bill that President George W. Bush sent to the Hill in 2005. Do not change a comma. It would be hard to attack that bill, drafted by Bush, as an example of partisan, liberal over-reach by Obama, which is the way President Obama's initiatives are usually characterized, or caricatured.
Either way, now is a good time to call your congressional representatives and tell them where you stand on this issue. The USCCB could not be any clearer where the Church stands on this issue. Will Catholics in the pews stand with the bishops or with the neo-Nativists?
