June 7, 2006

Why, Mr. O'Reilly, Are We Talking About This?

Everybody’s talking about American Idol. And Brad and Angelina. And the World Cup. And Katie Couric.

Well, not everybody. Not me. I’m not talking about them because I don’t care. And I don’t care because these things don’t matter. They can get your attention, pique your curiosity and hold your interest for a time. They may be able to hold the interest of much of the nation. But they’re still meaningless.

So I’m not the guy to have around when one of these conversations starts. I will inevitably ask that biting question: “Why are we talking about this?”

You’d like to think that political discussions would be immune from such folly, but a splintering conservative movement, gutless Republican congressional leaders and some wisely restrained Democrats are proving otherwise.

After six years of control in Washington, the Republicans haven’t rewritten the tax code, fixed Social Security or rallied the nation behind a worthy war effort. They haven’t made a dent in poverty. They haven’t gotten federal spending under control. They haven't tapped the oil in Alaska. All of the above should be the foremost subjects of debate in this mid-term election year.

Instead, we are talking about immigration.

Why are we talking about this?

Yes, we have many illegal aliens living in America – just as we did in 2004, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1996, 1994 . . . you may be detecting a pattern here. Yes, the borders are porous, just as they were when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. Yes, illegal aliens are getting welfare checks and drivers’ licenses, and no, they shouldn’t be. Shame on President Bush for not fixing this! Not to mention Presidents Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson . . . (See: "Pattern, You May Be Detecting A").

It is a curious phenomenon indeed that sees a nation completely fixated on an issue of, at best, marginal importance, while issues of real importance are shunted to the side. It takes a powerful force to shove such an issue to the forefront. And as far as I can tell, that powerful force was none other than Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly.

O’Reilly has certain hot-button issues to which he comes back again and again. One is child abuse, and here he does the nation a great service by highlighting outrages, especially those in which brain-dead judges go soft on the perps. I think Bill really believes he is sticking up for “the folks” with his crusades, and when he goes after child abusers, he makes a positive difference.

But about a year or two ago, O’Reilly got his knickers in a twist about border security. Why, I’m not exactly sure. Maybe he was concerned about terrorists sneaking in through Mexico. Maybe he became obsessed with the rule of law. I can’t get inside his head, but it wasn’t long before it was the border/the border/the border . . . night after night after night.

Soon, xenophobic Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado became O’Reilly’s new poster boy for truth and honesty. Tancredo charged over and over that the administration and congressional leaders were afraid to properly police the border, for whatever reason. It made for great TV. There was no charge Tancredo wouldn’t make. O’Reilly ate it up. And as more of O’Reilly’s viewers became exorcised over the issue, Fox’s Sean Hannity began aping O’Reilly on the issue. Hannity’s show follows O’Reilly’s, and Hannity could see what the viewers wanted.

So Hannity & Colmes turned into Sean At The Border. At least four different times, Hannity broadcast live from the border, while Fox’s predominantly conservative viewers became more and more incensed about border security.

As conservative discontent grew, and the rest of the media sensed a disconnect between conservatives and President Bush on the issue, it became a mainstream media issue. Neither Congress nor the administration had seen any reason to tackle the issue until then. But an election was looming, the natives were restless and the GOP Congress couldn’t exactly tout its achievements on tax policy, spending or Social Security.

So immigration ascended, xenophobes took center stage, and Democrats had the good sense to sit back and let Republicans fight each other on the issue.

Why are we talking about this?

Because GOP congressional leaders haven’t accomplished much in their 12 years in the majority, not even in the six in which they’ve had a more-than-willing Republican president. So in the absence of anything else to talk about, Bill O’Reilly pulled the immigration card from the bottom of the deck, and Republicans in Washington took the bait.

Now they may be feeding the fire over which they’ll be roasted.

This is Column # DC36. Request permission to publish here.