Romney on Immigration

On May 17th I was sending messages to Congress about their immigration reform package, and I e-mailed the same information to the Romney campaign at info@mittromney.com

Within five hours I got back this response:
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Thank you for contacting the Romney for President Campaign regarding the recent U.S. Senate agreement on immigration reform. Governor Romney issued the following statement on Thursday, May 17th:

“I strongly oppose today’s bill going through the Senate. It is the wrong approach. Any legislation that allows illegal immigrants to stay in the country indefinitely, as the new ‘Z-Visa’ does, is a form of amnesty. That is unfair to the millions of people who have applied to legally immigrate to the U.S.

“Today’s Senate agreement falls short of the actions needed to both solve our country’s illegal immigration problem and also strengthen our legal immigration system. Border security and a reliable employment verification system must be our first priority.”

Thank you again for contacting the Romney for President Campaign about this important issue. Please feel free to visit www.MittRomney.com for updated information on this and other issues that may be of concern to you. We look forward to hearing from you in the future.
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I haven’t heard back from anyone in Washington in over a week, even McCain.

So, Mitt gets a solid A for responsiveness. Then again, people up for election are usually more responsive than those who are not.

There has been some talk about Mitt waffling on issues, and I certainly can see that. His gaff about being a hunter/gun owner was foolish. And some of his statements in interviews are wild. He needs a stronger handler. He needs to stay on message. Maybe Carville is available. (I can see it now; It’s the war, stupid.)

The only thing I’ve observed about Romney and immigration is that as Governor of Massachusetts he pushed to make the State Police (aka Highway Patrol for you Westerners) immigration agents. It isn’t a bad idea really. Alabama has 60 troopers trained. Illinois troopers make nearly half a million traffic stops a year, but we’re managed by liberals here so I don’t think we’ll see them deputized any time soon.

And Romney fought driving certificates. So, that tells me that when he’s thinking straight and actually being the executive, he has the right idea about immigration.

He gets in trouble in interviews where he is trying too hard to appeal to everyone. He’s softening his stance for the audience. He wants to be liked.

He should heed the advice of Eugene McCarthy: “Remember that the worst accidents occur in or near the middle of the road.”

I have no idea if he can win by being strongly conservative, but I would certainly respect him more if he would hold firm. Despite the mixed messages, I think he’s a better choice than the rest of the pack. Then again, the election is 18 months away. I could be persuaded to vote otherwise.