Shamrocks and the “guest worker” sham exposed:

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, at the White House to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, said Friday that he hopes the U.S. Congress will embrace President Bush’s immigration proposal that would affect illegal Irish immigrants in the United States.

“The resolution of this issue would mean enormous amounts to so many Irish men and women,” Ahern said of the 50,000 to 70,000 illegal Irish immigrants in the United States. “I fervently hope that they will, in the not too distant future, be able to step away from the shadows and into the sunshine of this great country.”

In a traditional trek to the White House on St. Patrick’s Day, Ahern gave Bush a bowl of shamrocks, a symbol of warm relations with the U.S.

Ahern said he hoped, at their meeting later in the afternoon, he could talk with Bush about several challenges facing the international community, including poverty, Middle East peace, global warming and air transport and trade liberalization.

Bush also nudged Congress to pass his guest worker program for immigrants.

It walks like amnesty. It talks like amnesty. It is amnesty. And the world can’t wait for Bush and the Democrats to pass it.