L.A. Times reporters Peter Wallsten and Nicole Gaouette discuss president Bush's new plan to sell immigration "reform" in "Immigration Rising on Bush's To-Do List". The White House is backing a new coalition called "Americans for Border and Economic Security":

The effort is designed to help Bush take control of an increasingly contentious debate that has threatened to split the Republican Party and undermine its outreach to Latino voters...

A guest-worker program is favored by many Latinos and by businesses, many of them major GOP donors that depend on a steady flow of workers from Mexico and other countries. The White House effort is aimed at satisfying these groups while promoting tougher border security enforcement. The latter focus is an attempt to mollify a vocal bloc of cultural conservatives in the GOP - some in the House leadership - who argue that undocumented workers present a security threat and take some jobs that could be filled by Americans.

Some Republican strategists worry that the more extreme voices in this camp are alienating Latino voters with anti-immigrant language, and one goal of the new coalition is to marginalize those voices...

The LAT article is so full of canards and misleading statements both from the reporters and the Bush administration and their supporters that it's difficult to know where to start. Here are some facts:

• California's Prop. 187 passed 59-41 and up until 2 months before the vote was supported by Hispanics 52-42.
• 47% of Arizona Hispanics supported Prop. 200. In votes, the biggest opposition came from the left. In monetary terms, the biggest opposition was from big business.
• The article doesn't give a figure, but just so it's clear: Bush Didn't Win 44% of Hispanic Vote.
• The far-left, Ford Foundation-sponsored race groups are the ones that want open borders, and they aren't going to support Republicans. Bush spoke at LULAC's meeting last year. But, since he spoke via television he didn't see the cool reception he got. Even if he got support from MALDEF, would that be a good thing considering their goals?
• Massive illegal immigration has the greatest negative impact on low-wage legal workers, most of whom are black and Hispanic.
• Tamar Jacoby spoke at CPAC and was almost booed off the stage when she announced that she was there to defend Bush's amnesty plan.
• "Republican congressional members' constituents care more about immigration and border security than any other issue, according to a new congressional insiders poll." ("Immigration worries Republicans")
• What Bush is supporting is much closer to "corporatism" than the traditional Republican ideal.
• Just about every poll shows that around 75% of Americans - Democrats, Independents, and Republicans - oppose illegal immigration and massive immigration.

Obviously, the way to "reach out" to Hispanics who are not in the far left ethnic lobby doesn't involve open borders. And, just above everyone else except the far left and the libertarians oppose open borders.

Further, what if Bush wanted to "reach out" to the "white vote" by encouraging millions of Europeans to come to the U.S.? Most people would view that as not just racist, but un-American as well. There is no difference between that and Bush's supposed outreach.

One wonders why the LAT reporters couldn't have covered some of the above; please send an email to readers.rep *at* latimes.com and suggest they do better.

That said, what is probably the real reason for this new scheme is a bit more basic: money and what those "major GOP donors" want. As pointed out in the article, the coalition will be buying advertising and the like. That will most likely involve smears, strawman arguments, and false choices such as the following from Dick Armey:

"There's two voices right now, and the noisy one is what I call the slam-the-borders crowd... The voice we want to speak with - and the one that will be in unison with President Bush - is the voice that echoes those marvelous words on the Statue of Liberty."

Obviously, there are more than two voices, and very few people want to completely stop immigration. And, I doubt whether Emma Lazarus had the current situation in mind. Keep a very close eye on what they're trying to sell you.