Bashing immigrants for political gain

[AlphaCentauri]

Carlsbad (San Diego County) -- AT THE GRASS ROOTS, the immigration debate is rapidly going the way of the abortion debate.

It has become a clash of absolutes with no negotiable middle ground, where each side is sure that its position is the only morally correct one and that the other camp's view has no redeemable features.

Making matters worse, there is the element of racism and other forms of bigotry -- real and imagined. Throughout their history, Americans have never been able to discuss immigration reform in a calm, rational, ethnicity-neutral way. Somehow, it always boils down to who we are trying to keep out -- the Irish, Italians, Germans, Chinese, etc.

And today, the debate is, for the most part, about keeping out Mexicans and other Latin Americans.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/08/17/EDGH2E8BMK1.DTL