Ramesh: Yes, the sense I’ve gotten from people on the Hill is that Kyl has indeed concluded that amnesty is inevitable and thus he wants to cut the best deal he can while there’s still time. My point is that he’s mistaken, and the results of such a deal cannot be as he expects — cannot, based on everything we’ve seen over the past two decades. He’s an honorable man and a patriot who’s risking a huge mistake because he’s fallen victim to herd thinking in the Capitol Hill bubble. He is not yet “Amnesty Jon,” but if the Bush-Kennedy amnesty passes because he gave it political cover, he will have earned the moniker; all the toughening measures he got in return will be abandoned, just like in 1986, creating a policy disaster for the country and a political disaster for the party.
And the reason it is in Kyl’s power to kill the deal is precisely because the White House has elevated him to the key player over the past several months, betraying its immigration allies on the left (as they see it) in an attempt to get Kyl on board by proposing deal-killers (for the left) like limiting extended-family immigration and preventing future temporary workers from getting green cards. Kyl’s agreement to a legalization bill would provide cover for timid Republicans to vote for it — and his opposition at this point, especially after all this negotiating with the administration and Kennedy, would provide cover for timid Republicans to vote against it. And, remember, only 41 votes are needed to kill the bill.
As to the nicknames, Jack Kemp wants to legalize the illegal population, and Mike Pence actively promoted a legalization plan, which he has yet to formally repudiate, as far as I know. What else should we call them?