Changing the Subject

Tim Craig’s WaPo piece on the GOP legislative leadership’s new immigration proposals makes for very entertaining reading. I absolutely love the set-up on this paragraph:

The college admissions proposal, which comes as party leaders try to shift public attention from controversial abusive-driving fees, is part of a five-point plan presented by Republican legislators, including House Speaker William J. Howell (Stafford) and Senate Majority Leader Walter A. Stosch (Henrico).

It reminds me of a scene from To Be Or Not To Be, where the flustered Col. Erhardt (Charles Durning), caught in a flip-flop by his aid Capt. Schultz (Christopher Lloyd) accuses Schultz of changing the subject…”Shift! Shift! Shift!”

I wonder if Mel Brooks is running political strategy for the GOP these days (Jack Benny being unavailable at press time)

And the article gets even better:

…most four-year colleges prohibit illegal immigrants, advocates and college officials said. “We don’t enroll illegal aliens,” said Jeff Hanna, a spokesman for the University of Virginia. “A student who applies and is accepted must produce documentation.” In 2004, a federal judge in Alexandria upheld the right of U-Va. and six other Virginia colleges and universities to deny admission to illegal immigrants. The suit was brought by illegal immigrants upset that they were being denied entry.

So there’s no real problem here, right? Unless there’s evidence to the contrary:

O’Brien couldn’t present any evidence Wednesday that illegal immigrants are gaining access to Virginia’s colleges.

Maybe his dog ate it. But there really, really has to be some justification for this proposal, right Senator?

GOP leaders offered statistics showing that 36 percent of applicants to a four-year public college in Virginia were rejected last year.

Ah hah! Now we’re getting somewhere!

They couldn’t say how many of those denials occurred because the applicants weren’t academically qualified.

Strike that… we’re back to where we started. Shift! Shift! Shift!

Now all this hard earned ribbing aside, I can appreciate the desire some have to see that taxpayer resources are not spent on people who came to this nation illegally, took no steps to change that status and then ask for state-supported college education.

But I would very strongly suggest that the great political minds behind these proposals make at least the modest attempt of prepping themselves before they hold a press conference.