Tamar Jacoby Quotes (24 Quotes)

What the public wants, and what Congress will focus on, is getting control of our border.

I think it's a shrewd strategy, because Bush is giving them enough leeway to see what the political marketplace can bear to see where Democrats and Republicans from very different perspectives can come together around an answer.

The bishops getting involved reminds people of the whole picture. The church goes beyond the illegality and economic concerns to bring in morality concerns.

It's an exciting time. But it's going to be one hell of a food fight.

The tough-talking swagger of the kind we're hearing from people in Congress who want enforcement only is not a political winner. It won't solve problems, and it won't win votes.

They're screaming out. They're fed up and they've discovered creative ways to go about venting their frustration.

You have the classic standoff between the main street constituency and the business side of the party. In that case, the members tend to go where the voters are.

Is comprehensive reform a slam-dunk in Congress Obviously not. This is a hard battle, but it makes a lot of difference to have the president with us instead of against us.

Their political judgment is that weighing in on the specifics is not the most effective strategy for them.

There's always this sense among Republicans that 'sealing the border' will be a winner. But it never works. There's probably about 15 percent of the Republican base that are adamant about the issue and will vote on it.

When people live as marginalized temporary workers, they act like marginalized temporary workers. When they get residency, they invest in themselves, get educated and learn English.

Bush is saying something that can be hard to explain. He's saying the way to control immigration and rationalize the system isn't to crack down harder but to open up the channels for more immigrants.

How do you solve the problem of illegal immigration without addressing the 11 million already here

In spirit, the whole idea of the reform is for people like David Mendez, who are in essence hard-working Americans with roots in this country, so they can get on the right side of the law.

The president made clear that the most effective thing he could do in the short term is to make the case to the country.

Once upon a time, there was a clear set of choices that people made. Now there are so many choices of how to think, how to define ourselves.

They are watching very carefully what's going on in Congress and I think they are prepared to encourage the right kind of program ... as it comes out of Congress. He understands he's going to have a big role to play in persuading the public that whatever the answer is, it isn't an amnesty.

This is a huge, huge thing he did. He is the person who had the guts to say we had to have a compromise. He gets the credit for the compromise.

When you combine this speech with the raids of last week and the talk in the Senate of adding enforcement money to the supplemental, they're saying you can enforce the border and have a guest worker program at the same time, in tandem.

It turns out some of those devilish details are giving people trouble now. And what looked like such a promising thing last week ... is turning out to be tough work.

This deal makes moral sense. We should treat people who put down roots in a community differently than we treat the recently arrived.

This is like the gun you shoot at the beginning of the race or the bell that you ring at the beginning of a classroom discussion, ... This is the president saying, 'OK, we're going to get serious about this now. Congress is going to work on it. I'm going to put my political capital behind it.'

The debate will be intense and emotional and the senators to watch are the Republican reformers, especially Chairman Specter.

It's going to cost billions and take five to 10 years. But do we want to get a grip on this or not I think we do.