Lindsey Graham is probably one of the most loathsome men in the Senate. (Of course he has been recently hailed as a “New Maverick”) Anyway, Graham is making news today with his suddenly harsh ideas about illegal immigrants. From the Politico:
“I may introduce a constitutional amendment that changes the rules if you have a child here,” Graham said during an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren. “Birthright citizenship I think is a mistake … We should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen.”
Asked how intent Graham is on introducing the amendment, the South Carolina Republican responded: “I got to.”
“People come here to have babies,” he said. “They come here to drop a child. It’s called “drop and leave.” To have a child in America, they cross the border, they go to the emergency room, have a child, and that child’s automatically an American citizen. That shouldn’t be the case. That attracts people here for all the wrong reasons.”
Graham has come a long way in three years ago when he was one of the most vocal supporters of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Back then he was winning awards from La Raza and grandly speechifying that “We’re going to tell the bigots to shut-up”. Now he is worrying about “baby dropping.”
Of course announcing your intention to draw up a high octane constitutional amendment is akin to announcing that you think voters are morons who enjoy passion-stirring gestures that effect nothing in real life. In this assumption, Graham is probably accurate. And of course it reveals the deep consistency between Graham’s 2007 and 2010 positions – Graham is a demagogue. But he talks slowly in his affected “aw-shucks your greens are the finest” patois, so he passes as a Maverick.