Fighting Words

This is why I don't listen to talk radio.

Just feast your eyes on the vitriol, snarkiness, threats, neurotic hyperbole and partisan grandstanding aimed at Sen. Jon Kyl whose only sin was helping craft what we thought was a workable immigration reform bill now DOA.

I have concluded it was simply a bad piece of legislation: too bloated and loaded with unreasonable expectations -- mainly expecting illegals to pay a fine and return to their home countries as a first step to real citizenship.

But come now, does participation in this doomed effort earn Kyl the scarlet T for "traitor?"

Our congressmen aren't there to only serve our whims. They study the problems we face as Americans and craft legislation to solve them, which sometimes means coming to grips with some hard realities -- like finding the immigration problem will not be solved by deportations and walls alone.

Granted, we have under-enforced immigration laws already on the books. But if you expect mass deportations and continuing raids on employers, you're living in the wrong country.

Bashing talk radio serves no productive end, but I'm sure many feel if you're not loud, you're not heard. We go on with our apolitical lives, politely hoping and praying for the wisdom of our leaders to see us through, all the while realizing the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that tunes the dial.

I'm still waiting to hear what kind of sanctions we're going to put on Mexico for failing to stop its bleeding population. El Presidente should writhe with embarrassment over a country people can't stop leaving. However, this is Mexico, infected with corruption and no one person able to cure it. Ask Vicente Fox.

Our lesson from this mess: no more huge, hulking fix-all bills. Deal with each issue individually -- and for all that's right, show some spine. No more of these so-called "test votes" which are actually votes on whether to vote or keep on talking.

Another lesson: if you seek compromise, be prepared for misery. Sen. Kyl ought to have that on a bumper sticker.