Curious George Apologizes To Fred Thompson: Part 1

posted by Curious George

Dear Fred,

When I read your disingenuous, uncouth, and hypocritical apology to Mike Huckabee, it tugged at my heart strings. It made me feel completely awful about all the negative things I have neglected to say about your lousy and lifeless excuse for a presidential candidacy.

I am sorry that you have a failed record and a duplicitous plan when it comes to immigration:

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that Fred Thompson removed higher fines for businesses which hire illegal aliens .

In 1996, removed higher fines for businesses which hire illegal aliens Sen. Thompson, in committee consideration of S.1664 protected businesses from having to pay higher fines when they are caught hiring illegal aliens. Under the idea that current fines were not enough of a deterrent against businesses cutting their labor costs by hiring illegal aliens, the Senate immigration subcommittee approved higher fines. Various study commissions have found that the willingness of U.S. businesses to hire illegal aliens is the No. 1 incentive for foreign workers to become illegal aliens here. But Sen. Thompson voted with a 10-8 majority in the Judiciary Committee to remove the higher fines from the 1996 legislation against illegal immigration.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that Fred Thompson tried to kill voluntary pilot programs for workplace verification in 1996.

Sen. Thompson voted IN FAVOR of the Abraham Amendment to S.1664. He was part of a coalition of pro-business conservatives and liberal civil libertarians who tried to use the amendment to kill the establishment of voluntary pilot programs in high-immigration states. The programs were intended to assist employers in verifying whether people they had just hired had the legal right to work in this country. Such verification is considered by many experts to be an essential tool for withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The verification system established by S.1664 did not involve an ID card. Rather it provided that when new workers wrote down their Social Security number on an application, employers could phone into a national verification system to help assure that the number was a real number and belonged to the person giving it. In earlier smaller pilot programs, businesses had hailed the verification system for making it easier for them to avoid hiring illegal aliens. Sen. Thompson was unsuccessful in stopping the voluntary verification system.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that in 1996 to you voted to continue chain migration.

Sen. Thompson in 1996 voted against the Simpson Amendment to S.1664. It was a vote in favor of a chain migration system that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million. Sen. Thompson supported provisions that allow immigrants to send for their adult relatives. Then each of those relatives can send for their and their spouse's adult relatives, creating a never-ending and ever-growing chain. The bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. The Simpson Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. But Sen. Thompson helped kill the reform by voting against the amendment. Sen. Thompson's vote helped continue a level of immigration that the Census Bureau projects will result in a doubled U.S. population in the next century.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that you voted to strip legal reforms from 1996 bill.

Sen. Thompson helped defeat legal immigration reform when he voted for Senator Spencer Abraham's amendment to remove the legal immigration reforms from S.1664, the Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act of 1996. This vote effectively killed any chance of Congress considering the Jordon Commission recommendations on easing legal immigration levels.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that you voted for a bill to INCREASE chain migration.

Sen. Thompson voted in 1996 against the Feinstein Amendment to S.1664. The Feinstein Amendment would have reduced annual admission of spouses and minor children of citizens to 480,000 and significantly reduced annual limits other categories of chain migration such as parents of citizens and adult unmarried children of citizens. By voting against the Feinstein Amendment, Sen. Thompson voted in favor of a system of chain migration that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million today. In 1996 the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. The Feinstein Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. The Feinstein Amendment would have had an overall impact of reducing U.S. population growth by about 1.2 million over 10 years, but it was defeated.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that Fred Thompson neither sponsored or cosponsored a single bill that would limit illegal immigration in any way whatsoever.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that Fred Thompson voted for a foreign worker bill with no anti-fraud measures in 2000.

Sen.Thompson voted for S.2045, the Abraham foreign worker bill to nearly triple the number of foreign high-tech workers. On the heels of the release of a GAO report finding no proof of a high-tech worker shortage and evidence of abuse in the H-1B program, Sen. Thompson voted for this foreign worker bill that contained no worker protections or anti-fraud measures.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that Fred Thompson, as Committee member, produced H-1B doubling bill in 1998 Sen. Thompson was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that created the Abraham H-1B doubling bill in 1998, S.1723. He voted with the 12-6 majority to send the bill to the floor of the Senate without safeguards for American workers.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that Fred Thompson nearly doubled H-1B foreign high-tech workers in 1998.

Sen. Thompson helped the Senate pass S.1723 in a 78-20 vote. Enacted into law, it increased by nearly 150,000 the number of foreign workers high-tech American companies could hire over the next three years. Although the foreign workers receive temporary visas for up to six years, most historically have found ways to stay permanently in this country. Sen. Thompson voted for more foreign workers even though U.S. high tech workers over the age of 50 were suffering 17% unemployment and U.S. firms were laying off thousands of workers at the time.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that Fred Thompson voted in committee against including worker safeguards in H-1B bill in 1998:

Sen. Thompson joined 9 of his Senate colleagues to keep employee safeguards from inclusion in S.1723. A Kennedy-Feinstein Amendment would have accomplished two important goals: ensuring no American was laid off or displaced prior to hiring an H1B employee; and, that employers demonstrate they had previously taken timely and effective steps to hire a qualified American. 10 Senators helped defeat this amendment.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that Fred Thompson voted to allow firms to lay off Americans to make room for foreign workers in 1998:

Before the Senate passed the H-1B doubling bill (S.1723), Sen. Thompson had an opportunity to vote for a measure requiring U.S. firms to check a box on a form attesting that they had first sought an American worker for the job. Sen. Thompson voted against that, joining those who said the requirement would give government too much authority over corporations’ right to hire whomever they please from whatever country.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that Fred Thompson voted not once, but twice, to allow firms to lay off Americans to make room for foreign workers in 1998:

Before the Senate passed the H-1B doubling bill(S.1723), Sen. Thompson had an opportunity to vote for a Kennedy amendment that would have prohibited U.S. firms from using temporary foreign workers to replace Americans. Sen. Thompson opposed that protection. The Amendment failed 38-60.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers that Fred Thompson voted to grant amnesty to nearly one million illegal aliens from Nicaragua and Cuba in 1997:

Sen. Thompson voted to grant legal status to Nicaraguans and Cubans who had lived in the United States illegally since 1995, along with their spouses and minor unmarried children. The overall ten year impact of this legislation will be the addition of some 967,000 people to U.S. population. There was no separate vote on the amnesty, as it was included in the DC Appropriations bill. The only opportunity Senators had to vote in favor of or against the amnesty was the Mack Amendment to S.1156.

I am sorry that I have not told my readers often enough just how hypocritical you are, especially on issues related to limiting illegal immigration. I am sorry that you find it necessary nit-pick on your opponents in an attempt to cover for your own indequacies.

I am sorry that I only have a limited amount of space and time to tell my readers just how of a human being you are. I am sorry that familiarity breeds contempt and a few uninformed Arkansans have failed to see your horrible flaws because they are too consumed inspecting Huckabee's foibles.

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