HEADING TO THE SOURCE. It's a rare day when I give George W. Bush credit for political courage, but traveling to my hometown of Irvine, California, and forthrightly saying that "massive deportation of the people here is unrealistic. It's just not going to work," takes some cojones. Orange County is second only to San Diego in its xenophobic sentiment, so it's a meaningful place for Bush to take a stand. Or at least kinda take a stand, because he refused to actually endorse any legislation, lay down any principles (save an opposition to deportation), or explain what he wants a compromise to look like. As the situation stands, Bush is resisting the most xenophobic elements of his party, but refraining from supporting anything more specific than "progress." It's like political courage, only smaller! Orange County, by the way, is responsible for most everything that's gone wrong in this country for the last couple of decades. So much as I love the beaches, and Pacific Coast Highway, and Taco Loco, and Laguna, we were the center of the John Birch movement, we gave you Nixon and Reagan, we funded Barry Goldwater's rise to power, and on, and on. I guess what I'm trying to say here is, "I'm sorry."
--Ezra Klein