Childish, but still not a laughing matter.

We've reached absurd levels of ideological incest. Now the House immigration hearings, held in San Diego, are presenting a seemingly harmless, inconspicuous connection between illegal immigration and terrorism. So they pick Ed Royce, chairman of the House subcommitee on Internal Terrorism and Non-Proliferation, to lead the meeting at a border patrol station. He then

...framed the hearing with a warning that the United States was "losing ground" on securing the borders against terrorists. One of the main speakers, Darryl Griffen, the San Diego Border Patrol chief, said his agents continued to be swamped by illegal immigrants.

Ok, so now we're not only going to make it a crime to be in the US illegally and NOT consider a guest-worker program, but we're going to use terrorism to sway public opinion further against a completely unrelated segment of the population by making a subliminal connection? The republican family has birthed these two babies, but when they make two of their favorite kids get together, we know the offspring can't really be expected to be healthy.

• 
  

Oh, and then there's the playground-like spread of gossip about Bush's support. The House is all, he's totally on our team now, but then the Senate is all, no, he's totally on ours. Then the White House is all, he's always been on the Senate's side, suckers. From the same report:

"I'm also realistic to tell you that we're not going to be able to deport people who have been here, working hard and raising their families," Mr. Bush said.

White House officials said Mr. Bush was not stepping back from a compromise he has floated in recent days, in which border security measures would be put in place as much as two years before guest worker and immigrant legalization programs. But the president restated that he did not want the security measures in a separate bill, as House Republicans insist.

"What this White House has been clear about is you don't do borders only," said Tony Snow, the White House spokesman.

Senators said Mr. Bush was moving toward their position, but House Republicans said he was moving toward theirs.

• 
  

Aaaand, from a Times editorial today, here is the problem outlined more eloquently and with far more wit.

Bad News on the Border

Something bad happened to the nation's debate over a serious reform of its immigration laws.

It got hijacked yesterday by "Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism" — the first of many hearings that House Republican leaders plan to hold around the country this summer, ostensibly to solicit public opinion about immigration reform. The hearings are an effort to delay action on legislation until after the November elections, and to drum up opposition to the Senate's immigration bill, which focuses not only on border security but also on a path to citizenship for qualified illegal immigrants.

...The title gave the plot away. The hearing was useful only if the problem of illegal immigration consists mainly of narco-traffickers who decapitate police officers in Tijuana and send drugs in 18-wheelers across the border at Laredo, or Islamic fundamentalists who sneak into the United States disguised as Mexicans. "It's probably already happened," said Sheriff Rick Flores of Webb County, Texas, one of several witnesses who obliged the Republicans by depicting life on the southern border as something out of a "Mad Max" movie.