Editorial: Republicans smear Harry Reid

Sunday, April 23, 2006 | 7:25 a.m.

Republicans are running an ad on Spanish-language radio stations in cities with large Hispanic populations, including Las Vegas, that claims Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's Democratic "allies" have voted to "treat millions of hard-working immigrants as felons."

Of course, as anyone who has paid attention to the immigration debate in Congress knows, it is the Republican-led House that has wanted to make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant. In contrast, it has been the Democrats and some moderate Republicans who have opposed making illegal immigration a crime. They instead have advocated legislation that would make it possible for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship after several years and meeting a number of requirements.

So what's behind the Republican National Committee's patently false ad? Politics of the worst kind. Republicans in the House are taking a beating for their punitive approach to immigration, and because Republicans everywhere might get tarred by the House's shortsighted tactics to curry favor with the Republican political base, the GOP is trying to confuse voters.

If President Bush and his fellow Republicans, particularly the leaders in Congress, wanted to show some leadership, they would condemn this ad. Otherwise, it would appear that they really aren't serious about passing immigration reform and are more interested in trying to score cheap partisan shots in an election year. How pathetic.