"You Can Fool Some of the People..."

By W.D. Reasoner on December 29, 2011

Every once in a while, some little newsy tidbit comes along that warms the cockles of even my cynical heart.

In this case, it's a realization that perhaps Honest Abe Lincoln (or P.T. Barnum, or whoever actually uttered the words) was right when he said that "you can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

What is it specifically that has gladdened my holiday season with this reflection? It's a Rasmussen poll reported this month that says: "60% Think Federal Government Encourages Illegal Immigration: Voters continue to believe strongly that the federal government's actions are encouraging illegal immigration even as the Obama administration announces bias charges against a popular Arizona sheriff for his anti-immigration efforts."

Well, who could have guessed? Despite months and months of sound-and-fury from this administration about how tough they are in enforcing the nation's immigration laws – and notwithstanding a consistent background noise of whining from open-borders advocates and special interest groups expressing disappointment in the administration's inability to advance its broad-based amnesty agenda – it appears that John Q. Public and his lovely wife Jane have not been fooled by all the machinations and hoopla.

Let's hope that the spinmeisters at the White House and the departments of Homeland Security and Justice are paying attention.

Better yet, let's hope that the presidential candidates are also paying attention, because the key noun in the Rasmussen announcement is the word "voters". Hello?? Is anybody listening?