Translation Please

The Senator from New York is after making a fool of himself again. He's done it before, when speaking to the undocumented Irish. It's grand, Mr. Schumer, that you've a cupal focal, but did your handlers not tell you what the phrase actually means? Not the literal translation, but the rest of it.

In Washington yesterday, a crowd of illegal Irish immigrants rallied for their cause. Like everyone else who comes here and finds out how good life can be, they'd like very much to be able to come and go. At the moment, the undocumented workers are stuck in place, unable to visit or attend funerals back home out of fear that they won't get back in when they return to America. The new immigration reform bill put forth by Ted Kennedy and John McCain is supposed to address the issue, to give the illegals a new status as sort of legal and on the road to legality.

Even though the case of the Irish sounds simple, it's not. They're here to work, and they are working. They buy homes, start up businesses, raise families. If not for the 1986 amnesty program, I'd be laying claim to an illegal alien in my family, so I'd say that I'm familiar with the overall problem. On the other hand, I work with men who have jumped through hoops and spent countless thousands of dollars to normalize their status. They've counted the years until they could bring their families to this land of opportunity, and they resent the attitudes of the illegal aliens who feel that they are entitled to special privileges. There's more than one side to the issue, but in general, those who are closer to the immigrant experience tend to favor some kind of normalization process. Not that it should be an easy ride, but when your own father came over on a boat with nothing in his pockets, you tend to view the world from a different angle.

As for the charming New York politician, he's doing what all politicians do, making like he's one of the group he's speaking to. If they were Hispanic, he'd be shouting out slogans in Spanish. But it's the Irish he's addressing, so it's 'Tiochfaidh Ar La" to the sons and daughters of the Emerald Isle.

Senator Schumer, if no one's told you yet, you could get a T-shirt with that very slogan printed on it. It's available here. Or are you a closet Republican (of the Irish variety, of course)?