The Government Against the Minutemen?

What's wrong with this picture?

No, there isn't really a picture. It's just a phrase. A damn fine phrase, we would add, on a day in which there are so many weird, out-of-sync news bits dominating.

The yippin' and yappin' continues over the charge by certain Border Patrol people that the U.S. government, chiefly through the Department of Homeland Security and, possibly, elements of the limp-wristed state department, are tipping off Mexican authorities on areas where the volunteer Minutemen are on patrol.

And apparently there's a lot of fire to go with that smoke, according to Andrew McCarthy over at National Review. He has a nice overview of the flap and points out, as have others, that this new immigration news may be singularly responsible for President Bush's dismally low poll approval ratings. A couple of big points:

The Minutemen have been maligned by pro-illegal-alien lobbyists, swaths of the mainstream media, and—infuriatingly—President Bush himself as a “vigilante” group. In fact, they are a vigilance group.

Hear, hear! In fact, let's hear more about the Minutemen.

The project is a lawful association of citizens, multi-ethnic and multi-racial in background, who assiduously monitor the way government performs one of its most basic enforcement missions. That is to say, it does pretty much what CAIR and the ACLU do—except its efforts inure to the benefit of American national security rather than death-row inmates, terrorists, privacy extremists and self-styled dissidents … and thus it is frowned on by our high-minded clerisy.

The Minutemen are doing what the government refuses to do: closely watching the southern border and very publicly reporting to the under-resourced Border Patrol the tide of illegals pouring across. This sometimes shames our reluctant government into enforcing the immigration laws.

Obviously, the feds don’t like to be shamed.

Ya think? Read the rest yourself.

Not that we ever get "polled" but we can't see ourselves as having too many nice things to say right now about anyone in Washington, D.C., or in Oklahoma City, regardless of party.

That doesn't necessarily translate into a big liberal win at the polls next November, although it might serve some people right if the country were handed over to the Dems for a good mishandling for a couple of years. We'll probably hold our nose and vote for the lesser of evils, but if a new party espousing strong borders, fiscal responsibility (as in control spending and resist the impulse to hike taxes), and traditional moral values should come into existence, then we'd say a plague on both Repubs and Democrats.

Looks like Mr. Derbyshire already said the same thing, better:

This thing about our govt. colluding with Narcistan — sorry, I mean Mexico — to keep the flow of illegal immigrants coming, is the last straw. Either our govt. is criminally incompetent, or else it is maliciously hostile to ordinary American citizens. Or both.
...

I can't think of a single thing to say in favor of the national Republican party, its senators, representatives, governors, and administration. I can't think of a single reason why, right now, I should vote for any of them.

Of course, his colleagues over at The Corner are pointing out there isn't much in favor to speak of Democrats either.

Will someone please market some common sense pills, and quickly.