Linda Chavez fights back...

Linda Chavez has been one of those conservatives who has favored comprehensive immigration reform. For that, she has taken a lot of abuse. For an example, see the comments to one of her columns about the wife and kids of one of the heroes defending us in the global war on terror. And, like President Bush, she's tired of the abuse, and she returned fire.

The first two paragraphs:

Some people just don't like Mexicans -- or anyone else from south of the border. They think Latinos are freeloaders and welfare cheats who are too lazy to learn English. They think Latinos have too many babies, and that Latino kids will dumb down our schools. They think Latinos are dirty, diseased, indolent and more prone to criminal behavior. They think Latinos are just too different from us ever to become real Americans.

No amount of hard, empirical evidence to the contrary, and no amount of reasoned argument or appeals to decency and fairness, will convince this small group of Americans -- fewer than 10 percent of the general population, at most -- otherwise. Unfortunately, among this group is a fair number of Republican members of Congress, almost all influential conservative talk radio hosts, some cable news anchors -- most prominently, Lou Dobbs -- and a handful of public policy "experts" at organizations such as the Center for Immigration Studies, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA, in addition to fringe groups like the Minuteman Project.

It's dead on target. Which is why there is a lot of howling going on. But the return fire is long, long overdue. I can go back over the past few years, and I can find where people who supported comprehensive immigration reform have been called quislings, traitors, and sellouts. I can find claims that they don't have principles as well.

Well, push someone often enough, and they will start swinging back. It's a lesson that every schoolyard bully learns at some point. Well, people like Michelle Malkin have been dishing it out for a while - and getting away with it. Now, that they have pushed people like President Bush and Linda Chavez hard enough and often enough, they are receiving some of their venom back.

I have no sympathy for them. Regrettably, there will be some broad-brush strokes dished out in this. I'm a little guilty of that, personally. But there comes a point where you just have to make it clear that you will not be pushed around any more. The return fire from Linda Chavez and George W. Bush is, if you ask me, overdue.