Giuliani Pushes "Virtual" Fence Yet Again

I hope he'll be happy with my "virtual" support, which I assure him is just as good as real support, except without the actual support.

Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani pushed the idea of a "virtual" rather than a real fence along much of the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday, an issue that's controversial in the Rio Grande Valley where many people oppose construction of a physical fence to stop illegal immigration.

The former New York mayor said that while a physical fence is needed in some places, most of the border should be policed with high-tech monitoring. He toured the border Monday along the southernmost tip of Texas with state and local officials.

"And frankly, the virtual fence is more valuable because it alerts you to people approaching the border, it alerts you to people coming over the border," Giuliani said, the Rio Grande in the background.

Giuliani said his approach could end illegal immigration within three years.

Giuliani did not specifically address the idea of a fence in the Rio Grande Valley, the most heavily populated portion of the Texas-Mexico border. Opponents, including most local elected officials, say a physical fence would restrict access to the river and hurt their livelihoods, in some cases creating a no man's land between the river and the fence.

Gov. Rick Perry, who has endorsed Giuliani, opposes construction of a 1,200-mile wall along the U.S-Mexico border. Instead, he supports fencing at strategic points, such as in bigger cities, along with more border patrol agents and high-tech monitoring of the kind Giuliani seeks, spokesman Robert Black said Monday.

The only argument in favor of this is the fact that, as I understand it, ranchers do need free access to the river. If Giuliani is only talking about "virtual" fences in some parts along the Rio Grande -- but with massive human border patrol presence in that long stretch -- I suppose I can understand that.

But it seems to not be what he's talking about. He seems to be trying to satisfy the public's demand for a real fence with a fake one -- actually, not even a fake one; it doesn't even rise to that level -- and trusting that we're too dumb to notice the difference.

Good Giuliani Quote... The sort of thing that makes me want to support him in spite of himself. Anyone who remembers the 2004 Republican National Convention knows he's a hell of communicator:

I get very, very frustrated when I . . . hear certain Americans talk about how difficult the problems we face are, how overwhelming they are, what a dangerous era we live in. I think we've lost perspective. We've always had difficult problems, we've always had great challenges, and we've always lived in danger.

Do we think our parents and our grandparents and our great grandparents didn't live in danger and didn't have difficult problems? Do we think the Second World War was less difficult that our struggle with Islamic terrorism? Do we think that the Great Depression was a less difficult economic struggle for people to face than the struggles we're facing now? Have we entirely lost perspective of the great challenges America has faced in the past and has been able to overcome and overcome brilliantly? I think sometimes we have lost that perspective.

Do you know what leadership is all about? Leadership is all about restoring that perspective that this country is truly an exceptional country that has great things that it is going to accomplish in the future that will be as great and maybe even greater than the ones we've accomplished in the past. If we can't do that, shame on us.

A bit of rhetoric is no match for solid policy positions, but it's still good rhetoric.

Scan down for the left's unending campaign of gay-baiting against Giuliani.

At this point I think I have to apologize to Ann Coulter for getting so fussed when she called John Edwards a "faggot." She was right, and so were her defenders: The left does this shit all the goddamned time and the consolation that "we're better than them" cuts only so much ice.

Via Instapundit.

posted by Ace at 08:34 PM

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