Romney and Obama on immigration

It seems clear that the Romney campaign is committed to a strategy of pretending he has a moderate stance on immigration, then accusing Obama of not passing immigration reform.

"We now have a Republican nominee who said that the Arizona laws are a model for the country," Obama said, referring to the state's laws that call on police to check the immigration status of people they suspect of being in the country illegally. 

"Very troublesome," he added. Critics of Arizona's approach say it could lead to ethnic profiling and Obama said it allowed people to be stopped "based on an assumption." 

Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Romney, said the former Massachusetts governor was committed to repairing the U.S. immigration system, "respecting those who are waiting patiently to come here legally, and finally ending illegal immigration in a civil and resolute manner." 

She stressed Obama had also promised in 2008 to tackle immigration reform in his first year in office but failed to do so. "President Obama only talks about immigration reform when he's seeking votes," she said.

There's quite a bit wrong here. First, if you deport record numbers of people then you're not in a position to call anyone's policies "troublesome."

Second, Romney has never explained how he respects those waiting to enter the country. In fact, he has rejected the idea of a temporary worker program for low-skilled labor. He also has never mentioned the insane backlog of immigration cases.

Third, Romney has definitely never advocated a "civil" end to illegal immigration. A "resolute" one, maybe, if by that we mean ramped up law enforcement.

Fourth, oh forget it, as there's really no point in going on. From now until November we will hear all sorts of outlandish comments about immigration, many of them unrooted in reality. I just have to get used to it.