I was pleased that during the final New Hampshire debate John Edwards praised the sacrifices his father made to provide for him and his siblings. Edwards explained that his father, Wallace Edwards, had worked hard in a mill for 37 years, and the camera pa

“The crops are all in and the peaches are rotting,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They’re flying ’em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again…

“Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
Our work contract’s out and we have to move on;
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.”–from Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee”

In this Lalo Alcaraz cartoon, presidential hopefuls are taking turns beating up on an immigrant man. Immigration reform is certainly a legitimate issue, but I can do without the relentless immigrant-bashing. Divorced fathers should remember–the same pandering politician who draws applause for beating up on “illegal immigrants” today probably beat up on “deadbeat dads” yesterday, and will do so tomorrow, too.