Uno De Mayo

Regarding today's illegal alien boycott designed to show the towering, harrowing, withering economic power possessed by the twelve million moje las partes posterioras who aren't supposed to be here at all - I guess unpicked lettuce will bring the nation to its knees like Osama bin Laden or Mahmoud Ahmedinejad could only dream of - Pat Buchanan denounced it as "a massive act of extortion" that will provoke "a tremendous backlash among the American people." To the degree, of course, that the term "American people" still has any practical meaning.

Congressional immigration crusader Tom Tancredo (R-CO) has dismissed the boycott as a "bust." And Cap'n Ed points us to a WaPo story that shows either that the pro-illegal "activists" should have chosen their allies better, or that they and ANSWER are two peas in the same pod:

Some local activists predicted that thousands of Washington area immigrants would participate in a national economic boycott today, but immigrant groups who have spoken out against the boycott said they fear that the immigration reform movement is being commandeered to promote political causes beyond immigration.

The public tug of war, which continued in the Washington area yesterday on Spanish-language radio, could result in more limited participation in the region than is expected in Dallas and Los Angeles, where the organizers of last month's massive protests have been more unified in support of today's boycott, which asks immigrants to refrain from buying goods and to stay home from work and school. ...

Some local Latino leaders said they worry about being associated with a Los Angeles-based group, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), that has been active in promotion of the boycott. They said they fear that the group's broad-based opposition to Bush Administration policies could hinder attempts to win allies for immigration reform on Capitol Hill.

Paddy Joe is, I think, behind the curve on this one - I think the public backlash against militant reconquista-ism is already well underway. And the latter's co-optation by the extreme Left, with the resultant bellowing indiscretion, obnoxiousness overkill, and all-around characteristic hand-overplaying, just serves as redundant confirmation that amnesty is most definitely not in the public - or should I say national - interest.

Ed makes a very simple observation that ought to have occurred to the pro-amnesty crowd: If they were going to stage this boycott, why not do it this Friday - Cinco de Mayo - than today - May Day, the communist Easter? Is there a Spanish word for "duh"?

Given the blow this deals to the chances of the border erasure crowd getting what it wants out of Congress, perhaps they should search for the Spanish word for, "D-oh!" instead.

UPDATE 5/2: Will Captain Chirps be the catalyst that finally forces the feds to start exercising bona fide border control? Don't bet the chicken coop on it.