Fox News' Megyn Kelly
While many congressional Republicans seem not to know
what they mean when they say "amnesty" in relation to immigration policy, two rather different sources offered succinct explanations of the fuss over it in recent days. According to
President Obama:
I know some of the critics of this action call it amnesty. Well, it’s not. Amnesty is the immigration system we have today—millions of people who live here without paying their taxes or playing by the rules, while politicians use the issue to scare people and whip up votes at election time.
Fox News'
Megyn Kelly kind of agreed:
On the November 19 edition of The Kelly File, Kelly acknowledged that the president is not actually pursuing "amnesty," because "amnesty is citizenship and that's not what [Obama] is talking about." Kelly also explained how conservatives purposely misuse the word "amnesty" for political gain: "That's a hot-button term that the right uses to sort of get people upset."
Kelly, of course, has used amnesty in exactly that way herself, so don't give her too much credit for that little burst of calculated honesty. But it's still a good line to hold in your pocket the next time someone starts talking about amnesty. "Well, actually, Fox News' Megyn Kelly said amnesty is a term the right uses to upset people, but it's not what the president did anyway."