Paul Begala Agreed With George W. Bush. No, Really, He Did.

Imus was thrilled to have his prostate cancer doctor, Dr. Aaron Katz, volunteering at the Imus Ranch this week, he told Paul Begala. “I can get an exam everyday, if I want,” he boasted.

After assuring Imus that Dr. Katz was no doubt enjoying this advantage as well, Begala, a Democratic strategist, explained why a judge in Arizona yesterday blocked some of the more controversial provisions of that state’s recently enacted immigration law.

“You can’t have 50 different states setting immigration policy,” said Begala, who, like Imus, grew up in a border state. “If you look at polling, which I have, what people want is some control and security on the border region. But the folks who are here, they want them to register, pay back taxes, learn English, and kind of get on with their lives.”

Forcing local law enforcement to become experts on immigration paperwork and documentation, as the law had intended to do, would have been an ineffectual diversion of resources, in Begala’s view.

“You were going to send a bunch of cops out inspecting papers of a bunch of people who were not committing crimes, instead of focusing on kidnapping, and armed robbery, and murder, and rape,” said Begala, referring to the violent crime plaguing Arizona cities. 

Actually, Begala happens to think George W. Bush had it right on immigration—

“Wait a minute, what’d you just say?” Imus jumped in. “Is this Paul Begala?”

Bush, said Begala, believed in what he called “amnesty” for illegal immigrants who were already here, though Begala pointed out it was really more like punishment since it involved paying back taxes and learning English.

“It’s probably the right punishment for this civil violation of law,” he added. “But it’s certainly not amnesty.”

Though he advised President Bill Clinton for many years, Begala will not be attending Chelsea Clinton’s wedding this weekend, claiming he was not invited because he’s not a friend of Chelsea’s, he merely worked for her father.

“We know what you did for him,” said Imus, smirking.

Then, because Imus asked, Begala said he does not support the death penalty, but admitted he had felt differently in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. A conversation with Rep. John Lewis changed his mind.

Lewis had once asked Begala if he believed God created humanity, giving us a spark of divinity and a soul different from, say, a chicken or a blade of grass. Begala did believe this, he told Lewis, who replied, “Who are you to extinguish that spark?”

Imus, however, was never similarly enlightened. He believes that the death penalty is a good thing because sometimes the wrong person gets killed. “It sends a message,” he said. “Even if we think you did it, we’re going to kill your ass.”

While it’s decidedly less elegant than Lewis’s words to Begala, it’s not necessarily inaccurate.

-Julie Kanfer