Garbly Gook.

The NYT editorial board has strung together a hodgepodge of phrases, shaming and pretty words.

But until they address the American people's genuine concerns -- and there are many -- they are preaching to the choir. (With borrowed words.)

The crisis of young migrants at the Texas border is a test of American values, one of those surprise exams that history now and then throws our way: Here are 57,000 helpless children. We are a nation of 300 million. Do we spit on them, or give them blankets and beds?*

It is a test that many are flunking. In Arizona, no surprise, people are losing their minds. Hearing that migrant children were being sent to the town of Oracle, a county sheriff instigated a protest that ensnared a busload of bewildered YMCA campers. A disbarred former county attorney running for governor has an ad showing a Mexican flag swallowing up a map of Arizona and the slogan “Before It’s Too Late.”

The fever is hot in other states, too: Graffiti denouncing “illeagles” in Maryland. A mayor whipping up a bus blockade in Murrieta, Calif. The call going out on YouTube for militias to get their weapons and boots, and man up to keep the little ones on their side of the river.

In Congress, which gave up on creating an orderly immigration system, Republicans are watching President Obama struggle to get a handle on the problem ...

As the crisis emboldens demagogues in Washington, Mr. Obama has the obligation to act the grown-up ...

This volatile situation demands courage and calm. Mr. Obama has the calm, but does he have the courage? ...

With Republicans in a frenzy, public support for immigrants is being tested. Leadership is needed.

The president, who has sought $3.7 billion from Congress for humanitarian and legal aid to migrant children, has the better argument. He has every right to defend his policies on moral as well as practical grounds, to confront the Tea Party’s fear and loathing with a call to treat traumatized children as refugees and protect them from harm.
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It would be good to see Mr. Obama join other Democrats and Republicans in making the moral and legal case for compassionate action, to lead a backlash against the nativist backlash.

Keep this up -- pretending that we don't listen to the people of America, we lead them to righteousness, nevermind the cost or practicalities; that's for the little people to figure out... Praise the president!

I can't think of a better way to put more and more Republicans in office than to keep preaching such arrogance and to continue ignoring the honest issues in favor of status quo shaming. Enjoy it while you can, I guess.
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* It's good to see the New York Times begin the missionary drive raising private funds to settle these children and families. I understand they've assigned young A.G. Sulzberger to lead the drive, for the good of the country.

The first $5 million in private funds from the family is expected to be matched by staffers forgoing a bit of their weekly paychecks, and some of the top-paid talents forgoing funding their retirement accounts until the crisis at our southern borders have passed.

I remember when our Church sponsored a family of Vietnames "boat people" in the early 8os. They grew with the people of the parish, and we welcomed them the best we could.

It's wonderful to see a private company step up during these times of need, to put just a little patch on a problem that obviously needs bigger government mending. But because we were caught so offguard -- we sadly failed to recognize these needs until the children reached our doorsteps -- as the editorial notes, like a pop quiz, it is good to see who responds...

and who squawks at others to "do something! do something! mira, mira --- needy children!" as if they'd never before encountered such creatures.
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ADDED: The worst thing you could probably do to these children is to give them false hope. The sad truth is... under the law, many of them will be returning to family back in their home countries. Pretending that once they are here, they will be staying is wrong.

Pretending that some great miracle will occur, politically or within the legal system, that will allow all or even a majority of these humans to qualify for refugee status is just not realistic. We can pretend the people will be "led" to such a solution, but they won't.

Why not put the best interests of the children first, and stop playing them as pawns? I'd like to see the well-meaning writers on the editorial board address that.