"Touchback"

Ed Kilgore comments on the latest developments in the immigration bill:

The latest developent in the long, painful saga of the Senate's consideration of immigration legislation is the decision by Republican backers of the bill (presumably with White House support and at least grudging acceptance from some Democrats) to sponsor an amendment expanding the "touchback" requirement for illegal immigrants who want a "guest worker" visa. In the original "grand bargain," illegals would only have to go home to their country of origin when their visa expired, or in order to apply for permanent legal status (i.e., to get on the "path to citizenship"). Under the amendment, they'd have to go home to apply for the guest worker visa.

Not only is this a bad provision, but it's a really inept metaphor. A "touchback" is when you get tackled in your end zone in football. What they seem to have in mind here is something akin to "tagging up" in baseball after a fly ball is caught. In that scenario you have to go back to the base you came from, touch the bag, and then you can run to the next one.

Comments

A touchback is when you down the ball inside your own endzone when you are a returner or defender. If you are on offense and are tackled inside your own endzone, it's a safety.

Posted by Freddie | June 26, 2007 2:29 PM

Let me add though that Matt is right, in the sense that if you are a returner or defender who gains possession in the endzone and is tackled in there-- without having first left the endzone-- then, yes, that's a touchback.

Posted by Freddie | June 26, 2007 2:30 PM

I'd expect a basketball metaphor from Matt. Over and back (cross the border, then go back)? Double dribble (stop what you were doing, then start again)?

Posted by SP | June 26, 2007 2:37 PM

But the closest metaphor is probably clearing the zone in Hockey whereby every offensive player has to get out of the offensive zone before the puck comes enters the zone to avoid an offside. Or are hockey metaphors out of place on a basketball centered politcal site?

Posted by Lon | June 26, 2007 2:39 PM

A touchback is when the ball is downed in the end zone. It's called a safety when you're tackled in the end zone.

Matt, Matt, Matt, stick to basketball.

Posted by santamonicamr | June 26, 2007 2:45 PM

No, no, no...it's like a chula shot in jai alai. It bounces back low off the back wall and is hard to return.

Posted by Njorl | June 26, 2007 2:48 PM

"Touchback" vs. "Safety"

So when do we introduce the concept of giving "impetus" to the ball, as it relates to the immigration bill?

Sheesh!

Posted by Robert Earle | June 26, 2007 2:58 PM

Matt showing off his Washington insiderness by using incorrect sports terms to describe things to make him seem like common folk. Next he'll talk about NASCAR and how only Chevy and Ford race there and so represents the last bastion of the American Auto Industry.

Posted by Rob | June 26, 2007 3:02 PM

I think Matt does understand the difference, he just worded it a little wrong.

Posted by Freddie | June 26, 2007 3:12 PM

I've noticed that it's surprisingly common for football fans to make the mistake Matt makes here--using the term "touchback" incorrectly to refer to a "safety."

I would hazard a guess that this is because touchback is a real football term that sounds like it ought to be the opposite of a touchdown. On a related sidenote, I've never quite understood why there are offensive players known as "tackles." Presumably, this sorry state of affairs came about because most college football players majored in Leisure Management rather than Philosophy.

However, I would agree that "tagging up" is a better analogy than either a "touchback" or a "safety."

Posted by LaFollette Progressive | June 26, 2007 3:25 PM

I'm surprised at LFP's comment that it's a common error for football fans, if only because a safety is a wonderful opportunity to mimic the referee's oh-so-fun signal. (And it's more than a bit of a coup for your defensive unit.)

Posted by Klug | June 26, 2007 3:55 PM

I don't think this was intended as a football metaphor by those who wrote the bill - I think it was an awful new coinage, a hideous sibling to "touch base."

Posted by cg | June 26, 2007 4:53 PM

It's fun to see the Dems not even able to support something that LuisGutierrez *laughed about*, refering to it as a "SymbolicRebooting" and a "gesture" (details at the link).

Never fear Dems: it's just BoobBaitForBubba, and your massive corruption will pay off with millions of new voters.

Posted by Now, for the facts | June 26, 2007 6:30 PM

Maybe it's symbolic for an illegal immigrant from Mexico. What about an Iraqi who overstayed his student visa?

It's either completely pointless, or it completely undermines the legalization provision. If we want to make a point about how bad it is to break the law & force people to spend a lot of money, why don't we just increase the bloody fines?

Posted by Katherine | June 26, 2007 10:27 PM