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Compassionate Conservatism, Defined

Chris SuellentropPosted Monday, Jan. 8, 2001, at 5:25 PM ET

George W. Bush ran for president for more than a year as a "compassionate conservative," and Chatterbox never figured out what Bush meant. But now, thanks to Linda Chavez, we've witnessed the first real-life test of what compassionate conservatism means to the president-elect.

Compassionate conservatism: It's compassionate to take in illegal immigrants. It's conservative not to pay them.

E-mail Timothy Noah at .

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