Dear wankers: In what way is this NOT a lie?

Lately, I've been following the Republican anti-immigration madness down south, and there's one example of GOP dishonesty that is just mind-boggling in its sleaziness, so I'm going to invite anyone from Wankerville to follow along, then try to defend it at the end. Ready? And away we go.

As explained by Justin Rood over at TPM Muckraker (all emphasis below added):

As Josh has mentioned, the GOP is claiming that Democrats have voted to make illegal immigration a felony crime.

All right, so the GOP claim is that it's the Democrats who have voted to make illegal immigration a felony. That's the GOP claim. That's what we're investigating here, just so you know. Rood continues:

Late last year GOP Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) wrote and sponsored a bill that makes illegal immigration a felony. It's currently a civil offense.

OK, so it was actually Republican Sensenbrenner who wrote and sponsored the bill to make illegal immigration a felony. Got that? A Republican bill. Written and sponsored by a Republican. Rood continues:

After he got the bill out of committee, it caused such a hue and cry that Sensenbrenner tried to backpedal, and offered an amendment to soften his language, and make illegal immigration just a misdemeanor crime. (That's still worse than a civil offense.)

So, the Republican bill gets out of committee, at which point the outrage is so overwhelming that even that dumbfuck GOP bigot Sensenbrenner tries to back off, so he offers an amendment to downgrade the offense to a misdemeanor. With me so far? So many people are pissed at Sensenbrenner's bill that even he can't defend it, and he offers an amendment to water it down. Now, here's the important part:

Over 190 Democrats joined 65 Republicans in voting against that amendment because they didn't think it should be criminalized at all.

Note very carefully what just happened here. A pile of Democrats (as well as a number of Republicans) vote against the amendment because they still think the bill sucks. Make sure you understand that: These people voted against the amendment to downgrade the offense, not because they felt that illegal immmigration should be a felony, but because they didn't agree that it should even be a misdemeanor. In short, they thought the whole bill was crap.

Let's pause for a second to make sure you understand the above. Who out there is too dumb to appreciate what happened here? Are we clear, because I don't want to continue unless we're all together on this. OK, so let's continue:

The bill went to the floor with the felony language included; it passed on overwhelming Republican support.

All right, then, so the bill was voted on and it passed in its original Republican form to make illegal immigration a felony, despite the fact that all of those Democrats voted against the amendment because they didn't think it should even be a misdemeanor. (Yes, yes, I'm flogging this, but you'll see why shortly.) Onward, where we finally get to see the spectacular dishonesty of the GOP, as Rood describes:

The RNC wouldn't return my calls, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-TN) office was closed. When I reached a spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), he told me that the GOP claim [that it was the Democrats who voted to make illegal immigration a felony] was based on the committee's vote on the amendment: "It was based on the 191 dems voting on the Sensenbrenner amendment to change it from a felony to a misdemeanor."

Jesus.

Fucking.

Christ.

Do you see what just happened? The official GOP position now is that it's the Democrats who voted to make illegal immigration a felony because they voted against the amendment. What unbelievable gall.

Now, let's be clear what did and didn't happen. If the GOP wants to accuse the Democrats of voting against Sensenbrenner's amendment, well, that would be perfectly accurate, because they did. So there's no quibble at all over a claim of how the Democrats voted. But that's not the issue, is it?

The issue is the claim of why the Democrats voted the way they did, and for the GOP to now portray the Dems as having voted to make illegal immigration a felony is so hopelessly dishonest, it just leaves you gasping.

Rood summarizes the sleaziness nicely:

So while a GOP Chairman came up with the idea of making immigration a felony, introduced a bill to make it a felony, and pushed it through the House on Republican votes, the Democrats' refusal even to make it a misdemeanor means they're the ones who want to make it a felony.

Which brings us to my wanker challenge. If anyone is feeling ambitious, I'd love to hear how this GOP claim is not a lie. And this has nothing to do with how the Dems voted -- we all understand and agree on what the vote was. The issue is how that vote is being portrayed, and I want to hear from anyone who thinks they can explain how the GOP is not lying here.

Go on. Give it your best shot. I need the entertainment.