South Carolina PingAdd me to the list. / Remove me from the list.
Posted on 05/20/2007 11:43:44 AM PDT by neverdem
Associated Press
Attendees at S.C. convention vocal over Romney’s, Graham’s stances
The crowd at South Carolina’s Republican convention cheered Saturday when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney criticized a new immigration proposal and booed U.S. Sen Lindsey Graham when he defended it.
The immigration compromise between key senators and the White House was in the forefront at the convention as more than 1,000 delegates and Republican activists gathered. Many in the crowd wore stickers with “Senate amnesty bill” crossed out.
They cheered as presidential candidate Romney told them: “One simple rule: No amnesty.”
During his speech and before his remarks, Romney said a proposed new visa for immigrants amounts to amnesty if it can be renewed indefinitely.
“If that’s not a form of amnesty, I don’t know what is,” Romney said. “I think we should not call it the ‘Z visa,’ we should call it the ‘A visa’ because it’s amnesty and that’s what it stands for.”
And the crowd booed Graham, R-S.C., when he said he had worked with U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., on the immigration legislation.
“It’s the best bill I think we can get to President Bush,” Graham said as some in the crowd shouted “No!”
Graham was cheered earlier in his speech when he talked about the war in Iraq.
“Immigration got booed,” Graham said afterward. “It’s an emotional topic. People are mad.”
Graham and South Carolina’s other U.S. senator, Jim DeMint, are on opposite sides on both immigration and the GOP presidential race. DeMint is supporting Romney and does not like the immigration bill. Graham backs Sen. John McCain.
DeMint told the crowd that supporters were trying to “ram an immigration bill down America’s throat” and said if it allows permanent residency of illegal immigrants, it should be called amnesty.
Graham said opponents like DeMint are being inaccurate when they say the bill provides amnesty because it requires immigrants to serve a probationary period and pay fines.
“If you don’t like President Bush’s proposal come up with one of your own that can get support in the Congress to control immigration — which is in chaos,” Graham said.
Romney didn’t escape criticism at the convention either. Someone dressed in a rhinoceros costume stood outside the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center with a sign saying “RINOs 4 Romney,” accusing the former governor of being a “Republican in name only” because of his changing stances on gun control, gay marriage and abortion.
Jim Gilmore, the former Virginia governor and Republican National Committee chairman, also stumped for the GOP nomination at the convention and singled out immigration. “We just simply cannot in some other disguise or guise have an amnesty program,” Gilmore said.
Former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley was at the convention endorsing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign. Huckabee is “authentic and consistently conservative,” Beasley said.
Former South Carolina Gov. James Edwards has thrown his support to Romney. Current Gov. Mark Sanford hasn’t committed to a candidate.
Romeny is a flip-flopper; but he’s floppin the right way.
Ping
Lindsey has been acting like a Washington insider for some time now. Sounds like he thinks that a really bad immigration bill is better than no bill at all. I think no bill is far better than Fat Ted’s really bad bill.
Saxby Chambliss got booed yesterday here in GA as well.
I think that Goober Graham’s dreams of being Johnny McLame’s VP are headed dans le Toilette! Where they belong, imho.
Enforce the 1986 immigration laws.
Understatement of the year
Yep. I think the country has found a unifying issue.
Goober`s done, hopefully.
I pray Conservatives will sit out the next election and get rid of this pansy.
Duncan Hunter / Joe Lieberman 2008
A dem for a replacement would be worse. We need to make GOP changes in the primaries, not the general election.
People around here are beyond mad,WE ARE LIVID.I’ve already cancelled my Republican party membership,don’t know yet where I’m going to go-but I know I couldn’t stay with that bunch.
How many GOP congressional incumbents were ousted in the primaries in the last election cycle?
This is easy, simply enforce the laws we have now, particularly the laws pertaining to the employers of these illegals. Pass a few simple laws that increase the penalty( jail time and heavy fines plus shutting down businesses )for hiring illegals and the illegals will self deport when they can't get jobs and it will also stop new ones from comming here. A no brainer that our pols can't figure out!
How many times do you cut your nose to spite your face?
What if Graham is replaced by someone like Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi?
Where are the democrats talking about it?
Where are the boos from the left?
When we see the words “Republican convention” and “booing” in the same sentence, I will forever think of Nelson A. Rockefeller being jerred off the stage in liberal San Francisco in the liberal year of 1964.
If you cancel GOP “membership”, won’t you be excluded from the January or February primaries? You might want to still be around then to vote against some of those running.
With a name like “Saxby” it’s hard to see how he got elected. He must just follow the party line, as so many incumbents do. They are “told” to do this so they can be “safely” reelected.
Also, Jeb Bush is very personally friendly with the Clintons, isn’t he? It’s part of the old Prescott Bush Syndrome of “reach out” to the opposition to make them your friends. I don’t know where that worked except maybe Reagan and Schweiker.
Maybe “they” “have something” on Graham, and he is a puppet of those in “authority”.
I made the same observation and comment on the radio the other day. Hitlery must be the happiest girl in the USA.
“Enforce the 1986 immigration laws”
Yeah, how bout that?
What a predictably evasive answer.
Simple question: How many GOP congressional incumbents were ousted in the primaries in the last election cycle?
I don't know. Ask Michael Barone.
Your solution is to let a dem take the seat and hope we can get it back.
In a way, that reminds me of NY. The dems became so pathetic under Cuomo and Dinkins, that finally RINOs Pataki and Giuliani were elected. Now they are replaced with Spitzer and Bloomberg. Be careful what you wish for.
Lindsey Ping 
Lindsey Ping
But you weren't about to let that stop you from lecturing another poster about something you now admit you have ZERO knowledge of.
Your solution is to let a dem take the seat and hope we can get it back.
Nope. But your solution is to turn the GOP into Rat clones.
Enjoy it while you can, Lindsey!
Nope. GOP membership has nothing to do with the way you are registered to vote.
Here in South Carolina, you must declare your party when you register. And you can't vote in any other party's primary. So we have pubs registering as rats and vise versa for the primaries. Sort of illegal, I guess.
Primaries are all about personal ideology, the general election is all about political party.
Where are the boos from the left?
U.S. immigration bill attacked from left and right
So far, Helmet Head Dorgan and Sheets Byrd
"This amnesty plan is no fairy tale -- it is a bad dream," Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia said.
"America's workers have enough downward pressure on their wages because of unfair trade deals and corporate outsourcing of millions of jobs every year," Dorgan said. "The last thing they need now is to have an inflow of millions of more immigrants competing for their jobs at substandard wages."
We’ve still got this good senator.
INHOFE STATEMENT ON COMPROMISE IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION
May 18, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) today made the following statement regarding the upcoming immigration reform debate.
“While I do not yet know all the specifics of this cumbersome, 1000 page bill, initial reports indicate that this legislation will include some form of amnesty, and, as I have long said, I will not support any legislation that allows illegal immigrants to shortcut the current citizenship process.”
I doubt that. I'm a member of the NY State Conservative Party. I'm changing my registration in NY for the first time to vote against the RINOs for Presdent in the 2008 primary.
I just don't see how helping the dem in the general election makes sense.
“We’ve still got this good senator.”
_____________________________________
The Okies have really been shining lately....they’re good role models for the rest of us.
Thanks for the link. Senator McConnell, the minority leader, is also against this shamnesty.
I guess in Washington, making back room deals with America's enemies to craft a putrid bill which will destroy the country is considered "progress".
Goober better stop thinking of how he can get the best deal with Liberal enemies who want to destroy America and start thinking about how he can somehow salvage his career come the next election.
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! TILL YOU RUN OUT OF INK IN YOUR PEN!
Bombard the Democrats as well, especially the ones that ran on an anti immigration plank and the ones in marginal districts who could be vulnerable. keep pounding on them.
In TX, one registers by party for a two-year period only by voting in a primary or runoff election of the party that he chooses. This can be done once every two years.
This may be beyond “Goober’s” own career. He may care nothing about that — if he can remold the USA according to his liking and give GWB the popular liberal legacy he so desperately seeks.
It seems like there was one incumbent defeated — in MI of all places, but that may have been 2004.
Graham says people are mad? Lets see how mad when your up for re election! TURNCOAT GOP TURD!
The affront of this big government elitist to sit there on television and tell us another lie, lie after lie from these people, the same Republicans who had the power and the opportunity to make a difference and instead they all spent like drunken sailors, they gave us big government, and now these same Republicans with the Socialist Democrats want to give us the biggest big government boondoggle in our entire American history called the Bush-Kennedy-McCain amnesty bill.
So, let’s see. These Republicans want to continue the same big government, big spending, boondog slap in the face of their base amnesty bill of the same big government, big spending, boondog slap in the face of their base that lost them their power in 2006, and will destroy the Republican Party in 2008 … right? <> The only Americans who won’t do the work is them. Let me steal a quote from another Freeper: “ What you are seeing is the expansion of the elite oligarchic mentality that predominates in South America.” Tell that oligarch Lindsey the Graham-cracker to get Communist Chinese poisons out of our food chain and out of our pet food, to at least do some work like the rest of us have to do everyday, and while he’s at it someone tell this useless politician Lindsey Graham to come and clean up all of this Mexican gang graffiti that is all over our neighborhood (“XIV”, “Norte” and all of this illegal alien “art”) while he’s at it, since it will be only more worse if that obstinate Bush gets his way.
Is there any issue at all on which Graham has differed from McCain?
This Yankee from NYC will refer you to someone who knows better.
Hope South Carolina votes Goober out when his time for re-election is up!
I suspect that most SC people do not even know Goober’s position on immigration. They don’t read papers, watch TV news, read Internet reports, etc. They are too busy working to pay taxes to support the welfare state.
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