This entire immigration bill was political insanity, unless Bush was simply doing the bidding of the corporate/Chamber of Commerce wing of the GOP. And even then, it makes very little sense. Is cheap labor so important that risking a major rupture of the GOP is worth it? What will cheap labor gain the corporatists if that leads to the Dems controlling the White House in 2008 as well as continuing to control Congress?
Isn’t it obvious that the Democratic Party also has its corporate/Chamber of Commerce wing?
I was a county party official up until recently. I have been trying to tell the guys at state and national parties that they were walking into a chainsaw on this issue. No one wanted to hear it. They would get this glazed look in their eyes and kind of look over my shoulder at something else as they tolerated the neanderthal (me) because they had to. When I finished my piece, they would immediately change the subject. It happened way more than once.
I would wager that any county official in any state would tell you that they knew the national party was committing suicide with this issue. We work with the grassroots constantly. We know the folks who walk precincts and man phone banks and stuff envelopes by name. And we know what they are passionate about. There has never been any question where the base stands on immigration for anyone who wanted to know.
But noone at the state and national level was listening.