Posted on 06/18/2007 11:13:55 AM PDT by hardback
Last week Senator Elizabeth Dole successfully helped scuttle the so called grand bargain immigration reform bill that would have given amnesty to over 12 to 20 million million illegal immigrants -- while doing virtually nothing to secure our borders.
Backed by President Bush, who is looking to enhance his legacy, Ted Kennedy and Senator John Kyl -- this bill was accurately described as a mess.
The last straw for consevatives was when Bush attacked his own conservative base for a lack of patriotism. If you don't want to do what's right for America," he said of opponents of the Bush-Kennedy immigration bill, "if you want to scare the American people, what you say is the bill's an amnesty bill. That's empty political rhetoric, trying to frighten our citizens."
But if the 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens are instantly legalized, what other phrase describes that other than amnesty?
The Heritage Foundation made the following points: Congress should set aside this "grand bargain" and begin a new the serious work of crafting sensible immigration reforms that will:
- enhance rather than compromise national security, - affirm rather than undermine rule of law, - facilitate economic growth in a fiscally responsible fashion, - create a temporary worker program that is balanced, market driven and enforceable, and - Enrich the fabric of our culture while truly uniting us as a people.
Senator Dole understood, as did many conservatives out side of Washington DC, that none of the above would be accomplished by passing the so called grand bargain.
In an interview with the Raleigh News and Observer, Dole said, "My view overall on all this is: What people want, and what we've heard from thousands of people, is they don't have any confidence right now with regard to securing the borders."
Dole continued stating, "The rush shouldn't be to legalize 12 million people; the rush should be to do everything in our power to show the borders have been secured," she said. "Rush to do that. Rush to secure communities."
The Senator was right on target.
Dole first tried to make improvements to the bill, but after essentially being road blocked Mrs. Dole changed tactics: Basically the bill comes down, she said.
Dole was pressured by the GOP leadership and the backers of the immigration reform measure not to make a move, but she changed her vote anyway. This was act of political courage that North Carolinians have not witnessed since former Senator Helms stood firm against the Panama Canal Treaty.
Conservatives must realize that that President Bush and the leadership of the Democratic party view last weeks defeat as a temporary set back and in fact will make one more try at passing this flawed bill.
For those of us in the conservative movement, the rejection of the immigration bill opens a chance for real reform reform that respects the will of many of us, and also protects the economic and national security of the American people.
Conservatives should insist that in order to fix this broken system, several things must be accomplished:
First and formeost, we must stop new illegal immigrants from entering the country by funding and building the 700 miles of wall autorized by Congress and signed into law last year by President Bush.
Second, entice existing illegals to return home by eliminating welfare payments and other sevices to illegals. Illegal immigrants come to the U.S. to work. If we make it more difficult for them to find work, substantially fewer of them will come, and many of those already here will return home. It also shows the respect richly deserved to all imigrants who follow the rule of law and come here legally. In doing so they show us they want to be a part of the American work force and will gladly obey our countrys laws and live by the rules which govern us all.
Also, we should make it less attactive to all employers to hire illegals by fining them for doing so. Illegal immigration is not some sort of uncontrollable force of nature. It can and should be regulated. My great grandparents came thru Ellis Island -- legally. They learned to speak English, learned American history and became produtive citizens. The rule of law and the our borders must be respected by those who would come here. Period.
By opposing the Bush/ Kennedy Amnesty bill, Elizabeth Dole is signaling a way for a new approach: Enforcement first, amnesty last, and open arms for hard working legal immigrants.
I’m going to have to do some more trolling and say:
Good for her. I can now almost forgive her for doing such a terrible job with the Republican Senatorial Campaign Commitee. Schumer wiped the floor with her.
Just say NO to Illegal Alien Amnesty!! Keep calling!! It’s NOT OVER!!
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Good for her. I can now almost forgive her for doing such a terrible job with the Republican Senatorial Campaign Commitee. Schumer wiped the floor with her.
Sorry but I am not that forgiving. She is going to have to do a hell of a lot more than that before I think she is reelectable or worthy of the term “convervative”.
Not entirely true. I thought so also, but friends told me that Rove made saving Chafee a big priority, and Rove thought both Allen and Talent would pull out victories, and so funds were diverted from those two races to the Chafee race. Big mistake, but not entirely Dole's fault.
Lets see what she does with the next one...
Elizabeth “the Silent” Dole also kept her mouth shut during the biggest civil rights case in decades (in Durham, involving a DA’s flagrant violation of the laws, death threats to defendants inside a courtroom by uniformed members of a racist organization, the beating of minority citizens by drunken white cops, etc.)
All of that in her home state, and she never uttered a peep.
Maybe she didn’t think it was important. . .
Thank you,
A North Carolinian (I hesitate to say fellow NCer as you didn't realize this was your home state until you decided to run for office. BTW, you do know where NC is in on the map don't you?)
That’s all well and good, but a huge part of her job was as an advocate for us going into the home stretch in places like MEET THE PRESS, and she just couldn’t make the case. Rove is a disaster though.
Illegal immigration is not a legislative problem! It's an executive (enforcement) problem.
Illegals are here in ever growing numbers, not because the law hasn't caught up to the problem, but because the executive branch simply couldn't care less. In fact, the executive would apparently love to see illegal immigration accelerate.
Because it's an enforcement problem, additional legislation won't do a single thing to affect it. Just as more gun laws don't stop guns, more immigration laws won't stop illegal immigration.
Enforcement of the law makes the law effective. More laws won't solve the problem.
Govt largesse, Mexican Lover,Horrible execution of war after saddam was overthrown...I could go on.
What a legacy!
I agree with your post completely .
Thanks!
BTTT
I am now convinced she was undermined at the NRSC. Look what I found from 2004 and I imagine the threats were worse in 2006 — believe he has been levying threats for 2008 from several sources. I didn’t know this went back to 2004:
Quote from 2004:
Sources say that in recent weeks, word has gone out from Karl Rove’s office that Republican congressional candidates who fail to “stay away” from the issue of illegal immigration risk losing the financial support of their national party. While this is not surprising (when the Wall Street Journal called for contributions recently to the campaign of Chris Cannon, whose support for amnesties forced him into a bruising primary, former Enron lobbyist and Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie responded with a personal donation of $500.00), it’s difficult to see the wisdom in preventing Republican candidates from speaking about an issue that polls consistently show the vast majority of Americans of both parties care so deeply about.
While the White House works to suppress the issue of illegal immigration at the convention, there is talk in as many as a dozen state GOP parties about adopting state party “no amnesty” planks. That nearly a quarter of the country’s GOP hierarchy would consider what amounts to open rebellion against the unpopular Gillespie and the Wall Street Journal extremists demonstrates the fissure that is widening between rank and file Republicans and the corporate globalists who wield such influence within the party.
http://www.kfi640.com/immigration.html
Thanks Liz. Good for you.
Wow. That’s just upsetting.
Wow. That’s just upsetting.
ILLEGAL ALIEN OPERA SONG ON YOUTUBE - http://youtube.com/watch?v=c88D-SPx6gI
I called her office and thanked her.
Can't hold her responsible for the GOP leadership shooting itself in the foot ( federal spending, corruption, size of gov't, and failure to pursue the conservative agenda). The problems were far much deeper than anything a campaign committee can affect. And they're even worse now because the GOP has learned absolutely nothing from the defeat.
This is a throw-away vote to please her constituents. She’s up for re-election in ‘08. I’ll bet my seatbelt she switches her vote when this comes up again and says she was “compelled” or some sutch blather.
I thought so too and this was back in 2004. Might explain Dole’s email where she said people would be coming after her. I read that three times and then thought back to when we started losing seats. In OK, Dr. Coburn in 2004 was not the candidate of Rove/WH or the establishment and the lack of help from DC was telling when he won the primary.
Oklahomans rolled up their sleeves to donate and to work his campaign. I lost track of the number of calls I made for Dr. Tom. It was day in and day out but he won going away. I hope he continues to be a thorn in the side of this Administration along with Sen Inhofe.
You haven’t read her email then — she is standing right along Inhofe and Sessions.
Honestly, PKM, I’m at the “I’m from Missouri” position with all of ‘em.
Her email Saturday night was something Jim Inhofe would have written. I posted it on several threads. After reading what Rove has been doing to anyone standing tall on immigration since 2004, I am furious.
The so called magnificent Mr. Rove! Disgusting. I always felt that good Republican candidates who were concerned about immigration were getting the shaft.
The GOP leadership is being foolish beyond measure. Why in the world is the leadership actually working against its base of supporters? That's grossly irresponsible.
It's one thing for individual members of the GOP to advocate for or against any individual legislation, but for the GOP leadership to officially work against its own base is political folly.
Here is her email:
Dear friend,
When it comes to amnesty for illegal aliens, I’ve never paused, hesitated or stammered – I say I’m flat out opposed to it!
I opposed amnesty when I ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002. I fought to defeat the amnesty bill that passed the Senate in 2006. I fought tooth and nail to take down the amnesty bill that ultimately failed on Thursday.
In fact, I cast the deciding procedural vote Wednesday night that ultimately broke up the coalition of Senators who were trying to ram this bill through the Senate. (click to read article).
The immigration problem indeed raises many tough questions – and I am certain that the bill Harry Reid was finally forced to pull off the Senate floor Thursday night is NOT the answer.
This legislation put the cart ahead of the horse. It rushed to legalize millions of illegal aliens – that is NOT the urgent matter at hand. We must deal with the real crisis and first focus on securing our borders and enforcing our laws. We are a nation of laws – it’s time we act like it!
Up to a million illegal aliens cross the porous southern border each year.
No immigration reform legislation will succeed – not even good reform (which the Kennedy bill was NOT) – unless our borders are secure.
For decades, Americans have been promised a secure border, but it hasn’t happened. Consider the recent legislation that authorized 700 miles of fencing – astoundingly, just TWO miles have been constructed!
Americans are rightly cynical about any promises to secure the border.
My parameters are simple: One, we must secure the border. Two, we must enforce the laws already on the books and empower law enforcement officials to do their jobs enforcing them. Then and only then we can take up immigration reform.
I must be honest with you, many of my colleagues in Congress disagree with me. And President Bush disagrees with me.
The Democrats have promised to soon bring this bad bill back to the Senate floor, and the Democrats are planning a major political assault on me for my opposition. They will use this to try to hurt me in the upcoming election.
Be assured, I will stand firmly against this bill. I don’t care what the political pundits, the media, or the liberals say or think – because I reject the notion that granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens will solve our country’s out of control immigration problem. I can wage this fight as long as I know you are standing with me.
Please let me know I can count on you:
Please use this contribution button to help my campaign fight back against the attacks that are sure to come.
Thank you so much for your help and support – and thank you for your commitment to a safer, more prosperous America.
Sincerely:
Elizabeth Dole
U. S. Senator
P.S. Please use this button [See the attached file] to rush back your urgently needed campaign contribution by June 30th, our cut-off for an important FEC campaign report. The fight against amnesty for illegal immigrants is one of the most important we’ve had since I was elected to the Senate. I will stand firm and in insisting on securing our border first. I hope you will stand with me by supporting my campaign. And if you can send your contribution before the June 30th fund raising report deadline, that will be an added boost! Thank you.
I knew Dr. Coburn got the shaft in 2004 and always wondered why — he was calling for border security back then. I was looking for something else when this popped up and all of a sudden it made sense.
Not to long ago on FR, Rove was a Magnificent Bastard. Now, I guess he’s just a bastard???
I just left a message thanking her for her courage and leadership in standing up to the White House, the ‘RATs, LaRaza, Mechem, and all the other shameful shamnesty shillmeisters.
I was gettin my annual salary review and I was really pitchin hard for that raise, remindin him of every single thing I could remember that had turned out right from his perspective that I had played ANY part in!
All of a sudden he stopped me cold with... "Son, if you hadn't done all those things you wouldn't still be workin here! Now tell me again why you think I should give you any kind of a raise in pay!"
In other words, we get so beaten down with disappointments by the majority of these people we elect to represent out thinking that FINALLY, when one of them says or does something that we'd been expecting and hoping for for months, then were supposed to suddenly kiss 'em on all four cheeks and sent them a danged check!!! Phhhhhhhhhhhhht!!!
I have Inhofe and Coburn as my Senators so I am always optimistic with those two that they will do the right thing and no amount of threats by Rove of not funding their campaigns is going to make one bit of difference to them on any bill and especially on immigration.
She had agreat guest column in the Charlotte Observer today. I would post it if I knew how.
Rove, that magnificent bastard! They read his book!!!
Her Senate record has been far better than I ever expected. She was outgunned in 2006, but GWB was undercutting her all year.
That’s a good point. She knows Durham is Democrat and nothing she said would matter anyway to the liberals there.
Still, EDole is the most conservative woman in the whole U.S. Senate, isn’t she?
You are so fortunate to have those two current Senators compared to the two "Year of the Woman" Socialists we have out here!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.