Posted on 07/01/2007 5:13:44 PM PDT by Signalman
Saying no to illegals has proved time and again to be a winner. I recall when Republicans were proud of being part of the law and order party.
I think it’s one of those memes that have been repeated so often that shallow thinkers believe it. You never hear people talk about the “Anglo” vote because they instinctively understand there’s no such thing, yet we constantly hear about the black vote, women’s vote, Hispanic vote, etc. as though race or gender had anything to do with how people vote.
With very few exceptions, people vote their pocketbooks. Poorer people vote for Democrats, wealthier people vote Republican. In 2004, the Dems were bemoaning the fact that Republicans won every demographic group whose members made over $35,000 dollars—black, white, brown, female, male, if you made over $35,000 you more more likely to vote Republican than Democrat.
And yet, despite all evidence to the contrary, this myth that people vote based on race or gender persists, because too many of the chattering classes merely echo each other instead of applying their gray matter to the issue.
Any pundit who talks in terms of “the _____ vote” is only displaying his or her lack of real knowledge about voting patterns. Which reminds me—why on earth is anyone still paying Dick Morris a penny for his consistently cr*ppy advice?
I’ve been saying this all along. This is a bad issue for Republicans no matter how you look at it.
There are so many urgent matters, such as the Supreme Court, Abortion, Stell Cell Research, Foreign Affairs, and so on. Yet so many so-called conservatives are willing to cut off their noses to spite their faces.
Democrats came out smelling like roses, and Republicans came out looking like rabid immigrant haters.
I’m sorry, but I even told my own father that his anti-immigration activism is only hurting Republicans. I guess that is what happens when you don’t put God before your own instincts.
Now we are divided and defeated.
Based upon Bush’s prior messages vis a vis amnesty (stated) and lack of border control (obvious), the Democrats (along with corrupt RINO's like McCain) thus seized a rare opportunity to pass legislation which would be sure to grow both government and Democrat voter rolls, at the expense of Republican party power, whose base, enraged, would punish the Republican “leadership” in 2008 in manner similar to that which they employed in 1992 (this involving another sellout Bush).
This time, if not for an unusually engaged Conservative base, they almost pulled it off.
That was the point of the article wasn’t it?
I have no doubt that yes, this was a trap. It became very obviously so after Reid “pulled it off the table” until Bush could rally up some support. And Bush stumbled right into it despite every warning we tried to send him and the White House. There were a few of us who suspected that Dems would vote against it after persuading Bush to twist some arms... Sadly he was unwilling, or was unable, to resist the temptation.
If the 15 Democrats didn’t vote against it, the Bill would have gone to the President for signature.
That would have done more damage to the Republicans then not voting for it. Because if the Democrats voted for Cloture, they would have had the 60 votes and with a majority in the Senate would have got the bill passed.
Of course the MSM fails to mention this.
I’d prefer to perceive the immigration monstrosity as a wildly successful Rovian plot
* to make the Congress and its members incredibly unpopular in and to rouse the American people to oppose them almost reflexively;
* to sack several Democratic presidential candidates (and former arch-rival John McCain) with several high-profile inexplicable and inexcusable votes that ultimately will sink their candidacies;
* to curry favor with Edward M. Kennedy and other Democrats with a bill certainly not bound for law that he might parlay for votes on other, more important issues; and
* to divert the attention of the Congress from military operations and thereby to provide political cover to wage the war against Islamofascist terrorists while redirecting the antiwar/pro-terrorist impulses of the Democrat-terrorist-media complex into rage against the aghast American population.
Bush almost certainly knew that this bill was going nowhere when he egged Congress onward to its second incarnation. It never commanded the votes of a majority (61) of Senators, and the House Republicans clearly opposed it immediately upon its inception. The fury of the American people over its first incarnation certainly would lead House Democrats desiring reelection (the fundamental function of a Distinguished Member of Congress) to oppose it entirely.
The Congress meanwhile spent the last six weeks bloviating but essentially not legislating, a highly desirable outcome given that practically every proposition that the majority among its Distinguished Members heretofore has put forth fits neatly into either the “trivial” category or the “hideous” category or both.
Bush hopefully somehow can compel the Congress to authorize and to fund the Defense Department and the war again, but I do not anticipate that outcome. Bush already once managed to get the Congress to vote against the war twice before voting for it, an outcome sure to enrage both pro- and anti-terrorist factions within the American polity.
Only my appreciation of the lack of strategic intellect in the Democratic Party inhibits me from saying yes to all these questions. But I still wonder?
I too doubt the Dems are smart enough to plan such a trap, but they are smart enough to step out of the way and hand Bush more rope when the occasion arises.
“The GOP has gained points with the public in general as being strong on the illegal-immigrant issue, thanks to the conservatives in the party.”
Did you read this article posted earlier today on FR that says republican party membership was up in June for the first time in 07. Here’s the link?
“Following Immigration Debate, Number of Republicans in USA Increases”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1859281/posts
How could the Latino vote go to the Dimwits; if they cannot vote?
Excellent analysis. Thanks. They got the memes alright
The dems specifically avoided this issue in 2006 because they know their position is not popular. That is why when it came down to it, they let this one go.
Is it a trap when your prey begs to be let into the trap?
The Democrats went into this knowing they would win either way and knowing the Republicans would lose either way.
Ted Kennedy and the Democrats played the part of Tom Sawyer while President Bush and the pro-amnesty senators played the role of the country hayseeds that begged Tom to let them paint the fence for him.
Ted Kennedy was probably pinching himself to make sure the whole thing was real and not just another old man’s dream of turning his arch enemy into his personal sock puppet.
chicagotribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kassjun29,1,3112582.column?coll=chi-news-col
Trust died before immigration bill did
John Kass
June 29, 2007
Will Sen. Trent Lott (R-Loafer Mouth) hold a news conference to blame talk radio for the defeat of the Immigration Bill?
He just might shove another shoe past his uvula, which for those of you who don’t know, is that little muscle in your throat that looks like a punching bag. The senator from Mississippi surely must have uvula muscle memory now.
Some call it the Immigration Reform Bill, and others call it Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants, but either way, after Thursday’s defeat in the Senate, it’s on the shoulder of the road, face down in the gravel.
President Bush is disappointed, as were Republican politicians serving big business appetites for cheap labor. But the Democratic-controlled Senate had 15 Democrats and one sorta Democrat, the independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, voting against it, including that paragon of diversity, West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd (D-Whitesheets). Manufacturing labor unions also opposed it.
But all I hear about are nativist Republicans and talk radio.
Yes, the talkers talked, and got people involved who are concerned about their nation’s sovereignty. Listeners pressured their elected representatives and the bill was killed. Republican and Democratic political operatives courting the growing and influential Latino vote don’t like it. But the founding fathers had this thing for free political speech. How radical.
As the son of immigrants, I would have liked a bill that would help the millions of illegal immigrants here. Many want to become Americans. Most of us don’t want those families shipped back. As a first generation American, growing up while being called a foreigner in my own country, I hoped some immigration bill would pass.
But not this one.
excerpt:
Or could it be GW is simply a man of limited intelligence (stupid!) and extreme arrogance based on delusions of grandeur?... a second LINCOLN perhaps? :) Is looking more a second "Carter" to me! :)
Megalomania (from the Greek word μεγαλομανία) is a psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence - often generally termed as delusions of grandeur. It includes an obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions
GWB is ** ARRONGANT ** no question about it and with a HUGE, HUGE, HUMONGOUS EGO too..
He’s just making it more complicated than it is to fill a column.
Dick Morris can be entertaining to read (infrequently) if one realizes he is a liar and a political whore. IOW, who really cares what he says?
Does anyone really believe that what he thinks and what he says are the same things?
Any time I see President with his knee pads when with Senator Kennedy, I smell a rat. The Great Oz Has Spoken.
Time is really on our side as this problem metastasizes around the country. And any economic downturn will exacerbate the problem. This cuts across party lines. The Dems are supporting guest worker programs and labor union leaders are finding themselves at odds with the rank and file. Blacks with an unemployment rate of 8.5% are competing with Hispanics for jobs and they are going to have to reconcile themselves to being the second largest minority with Hispanics/Latinos the largest and growing almost twice as fast. I see this issue being just as divisive among Dems as it is among Reps.
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