Posted on 07/01/2007 9:27:40 PM PDT by Baladas
I asked one of the few conservative Republican senators who stuck with President Bush on immigration to assess how Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell handled the issue. Asking not to be quoted by name, he replied: "If this were a war, Sen. McConnell should be relieved of command for dereliction of duty." Not only did the minority leader end up voting against an immigration bill that he said was better than the 2006 version he supported, he abandoned his post, staying off the floor during final stages of the debate.
Although I had never before seen a Senate party leader bail out of a major legislative fight, relieving McConnell of his command seems too drastic. Until now he has gotten high marks from colleagues since taking over the leadership six months ago following four dreary years under Bill Frist. McConnell's non-performance on immigration derived from general Republican malaise going well beyond a single issue.
It is difficult to exaggerate the pessimism about the immediate political future voiced by Republicans in Congress when not on the record. With an unpopular president waging an unpopular war, they foresee electoral catastrophe in 2008, with Democratic gains in both the House and Senate and Hillary Clinton in the White House. That's the atmosphere in which these lachrymose lawmakers have for several months faced an increasingly hysterical onslaught from constituents demanding the death of the "amnesty" for immigrants they heard vilified on talk radio.
These callers swamped phone lines to Republican congressional offices (as well as to the White House) with threats that they would never vote again for anybody supporting "amnesty." While that intimidated some previous supporters of the immigration bill, its opponents saw in the xenophobia of their backers a ray of light in the bleak political landscape.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Buh-bye, Senator Switchback.
Another late switcher was Sen. Sam Brownback, seeking the Republican presidential nomination as the candidate of the right. He voted for the first cloture motion on Tuesday to keep the immigration bill alive and put out a news release on his presidential Web site explaining his vote. On Thursday he voted again for the bill. But when it became clear the measure had failed, he changed his vote from aye to nay and scrubbed his earlier statement from the Internet.
I'm not sure Novak is a conservative, and I've been disappointed in him several times. He switched to the Democrat Party to vote for Bill Clinton! Also, he is partially responsible for the situation Scooter Libby is in today. Novak wrote the column with the questionable wording that allowed the witch hunters to falsely claim someone had leaked Plame's (nonexistent) covert identity. He knew who the 'leaker' was, but protected him while others had to spend megabucks to defend themselves.
I agree with the rest of your post, and am grateful McConnell voted against the AMNESTY BILL. As Minority Leader, was he required to do the President's bidding by helping bring the bill to the floor? I don't know parliamentary procedures, but he may have been required to do what the LEADER, Bush, wanted, but did not have to vote for the final bill. I do think the failure belongs to Reid for bringing it back to the floor.
The vote on this bill also tells us which Senators need to be replaced!
Novak is a sack of crap.
I think Novak has always been a Democrat . He’s not a RINO, but he aligns more with the Paleo-Cons and Reagan Democrats .
Novak is name calling? What a hypocrite!
How many Mexicans live in his neighborhood?
Maybe he should get off his fat a** and do his own chores, or hire an American at a fair price to do it.
Demand a border fence! Build it NOW!! Beef up the border patrol and close our borders!
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
Toll free to the US Senate:
1-800-882-2005. (Spanish number)
1-800-417-7666. (English number)
Courtesy of a pro-amnesty group, no less!!
Republican National Committee
310 First Street, SE Washington, D.C. 20003
phone: 202.863.8500 | fax: 202.863.8820 | e-mail: info@gop.com
Reid claims that McConnell came up with the clay pigeon maneuver. I tend to believe this because Reid is neither a parliamentary scholar or bright enough to understand and successfully implement something this arcane.
How could somebody who has been around as long as Novak possibly believe that Republicans would EVER get more than 50% of the Hispanic vote?? The GOP got less than 30% in the last election! That means that for every 10 new Hispanic citizens, the rats gain 7 votes to every 3 for the Republicans. And even IF the GOP percentage soared to 40 or 45%, the result is STILL a net win for the rats. Good grief! Will somebody in Washington do the math?
Bush and a few Republican idiots cut their own throats by joining up with Kennedy and pushing this stinking abomination of a bill, a bill they ADMITTED stunk up the joint when they proclaimed they could never pass it in an election year! (Notice Kennedy is nowhere to be found these days, by the way?) No sympathy for the Republicans here. None. I only hope the good guys like Sessions, Vitter, and DeMint don't pay a price for their colleagues' malicious stupidity.
We may never know the truth, but the “clay pigeon” strategy has Kennedy written all over it. I suspect that the tip went from Kennedy to the White House, and from there to McConnell. Just a guess.
-PJ
McConnell simply saw that train coming, and didn’t want to be squashed by it. A lot of the GOP wafflers got religion on this near the end. John Warner says he hasn’t seen a public reaction like this in 30 years of Senate service. The people roared on this one, and we shouldn’t stop until we fix the problem with security and deportations. THEN allow more legal immigration. But take care of the illegal problem first.
We ought to hang the SOB's.
BTW, don't think they're done on this...they'll get real sneaky now.
It ain't going away.
He says the congressional Republicans are pessimistic about their future because of "unpopular president waging an unpopular war." If that's why they're pessimistic, then they're fools who are unable to assess reality.
Further proof? How about the voice of the people being dismissed as a "hysterical onslaught from constituents demanding the death of the "amnesty" for immigrants they heard vilified on talk radio."
I realize who his audience is and who signs his checks, but there is no reason to pay any attention to his analysis. He's clueless or is trying hard to appear that way.
“I only hope the good guys like Sessions, Vitter, and DeMint don’t pay a price for their colleagues’ malicious stupidity.”
I’d pack my bags and move back to Alabama to support Jeff Sessions. The man is an American hero in my opinion.
I read this weekend that “Scottish-Law” Specter was quoted as saying, “The will of the Senate will prevail” on the immigration bill.
Trent “Vacant” Lott
TRENCH LOT
LOL!! Good ones!!
Republican’s are now more trusted on the immigration issue than Dems, post shamnesty. Rasmussen poll (discussed in another thread):
Novak is a %$^*(&^%...can’t think of a bad enough word to use for him. He hung Scooter out to dry, the busterd.
Great graphic!
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