Novak is a conservative commentator, but his spin is all wrong here.
He’s swallowed the inside-the-beltway conventional wisdom that ‘doing something’ is what people want over ‘doing nothing’. He swallowed the phony idea that its was only ignorant boobs calling up the senate.
Never mind the Rasmussen poll that showed 2 to 1 against the bill.
Never mind that Rasmussen also reports now that Republican identification has gone *up* in the wake of this bill, and that immigration is the one topic that republicans are trusted more on than democrats.
Never mind that acceptance of this bill is hardly a linchpin for gaining hispanic support, and whoever is thinking that is on crack.
Whatever deriliction of duty McConnell apparently had, the fact remains that HARRY REID is the majority leader. Reid put the measure on the Senate floor and concocte the play pigeon strategy.
For McConnell to get ‘blamed’ for Reid’s failure to get the bill through would be an acceptable conclusion only in outer space ... or DC.
Add Novak to the “Fred Barnes” doesnt get it list.
Here in real America we are just glad the bill died.
...”Reids failure”... ABSOLUTELY
Harry is making Bill Frist look dynamic
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!
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.