Posted on 11/02/2007 7:07:24 AM PDT by 3AngelaD
Until Tuesday night, Democratic presidential candidates had largely ignored the subject of illegal immigration. The topic, strategists concluded, was fraught with too much potential for alienating general election voters. But after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton struggled to answer a question about whether she supports giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, the topic burst into the forefront...
While voters are in line with Democratic positions... immigration remains a thornier subject. Polls suggest that most Americans want to allow illegal immigrants to stay in the country and create ways for them to obtain citizenship, but party strategists say the voters who care most about this issue are those angry about illegal immigration and want to hear a tougher message...
The debate...also illustrated the fine line Democrats, who depend heavily on the Hispanic vote and soft-pedal the idea of harsh penalties for people who enter the country illegally, will have to walk...
All of the Democratic contenders have embraced some form of "comprehensive reform..."
Polls showed a majority of Americans supported that legislation, but two-thirds also thought the United States was not doing enough to stem the tide of illegal immigration..According to a CNN poll last month, 76 percent of Americans oppose giving licenses to illegal immigrants, compared with 23 percent who favor it. But noting that many African Americans, a strongly Democratic group, oppose creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, they wrote "this is a real wedge issue that Democrats need to get right."...
After Tuesday's debate, a group of Democratic strategists moved to tamp growing fears among party candidates across the country, warning them not to duck the issue and coaching them on how to defuse the topic...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“but the RINOs in Congress will follow Rudy over the cliff. “
They sure would!!!!
Rush said today that the bloom is off the rose.
I say Giuliani because he is the one already in the MSM eye and is still the leading candidate. He would get the air time, the serious commentary, even if it is all rabidly negative.
If he were to do these things, the problem would begin to fix itself as the election gets closer and the issue gets loud and likely to be addressed, whoever is elected.
If LOST gets ratified now all of the rest of this falls to the level of knock-knock jokes.
How come the Dream Act went down to defeat?
Such a concept would not even be understood by the Clintons. It is if the maker o the proposal had begun with "I think that..." and the rest of the sentence might as well be in Urdu. The words would not be understood, much less the concept.
How many votes might Spitzer get outside of New York and New Jersey?
I have become a Hunter fan finally but would not be unhappy if Thompson becomes the nominee. His CFR enthusiastic support is a bit troubling, however.
Unless things change drastically, he'd get California, along with all other blue states. As you know, it's all about electoral votes, and a lot of large states are blue. As far as states that have been trending blue, it would depend upon who his Republican opponent would be. Unfortunately, many of the red states don't have a lot of electoral votes.
Precisely.
Indeed!
Thanks, that was fun!
B T T T
Keep hoping, Dems. If it hurts Republicans, it is to a small degree with a small percentage of the electorate. Taking a robust stand against illegal immigration will help to a large degree with a majority of the electorate, including many Dems.
Poll from South Carolina. See that the majority of Democrats favor immediate deportation:
Amazingly----in Democratic strongholds such as New York and California------one pollster said voters oppose such plans by 75%.
After Clinton's debate fumble, one Republican strategist was jumping up and down with joy: "Licensing is an 80-20 issue for us and they're walking right into it." That would be "80-20," as in 80% of Americans oppose it.
Anti-illegal licensing is a rare consensus issue in politics.
As the strategist said: You probably couldn't get 80% of Americans to go to a baseball game. Or eat apple pie. Or talk to their mother. But giving illegal aliens driver's licenses? "The vast majority of Americans are against this - especially among likely voters.
Nope. I fought hard. It takes two to have a fight. To be sure, the national party did start the fight. Had they left amnesty alone and moved to border security only, there would never have been a fight. But no doubt, conservatives continued the fight. And, the party leadership started the name calling too (remember "vigilantes" escalating to "rascists?").
But there's nothing wrong with a fight, as long as it's about something important. The "circular firing squad" language is always used by people who are about to get their way and want the folks who oppose them to shut up. The implication of the language is that we are killing each other over nothing.
But this was much more than a circular firing squad. The base saved the party leadership from itself, which was about to commit suicide on behalf of the entire party. And some important markers were laid down in that fight about what the Republican party stands for. And the presidential candidates noticed. You don't find them running around arguing that amnesty is a good idea this year (even if they secretly think it is). Eight years ago, our leading candidate was doing just that.
I have no doubt that amnesty is coming. There is too much money and power behind it for it not to happen (D underclass exploiters combined with R businesses is a POWERFUL coalition). But when it happens, and eventually it will, it will be a dem initiative almost entirely--the R leadership is stupid, but no so stupid that it will sponsor amnesty, which has only minority support in their party and unanimous support in the crazy branch of the D's. So we will be able to pin amnesty on the dems when it happens. That will go far toward recreating the Reagan coalition because it will peel off the Reagan democrats.
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