Posted on 06/28/2007 11:32:01 AM PDT by The Blitherer
The bill has died.
Trust me, no one will be sitting shiva for it at HH.com, and not just because I’m the only one who knows what “sitting shiva” means. Actually, Medved also knows what “sitting shiva” means, and maybe he’ll be doing it on behalf of everyone else at Townhall who is instead celebrating like it’s VJ Day. (Reports that Matt Lewis surprised Mary Katherine Ham with a kiss like the one seen in the picture of above are unconfirmed.)
So where do we go from here? Let’s take ‘em one by one, starting with the biggest winners and working our way down to the biggest losers:
1) YOU – Yes, it sounds trite, but your voice was heard. Remember, the original aim of this bill’s authors was to have it enshrined as law in a mere 48 hours. You raised such a fuss that that became impossible. But the bill’s supporters were undeterred and remained the clear majority in the Senate.
Truly, I don’t think a single Senator changed his mind on the underlying merits of the bill. Those that changed their votes did so because they heard from their constituents. So what’s the takeaway? Your voice counts. In a democracy, that’s a very fine thing.
2) THE CONGRESSIONAL HEROES – Lest we find ourselves lost in a throw-the-bums-out mentality, let’s take a moment to recognize the Republican Senators and Congressmen who led the fight to beat back this wildebeest of a bill. I had Pete Hoekstra on the show last night; Rep. Hoekstra isn’t known as a ball of fire, but he was passionate last night. He was great. He fought against the tide and he wasn’t alone.
Jim DeMint has been a stalwart on this since day one. Same goes for Sessions, Cornyn and Inhofe. David Vitter went mano-a-mano with Harry Reid. John Shadegg showed what real House leadership would look like. Someday we’ll have a Speaker Shadegg, and that will be a fine thing indeed. If I left any of the politician good guys out of this brief list (and I’m sure I did), my apologies.
3) THE FENCE-SITTING REPUBLICANS – The bill was defeated handily this morning. We got 53 votes against cloture. Earlier in the week, it didn’t look like we’d get the 40 that we needed. I guess it’s neat that Senators like Brownback and Murkowski had a Road-to-Damascus moment some time in the last 24 hours, but where were they when the battle raged? Rather than just ask the question rhetorically, let me posit a theory: They were sitting in the middle with their fingers in the air.
In this class of fence-sitters, I would be remiss in my duties as a blogger if I didn’t carve out a special place for George Voinovich. Yesterday, Senator Voinovich was humiliating himself on the air with Sean Hannity, accusing Hannity of being irrational for opposing the bill. Today, Voinovich voted against cloture. What political courage!
How will Republican voters remember the Senators who sat out the war? My guess is not very fondly.
4) THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION – I’ve admired this president for a long time, but I’ve reached a point where I’ve had it up to here (my hand is at my forehead) with this administration’s chronic obtuseness and arrogance. The top priority right now for the administration should be the war. And yet the president spent what little political capital he had trying to shove this atrocious immigration bill down the country’s throat. This whole gambit was the logical equivalent of Abraham Lincoln in February of 1864 seeking out the non-war related issue that would most effectively divide his base and then relentlessly championing that issue. That would have been dumb, right? And yet that’s exactly what President Bush did.
President Bush is going to need a united base come September if he wants to stay the course in Iraq. Given that consideration, calling 90% of that base bigots probably wasn’t a very good idea. Fickle, weak-kneed and misguided Republican senators like Dick Lugar are already preemptively declaring defeat.
Will the Republican base forgive the administration for its actions surrounding this bill? My guess is no. We’re moving on to finding another leader for the party, and in 7 months or so we’ll have one. In the meantime, thanks to this idiotic gambit, there’s a power vacuum right now in the White House.
Maybe the base can fill that vacuum. The only good news is that the past political fortnight showed that the Republican base, when enthusiastic, can have a dramatically positive effect on Republican politicians. If the base demands victory in Iraq as loudly as it demanded defeat for this immigration bill, the Republicans in congress will once again listen.
5) THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY – Securing the border is something that 90% of the country feels should be done immediately and permanently. That’s the motherhood and apple-pie of this issue – no one opposes it.
Except the leadership of the Democratic Party. For a while now, the Republicans’ best hope for success has been Democratic stupidity. Fortunately, the Democrats have often been up to the task, handing us presidential nominees like John Kerry and Al Gore. Now, the Democrats have given us the greatest gift of all – an issue that moves the country much more than members of the political class realize and on which the Democrats find themselves on the wrong side. The Republican congressional candidates should be able to have a lot of fun with the issue of border security in 2008. So should the Republican presidential nominee unless he’s…
6) JOHN McCAIN – What’s left to say about this man? I guess you can argue whether he does what he does because his vanity compels him to plaster his name on “major” legislation, regardless of whether that legislation is good or bad, or that Mort Kondracke has it right and that McCain is as noble a politician that this county has ever seen whose conscience holds him prisoner.
You can probably tell by my phrasing of the issue which way I lean, but ultimately, who cares? John McCain has opposed the vast majority of his party too many times on too many issues. And regardless of what Mort Kondracke or McCain’s other friends in the media believe, the base’s disdain for McCain does not primarily derive from personal animus. Instead, that disdain flows directly from the fact that John McCain has been a more damaging presence in the Senate over the past six years than anyone else - Tom Daschle, Ted Kennedy and Harry Reid included.
Yes, he’s right on the war, but a lot of senators are right on the war. But McCain has been so wrong and so destructive on so many other issues, his relationship with the base is fractured beyond repair. Perhaps the Senator can take some solace in the fact that he never had a chance in the presidential race anyway. Even before McCain/Kennedy thudded into the Senate with McCain demanding its passage in 48 hours, the Republican Party had his number.
7) THE IMMIGRATION BILL WATER-CARRIERS – Lindsey Graham’s approval ratings in South Carolina have dipped to 31% because of his obnoxious antics while supporting this bill. Trent Lott has made himself a national laughingstock. Again. I know – dog bites man.
But remember who the biggest winners in this imbroglio are – the voters. If the Republicans in South Carolina are sick of being embarrassed by Lindsey Graham, they have a choice – they can find someone to run against him in the primary. Just about anyone will do the trick. I’ll even make a bold prediction: Reading the writing on the wall, Senator Graham will decide that K Street beckons and remove himself from public life before his constituents do the deed for him.
As for Trent Lott, how many opportunities should this guy get to embarrass himself and the party as a leader of the caucus?
IN SUMMATION, what happened over the past month was the first real skirmish in a civil war for the soul of the Republican Party. You had good guys like Hoekstra, DeMint, Sessions and Vitter doing battle with an exhausted Old Guard (Lott, Voinovich et al.) who have forgotten what their party stands for and who they represent. Happily, the good guys won this round.
The fight will rage on. Hopefully what happened here will be just the beginning.
bump
Can we now declare victory?
Can somebody post a link to the votes. I would like to see a complete list of all votes.
I understand my republican Rep voted for cloture (Lugar) and my liberal Rep (Bayh) voted against.
I have to check for myself.
Thanks,
As for Hugh Hewitt, I still don't forgive him for his shilling for Harriet Miers.
No, not till action is taken on illegal immigration.
Chowd BUMP!
They are desperate to find an excuse. They've angered some very influential groups like the Chamber of Commerce and groups profiting from taxpayer-subsidized "cheap" labor. There's also the possibility of a long hot summer.
There are Hispanic groups running wild here in the U.S. They could be the ones Senator Lindsey Graham was talking about when he said, "There are a lot of people quietly hoping this thing passes, and there'll come a time where they'll have to not be quiet."
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
My advice to Jeorge Bush is to first secure the borders, build the fence and the american might be open to your other proposals.
He still has support from his base, particularly on the WOT; just not from the very vocal ones.
Duncan Hunter isn’t deemed among the congressional heroes? Interesting.
As I understand it, the vote today (Thurs, 6/28) carried to STOP debate on the bill. In other words, the bill can still be debated — which is another way of saying they are not ready to take an Up or Down vote at this time.
So, rather than this bill being killed, it seems that it is only in a “holding” zone, awaiting further debate.
What’s the keep the pro-amnesty people from meeting at midnight, amending the darn thing again, and calling for a sudden vote to stop debate, and call for a swift up or down vote. Catching the American people asleep and passing this terrible amnesty bill, against the people’s wishes.
It has been done. Remember the minimum wage bill which was attached to the bill to fund the war?
These guys are crooks and will stop at nothing to keep their promises to the interests of other countries, to the detriment of the United States.
This is a victory for America. Much congrats and thanks to all good Freepers, who called, wrote and screamed HELL NO to this nasty bill.
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