Posted on 12/08/2004 9:19:37 PM PST by CHARLITE
Following the Republican landslide victories of the 1994 midterm elections, conservatives watched in amazement as Republican “moderates” proceeded to completely squander the ground they had gained, culminating in the defeat of Bob Dole in ‘96. In the aftermath of this year’s elections, ominous signs point towards a repeat performance.
Apparently, Republican Party operatives didn’t really comprehend why, in the middle of Bill Clinton’s first term, they won big. And to this day, political analysts still don’t seem to grasp the situation. Among conservatives, the conventional wisdom is that the newly realigned GOP Congressional majority had wrongly presumed too much of a mandate, subsequently shocking the American people with an excessively bold agenda.
In truth however, the exact opposite took place. And if the Republican Party doesn’t quickly come to grips with this fact, it may find itself facing larger defeats in ‘06 and ‘08 than the Democrats just suffered.
By formulating the “Contract with America,” Newt Gingrich brilliantly highlighted the contrasts between the two parties. In presenting America with such a clear choice, he ensured that the liberalism of the Democrats would be on parade. The rest is history.
Yet in the aftermath of the elections, intense media pressure caused Gingrich and the Republicans to backtrack. Bob Dole’s “enough is enough” surrender to Clinton’s bloated 1995 budget sealed Dole’s fate in the following year’s presidential election. Despite Republican wins, the left still dominated.
In reality, the much-heralded “Republican Revolution” simply never happened. Where, for example, was a single bloated bureaucracy eliminated, or required to face even modest budget cuts at the hands of the Republicans?
Far from committing any conservative “excesses,” it was the abandonment of such things which disillusioned the “grassroots” and convinced them that “business as usual” still reigned supreme in Washington. Hence, they stayed home on Election Day in ‘96.
So, how have Republicans fared during the brief “lame duck” Congressional session following this year’s election? Initial signs are not encouraging. Rather than confronting the Democrats’ obstructionism, and their continued pandering to the counterculture, Republicans are once again waffling, conceding, and capitulating.
The recently passed “National Security Reform Act” is a prime example. Key to American security is regaining control of its borders. Amazingly, Congress decided to remove a provision from the security reform measure that would have clamped down on the ability of illegal aliens (such as the nineteen hijackers of 9-11) to obtain drivers’ licenses.
According to opponents of the provision, such discussion belongs in other legislation. Yet if the mass influx of undocumented foreigners isn’t relevant to the security of the nation, little else is.
Beyond all of the excuses, the reality of the situation is that the Republicans in the House and Senate have no stomach to confront the illegal alien issue, for fear of media backlash. They apparently remain clueless as to the receding relevance of the “mainstream” media, or the fact that their acquiescence to it will cause an enormous rift with the “base” from whom they so recently garnered electoral victories.
On another front, Senate Minority leader Harry Reid of Nevada highlighted the tight spot in which Senate Democrats presently find themselves. Completely abandoning any pretence of bipartisan cooperation, Reid pressed forward in the footsteps of his predecessor, the recently deposed Tom Daschle of South Dakota.
On a weekend talk show, Reid sounded like the standard, cliched, liberal Democrat of the Washington “insider” crowd, promising obstruction and rancor, but not surprisingly accompanied by the standard liberal demands that Republicans “reach across the aisle.”
If a groundswell of disapproval occurs in response to his caustic diatribe, Reid, being another partisan Democrat Senator from a “red state,” could eventually face a fate similar to that suffered by Daschle. Fortunately for Reid, Senate Republicans may well ride in to his rescue. Fearing possible negative ramifications from altering the present senate rules that allow legislation to be stalled by a forty vote filibuster, Republicans are again showing their reluctance to play “hard ball” when confronted with such obstructionism.
Presently, Democrats have been using this technique to thwart the appointment of judges who would uphold the Constitution. So, conservatives are left wondering what possible ramifications could be worse than a continued decimation of the Constitution.
John Kerry’s liberalism, when viewed against the backdrop of the War on Terror, provided the contrast that yielded significant Republican Congressional gains, and a victory for President Bush. If Republicans continue to erase that contrast, they will eventually erase their victory.
About the Writer: Christopher Adamo is a freelance writer from southeastern Wyoming, where he has been involved in grassroots political activites for several years. He maintains a website at http://www.chrisadamo.com Christopher receives e-mail at adamo.chronwatch@lycos.com
ping
"Beltwayitis"
Good analysis...
This illegals issue could destroy Bush. Especially if, God forbid, there is a second attack linked to this problem.
This sort of reminds me of the press screaming Quagmire one week into the invasion of Iraq.
We haven't even sworn in any of the newly elected, or even had the Inaguration and these jerks are wringing their hands already.
Usually you wait till the home team get up to bat before
you start complaining about a loss...
Part of me wants to believe that Bush is waiting for the lame duck session to end, but the other part of me is worried as hell...
I certainly hope that the President, Hastert and the whole Republican Congress Protects our Borders and gets this Immigration Problem straightened out. These Activist Judges
need taken to the Wood shed or their office eliminated all together, for the misinterpretation of the intent of the Laws.
The Dimms and the Republicans just won't hear the American People, we have no place else to go for representation in Congress: Let's see, elections 2006,
Constitutional Party,
http://www.constitutionparty.com/
America First Party,
http://www.americafirstparty.org/
Independant American Party
http://www.usiap.org/
The American Party
http://www.theamericanparty.org/
Amnesty for illegal immigrants will squander 110% of Bush's political capital.
What we need to remember is that we have won by standing up for conservative principles. The Democrats have been the party of political opportunism like "I voted for that bill, before I voted against it."
And we will lose our majority if we stop fighting for conservative principles, and cede the moral high ground to Hillary. That means nominating candidates with strong personal morals, and candidates that will protect the unborn (sorry, Giuliani, no room for you on the ticket.) It means nominating candidates that will secure our nation's borders, instead of letting Vincente Fox dictate our policy (sorry, McCain.) It means reforming Social Security without a huge tax increase (sorry, Lindsey Graham.) And, it means standing up to the multilateralists that would tie our hands to the corrupt UN (sorry, Hagel.)
When we embrace conservative principles, we reinforce the political capital that we have earned. When we betray them, we squander our political capital.
"These Activist Judges need taken to the Wood shed or their office eliminated all together, for the misinterpretation of the intent of the Laws."
Unfortunately, many of our Senators, Congressmen, and even our President may need to take the same trip to the woodshed.
And, wait until the activist Clinton appointees get their hands on Bush's proposed amnesty agreement with Mexico. They are likely to determine that you can't just give amnesty to the Mexicans. And, Bush's open border plan with Mexico will be extended by judicial fiat to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the rest of the world.
And, then there will be some real hell for all of us to pay. And we'll have our political leaders and the activist judiciary to thank.
Adamo has it wrong, the September 11th hijackers weren't illegal aliens, though they did violate immigration laws.
What's paramount is the benefit the terrorists received for the plot by way of illegal aliens and systems that were friendly to illegal aliens, such as obtaining the drivers licenses they used to board the planes.
FLASHBACK: November 5, 2001 Suburban Washington's Terror Trail
Luis Alonso Martinez-Flores is a 28-year-old Salvadoran who, according to an FBI affidavit, "has been living unlawfully in the United States since 1994."
On August 1, he went to the parking lot of the 7-Eleven store on Glen Carlyn Road, just off Leesburg Pike, in Falls Church, Va. His purpose, he later told FBI Special Agent Jesus H. Gomez, was to look "for day labor."
People in the neighborhood knew Martinez. He often hung out, some local businessmen say, near the entrance of a First Union Bank branch at the corner of the Culmore Shopping Center. This center--a strip mall on Leesburg Pike--sits just across a narrow side street from the 7-Eleven. In the middle of the strip, a bit nearer to the bank than to the 7-Eleven, is the Peking Gourmet Inn. This restaurant was such a favorite of the senior President Bush that he reportedly ate there some 50 times during his presidency and vice presidency. President-elect George W. Bush took his brother Marvin there for a birthday dinner in December.
But also last December the restaurant was named in a Washington Post story that did not mention good food or politicians. "Fairfax County police have identified the man who was shot to death in the Culmore Shopping Center last weekend as Thomas X. Duong, 42, of Falls Church," said the Post. "Duong, a cook at the Peking Gourmet Inn, was found dead in his car behind the restaurant. . . . Police said yesterday that he was shot several times in the upper body."
Some local businessmen say that over the last two decades the neighborhood has increasingly become a gathering spot for illegal aliens.
The police can't do anything about it, said one, because they can't arrest someone merely for being an illegal alien. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) doesn't do anything either, he added, presumably because they lack the resources. Another local merchant noted that in the mornings, when the largest number of illegal aliens congregate in local parking lots, Fairfax County police cars park nearby to keep a watchful eye on the crowd.
But it wasn't a squad car that approached Martinez in the 7-Eleven parking lot on August 1. It was a van carrying two Arab men.
Martinez told Special Agent Gomez that two prospective day laborers approached the two men in the van "but refused to assist Hanjour and Almihdhar when they learned the Arab men wanted help with DMV forms."
Martinez did not share their qualms.
He jumped into the van and directed the two Arabs to drive several miles south to the Springfield Mall. In the mall, they made their way to the "DMV Express," a Virginia state office set up in a storefront.
At that time, to get an official photo identification card from the state of Virginia, a foreign national needed three documents: two to prove his identity, and one to prove his legal residence in the state. A person lacking ordinary documentation of their identity and residence--such as an out-of-state driver's license, a passport, a paycheck, a utility bill--could present the DMV with a pair of certified forms instead. The first form, a so-called DL6, was to establish the applicant's identity. To be legal, a DL6 needed to be signed by a witness who knew the applicant and certified by an attorney in the presence of a notary public. The second, the DL51, which was supposed to establish the applicant's legal residence, needed to be signed--in the presence of a notary public or a clerk at the DMV--by a witness who knew where the applicant lived.
When Hanjour and Almihdhar showed up at DMV Express, they apparently already had two forms of ID--a passport and a legal visa would have been accepted---because they did not submit DL6s to establish their identity. But they did submit DL51s, to "prove" their Virginia residence. Martinez allegedly certified the forms for both of them.
On the forms, the men claimed to live in an apartment complex on the 5900 block of Leesburg Pike--one block down from the strip mall. "This address did not belong to either Hanjour or Almihdhar," Gomez wrote in his affidavit, "but was rather the address that appeared on Martinez's Virginia identification card. Martinez no longer lived at the address, but had in the past."
With their newly minted photo IDs, the two suspected terrorists drove back with Martinez to Culmore. "At the 7-Eleven they all got out of the van," wrote Gomez. "Hanjour and Almihdhar went inside the store and appeared to use the ATM machine. They then came out, paid Martinez $100 in cash for his efforts, and left in the van. Martinez did not see them again."
But the Virginia DMV had not seen the last of these two. Hanjour and Almihdhar were now qualified to certify the legal residency of other terrorists.
That is exactly what they did the next day--at a DMV about three miles from the Pentagon on South Four Mile Run in Arlington.
Wrote Special Agent Gomez: "DMV records also show that Hanjour and Almihdhar used the address Martinez gave them on August 1, 2001, to complete DL51 forms for Majed Moqed (Moqed) and Salem Alhazmi (Alhazmi) on August 2, 2001. Moqed and Alhazmi are believed to be two more of the hijackers who flew Flight 77 into the Pentagon. . . . Hanjour certified Moqed's Virginia residence, Almihdhar certified Alhazmi's Virginia residence. Moqed and Alhazmi submitted these DL51 forms in support of applications for Virginia identifications cards. . . . Both applications were approved."
Al Qaeda had the system down cold. In Minutes
Three other suspected hijackers showed up at the Arlington DMV that very same day. They, too, needed witnesses to help them secure Virginia IDs. But unlike Hanjour and Almihdhar, they needed not only DL51s, to establish a residence, but also DL6s, to establish their identities. That meant they had to have the help of a witness, a notary, and a lawyer.
They got them all in minutes.
Victor M. Lopez-Flores is allegedly one of those who helped. The "INS deported Lopez-Flores to El Salvador on November 19, 1993, following a felony conviction," Special Agent Gomez wrote in an affidavit. "He then returned to the United States unlawfully."
On the day in question, Lopez-Flores later told Special Agent Gomez, "he was standing in a parking lot near the Arlington DMV office with several other Hispanic males.
"There," Gomez writes, "three Arab males approached him in a van with out-of-state plates and sought his assistance in obtaining Virginia identification cards for two of the three of them."
A second Hispanic man, who went by the name of "Herbert," but who carried an ID card in the name of "Oscar Diaz," joined them. "Herbert is in fact Herbert Villalobos," FBI Special Agent Brian G. Weidner said in an affidavit.
Herbert and Lopez-Flores got into Herbert's car and drove to an attorney's office on Columbia Pike in Falls Church. The three Arab men followed in their van.
"According to Lopez-Flores," wrote Gomez, "when they arrived at the attorney's office, he and 'Herbert' took the men into a waiting room where they were all greeted by a female secretary."
The secretary remembered not three, but four, Arab men in her office that day.
"I interviewed Kenys Galicia, the secretary who worked at the attorney's office in Falls Church," wrote Gomez. "Galicia stated that she worked at the attorney's office as a secretary and that she notarized documents for the attorney as well. Galicia stated that a man she knew as 'Victor' and a second Hispanic male brought in four Arab males to her office on our about August 2, 2001."
"Victor" allegedly was a regular customer. "She stated that she has known Lopez-Flores approximately one year," wrote Gomez. "During that time, he brought several people into her office and helped them complete DL6 and DL51 forms."
One of the Arab men in the office that day was Ahmed Alghamdi, one of the suspected hijackers of United Airlines Flight 175, which flew into the World Trade Center towers. Lopez-Flores vouched for his DL51 form, on which Alghamdi falsely claimed to live on Edison Street in Alexandria.
Abdul Alomari was another one of the Arab men in the law office that day. He is a suspected hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11, which also crashed into the World Trade Center towers. Alomari claimed to live on Buchanan Street in Arlington. "Oscar Armando Diaz," whom the FBI believes to be Villalobos, certified Alomari's residency on the DL51. (The actual resident at this location was Villalobos' cousin.)
Villalobos, who told the FBI he believed the men to be Pakistani or Iraqi, added an interesting note. "Villalobos said the attorney then came out of his office and signed the forms as well," wrote Special Agent Weidner. "Here, Villalobos noted that the attorney conversed with the 'Pakistanis' in 'their language.' After this conversation, each 'Pakistani' man paid the secretary $35, and then all returned to the Arlington DMV office. Once back at the DMV office, the 'Pakistani' men paid Villalobos $50 for his assistance and then went into the DMV to get identification cards."
When the FBI later showed Villalobos photos of the suspected September 11 hijackers, he identified five of them--Hani Hanjour, Salem Alhazmi, Majed Moqed, Khalid Alghamdi and Abdul Alomari--as being at the Arlington DMV that day. "These identifications," Special Agent Weidner wrote, "were later confirmed by Virginia DMV records which show that all five men did in fact conduct various transactions relating to Virginia identifications cards at the Arlington DMV on August 2, 2001."
But that did not end the connection between the Virginia DMV and the suspected September 11 hijackers. The agency also has a tie to one of the suspected hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93--the plane that crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after the hijackers were apparently overwhelmed by a group of courageous passengers.
This takes us back down I-395--the main highway heading south from the Pentagon into Virginia--to the Springfield Mall and its "DMV Express."
"DMV records further show that Hanjour used the address Martinez gave him on August 1, 2001, to complete a DL51 form for Ziad Jarrah (Jarrah) on August 29, 2001," wrote Gomez. "Jarrah is believed to be one of the hijackers who commandeered United Airlines Flight 93. Jarrah's DL51 was certified by Hanjour. . . . Jarrah submitted the completed DL51 form in support of an application for a Virginia identification card . . . at the DMV office in Springfield, Va. The application was approved."
As far as the government of Virginia was concerned, five of the September 11 hijackers were just peaceful aliens sharing a small apartment a block from the President's favorite restaurant.
Two more of the suspected hijackers, as far as the state of Virginia was concerned, were peaceful aliens living in Arlington and Alexandria, in neighborhoods close to the Pentagon and Reagan National Airport.
States that issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens should have had those licenses disallowed from use for federal purposes, such as boarding airplanes, by September 30th, 2001 at the latest. Removing the Sensenbrenner provision from this bill was inexcusable.
You are exactly right, these folks have absolutely no knowledge of history. President Bush won in 2000 against the odds, led the way to the historical gain of seats in 2002 and was reelected with even more gains in the Senate and House. The author ought to check out the last time this happened. President Bush knows darn well how and when to use his political capital, this bill was not the place.
Well, the home team has already been at bat and they were caught looking at three strikes.
The Congressional Republicans, President Bush included, forced this disastorous intelligence reform bill through merely for political gain. It does NOTHING to protect us, to protect our borders, to throw out those that have no regard for our laws.
Sorry konaice, we cannot give them a 'pass' just because the new congress has not convened. Putting polotical gain before security is wrong, whether you are left or right.
I am not afraid to elect a STRONG third party nominee. I want a Strong Constitutional nominee a Pro AMerican nominee. I think a few of these in the Senate and about 50 to a 100 in the house would cause the Internationalist Eletist of both Parties to really fear the American Voter and they certainly need to FEAR the American Voter.
The White House press Secretary, when asked what the Administration thought about the Conservative Voters who were upset with the President's Immigration Policy said; So What where else do they have to go!
If they don't get this Border and Immigration tightened up in the next Congress, then we should go, go to a Third Party House or Senate candidate, and watch them squeal as they blow there chance for a 60+ Senate and an even stronger house.
We might want to inaugurate the President before dissecting his failure.
They've already had four years, producing squat in terms of strangling Big Stupid Government.
Not only has Bush not done even the easy stuff like killing the budgets of NEA, PBS and CPB, he's saddled us with at least a trillion of new big pork spending.
I agree with the author.
"We might want to inaugurate the President before dissecting his failure."
Why? It's not as if he hasn't told us exactly what he intends to do about immigration, and also told us that he really didn't pay much attention to polls on the subject.
The leftist academia and sycophant media love to assume what the Republicans are going to do, then cite those assumptions as reason for the upcoming inevitable Republican failure. Don't these folks EVER tire at being wrong?
I don't think a democrat who can't figure out what is wrong with his own party is someone I would take any political advice from. I think I'll wait and see how Bush does over the next 2 years before I consider how much political capital he spent. Although, 20 million to the (fake)palestinians (arab terrorists) is spending frivolously as far as I'm concerned.
Uh, those Republicans that won are not even in office yet.
The Democrats were the majority prior to the '04 elections? Thats news to me.
Establishment apologists will never run out of excuses for why Republicans fail to deliver what they were elected for.
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