Posted on 04/16/2006 11:47:35 AM PDT by wagglebee
Newt Gingrich, the architect of the 1994 GOP Revolution, is warning that Republicans in Congress better "get their act together" and pass tough new laws against illegal immigration - or the Democrats will win back the House and Senate in November.
Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," the former House Speaker scorched his successors for a lack of performance across a whole range of issues, but zeroed in on what he called "the debacle two weeks ago on immigration."
"The [Senate's] McCain-Kennedy bill and the compromise that followed is so far from what the average American wants," Gingrich said, "that it raises the danger of Republican [voters] staying home."
The one-time top Republican noted that in poll after poll, the public has demanded tougher border security and reforms like a voter ID card, saying it would be easy to put Democrats on the defensive on the illegal immigration issue.
"I'd be perfectly happy for the Senate Republicans to bring up a border control bill and have Hillary and Schumer try to stop it," Gingrich told Fox.
"Sometimes incumbents forget that we were sent here to reform Washington, we were not sent here to be co-opted by Washington," he added. "For Republicans to succeed in '06 and '08 we need real change."
"The question for Republicans in the next 90 days is: Are they going to become the party of real change?" Gingrich said. "Are they going to learn some lessons and get their act together?"
they don't need to win all 31 seats...they only need about 16 to win the House. This is not a sure thing but very, very possible.
For the Senate the Dems would need to take 6 Republican seats while holding all of their incumbents. This seems a longshot.
The Dems will pick up seats in the house..the only question is if they can pick up the magic number to flip control.
The only thing that keeps them from winning the house easily is the re-districting and the fact that frankly, the Democrats are still Democrats.
As it stands at the moment, the Republicans have lost 54.7 percent of its base because of the amnesty issue, according the the FR poll.
And congress and the president says, 'Just a flesh wound.'
I have an honest question. Will all the work being done to find and support true conservatives be in vain if more than half of the Republicans will not be voting Republican anyway, if our poll is any indication of what will happen nationally -- and we're supposedly the hard-core conservatives.
And another question: If the border issue isn't resolved before November to the satisfaction of more than half of the Republicans, how hard would it be to predict the future of the country if the dems sweep house in November and '08?
And BTW, McCain's a joke and wouldn't get any closer to the Oval Office than he is right now regardless if the border issue were resolved.
A little over 200 days and counting . . .
'Houston, we're having more of a problem than we realized.'
except for the felony provision - that makes no sense, we aren't going to deport 12 million people forcibly through law enforcement - with trials, appeals, etc.
the "red meat" crowd likes the felony provision - drop it, its marginalizing what are otherwise good border security proposals and a halt to blanket amnesty. americans support those ideas, but not a "roundup". the Dems voted to sustain the felony provision in the house for exactly this reason.
No problem... with so many threads it's easy for any of us to get confused on what we replied to.
He states (and I believe rightly so) that if the Feds started prosecuting employers the market for undocumented workers would dry up and most would return to Mexico, Central or SA by attrition.
I would add everyone here and elsewhere should fight to get their States' version of our Prop 200 into place (and enforce it) and that would go a long way toward discouraging them to come here and stay; once they no longer receive free medical care, have to show proof of citizenship to vote, etc., they lose their current edge.
Neither do I. Krauthammer is another pundit like so many in the media who support amnesty and are willing to say practically anything to get it, including even calling opponents "right wing extremists" as Barnes apparently did. Thankfully it's not really important what they believe, anyone listening to those that matter lately like Boehner from the House would probably get the sense amnesty is going nowhere fast.
Fox has been trying to brainwash their viewers on this subject for the past two weeks.
The only one in tune with the average American on this issue is Lou Dobbs. No wonder his ratings are going up.
If the dems win, they will be so happy and magnanimous they will forget about the impeachment. The republicans are already far down the road towards impeaching themselves on this border issue. The election will only amount to an academic exercise for the dems. They will be moving their furniture in before the polls close.
Something's gotta give. And soon!
Ah, the PT Barnum "there's a sucker born every minute" theory of Government! Those informed of what happened in 1986 amnesty know that it led to floods of later illegal immigration. Maybe some Americans can be fooled, but not most and NOT FOR LONG. If the GOP Congress does this, they will have handed the majority to the Democrats.
americans don't support the idea (no matter what freepers think) of deporting 12 million people at the point of a gun .. ... which is of course one of the STRAWMAN arguments used by the pro-amnesty side, insisting that its blanket amnesty or deportation of 12 million. The best answer is NEITHER. Seal the border to stem the tide, enforce the law so the jobs go to legal immigrants only, and have a *limited* program for guest workers to provide a supply-demand that is legal. ...
... the new law should provide disincentives to them staying, especially the single male laborers, so they deport themselves. go after US employers and landlords with harsh sanctions. ...
Excatly so. The system can be changed so there is no longer incentive to stay for illegal aliens. It took YEARS to get into this fix, and it will take years to get out of it. Some illegal aliens may find ways to 'legalize' their situation, but it must be only in limited ways that put the LEGAL immigrants first. NO amnesty!
That would be the greatest thing the Democrats could possibly do for the President. Not only would it lead to the GOP rallying behind the President (like the Dems did with Clinton), but it would also mean hearings would take place, in which 99% of the Democrats' charges would be debunked. The press would no longer be able to speculate about things, because the truth would finally come out. Impeachment would never pass, because the Senate itself would remain Republican, and the Democrats will have shot themselves in the foot like the Republicans did to themselves back in the 1990s.
Then by all means DON'T vote.
that's a stretch - let's get real, the only people standing in the way of amnesty, are republicans in the House. why lump them in with McCain?
"The Dems will take back the House and maybe the Senate too. But at least the current GOP majority can at least think well of themselves."
You are exactly right and they will have earned the it too. Don't forget about the White House. The PR team led by Karl Rove has to be one one of the worst of any organization, public or private than any I have seen in a long time. Rove knows how to win elections, but he is worthless with PR. Why no one has not removed Scott McClenan from the White House press office is beyond me.
I hate to agree with the Rats and the MSM, but tone deaf this White House is indeed.
If that is really how you feel vote your Representatives out of office. But Vote.
"the "red meat" crowd likes the felony provision - drop it, its marginalizing what are otherwise good border security proposal ... the Dems voted to sustain the felony provision in the house for exactly this reason."
190 Democrats to be exact... that reminds me, I should write a letter to the editor on this ... The Austin Statesman had the 'positions' on immigration and showed Rep Lloyd Doggett as opposed to making it a felony to break immigration law, yet he joined his 190 Democrat colleagues to vote to to keep the felony provision in the HR4377 bill.
This act of hypocritical sabotage of the bill, voting for a provision so you could attack it later, is exactly what is most wrong about partisan politics in Washington today.
Democrats want either a bad bill (amnesty only, with no serious immigration enforcement) or no bill at all.
As this is NOT a problem that just sprang from the ground like a mushroom I would be interested in hearing what tough new laws against illegal immigration Newt proposed and/or supported while he was the Speaker of the House.
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