Mark Levin speaking truth.
Posted on 05/22/2006 7:06:35 AM PDT by wcdukenfield
05/21 07:44 PM According to today's Washington Post:
Hispanic voters, many of whom responded favorably to President Bush's campaign appeals emphasizing patriotism, family and religious values in Spanish-language media in 2004, are turning away from the administration on immigration and a host of other issues, according to a new survey.
At the same time, separate polls show that conservative white Republicans are the voting group most hostile to the administration's support for policies that would move toward the legalization of many undocumented immigrants.
More here .
For all the talk about Karl Rove's brilliance, it was a blunder of monumental proportions to force a confrontation on illegal immigration now—a relative few months before the midterm elections—in a way that enrages both the conservative base and a liberal constituency against Republicans. The president has endangered scores of Republicans, some of whom are excellent public servants. And depending on how this turns out legislatively, he may have done lasting damage to the Republican party.
But Rove and Bush are not alone. John McCain has spent a decade undermining the GOP and thumbing his nose at the conservative base. The McCain-Feingold bill had as one of its primary purposes the weakening of the party structure, which was never of much use to McCain especially after the party rejected his presidential run in 2000. On issue after issue, McCain has led the so-called Senate moderates to undermine and ambush the Senate's thin Republican majority and even thinner conservative plurality, positioning himself as some kind of independent and progressive. He uses the media to draw attention to himself, and the media use him to highlight his anti-conservatism. And here he is again, pushing the most radical transformation of our society in recent history.
The Senate Republicans have never figured out how to put McCain in box. And so their ranks are splintering even more. We now get lectures from the likes of Chuck Hagel and Lindsey Graham, who in past Senate's would have been rightly seen as light-weights. Arlen Specter humiliated himself among his conservative colleagues to persuade them to support his ascendancy to head of the Judiciary Committee. He uses that post to trash the president's commander-in-chief powers. In 2004, Lincoln Chafee announced that he wouldn't be voting for the president, and he votes repeatedly with the Democrat minority. If Rove and Bush hadn't supported Specter in the Republican primary in Pennsylvania, conservative Pat Toomey may well be filling the seat. Today, Bush's RNC is backing Chafee in the Republican primary in Rhode Island against Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey, a conservative. And there are others.
So now the Republican president and the Republican Senate are cobbling together an illegal-immigration bill that will badly damage both the Republican party and the country. The bill would make permanent so-called temporary guest-workers as they wouldn't have to return home (so much for going to the back of some imagined line); it would expand greatly the number of legal aliens invited to come to our country by tens of millions (apparently there's no end to the number of jobs Americans won't do); it would legalize virtually all of the 11 million illegal aliens currently in our country (the number is probably much greater); it would apply Davis-Bacon union wage requirements on jobs performed by so-called temporary workers (so much for cheap labor and cheap lettuce); it would confer Social Security benefits on immigrants for the period of time they were working using stolen or fake Social Security numbers (but it's not amnesty, they tell us); and it wouldn't recognize English as the nation's official language (so much for promised assimilation). And, of course, the same federal politicians and bureaucracy that won't and/or can't enforce the current law assure us that they'll manage and enforce a far more complicated, multi-tier, multi-level system involving far more people.
Meanwhile, we're supposed to accept all of this and more in exchange for what is essentially a sound-bite about using a few thousand National Guardsmen on the border—who are not going to be doing border enforcement. A 370-mile fence will supposedly be built, leaving about 85% of the southern border without a physical fence. But there will be sensors and gliders that will presumably get an accurate count of the number of illegal aliens crossing our border since there won't be enough physical barriers to stop them or border agents to apprehend them.
And the primary culprit in all of this—the Mexican government—will continue to insist that America isn't doing enough and America is not a friendly neighbor. It will continue to send its lawyers into our courtrooms to challenge any effort to stem the mass exportation of Mexico's poor to our country. And why not? Let Americans pay for the public services Mexico refuses to confer on its own people. And the illegal aliens in the U.S. send billions of dollars back to Mexico, which helps prop-up its socialist economy. Besides, so much of the United States really belongs to Mexico, doesn't it? But for American imperialism under the presidency of James Polk, we'd all be speaking Spanish now. The Mexican government is playing a nasty game with its people, and our government is complicit. There’s nothing compassionate or humane about our government’s timidity in dealing with Mexico’s ruling class.
So, what motivates Rove and Bush? It can't be politics, can it? Surely they don't honestly believe that securing 40% of the votes of a growing ethnic minority is a path to continued majority status? And surely they're aware that despite Ronald Reagan granting amnesty to nearly 3 million illegal aliens, that wasn't enough to ensure the political allegiance of a majority of Hispanic voters. In recent decades, Republicans have had a difficult time figuring out how to convince minorities to support them. Apparently Rove and Bush, not to mention McCain, et al, have decided the best approach is to parrot liberals. Therefore, they support making that which is illegal legal, pretend to care about border security, and are spreading around benefits and entitlements.
Yes, we’re a nation of immigrants, like every other nation. But our government has never acted so irresponsibly. In the past, our country decided what kind of immigrants it needed and wanted. Today, illegal immigrants and foreign nations bring pressure on our politicians because they know it will respond favorably to their demands. America’s political class has never been so frivolous about U.S. citizenship and sovereignty, and so contemptible of the will of the American people. This is why the Republican majority will likely pay a severe price in November, even though conservatives like Jeff Sessions and Jim Sensenbrenner, among many others, are fighting the good fight and trying to save the day, while liberals get a free ride.
Mark Levin speaking truth.
Border security is going to have to go further than the Senate bill. I think if the conference produces something more than that, something closer to the House version, the package will be a good deal.
I don't get this. If they are excellent public servants, does that not mean their constituents will be satisfied with them? GWB's position on immigration, which is the same position he's held since before being elected president, has no bearing at all on whether or not I like my congressman (I do.)
"The president has endangered scores of Republicans, some of whom are excellent public servants."
The excellent ones seem to be in the minority. If my senator were against blanket amnesty, (which is effectively what's being given), I would vote for him. But he's DeWine... a political hack.
HR4437 is ALL that is required. Bush needs to wake up and start listening to conservatives on immigration reform. Conservatives like Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh. Bush needs to turnaround the damage his domestic liberal policy agenda has done to America.
I wonder if there would still be such a clamor in support of the amnesty fiasco if the economy was really as bad as the Rats claim, and AMERICAN CITIZENS were actually unable to find jobs?
"I wonder if there would still be such a clamor in support of the amnesty fiasco if the economy was really as bad as the Rats claim, and AMERICAN CITIZENS were actually unable to find jobs? "
It's a point I've brought up, which no one seems to be considering. Take it one step further... eventually, as happens in all economies, there will be a downturn. And jobs will be scarce. What then? A lot of unemployed people + a lot of illegal immigrants seems to be the equivalent of gasoline + matches.
Well put as usual just MSM spin
What this boils down to is that our President and the Republican leadership in the Senate are NOT conservatives....just Republicans. Big spending, open-borders Republicans.
Yeah, it does. Everyone knows that Kyl is one of the best senators out there, yet he is only 7% ahead of his democrat opponent. Illegals will be voting in 2006 in AZ make no mistake about it.
Well, we can't say Mark Levin is an MSM spinner. But he is a talk show host who needs to reflect the views of his listeners if he wants to stay in business. I'll even give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's being honest. I just don't get how it's such a travesty to ask the Congress to vote on something prior to an election. What the hell is wrong with that??? The president is stupid for making Congress accountable on the issue?? They don't have to agree with the president. Vote it down if it's such a turkey. If that's what voters want, why would they suffer?
That is assuming of course that the current administration will ENFORCE the new law. I seriously have my doubts. I fear that even if the House version is passed without change with no taint of amnesty (hypothetically), this administration will not enforce it.
They haven't enforced it before, why would they start now. President Bush wants his guest worker program and he is determined to get it.
I would almost bet that if the House version gets passed (which it won't) that President Bush would exercise his first veto on that. What do you think?
You say only 7% in a business where 10% is considered a rout. Anyway, I still don't get it. If Kyl is taking the correct position on immigration, how is he going to suffer at the pols. Presumably the ppl who would be turned off by his stand on the issue wouldn't have voted for him in the first place.
I think if Bush vetoes the House bill or signs an amnesty proposal then he shows that he is unwilling to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution." That is coming dangerously close to impeachable.
Levin is a smart guy, but I'm not sure just how clearly he's reading the political climate in the U.S. on this issue. I'm starting to wonder if all this controversy about illegal immigration is based on some mistaken notions about what exactly the electorate wants to see done in Washington.
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
Ping.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.