Posted on 09/05/2006 9:16:54 AM PDT by Reagan Man
Like the famous racehorse Silky Sullivan, Sen. Rick Santorum is known as a great closer. Yet, months ago, he had been virtually given up for dead by pundits in his race against Bob Casey, Jr., son of the popular, pro-life, former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania.
One poll early this year had Santorum down 23 points, an almost insurmountable deficit. A Strategic Value poll had Santorum down 16 points.
Now the senator who had been written off is finishing fast. An average of all polls monitored by the RealClearPolitics.com website finds him trailing by 6 points. The most recent Strategic Value poll confirms it. Casey is at 47; Santorum, 41 and rising.
What accounts for the surge? The Washington Times traces it to one issue: "Republican strategists say Santorum's tough stand on immigration has become a key factor." No. 3 in the Senate leadership, Santorum was the highest-ranking Republican to vote against the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill that would open a path to U.S. citizenship for 10 million of the aliens who have either broken into our country, or are breaking the laws by being here, plus grant a full pardon from all civil and criminal penalties for the companies that employed them. McCain-Kennedy would further empower corporations to go abroad and hire what unions once called "scabs" to bring here to take jobs Americans cannot take at Third World wages.
"We did a certain amount of internal polling and when it got to immigration, it was very clear," says Santorum's media consultant John Braybender, who prepared two tough ads on immigration. "Rick's position versus Casey's was overwhelming. If Casey or anyone else thinks this is not an issue in Pennsylvania, they should start talking to voters."
Backing up Braybender is the same Strategic Value poll that found 79 percent of Pennsylvanians opposed to amnesty and 82 percent favoring a wall on the Mexican border. Pennsylvanians, like the rest of America, want the border secured and the illegals sent home.
But what will it take to wake up Karl Rove, lately sighted at the Los Angeles convention of the National Council of La Raza, where he won cheers for urging legalization of "undocumented" workers and boos for speaking of border security? (The literal translation of La Raza is "The Race.") Imagine the reaction to David Duke organizing a "National Council of The Race."
Two months from election day, Republicans, divided over Iraq, amnesty, spending, the loss of manufacturing and an economy that has left the working class treading water while the investor class is singing "Happy Days Are Here Again," are looking at the prospect of something somewhere between a defeat and a rout, or a massacre.
Yet if Republicans wish to hold Congress, despite what they may deserve, the Bushites could do no better than to borrow from the Santorum playbook. What can Bush and Congress do in 60 days?
One, publicly set aside the amnesty and guest worker provisions of the McCain-Kennedy bill. Bush cannot get them passed by the House in any event. Second, extract and enact the most urgent and popular provisions of both the Senate and House bills.
Bush should request $3 billion to $4 billion to start a security fence along all major crossing points for drug-dealers, coyotes and illegals. Then have Homeland Security begin systematic and public deportation of felons and gang members who are not U.S. citizens. Tattooed thugs being put on planes in cuffs will do the GOP and nation a world of good.
The FBI can provide the names. It has been tracking MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, the most vicious and violent gang in the hemisphere, with tens of thousands of members in the United States, for a year now.
Then call on Congress to reclaim its authority to denaturalize and deport any new citizen whose conduct -- applauding Al Qaeda or engaging in gang activity -- suggests they lied to become U.S. citizens. Bush could then tour the border again and, this time, shake hands with a few of the Minutemen patriots he earlier derided as "vigilantes." Unfortunately for the GOP, Rove & Co. believe that if Republicans take the hard line on illegal immigration that Pete Wilson took in 1994, the GOP will be as dead nationally as it has been lately in California. They forget: Wilson converted a 20-point deficit into a 10-point victory, captured both houses of the legislature and brought in four new GOP congressmen.
Arnold is the only other Republican to win statewide since then, and he ran against driver's licenses for illegals. No Republican who has taken the Rove-La Raza line has ever won the Golden State. Why is the GOP so mindlessly pursuing a transparently losing strategy? In pandering to La Raza, Rove may be playing for the long run. But as Lord Keynes said, in the long run we are all dead, which is where Republicans are headed if they don't get it right on this issue. Like Rick Santorum.
Sorry, I posted before I finished. In that link I posted, notice the second paragraph. Also, here's the information on the 7% wage increase: http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2006/20060831113629.aspx
Murdering people for being wealthy? Isn't that rather Leninist?
What an idiotic statement.
I agree with you, Howlin. Whenever we lose ground, we - well - lose ground. And we never make it up, despite what Buchanites say. We get voted out of office. The Dems pass a bunch of crap. We get back into office and repeal very little if at all.
Yep. That plan worked really well in Cuba, Soviet Union, Zimbabwe, Mexico, France, etc.
You are an idiot if you think a third party or the democrats will win or be an improvement.
Not only are you an idiot, but you are a QUITTER AND A PESSIMIST.
My thoughts exactly!
YUP
Excuse me if I don't believe the Wall Street Journal, since Wall Street has been the only beneficiary of Demopublican-Republicratic rule.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows real average weekly earnings stagnate or down for both full-time and part-time workers holding production or nonsupervisory jobs.
Of course, this does not take into account that the federal government cooks the inflation numbers to make things look better than they are.
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/news.release/History/realer.08162006.news
Well said!
Hello, it is not the parties, it is the people.
You need to convince the people to change. Without changing the people's minds first, any new party will be an unimportant side show.
LOL, you dismiss one of the world's most respected newspapers and financial sources? Come on. That doesn't do much for your credibility. They are merely reporting income data readily available anywhere which you can find using Google to verify through other sources. The Wall Street Journal isn't the only one reporting this data. To deny the facts because they don't suit your argument is adopting a common tactic used by liberals. Why would you fall into such intellectual dishonesty?
No, you apparently prefer to believe the spin of a demagogue like Pat Buchanan rather than the world's most respected financial and economic reporting sources, the Wall Street Journal.
Here's more verification of the rise in incomes. Feel free to verify this data, all over the news today, in any news source of your liking. The figures don't lie. Patty Boy does:
Second-Quarter Labor Costs Jump 4.9%
As Productivity Growth Is Revised Up
By BRIAN BLACKSTONE
September 6, 2006 10:21 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- U.S. productivity growth was revised higher in the second quarter, but labor costs soared at their fastest annual rate since 1990, suggesting that the U.S. economy isn't out of the woods yet on inflation.
Nonfarm business sector productivity increased 1.6% in the second quarter, matching expectations, after rising 4.3% in the first quarter, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Previous estimates had showed a 1.1% rise in second quarter productivity.
Unit labor costs -- a key gauge of inflationary pressures -- rose by 4.9%, up from the previous estimate of a 4.2% increase and above the 4.1% rate economists had expected. Labor costs in the first quarter soared 9%, up from a previous estimate of a 2.5% rise and the fastest increase since the third quarter of 2000. Compared to a year ago, labor costs increased 5%, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 1990.
Productivity is defined as output per hours worked. Some upward revision to second quarter productivity was expected on the heels of revised estimates of second quarter gross domestic product released late last month. The Commerce Department said GDP advanced at a 2.9% pace last quarter, up from its previous estimate of a 2.5% rise.
The median estimate of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC was for productivity to rise at a 1.6% rate in the second quarter.
Labor is considered the most important input cost to production. Higher labor costs must be either passed through by a company in the form of higher prices to its customers or absorbed in the firm's profit margins.
Thus, productivity is key to how fast the economy can operate without generating inflationary pressures, and makes the Federal Reserve's job of balancing low inflation with sustainable growth easier. And despite the second quarter slowdown, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke seems optimistic about productivity's longer-term trend. "A case can be made that the strong productivity growth of the post-1995 era is likely to continue for some time," Mr. Bernanke said in a speech last week.
The Fed last month kept interest rates steady for the first time in over two years, and is expected to keep the Fed funds rate at 5.25% again when it meets later this month amid signs that the labor market and housing sector are weakening.
Still, signs of rising labor costs could bolster the argument of officials who may want higher rates to stem price pressures. Last month, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker voted against the decision to keep rates steady, saying he preferred another increase.
Nonfarm business output grew 3.1% April through June, according to the Labor Department report. Hours worked rose by 1.5%. Hourly compensation climbed 6.6%. Real compensation, adjusted for inflation, increased 1.6%.
Write to Brian Blackstone at brian.blackstone@dowjones.com
LOL, you dismiss one of the world's most respected newspapers and financial sources? Come on. That doesn't do much for your credibility. They are merely reporting income data readily available anywhere which you can find using Google to verify through other sources. The Wall Street Journal isn't the only one reporting this data. To deny the facts because they don't suit your argument is adopting a common tactic used by liberals. Why would you fall into such intellectual dishonesty?
No, you apparently prefer to believe the spin of a demagogue like Pat Buchanan rather than the world's most respected financial and economic reporting sources, the Wall Street Journal.
Here's more verification of the rise in incomes. Feel free to verify this data, all over the news today, in any news source of your liking. The figures don't lie. Patty Boy does:
Second-Quarter Labor Costs Jump 4.9%
As Productivity Growth Is Revised Up
By BRIAN BLACKSTONE
September 6, 2006 10:21 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- U.S. productivity growth was revised higher in the second quarter, but labor costs soared at their fastest annual rate since 1990, suggesting that the U.S. economy isn't out of the woods yet on inflation.
Nonfarm business sector productivity increased 1.6% in the second quarter, matching expectations, after rising 4.3% in the first quarter, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Previous estimates had showed a 1.1% rise in second quarter productivity.
Unit labor costs -- a key gauge of inflationary pressures -- rose by 4.9%, up from the previous estimate of a 4.2% increase and above the 4.1% rate economists had expected. Labor costs in the first quarter soared 9%, up from a previous estimate of a 2.5% rise and the fastest increase since the third quarter of 2000. Compared to a year ago, labor costs increased 5%, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 1990.
Productivity is defined as output per hours worked. Some upward revision to second quarter productivity was expected on the heels of revised estimates of second quarter gross domestic product released late last month. The Commerce Department said GDP advanced at a 2.9% pace last quarter, up from its previous estimate of a 2.5% rise.
The median estimate of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC was for productivity to rise at a 1.6% rate in the second quarter.
Labor is considered the most important input cost to production. Higher labor costs must be either passed through by a company in the form of higher prices to its customers or absorbed in the firm's profit margins.
Thus, productivity is key to how fast the economy can operate without generating inflationary pressures, and makes the Federal Reserve's job of balancing low inflation with sustainable growth easier. And despite the second quarter slowdown, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke seems optimistic about productivity's longer-term trend. "A case can be made that the strong productivity growth of the post-1995 era is likely to continue for some time," Mr. Bernanke said in a speech last week.
The Fed last month kept interest rates steady for the first time in over two years, and is expected to keep the Fed funds rate at 5.25% again when it meets later this month amid signs that the labor market and housing sector are weakening.
Still, signs of rising labor costs could bolster the argument of officials who may want higher rates to stem price pressures. Last month, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker voted against the decision to keep rates steady, saying he preferred another increase.
Nonfarm business output grew 3.1% April through June, according to the Labor Department report. Hours worked rose by 1.5%. Hourly compensation climbed 6.6%. Real compensation, adjusted for inflation, increased 1.6%.
Write to Brian Blackstone at brian.blackstone@dowjones.com
NO, if you had bothered to follow my link, you would see I was referencing ORIGINAL Bureau of Labor Statistics data. You don't need to use MSM or Google if you understand the sources of economic data and how it is collected.
I repeat: REAL wages have been stagnant for middle income people for several years.
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