Posted on 11/14/2006 10:05:58 AM PST by Checkers
As soon as the House and Senate GOP have their leadership teams in place, and soon after the lame duck session ends, the 250 House and Senate members should repair to a conference center somewhere for a long conversation on illegal immigration leading to a consensus position. Certainly there will be outliers, but an ongoing bloodletting over the issue is the only major obstacle in the path to return to majority status. An ongoing focus on the issue is found at Powerline, and though I am unwilling to simply credit Tamar Jacoby's take on the subject, she is generally correct that the issue of illegal immigration did not deliver a wave of support for GOP candidates who thought it would.
I have been a skeptic of the power of the issue based on last fall's special election in which Congressman John Campbell easily bested Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist depsite national focus on and support for Gilchrist by the anti-illegal immigration movement. Once the promise of border security was delivered via the fence legislation, the issue lost a great deal of its pull because border security is primarily what the center-right wanted. Regularization of the nation's millions of illegals along common-sense lines such should follow the fence's construction --or at least robust beginning of construction. If the GOP avoids plainly inequitable proposals such as the grant of social security benefits for the wages earned while illegally in the country or a path to citizenship for those who do not return first to their home countries, the comprehensive legislation can be worked out quickly.
And it should be, but the construction of the fence is a very big deal. It is a symbol of seriousness about border security, and also a symbol or responsiveness to the demands of the electorate. The fencing is something the voters want to see done, and done soon. Their demand was met rhetorically, and now it has to be fulfilled in reality.
I think many Republicans fail to understand just how significant the fence is, and of the crucial necessity that the Adminstration get it underway and soon. There should be a point man or woman at DHS --accountable to Secretary Chertoff-- and a very public, very transparent accounting of where the fence is going and how much has been constructed. Delays due to excessive planning will be interpreted as feet-dragging, and a bait-and-switch in the making.
Advocates of regularization should recognize this dynamic as well. If the fence goes up and genuine border security emerges, the public will support rational regularization. But if Democrats attempt to spike the fence or the Adminstration attempts to pass off 100 miles as a down payment on 700, the issue will flare again. "Virtual" fencing gets zero credit from the public. They have been promised the real deal, and seeing will be believing.
If the Adminstration cannot get a few hundred miles of double fencing in place in a matter of months, it will invite the sort of withering and constant criticism from the anti-illegal immigration absolutists that will drain support from a comprehensive approach. My conversation on the fence with Tony Snow on Thursday last was not what I expected, but hopefully the DHS is getting its act together quickly and will have the transparency in place soon.
This is why the GOP should listen to Michael Savage and not Hugh Hewitt. As soon as the border bill passed, Savage was on the air to warn listeners not to take it seriously until it was funded. Then the next day, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Aztlan) said that the bill was only symbolic and "would never be funded". Only superficial thinkers like Hewitt thought the issue died with the fence bill. Minuteman supporters and true anti-illegal conservatives were not fooled by this posturing. We knew that without funding attatched, the bill was a cynical attempt to buy our votes.
Then of course a few weeks later, Herr Gonzales' Gestapo railroaded the two border agents for 12 years in jail for shooting a verminous drug dealer in the ass. The rage over that conviction--coming just days before the election--cannot be understated. Savage covered it. Hewitt, Rove and everyone else ignored it.
That may be conventional wisdom among like minded people on FR, but I don't believe it to be a universal truth. Hispanics, liberals and many of the independent swing voters believe the House Republicans were being racist in thier position on immigration. I to believe the immigration issue was at play in several key Republican loses, JD Hayworth among them. You don't threaten to make 20M people felons and not get a blacklash. Yes, I know the Dems added that and maybe quite cleverly so.
Forget it. Not one foot will ever be built.
I’ve read that 76% of Hispanic votes went to the Democrats.
Now let’s play Would’a, Should’a, Could’a:
If, two years ago Bush deigned to work with Republicans and secure the border first, not just talk, but demonstrably secure the border.
After a year or two of real control of the border, Bush could have gone to the Republican Congress and pointed out his success on border control and demand a guest worker plan.
Then, Bush could have gone into this past election with his base voters happy with a secure border and Hispanics happy with a guest worker plan. Republicans would have received that 76% of Hispanic votes, kept control of congress and perhaps brought those voters to the GOP for decades to come.
But no, it was more important to Bush to oppose his base voters than to work out a winning solution. That was his choice, now he can deal with a Dem congress which wants nothing more than to impeach him.
When impeachment starts and he comes looking for help, I hope he brings a “comprehensive plan”.
True all the Legal and Illegal aliens VOTES went for democrats..
As the White RINO House wanted and lobbied covertly and overtly for..
The Republican Party has become brazenly leftist.. the partys are merging.. in essence..
Indeed, Bush was and is now, "A Unite'er not a Divide'er"...
Worse than Bill Clinton... we HATED Clinton...
Bush (and minions) are Moles..
Baloney. People want to say Graf and JD lost because of it, not true. RNC refused $ to Graf for his campaign, the DNC funded his opponent like crazy. JD was hammered for: Abramoff, stem cells and his wife getting lobby $$.... two initiatives that passed by a clear margin were English Only and No State services $$$ for illegals...
" have been a skeptic of the power of the issue based on last fall's special election in which Congressman John Campbell easily bested Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist depsite national focus on and support for Gilchrist by the anti-illegal immigration movement. "
Whatever happened to "just doing what's right" vs. wrangling for votes, power, etc.
We are in a sad shape.
With your screen name, I'm sure we agree on a couple of things.
the fence concept is bullsh!t pure and simple - otherwise our mexican loving Kongress wouldn't have passed it and Jorje Bush wouldn't have signed it. You don't keep cockroaches out of your kitchen by building a fence aroudn your kitchen - they come through. The only way to get rid of illegal immigration is to remove the incentives to come here
There are two types of incentives - government and private. Government incentives include welfare, medical care for the ninos, and GOVERNMENT SCHOOLING for th children. Get rid of these and get rid of the anchor baby concept and you'll go a lot farther to reducing illegal immigration than a fence. Private incentives need to be gotten rid of too - require all employers to check immigration status of all hispanic workers. Provide prompt response from government agencies on the checks. MAKE THE USE OF FORGED DOCUMENTS PUNISHABLE BY JAIL TIME. The forgeries are good, and can fool almost everyone.
The fence is a boondoggle and a lightning rod designed to distract attention from effective measures to stem illegal immigration.
The pro-illegals crowd here at FR would love for it to be so (that we lost because of being against illegal immigration) ... not the case, but all of a sudden people who are excellent at doing research are pseudo-experts on states like Arizona and our election results.
They can continue to have jobs and continue to add more largess to another FAILED government agency.
Better start learning spanish because that is what we are headed for.
To summarize this article:
70% of the electorate opposes illegal alien floods.
Building a fence will be a good smokescreen to shut this majority up.
Once that is done, we can ignore any enforcement actions, since the sheep will be placated.
We can then go on with amnesty and a renewed flood of illegals that make the Chamber of Commerce and the Wall Streeters happy and profits big.
Left out of this equation:
The illegals won't vote Republican, they will vote for welfare state Democrats and fellow Hispanics (see Los Angeles mayor and city council).
America will devolve into Honduras, with no middle class, a huge indentured working poor, and a vastly wealthy elite.
Final irony: George Bush and Karl Rove will be retiring to Tejas in the new Peoples Republic of Aztlan. Hugh Hewitt and Chavez and Kristol and Kondrake and all the highly paid talking heads will be replaced by guys named Jorge and Ramon talking only Spanish.
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