Posted on 11/27/2006 10:36:38 AM PST by jmc813
The White House is reaching out to leading congressional Democrats on the issue of overhauling immigration, hoping to build a bipartisan coalition to support a "guest worker" program and provide a path to legalized status for many undocumented immigrants, lawmakers and administration officials said. President Bush has expressed an eagerness to work with Democrats on the issue in private meetings with lawmakers and in public statements, as he seeks to strike a new tone with Democrats who will be in control of Congress for the final two years of his presidency. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat who is set to take the chairmanship of the subcommittee that oversees immigration issues, has already met with leading Republicans -- including Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the Judiciary Committee's top Republican -- to begin crafting a new bill early next year. " They are hoping to have Congress vote on a final immigration bill by mid-2007, according to congressional aides.
Representative Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican who leads a group of hard-liners on the immigration issue in the House, said he was dejected in the days after the election and was ready to concede that a comprehensive bill is all but unstoppable. But watching early signs of disunity among Democrats, he said, gives him hope that conservatives can coalesce to defeat anything they view as "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants, despite the formidable power of a White House working in concert with congressional leaders. "Now we've got a fighting chance to stop this," Tancredo said. " They're going to have a tough time constructing a bill that will be able to hold whatever kind of coalition they can put together. You have these various forces pulling at it all ways."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
There is little evidence to suggest that conservatives stayed home in large numbers. OTOH Independents broke Dem in a big way.
Sure, blame the independents.
Amen. Also... quote the Boston Globe. Sheesh.
I got it from the analysis done by Mike Barone and Jay Cost. Where do you get your theory from?
There were 25 GOP holdouts - the most conservative members of the GOP. Bush neutered them by courting Dems.
WAKE. UP. TO. REALITY.
Spite voters and those who sat out the election are responsible for the loss of 4 Senators who VOTED NO ON S2611/the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill. They're also responsible for the loss of 19 members of Congress who supported HR4437, the "get tough on illegals" legislation.
You kept the RINOs and appeasers and dumped the good guys.
ping
There are still not enough votes for cloture on McCain-Kennedy
There are still enough votes for cloture on Hagel-Martinez
They ain't saying anything all that different from what Tony Snow said the day after the election regarding working with the new Dem majority to get shamnesty passed.
This is almost a no-brainer for Democratic strategists.
Amnesty means that between 12 and 18 million poor Hispanics (mostly) join the voter ranks. They will vote at least 60/40, and probably more like 70/30, for the Democrats, which means several million new Democratic voters in the pool, which tips the whole electoral balance irretrievably in the Democrat direction.
The only thing that makes this a little hard for them is the fear of the union base. Of course, legal aliens will be subject to closed shop rules, etc. Different game.
Since he isn't running for reelection, he doesn't seem to care what his base thinks anymore...OR if we lose the White House in 2008.
Even if we factor in the amnesty, OR an earned path to citizenship, it does nothing to stop the flow of Illegals. It will have the reverse effect.
Thank God for Patriots like Tancredo and Sessions..who are determined to fight this till the bitter end.
sw
So you are blaming passage of the Prescription Drug Bill on 16 Dem votes YEA, rather than on 204 GOP votes YEA.
lol
If only 3 of those 220 total votes had gone NAY, the bill would not have passed.
The dems may be the ones to stop it.
Stop it you are killing me.
Those moderate dems are ruining this nation.
All that matters is the leadership. Conyers and pelosi will give us amnesty.
The leadership bringing it to the floor will get the votes for amnesty.
Even if 10 dems voted against it what counts is the leadership bringing it to the floor.
Those blue dogs are meaningless in the new congress pelosi will be able to bring bills to the floor and get the votes she needs.
Also the blue dogs made conyers chairman and he won't fund the border fence.
The dems have awful policies and they win because they are united.
Republicans on the other hand stab conservative policies in the back by voting for blue dogs who make pelosi and conyers the powerbrokers.
sw
I have long suspected and posted those thoughts here that his goal is to be like his father: A Clinton follows him into the White House.
Sorry La, the republican party has gotten just what it deserves. They left the base out to dry and treated us the way Dem-wit-crats treat blacks. The belief being we will vote for them no matter what.
Well guess what, Bush and alot of his people sold us a cheap bill of goods and now the party is paying the piper.
Look at both of Bush's nominee's for SCOTUS, JOKES come to my mind. They were if I recall closet liberals or worse, make believe republicans.
I for one hope that we find someone to run in 08 that will deliver the goods.
1. Smaller Government
2. Lower Taxes
3. Smaller Government
4. Close the boarder and deport illegals, NOW.
5. Did I mention smaller Goverenment?
6. And close the boarders
The leadership of the Republican Party makes this Republican sick to my stomach, and we vomited them out of office on election day. I and alot of others are not one issue voters, if you notice above there is more than one issue.
After he leaves office Bush can hang out with Bill and do the speech thing, brothers, he wasn't far from the truth at least in his policy positions.
Next time the idiots that follow in their footsteps will understand that they to are going to be sent home too.
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