Posted on 07/02/2007 3:28:18 PM PDT by hardback
I asked one of the few conservative Republican senators who stuck with President Bush on immigration to assess how Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell handled the issue. Asking not to be quoted by name, he replied: "If this were a war, Sen. McConnell should be relieved of command for dereliction of duty."
Not only did the minority leader end up voting against an immigration bill that he said was better than the 2006 version that he supported. He abandoned his post, staying off the floor during final stages of Senate debate. Although I never before had seen a Senate party leader completely bail out of a major legislative fight, relieving McConnell of command seems too drastic. Until now, he had high marks from colleagues during his six-month leadership following four dreary years under Bill Frist. McConnell's non-performance on immigration derived from general Republican malaise going well beyond a single issue.
It is difficult to exaggerate the pessimism about the immediate political future voiced by Republicans in Congress when not on the record. With an unpopular president waging an unpopular war, they see electoral catastrophe in 2008, with Democratic gains in both House and Senate and Hillary Clinton in the White House. These lachrymose lawmakers for several months have faced an increasing hysterical onslaught from constituents demanding the death of the "amnesty" for immigrants that they hear vilified daily on talk radio.
These callers recently swamped phone lines to Republican congressional offices (as well as the White House) with threats they never would vote again for anybody supporting "amnesty." While that intimidated previous supporters of the immigration bill, its opponents reacted to the xenophobia of their backers as a ray of light in the bleak political landscape.
"We did it!" exulted freshman Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, one of the bill's leading Republican opponents, e-mailing financial contributors (including some who never had given DeMint any money). Sounding like a right-wing radio talk show host, DeMint declared: "When the U.S. Senate brought the amnesty bill back up this week, they declared war on the American people." The message concluded with a request for a donation to DeMint's 2010 re-election fund. DeMint was not the only triumphant e-mailer. New Gingrich, eyeing a presidential run, declared "a soaring victory for the American people" by defeating the "Bush-Kennedy-McCain bill."
DeMint and Gingrich gloated because 12 Republican senators who had supported the bill succumbed to pressure and voted against it Thursday -- most without prior explanation, as did McConnell. He is up for re-election in Kentucky in a difficult 2008 for Republicans, with the state's other GOP senator, Jim Bunning, beating a tattoo on immigration. Among the switchers were Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who was booed last month at the Georgia Republican convention for supporting the bill and faces a re-election fight next year, and Sen. Richard Burr, under attack in his state of North Carolina.
McConnell was among six switchers who voted no after the 40 senators needed to kill the bill were recorded. Another late switcher was Sen. Sam Brownback, seeking the Republican presidential nomination as the candidate of the right. He first voted for cloture Thursday to keep the immigration bill alive, and put a press release explaining his vote on his presidential Web site. When it became clear the bill had failed, he changed his vote and scrubbed his statement from the Internet.
Unlike McConnell, the second- and third-ranking Senate GOP leaders -- Trent Lott and Jon Kyl -- stuck with the bill despite intense pressure in their respective home states of Mississippi and Arizona. So did Sen. Lindsey Graham, facing threats of Republican primary opposition in South Carolina next year. So did Sen. John McCain, despite damage to his crumbling presidential campaign.
"This isn't a day to celebrate," McConnell said in his post-mortem, contradicting victory cheers by DeMint and Gingrich. Indeed, Republicans drove another nail into Bush's political coffin and undermined hopes for the growing Hispanic vote. Contending that the time "wasn't now" for immigration, McConnell added: "It wasn't the people's will. And they were heard." He was blaming Republican failure on his fellow citizens, which seldom works in politics.
I sure hope so : )
I’d like to see the three of them rid out of town on the RINO they rid on on!
Demand a border fence! Build it NOW!! Beef up the border patrol and close our borders!
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Toll free to the US Senate:
1-800-882-2005. (Spanish number)
1-800-417-7666. (English number)
Courtesy of a pro-amnesty group, no less!!
Republican National Committee
310 First Street, SE Washington, D.C. 20003
phone: 202.863.8500 | fax: 202.863.8820 | e-mail: info@gop.com
bttt
I can’t wait for the day that Lott is out of there.
He was falling all over himself a few weeks ago apologizing on the Senate floor to Teddy “the Swimmer” Kennedy.
Poor Trent was all upset that Kennedy had to actually listen to opposing views on his amnesty bill. It was pathetic!
reference material for any forum members that have been incommunicado
since last Wednesday:
Brownback Says He Intended to Switch Vote on Immigration
(Presdiential Candidate CYA Time)
Lawrence Journal & World News ^ | Sam Hananel | By Sam Hananel
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1858307/posts
Brownback Scrubs Website of Earlier Immigration Vote
Iowa Indeendent ^ | Thursday (06/28) at 14:08 PM | Ben Weyl
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1857914/posts
Sam Brownback Attack Ad (Meet The GOP John Kerry Alert)
Michelle Malkin.com ^ | 06/28/2007 | Michelle Malkin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1857896/posts
The Amnesty Cloture Vote - In Order
[Video of Brownback switching]
HotAir.com ^ | June 28, 2007 | AllahPundit
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1857874/posts
I used to think Novak was a conservative!
Hey boys and girls, elections are next year and we haven't had any primaries yet. If you're so damn "pessimis[tic] about the immediate political future", show some balls and either a) resign now or b) don't bother to run for reelection. We need some ass-kickers in Congress, not a bunch of bunch of whipped pussies.
I use to think George Bush and Karl Rove were conservatives....
I could go on and on....
Not to rain on your parade, but Lott will only retire when he wants to. Once again, the person who lives 30 miles from Mississippi is the one who has to bring this up.
Lott’s base is on the coast, which is one of two heavily populated, heavily Republican areas in Mississippi. Like alot of people on the coast, Lott lost his home in the storm. Lott then took a very popular position in the area, which was to tear the insurance companies a new once issues arose regarding the payment of claims. He’s never going to lose those people, and so that means that, for any Republican to seriously challenge Lott in a primary, they’d have to based out of Rankin County, the most Republican county in the state.
The thing is though, if a Rankin based pol ended up defeating Lott in a primary, that would mean that it was basically a race of region against region, and, unlike Rankin, coastal Mississippi has shown a strong preference for bucking their typical Republican trend if the Republican is from another part of the state running against one of theirs. The perfect example of this is Attorney General Jim Hood. Hood is from Pascagoula, and he carried all three coastal counties, including his home county, which is heavily Republican, and the home of Trent Lott Airport, Trent Lott Middle School, etc.
If it was thought that Lott was seriously vulnerable, a coastal Democrat would run, and by defeating Lott in the primary, all you would do is ensure a Democrat won the seat because the defection of the coast, given Mississippi’s current landscape, would mean the defeat of the upstate candidate.
I can understand the disapproval of Lott, but, the political realities of Mississippi dictate one thing. He is not Lindsey Graham. Graham is actually easy to beat. People in Charleston are still pissed that for the first time in over a half-century, neither Senator has particularly strong ties to Charleston. Run a Charleston Republican and you can beat Graham in the primary, because Charleston won’t vote for him over one of their own, and there is going to be defection in upstate South Carolina, which is his base.
Intrastate politics is very difficult for someone not a resident to analyse. Many thanks for your informed and detailed commentary!
I don’t think Lott is going to resign ... he just will not run in 2012.
I don’t think Lott is going to resign ... he just will not run in 2012.
Lott will quit once he figures out he may no ever be majority leader again.
Fixed.
These lachrymose lawmakers for several months have faced an increasing hysterical legitimate onslaught from constituents demanding the death of the "amnesty"
Fixed.
Sounding like a right-wing radio talk show host real elected official doing his job, DeMint declared: "When the U.S. Senate brought the amnesty bill back up this week, they declared war on the American people."
Fixed.
I grow tired of correcting this nipple head's adventure into typical moonbat lunacy.
What crap.
LOL! That's a new one on me!
I can’t wait for Lindsey and Burr to be out!
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