Posted on 10/23/2007 5:24:01 AM PDT by shrinkermd
On Tuesday, Ogonowski still fell short, but Tsongas's 51 to 45 percent victory was a shocker in a district where both John F. Kerry and Al Gore took 57 percent of the vote, and where liberal Democratic Rep. Martin T. Meehan served comfortably for eight terms. The underwhelming victory of the wife of deceased former senator Paul Tsongas has rekindled Democratic concerns about an immigration issue they had hoped had been put to rest.
"This issue has real implications for the country. It captures all the American people's anger and frustration not only with immigration, but with the economy," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and an architect of the Democratic congressional victories of 2006. "It's self-evident. This is a big problem."
Republicans, sensing a major vulnerability, have been hammering Democrats, forcing Congress to face the question of illegal immigration on every bill they can find, from agriculture spending and housing assistance to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
House Democrats are so concerned that they have resumed talks on a new legislative push, even though the collapse of an immigration deal in the Senate this spring has left virtually no chance that a final bill can be passed in this Congress.
But even in the early stages of this renewed effort, negotiations have only underscored the party's problems. Some Democratic leaders want what they call a "mini bill," emphasizing border control, penalties on firms that employ illegal immigrants and stronger efforts to deny illegal immigrants government benefits. But Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), the point man on the bill, said he will never accept a measure that does not include a pathway to citizenship for the 12 million undocumented workers in the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Illegal immigration IMHO has cost President Bush dearly; his approval rating would be over 50% if he had enforced border security. Likewise, Senator McCain’s campaign tanked when he came out for what was called “immigration reform” when it was actually an amnesty bill.
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You are exactly correct. And most in both parties still don’t get it. Duncan Hunter is the only presidential candidate who can lead us on this — and many other issues.
If THATS what they want to capture all they have to do is come right here and read some of this stuff!
^^^
Shhh! Don’t give the Rats a clue!
Huckster and mitt want to give them a house a car, and free heath care for life, but wait jorge is already giving them free heath care. Never mind. "sac off"
LOL. And who will bell the cat? Why would the illegals argree to apply for a biometric card? And do you really believe that the American public would agree to it? How often would you need to get one? We can't even get the courts to approve the SS card match procedure.
If our guy comes out strong and believable for America and REAL immigration and against illegal entry into our country....
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DUNCAN HUNTER!!!!
And if he is strong on national security, the military and the war on terror in Iraq and elsewhere....
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DUNCAN HUNTER!!!!
Voters are looking for the person who will stand up for US citizens.
%%%
DUNCAN HUNTER!!
The Immigration issue is HUGE. It has 72% of New Yorkers agreeing on something, amazing, all unified against Spitzer’s plan to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants.
If the GOP were smart they’d be ALL OVER THIS.
‘Secure the border’ makes a nice soundbite, but few of the wannabes are actually spelling out what they will do. Few have said they would not push for an amnesty bill. Few have said they would actually close the border to illegals.
%%%
DUNCAN HUNTER!!
Exactly. Just prior to the 2006 elections, the Fence Act was passed overwhelmingly, including being supported by Hillary, to give the politicians of both parties political cover. In order for this to become a defining issue the Reps need to draw clear lines on where they stand on specific immigration issues, e.g., how to handle the 12 to 20 million already here, the Dream act, anchor babies, 287 [g] authority, drivers licenses for illegals, English as the official language of the US, etc. We already have Hillary on the record on the issue, including her votes on both the 2006 and 2007 comprehensive reform immigration bills.
Which is exactly what many of them will do. First, there's no money in pleasing the conservative base; the money is in pleasing the corporate base. Result? Note that the top tier, Giuliani, Romney, McCain, and Thompson all have questionable records on immigration while Hunter and Tancredo can't get a dime.
We get what we pay for.
Tancredo is even better than Hunter on this issue, but neither one stands a snowball’s chance in Hell of being the Rep nominee.
Could you please tell the other candidates, with all the bucks and press, to turn over what they have now...to the best candidate...Duncan Hunter!
“Biometric ID” is just another expensive boondoggle. The CONCEPT of a secure ID card is fatally flawed.
A secure, centraliized employment eligibility database is the ONLY workable solution to not allowing illegal aliens to steal American jobs and benefits.
Stand-alone Secure ID is a technological IMPOSSIBILITY, and anyone claiming that it can be done is either misinformed or (more likely) lying through his teeth. The purpose of an ID card - whatever form it might take - is to provide a positive connection between the bearer and an IDENTITY, not just a name. To do this, it must be identifiable to the bearer by way of one or more biometric characteristics.
These characteristics might range from a list of simple physical traits, such as height, weight, eye and hair color, sex, and birthdate, to a picture, iris scan, fingerprints, or even DNA coding (when somebody starts selling the $50 DNA analyzer!) But shatever is used, the examiner must be able to obtain the descriptive data directly from the bearer, to compare to the data from the ID card, which MUST be retrievable by the examiner, as well.
That means that the ID fraudsters will have the same access, and the same ability to produce a FALSE ID with whatever name they might find of an appropriate age in the nearest cemetery. Whenever the new IDs become available, the new FRAUDULENT IDs will be available on the street within a few weeks.
But the other half of the problem is not the physical ID but the IDENTITY - the persona and the history represented, including citizenship (or other work eligibility), criminal history, and work record. ALL of these are legitimate
questions for a potential employer to demand of a job applicant, and none of us have any legitimate objection to providing this information on request by a potential employer, particularly for a job where employer liability attaches, such as caring for children.
In addition, we already know about identity sharing, where perhaps dozens of illegals are all using the same SSN. What do you know about a job applicant committing this obvious fraud?
THE ONLY VIABLE SOLUTION is to check against a database, matching both the personal ID - from the ID card, already matched against the bearer - and the IDENTITY in the database, to see that BOTH match the database files.
The database host should face severe penalties for EVER sending data out to ANYONE, except ICE. Otherwise, the only response to an inquiry should be APPROVE, CONDITIONAL, or DISAPPROVE, plus whatever is required to indicate what ID was submitted.
Yes, we used to be able to just go anywhere and do anything we were able to do, but unless you want ANYONE, including millions of illegals, to do the same, those days are over.
No liberal is going to tell me that I have to vote for a liberal.
“Some Democratic leaders want what they call a “mini bill,” emphasizing border control, penalties on firms that employ illegal immigrants and stronger efforts to deny illegal immigrants government benefits.”
Fred Thompson does not approve of employer penalties. Instead he argues for attrition whereby illegals would find greater enforcement, deportation threats and denial of benefits sufficient to force them to go home. So business incentive to continue hiring illegals will remain undiminished and without consequence.
Dumping Mel Martenez was a first step but I’m still waiting for Bush to wake up.
In other words, Fred Thompson thinks numb nut bureaucrats can do the job. But then Fred thinks we should be drilling for oil in the Everglades.
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