Anarchy in the streets is "making a difference"?
Posted on 03/06/2008 5:53:24 PM PST by BGHater
While John McCain was being coronated as the heir apparent at a highly publicized White House meeting with President Bush, his colleagues on Capitol Hill couldn't resist rolling out what could be described as a Lou Dobbs dream package of immigration bills.
It was one of those moments where one had to wonder if the right hand of the Republican Party was talking to the left, er, moderate hand.
Immigration is the preeminent issue that has divided McCain from his party, as he has supported an ill-fated comprehensive immigration overhaul, including a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Since that debacle, he has been chastened, saying he believes in border security first.
Yet while Bush was passing the torch to McCain as the party's standard bearer, a half dozen conservative GOP senators were unveiling proposals dealing with deportation, making English the official language, revoking funds for "sanctuary cities" and giving local police more immigration enforcement powers.
"This debate has not ended. It's not on hold," said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as he unveiled a series of Republican immigration proposals. "Something needs to be done this year."
Sessions said he had not consulted with the White House on the issue, nor had he talked directly with McCain. Sessions also hasn't asked the man who sets the Senate schedule, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), to consider on the proposals.
Sessions and other opponents of comprehensive immigration reform believe McCain has learned his lesson.
"He has said he got the message and believes the way to go is border enforcement first," Sessions said. "I think he'll be supportive of much of it."
"There's nothing in here that represents an attempt to embarrass him," Sessions was quick to add. But these issues still might create trouble for McCain now that he's turned his attention to the general election. He still needs his reticent GOP base to turn out, yet he'll also need independent voters and a reasonable support level from Hispanics in Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona and other swing states.
The package of proposals unveiled by McCain's colleagues may only inflame the immigration debate. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), for example, has proposed withholding federal law enforcement money for "sanctuary cities" that have lax immigration enforcement. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) wants to dock states 10 percent of their highway funding if they give licenses to illegal immigrants. And Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) has a bill that would make English the "national language."
Sessions, who made a name for himself by spending hours at a time on the Senate floor last year, fighting the doomed immigration bill, has proposed mandatory minimum prison sentences for illegal immigrants.
None of these proposals is likely to see the light of day unless they appear as amendments to next week's budget resolution, which might force McCain to either flip flop on key immigration issues. or duck the vote altogether.
Democratic leaders aren't playing ball, either. "While Senator Reid continues to support legislation that is tough on people that break the law, fair to taxpayers and practical to implement, this falls far, far short of what is needed to deal with the issue of immigration reform," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley.
In the House, Republicans were making a more concerted effort to coordinate their immigration message with McCain.
Some House Republicans were moving ahead full-throttle to force a vote on an immigration enforcement measure offered by Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina. But leaders have temporarily applied the brakes to that effort until they have more time to coordinate with the McCain campaign.
Boehner has tapped four Republicans to coordinate on the immigration issue as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) works with her members to devise a compromise measure that would be acceptable to the competing interests within her own party. Those Republicans met Tuesday night and again Wednesday, but they won't make a decision until top leaders have had a chance to brief members of the McCain campaign team.
Meanwhile, a group of House Democrats met Wednesday to discuss more comprehensive legislation that would mend a persistent shortfall in temporary visas for seasonal workers and grants some protection to undocumented workers already in this country.
UPDATE: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), one of only three Hispanic senators, has called on McCain to reject the GOP proposals, saying the package would only create a "wedge" issue come November.
“The Republican Party might think this is a wedge issue for November, but their strategy only dims their chances this year and for generations to come," Menendez said. "Latinos are not a group on the fringes of our society that can be manipulated to score political points. If this presidential primary season has shown us anything, it is that Latinos are no longer the sleeping giant in American politics – they are fully awake, active and making a difference. This is the type of cynical effort that serves to deepen the divisions in our nation that we should be working to bridge.”
Anarchy in the streets is "making a difference"?
bttt
Sounds to me like Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is saying he almost has enough Hispanic voters to keep the borders open.
>None of these proposals is likely to see the light of day unless ...
unless pigs fly
..
He is a traitorous bastard. His word is no good. How shall we trust any promise he might make?
Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!
Even an ACTOR could not get it that "real".
Amazing.
I could have been referring just now to the photos in #21, too!
Bump for later
In a McCain administration these congressional Republicans will not be allowed to bring up such legislation.
In a Clinton or Obama administration they will be very effective in thwarting the Democrat amnesty and open borders agenda like they are doing now.
History has shown that congressional Republicans are more effective out of power than when they have it. Conservatism will grow when the Republicans are out of power and America will see what kind of incompetent fools Obama/Reid/Pelosi are.
Conservatism in the Republican party grows a backbone when they are out of power, like 1978 and 1992.
The only chance to stop the illegal immigration madness is an effective conservative minority. That can’t happen in a McCain administration.
“The only chance to stop the illegal immigration madness is an effective conservative minority. That can’t happen in a McCain administration.”
Unfortunate, but true. It’s good that Senator Sessions is calling McCain out on his “I got the message” line from his campaign and debate evasions on this issue. I’ve been saying McCain has nine months as a powerful senator to act on his new found wisdom.
Good that Sessions is giving him the opportunity to act on his new position, or to show the voters that he’s just a bald faced liar.
Reid is afraid of a vote on these...
Hmmm. Time to call the Senate and make them act on this?
“History has shown that congressional Republicans are more effective out of power than when they have it.”
Wrong. Out of power we never enacted welfare reform. With the majority we did; the most significant conservative reform in decades. With a GOP majority we passed the Bush tax cuts. The Democrat majority is set to take away the Bush tax cuts and create the largest tax hike ever. The majority GOP passed a good energy bill in 2005. Now the Democrat majority is trying to take that away and go in the wrong direction.
And so it goes.
“In a Clinton or Obama administration they will be very effective in thwarting the Democrat amnesty and open borders agenda like they are doing now.”
In a McCain administration, they will be very effective in thwarting the Democrat amnesty and open borders agenda like they are doing now. McCain would continue that situation. In a Clinton or Obama administration they will be IN-effective in thwarting the Democrat amnesty and open borders agenda, since Obama’s coattails will sweep in enough Democrats to implement amnesty.
not true actually. see above. Our best chance at stoppy amnesty is to win as many senate seats as possible. We can only do that if McCain wins and/or does very well.
Best case scenario: McCain manages to have a huge sweep. It bring back enough Republicans in the House to make amnesty a dead letter.
“Meanwhile, a group of House Democrats met Wednesday to discuss more comprehensive legislation that would mend a persistent shortfall in temporary visas for seasonal workers and grants some protection to undocumented workers already in this country.”
Note the media bias here...
Democrats want Amnesty-by-the-slice.
“With a GOP majority we passed the Bush tax cuts. The Democrat majority is set to take away the Bush tax cuts”
Without winning majorities in at least one (probably both) houses of Congress, those tax cuts are history regardless of who sits in the White House.
Time for a sanity check. Most incumbent Reps further down on the ticket hold opposite positions from McCain on such issues as immigration, global warming, campaign finance reform, embryonic stem cell research, closing Gitmo, drilliing in Anwar, etc. They will have to run against the maverick standard bearer of the GOP, which will put them more at risk.
Only the Stupid Party [GOP] nominates its maverick to be its nominee for President. If McCain does well, it may very well hurt the rest of the Reps in terms of reelection or being elected.
McCain has about six months left that he can use to show conservatives he's serious by BUILDING THE DAMN FENCE NOW! He's a 25 year Senator, if he can't (or won't) get this done, he really doesn't want (or deserve) to be President.
... Latinos are no longer the sleeping giant in American politics – they are fully awake, active and making a difference.
It is the Americans (mostly white) that are in a deep sleep.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.