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No, it wasn't a "conspiracy." It was a PLAN, done in broad daylight. ANSWR had organizational information on their web site, there were thousands of ANSWR-printed signs on display, the Committee for Social Justice was publicly involved, the unions provided support in public, and the DNC had REGISTRATION TABLES set up.

That is not a conspiracy, that is an organized public effort. Their motivation for this is the only thing in question, and I think I pretty much have hit the nail on the head.

Once someone has been involved in a stampede caused by media manipulation, it is hard to admit you have been had. I had this experience during the Vietnam War, and I learned my lesson. My revelation of how I had meen manipulated came when 10 years after the fact I learned that we had NOT lost the Tet Offensive. I then realized how much I, as a young woman, had been led down the anti-war path by the press, Hollywood, and campus radicals. I have never forgotten it, and I always try to NOT be led by things I see on TV (as in the Katrina hysteria).

If you can't admit the possibility that the left is using this issue to divide Republicans, there is nothing I can say to convince you.

Do I think we need to solve this immigration mess? Yes. It is a serious problem. However, the marching in the streets and the stampede of the right into attacking the President is coincidentally pretty close to the November elections. I thnk I am right about this.

marching in the streets and the stampede of the right into attacking the President is coincidentally pretty close to the November elections.

You're comparing apples & oranges. While the media misportrayed the Tet Offensive, they did a good job informing the public of exactly where illegals and their supporters stand: "Today we march, tomorrow we vote".

The GOP isn't in any danger of losing the election by opposing this extortion - it's in danger from appeasement.

Very well, I will admit to this possibility. However, on top of the demonstrations themselves, there are certain concerns about how this is being handled within the GOP. The "we tried nothin' and we're all out of ideas" method just, well, to use the strongest yet family friendly word allowed, SUCKS.

They are bending and scraping to a segment of the population that isn't even allowed to vote by law (although if the immigration laws don't count for beans to the GOP, that whole voting thing might not be an issue with them, either). A half of a million people mobilized in a major American city is a symptom of a HUGE problem. The May first "Day without a gringo" (encouraged on both sides of the border) is a symptom of a HUGE problem. The abundance of Mexican flags at these gatherings is a symptom of a HUGE problem.

And what's the fix? We are told they are here because we are too lazy to do the work, and we get "easy to swallow" non-amnesty amnesty rhetoric.

I am concerned that such a large migration will lead to the dissolution of US institutions and replaced with Latin American methodologies. This I DO NOT like.

History shows what mass migration does to nations. The colonists in North and South America, the Turks in the Byzantine empire, The Angles, Saxons and Normans in Briton, the Golden Horde in Russia... For better or worse, these populations bring their lifestyles and heritages. Unlike mass migrations to this nation in the past(from Europe, China, etc) they are coming in such numbers and from such an isolated geographic location (Mexico) that assimilation is no longer a necessity as it was for most immigrants in the past.

And what really irks me is that our house is on fire and I am told to stop complaining about it.

So perhaps the ANSWR types are using this as a wedge issue to dissolve the GOP base. But this issue was bound to come up sooner or later (when it becomes even MORE of a crisis or worse... a complete disaster) and we may as well deal with it NOW on a non-presidential election year.

Leaders MUST make policy, election year or not. To do otherwise is not to lead, but to cower.

APf

... the left is using this issue to divide Republicans, ...

I think the issue is deeper than that. Of course the left is happy to fan the flames of disagreement in the camp of their enemies, but they did not create the flames. The issue of illegal immigration has literally forced its way into the arena of public debate, driven by great upset in states which have borne the brunt of it. It is not a creation of the left.

I have read a number of your posts on this issue, and as always, your remarks are clear, logical and reasonable. In this case it seems to me that living in the midwest has somewhat insulated you from the real nature of the situation. I expect even there you see groups of men waiting at certain locations, hoping for a day's work; or see them widely-employed in local agriculture. About where California (my home state) was 30 years ago.

Now, the middle class is leaving California, as it can, as the state's population increases by a million illegals a year. The public schools that used to be among the nation's best are now among the worst, and in many areas, the most dangerous. The building trade workers, once all American citizens, are now all illegals. Hospitals, public safety, taxes... well, enough; I'm belaboring the point.

And this is not an issue that is the president's fault. GW is just who happened to be in office when the issue hit critical mass. If I had to guess, I think that he considers his most important task to be the prosecution of the WOT and is not willing to take on any domestic problem that will compromise his ability to do that. His admirable attempt to get social security reform going, and its result, may have helped bring this home.

The heart of the issue is this: if the hard lines are not drawn, parts of the Southwestern US will become de facto parts of Mexico, populated by spanish-speaking Mexican nationals. Because if we make the current group of illegal Mexicans legal and just accept their presence, and make cosmetic gestures about securing the border, they will keep coming. Over half the population of Mexico has expressed a desire to live in the US.

When the president says, as a practical matter, we can't just boot them all out, he is saying that we just have to write off the American Southwest. We who live here find that very hard to accept.