Jun 15 2006
Repeat The Pete Wilson Debacle In ’06
David Broder points out the path the Republican hard line is on with their ‘make illegal workers felons’ nonsense. He reminds us of the last time the Rightwing went obsessive and equated people who are trying to make a living and feed-house-raise a family to rapists, murderes and thieves. The took the largest state in the country and turned it from Reagan Red to Moonbat Blue nearly over night.
Out of the past and into the current controversy dividing the Republican Party came former California governor Pete Wilson, charging into Washington this week to argue that he had been right all along in trying to slam the door on illegal immigration.
Far from dooming Republicans to a series of defeats in the most populous state, Wilson argued, his championing in 1994 of Proposition 187, denying health care and educational services to illegal immigrants and their children, anticipated the kind of hard-line policy many Republicans endorsed this year.
…
Wilson is blamed by many Republicans, including those around President Bush, for so alienating the growing Hispanic vote in California that the state’s hoard of electoral votes has moved permanently into the Democratic column.
And that is in a state that is overrun by immigrants from our southern border. The immigration problem is worse now, and more of a drain than before – but the hardline solutions will only make it much, much worse. The amount of money it will take to round up and prosecute all the workers is staggering. The draining of our security forces to focus on workers and not terrorists will expose us, and the political fall out will be fierce.
The far right is playing with the one issue that can totally reverse all their accomplishments in one fell swoop. The state the gave the country Ronald Reagan turned on Reagan and his party when the hardline was taken the last time. Never a party to stop while they are behind, it seems we could see a similar effect this year. It will be sad to see. We will lose the tax cuts, the drive to protect this nation with dilligence and perseverence, we will see the funding of fetus farms for stem cells, we will see abortion on demand in our school clinics…
As I wrote previously: what price purity?
“the path the Republican hard line is on with their ‘make illegal workers felons’ nonsense”
While you seem to want to dump on Republican “hardliners” for the felony clause, you also seem to want to ignore that the House Republicans said they would take the “felony” clause out of the House bill. Nor do you acknowledge that it was the DEMOCRATS
it was the DEMOCRATS who insisted that the “felony” clause remain in the House bill so they could use that part of the bill to beat Republicans over the head with and beat them over the head the Dems did, with the help of the MSM.
So the Dems vote to keep the felony clause in so they could make Republicans look live evil “hardliners” and you help them.
Whatta deal.
Who put that provision in the bill in the first place? IIRC, it was Sensenbrenner.
Neither Bill will pass, so it is the R’s who get blamed and called Racists. So the House will sit and revisit their Bill, and the Senate will sit and revisit their Bill.
What is so different about this Bill, or Issue, then any other “quagmire” in the House or Senate? DHS, ICE are still working, the minutemen are still patrolling, the Border has a few thousand new “faces” with Natl Guard Uniforms on. “Bad” Illegals are getting rounded up, “good” illegals are stealing SS #’s and keeping the Economy running with jobs “Americans” won’t do (who did them before? Um, AMERICANS) and the wheel keeps turning.
Just a wedge issue for the D’s to try and use to show how “Racist” I am for being an R.
Keep up the drumbeat boys, your being played like a fiddle.
And Harold, who was it that refused to take the “felony” clause out of the house bill? Sesenbrenner said “OK, we will take that part out”. The Dems refused.
AJ, the only one equating illegal immigrants to criminals and rapist seems to be you while at the very same time label Others who do not agree with your irrational emotionalism to be Racists. The felon law was in response to the fact that we are embroiled in what is considered ILLEGAL. I would agree that if these immigrants came to this country legally abiding by our laws then your point about far-right ‘hardline’ stance would make sincere sense however, this entire dabate is based on one single idea, they came here illegally for whatever reason to work or otherwise.
That said, I do not accept the idea that America heards human beings in like cattle, illegally, to ‘do the jobs Americans won’t do!” We are a country created by a melting pot not a caste system.
Like BurbankErnie said “Keep up the drumbeat boys, you’re being played like a fiddle.”
Interesting you should mention abortion in this debate AJ. Over three decades ago a law of the land was enacted without a single vote even though none could define the basic premise of this law, that being, fetus. At the time the orthodox feminist movement effectively used irrational emotionalism (babies should not be brought into a poverty-stricked world, pregnancy oppresses the female causing poverty, the world does not have enough food to feed the unwanted) to sway public opinion in reference to to women’s rights (I once was one of those women).
I’ve got to agree with SYN and BurbankErnie. The Republican Party has generally done better at the national level when it’s adhered to conservative principles. As Rush once said, there’s no book entitled “Great American Moderates”, and the thing most likely to happen to those in the middle of the road is they get run over. As Ernie notes, a lot of good things are getting done without a bill (something that probably wouldn’t have happened absent the current debate) , so, in that respect, I’m leaning toward the position that no bill is better than a bad bill, and I don’t really see one side of the aisle getting hurt worse than the other come November. I’m inclined to think there’s going to be an equal opportunity purge of incumbents of both parties. Congress is long overdue for a good housecleaning.
BTW Ernie, good to run into you again. It’s been a long time.
cont…Many of my decisions today are based upon my experience with orthodox feminisim and my subsequent rejection of those unwise decisions. If I’m going to be persuaded to support any future public policies on any given subject, clarity with words and their meaning are important to the discussion. Today’s immigration debate must focus upon the fact that the basic premise we are discussing is defined by the word ‘illegal’.
Three decades have passed yet we now find ourselves facing an over-population of retirees with an under-population of workers(be it field workers to CEO’s) In order to compensate for lack of unskilled workers(for example, as a teenager three decades ago I cleaned houses to earn money) we began importing our labor force while failing to enforce laws governing this process. This is why today we have an estimated 11 million undocumented people in our country. Our system is based upon the idea of upward mobility, starting at the bottom then making ones’ way up the ladder, building a future. When those laws protecting ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ are subverted then opportunity is stilted. Illegally importing, ie black market, unskilled workers is ILLEGAL.
Thanks spook, good t be commenting again. Had to take a break from the debate, it was getting too personal here and elsewhere.
Great debate here, something those on the Left cannot seem to have. I appreciate the Forum provided by AJ, and the honest debate with the likes of HH.
In the end we are fighting for the same thing. Hopefully we take the right path to that end.
Retire05 – Why was the provision in the bill in the first place? Who put it in?
I think the hardline Republicans put that idiotic provision in the bill in the first place just to start this fight. There would not have been any demonstrations if not for the attempt to make illegal entry a felony, that is what inspired the counter movement by the prommigrant people.
If they had just ask for a wall and a guest worker program without all the drama the whole thing would have been resolved by now. I do think there will need to some provisions made to allow legal status to some of the people here, but not all of them and I think a lot of them will leave before they will pay fines and back taxes or face deportation.
I have come to the point that I believe the right has snowed us. They do not intend to deal with immigration, it was a ruse to get people excited and create a controversial issue that could go on for years and years.
I still hope that both sides will come to their senses and meet in conference to create a compromise bill that is fair and effective and actually secures the border…but so far all I see is bloggers telling the President to go eff himself, or talking about impeaching Bush or threatening to stay home and let the Democrats win while at the same time they seem to think anything other than mass roundups is a nonstarter. This is getting silly.
The American people do not want to see millions of people rounded up, trust me that is not how we see ourselves and it will backfire big time. People will be hurt, families will be split up and for what? No one will be any safer or any better off than they were before. There has to be a better way.
There has to be a better way.
Sorry, Terrye, I think that slogan has already been taken by the Dems, heh. Actually, I hope you’re right, but I suspect we aren’t likely to see a compromise bill before the election. Too many pols on both sides of the issue think they’re on the “right” side politically. Only 145 more days and we’ll find out.
Spook:
You may be right, but most of this arguing etc has been completely unnecessary. They know what they need to do.
Terrye,
I agree with you on the poison pill that was making these acts felonies. Jay walking is illegal. Driving with a tail light out is illegal. There are felonies and misdemeanors, and guess which group has the vast majority of laws (i.e., crimes). You guessed it – misdemeanors. If the House hadn’t been so stupidly cocky and put that in (and then let the Dems keep it in) we would have solutions. Now we have nothing. Absolutely nothing. And because of the hardened positioning on the far right (which I am glad and proud to see melting away here as readers find the common ground and mutual respect) we will not see anything this fall.
I wish Congress could debate like you folks here at Strata-Sphere. We would have:
(1) Tight security with barriers, sensors and patrols on the borders
(2) A guest worker program for those who have been here to come forward, register, get a background check and assimilate (english spoken here folks), and payment of back taxes
(3) Heavy penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers, as well as a service to verify workers are documented under the guest worker program
(4) time limits on working here
(5) Back of the line for citizenship for guest workers
(6) One strike and your out for real crimes, and don’t ever come back.
6 Steps to security, controlling our border, deporting true criminals who are not welcomed here, and minimizing the problem population we need to sift through for terror risks.
Why thank you.