Jul 02 2007
GOP Trying To Remove Immigration Stain
Update: Harold Hutchison has the numbers showing the GOP lost massive support from independents, moderates and hispanics between their huge successes in 2004 and their butt whooping in 2006. Not to worry though, I am sure they will be able to eclipse their 2006 results in 2008, and get whooped even worse. All is well and fine for the GOP!
– end update
I have to laugh. Unlike the Amnesty Hypochondriacs in the GOP who exaggerated everything they could think of to make the Immigration Bill (and the people it was aimed to address) as distasteful as possible, I was not exaggerating in my predictions of what would the GOP reap for such hate filled idiocy. The GOP told itself this was some great effort for the GOP to save humanity as we know it. I simply looked at the political calculations on either side to see which path could do maximum good/harm to either side. Passing the bill maximized the good for the GOP, not passing it maximized the harm. The Dems ALWAYS had the opportunity to exploit this if the hypochondriacs showed their usual lack of self control. And boy did they make good on that bet!
Bush and the bill’s proponents gave the far right too much credit for being able to hold reasonable debate and be reasonable in the resulting compromise. They thought these people could set aside their biases and hate and be the legislative leaders everyone thought they could be, deep down inside. Sadly, the reality is the inverse. The facade of legislative leader hid the deep down bias and anger. And therefore the GOP screwed itself by exposing their dark side on this issue. Michael Barone makes a decent, yet lame, attempt to salvage dignity from the most undignified of acts; the tarring of people based on race, ethnicity and nationality.
But the reality is the Dems can and will exploit the GOP’s hate filled blunders for the next year and a half. They only need to post the disgusting comments that blessed so many rightwing sites to remind Hispanics that the dark, hidden soul of the GOP hates Hispanics:
Democrats sensing an opportunity for gains among the nation’s fastest-growing minority group swarmed a gathering of 1,000 Hispanic elected officials from across the nation here this weekend.
…
They came with one big advantage – the fact that Republicans are taking most of the blame for the decisive defeat of the immigration reform bill in the Senate last week.
In a forum for the candidates, all of the Democrats lamented defeat of the bill, and several denounced what they suggested was a racist or anti-Hispanic tinge to the arguments used against it.
Barack Obama, for example, said there was “an ugly overtone” in the debate, which he said was absent from the debate over the same bill last year, and accused opponents of using “the politics of fear.”
Is there a dark side inside the GOP? I would quibble with Obama and say the ugly side was the ‘undertone’, not the ‘overtone’. But trust me, this is not a distinction which will make a difference. Yes, there is a segment of the Amnesty Hypochondriacs who are very much the kind of people I would never want to associate with. And since I am not in the GOP (and never have been) I am not worried about being associated with them. But for all those who allied with these people, the stain is there and it has set in. And what appear to be Freudian slips of the tonque by GOP front runners is not helping:
Buzz at the conference also focused on a gaffe by potential GOP candidate Fred Thompson, who seemed to refer to Cuban immigrants as terrorists in a speech to a South Carolina Republican Party gathering Wednesday.
Way to go Fred. But the slip of the tongue was nothing compared to the cold shoulder the GOP sent the Hispanic Community:
The Republican presidential candidates all cited scheduling conflicts in failing to attend the conference, and it came at an awkward time – the end of a quarterly fundraising period when all candidates are preoccupied with raising money.
The only path out of this is to reverse course with a mea culpa and resurrecting the bill. The only way to cleanse the stain is to clean house. So therefore there is not going to be any serious reconciliation for the GOP with Hispanics and moderates. The die is set and fate has set things in motion. The GOP wil not be saved by wins in Iraq. In fact, success in Iraq will provide even more rational to dump the GOP in 2008 – their job done and the immediate need for them reduced a bit.
This is cold, logical observation – there is no attempt to get even on my part. I predicted all this before hand. To win in politiics one exploits the misteps of their opponent. When the opponent provides you a mistake you can use for decades to come, it is impossible to resist maximizing that opportunity. I warned the GOP that they did not want to go down this route. But too many are so cocky and sure and such infallible legends in their own minds they forgot one little thing. They are human and humans make really, really bad decision and really, really big mistakes with the best of intentions in their minds. All the time.
The GOP is in no mood to admit their mistake, and the Dems will exploit those horrific mistakes to their maximum benefit. And no one will feel pity on the GOP when the Democrats exaggerate the evil of the Republican Party – the same way the GOP exaggerated the evil of immigrants. Someone should have thought of that before they went off half cocked. Touche’! The GOP has sliced it own nose cleanly off – as predicted. I have little sympathy for them at the moment. I think it best they ponder the fruits of the efforts for some time to come.
R05,
Hmm, insinuating I am a racist? Outta here you go. Can you tell not only do I not want to be associated with you, I find no reason to allow your filth to clog up my site anymore.
“Do you really think that illegals who are making $4.00 an hour are much better off than those who were bought and sold?”
First many are making much more than 4.00 a hour. Also would not legalization bring those wages up? There is no indication that they will stay at these jobs as their skill increase. This is America where if you put your mind to it the world is your oyster more times than not
“You are so blind to the realities of what is going on while still refusing to answer the questions I pose to you.
Let’s start with this one: do you think making millions of people legal will end illegal immigration? ”
It will have a short term effect perhaps in that the labor market from an employer point of view becomes more stable. The legalization of the undocumented will probally be a wash though because of the amount of deportation that would result as because of the bill.
Illegal immigration flow would continue to decrease though as the border security that is in the pipeline continues to come online, a sensible Guest worker program, Work place verfication the various other proposals in the bill.
Other areas that need to be addressed is our Foreign policy toward Latin America and the contiuned trade policies that down the line should make these Countries economies more strong. It takes a comprehensive approach in the end.
We need to press ahead with what is in the pipeline so when the next Economic surge in the Country happens we are prepared for it. Hopefully Guest worker will be in place whn that happens
Some are making a big misjudgment especially of how the defeat of the immigration bill will play out in Florida.
If you look at Miami , the largest city, there are a whole bunch of Cubans there and a bunch of a mix of every country south of Mexico you can think of.
Most of you probably haven’t had the contact with the Cubans they we here in Florida have had for years even before Castro was a gleam in his father’s eye.
If you have the image that knuckle dragging ,Budweiser drinking , rifle rack in the back Floridians are against illegal immigration then up that feeling by about a factor of ten and you might begin to guess how much Cubans hate illegal immigration.
They are here under asylum in a big part and if you wanted to give them a Xmas present, free Cuba and give them a chance to fix that unmitigated hell hole.
AJ: posts this, emphasis mine!
“Ugh – the damage is still being done as the far right continues to destroy the GOP. Purity uber alles.
Left by AJStrata on July 2nd, 2007
THEN, bans R05 for insinuting, supposedly, that AJ is a “racist”!
Hmmmmmm……?
MerlinOS2
Merlin I am just going by what the Florida papers are saying both English and Spanish media and what we are picking up from big Hispanic republicam leaders in Flordia. Like the Speaker of the House.
I suspect that there are of course different opinons like in any group. BUt what has not been helpful is the almost non voice of Republican Hispanics on TV or radio or in our conservative media for that matter. Therefore we are sort of at an disadvantage. Why this occured I have no idea. I suspect they were not largely a voice because they were not booked on a consistnt basis. I eman what politican doesnt want to be on tv
AJ
When I was a kid in high school , the gal I took to the prom was a direct descendant of an original Spanish land grant family that still controlled thousand upon thousand of acres of that original land grant.
We would during summer break go down to visit her relatives in Tampa down in Ybor City that rolled some of the finest Cuban style cigars known to man.
And all this was years before Castro took over in Cuba.
Summary here Mel’s in trouble, maybe not enough to recall him but he put very private parts out there and the Miami golf shoe crowd will have a walk around and believe me they will not forget.
For anyone wondering what the rules are here let me be clear. You can disagree with me. Insulting my character will bring a quick response. And while I generally discuss the amnesty hypochondriacs or point to a flaming talking head out on a purity jihad, I do my level best not to name my readers or say they are or are not in a group I am whooping up on. So do not expect my posts or links about Malkin or Tancredo to give people cover to insult me here on my blog. Malkin and Tancredo can respond if they wish and have plenty big bullhorns to do so. But I will be damned if I am going to read through comments on my site and have my character impugned and my words twisted. And yes, the liberals on this site get a bit of a bye because I know they are extremely handicapped when it comes to debating. People are going to have to deal with these rules or take a hike. I did not start this blog to read lies from others about myself.
Here is another thing I have noticed in my short time on this earth:
People holding exteme opinions tend to be much more vocal than people holding moderate opinions. This is because people who hold moderate opinions are, well, moderate.
So people will say things like “one opinion expressed to a politician represents X number of people because only 1 in X ever writes. Well, that is true but misleading. I would say that a much larger percentage of extremists vent their opinion than do regular folks. So if you see 100 extreme opinions and only 1 moderate opinion, it can lead to someone skewing their perception of the overall popular view.
So maybe an exreme view represents only 100 others that dont speak while a moderate view represents 100,000 people. I am just pulling those numbers out of thin air but you get my drift. So while the right blogosphere might seem solidly of a particular view, I am not sure the population as a whole share that view. All it proves is that people with radical views are radical.
Yup AJ
It is likely the Jai Alai Jihad and the Dog Track Taliban will join forces to dump Mel.
Getting over a half million voters on a recall petition may prove hard but guess what half that number of a voter margin for his loss in the next election will be just as sweet to them.
Lets see where we are so far.
GW named Mel to take over at the RNC from Melman and the next thing they did was shut down GOP fund raising efforts through their phone room operations since the money just wasn’t coming in any more like before.
Mel spearheads the immigration Dunkirk.
Hate to see what the encore is going to be.
It would seem to me that if these hardliners are such a big majority they could produce some sane and rational policy that can actually pass Congress.
But they can’t. Other than damaging their own party and calling anyone who disagrees with them a traitor or a fool, they have not accomplished much.
I do not like Malkin. I did not like her attempts to justify the internment of Japanese Americans in WW2 and I thought her behavior during the whole Dubai episode and Katrina was shameful. The woman knows nothing about port terminals or disaster preparedness or immigration. Her whole existence is about making money raising hell. That is it, and with friends like her the Republicans do not need enemies.
And comparing people making low wages to slaves is stupid. That is what the Democrats used to say to the abolitionists. They told them the slaves on the plantations were no worse off than the wage slave immigrants in the North.
What goes around, comes around.
“The woman knows nothing about port terminals or disaster preparedness or immigration.”
Or nothing about Dubai World Ports in particular whose executive team is mostly made up of Americans, Australians, and Indians.
AJ: that’s a pretty passionate explaination, rationalization, and attempted Justification of “Do as I say, not as Do!”
But you are correct on one point; it IS “your” Blog, as you constantly remind us now, so that’s okay, because you set the rules, don’t you?
Most SC Reps. thought Lindsay Graham was the son of the Dr. Graham who served as state Chairman of the SC Rep. Party back in the 1980’s. I am sure if they had known his status and actual lineage he would not have won Strom Thurmond’s seat. Because a Strom Thurmond he ain’t. It’s more like we got a clone of Fritz Hollings. In true Democrat fashion, someone has dredged up a drug charge against his no. 1 Rep. opponent, Ravenel, who was a shoo in to beat him in the Rep. Primary until the charges surfaced. I don’t know but what I might vote for Ravenel even if he is under indictment. A true SC Republican in jail is better than a Dem. in Rep. sheep’s clothing.
In true Democrat fashion, someone has dredged up a drug charge against his no. 1 Rep. opponent, Ravenel, who was a shoo in to beat him in the Rep. Primary until the charges surfaced.
I take it you did not know that Ravenel had already declined to run for the nomination. But keep on piling tinfoil on your head, and keep searching the skies for those black UN/NAU helicopters . . .
The guy had over a freakin’ POUND of nose candy on him. That isn’t “dredging up” a drug charge, that’s Ravenel figuring he was legally untouchable.
Anyone watch O’Reilly’s guest host tonight? Yep. Thought my head might just explode but if he has any spotters reading…..you just lost a viewer that will deliberately click off FOX if I am ever subjected to another Mad Malkin Moment.
Her ‘Talking Points’ was a repeat of her ‘Fry Brownie’ with the new target Michael Chertoff. Her entire show was pure MSM bile. Unbelievable.
I have thought so for several years but she hid it so by talking out of both sides of her mouth……………Malkin has to be one of the original BDS. She never stops and you can trace her pure anger back to Bush. Katrina? What the heck……Fry Brownie (not Blanco).
I equate Malkin with Jimmy Carter. Yep. Carter did more damage to the Dems than they could clean up. But that is not why I see Jimmy when I look at Michelle. No. For years I said that Carter was our very worst President but a good man. After all, that mild mannered man built houses with his bare hands. I do not hold that opinion today………I now think he was our worst President and a very bad man. I use to say Malkin was just so talented and did so much good with some of her work that it was a shame she let one issue fester. No more. Just like Jimmy……if you watched her tonight……….she is off the cliff. And you could see and hear the pure MSM BDS in action. I do believe she hates George W Bush. So she attacks all his actions with accusations of cronyism and incompetence. You know she has lead charge after charge and many of the Right just followed along like sheep. Over and over. To heck with the damage. Carter=Malkin.
The notion that stiff opposition to the previous bill was strictly a hard right phenom…is an attempt at a purposeful misdirection. The oppostion came from all over, across all boundries—and the DNC too. And personally, everytime I think of hysteria….I think of Lindsey Graham shaking his fists up and down like a 3-year-old crying chicken little on the senate floor against a steady and growing wave of opposition (including his own contiuency).
Why there would be “damage” to anyone..for doing their job and supporting the wiill of the people they respresent is beyond me. The fact is..the people who are going to suffer damage are those who have NOT followed the will of their constituents in this debate (and rightly so). I dare say…most of the senators/reps were getting daily calls (by a wide margin) from their districts and states, to sink this bill and start over with a new one. The advice of some of the proponents of this bill during this debate….was to ignore that voice of the people they were there to represent ..and be politically expedient for the sake of passing this bill and for their party. And I disagree with that..100%.
If an issue means that much to a senator or rep personally…that they disagree strongly enough that they can no longer in good conscience represent the will of the people who elected them…then they should resign..step down. NOT..force their will/vote against the will of the people they represent and work to undermind that will. I disagree with anyone on a fundamental level..who would encourage and or incite such behavior.
And with all due respect, the principal of representative gov is a fundamental principal in our consitutional republic that one does not set aside in the course of persuing legislation or “politics”.
Son here in Florida we take our papers with a whole shaker of salt and not just a grain. They are only worth being used for wrapping fish and lining bird cages.
I have been here since the early 50’s and have been all around this state.
We have liberal conclaves bunched up here and there like Gainesville will all it’s lib professors (which may be redundant) and Palm Beach the glorious land of hanging chads and the Miami paper is a running joke statewide.
My wife was raised in Miami after the age of 13 when her father recovered her from a German orphanage being raised by nuns because his wife to be never told him about the kids he had fathered.
I visited there many times with my wife to see her mother in law.
Florida is a complex place and it is getting politically balanced almost by the 1000 people a day who move here.
That alone makes it hard to make bets on where it will come down on future elections.
Oh and we also have a major issue now being looked at about snowbirds casting absentee ballots here , but also voting in other states in the same election cycle.
If you judge Florida by reading the papers you might as well try nailing jello to a tree.
Take that to the bank from a local who knows.
DaleinAtlanta – You sound like your panties are bunched up a little to tight. Relax; take a look at the very first definition of the word traitor at Dictionary.com and I feel confident you will immediately feel a lot better.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) – Cite This Source
trai·tor – Show Spelled Pronunciation[trey-ter] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. a person who betrays another, a cause, or any trust.
I have used the term traitor specifically directed at our President only for pushing Harry Reed to mandate the use of a nonexistent never before used version of the “clay pigeon Senate procedure†which was originally designed and historically used only to mandate and assure that the traditional Senate amendment process could not be blocked. Instead, our President and our Republican Leadership conspired with Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reed, to the detriment of the majority of the Republican Party and encouraged Senator Reed to completely reverse the traditional use of the clay pigeon procedure and use it instead to totally block the historical amendment process, other than those the conspirators selected, behind closed doors, and then ram this security loophole filled disaster through the senate in 5 days before any of the opposition had time to adequately study the bill.
That, DaleinAtlanta, is a perfect fit to the above definition of a traitor. I suspect you and the others that also have bunched up panties have mistakenly perceived the term was used as a legal/criminal accusation. I did not. I reviewed the dictionary definition before I printed my comments. Obviously you and the others didn’t.
Your comment “Except for one idiot, who came on this board the other day, and called President Bush a traitor; I have NEVER seen ANYONE of the regular readers on this board, insult AJ, nor the other readers!â€
Dale, I have never insulted AJ, you or anyone else and I have very much respect for AJ and thanked him for his excellent work particularly on the war in Iraq. It is you that is using the idiot label. Please show me where I have insulted AJ or any other reader. You can’t.
Take a brake. Loosen up those panties.