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"Alcibiades" <was-scipio@laced�mon.net> wrote in message
news:upkj025qs52fkdk8ulvnpvalsq870tjdai@4ax.com...
>
> Very excellent article by Bevans. She comes close to my own thinking.
> Though I don't think analogies between the California Assembly and the
> US Senate are terribly apt... The reason these Senators act and think
> the way they do is that they are the most insulated of all US
> politicians from the realities of their constiuents and working life -
> Their vision of American Workinglife involves things like the Illegals
> they see working the grounds at their country club. Not so state
> elected officials: The pay is pretty measily and so are the bribes (if
> you can even get any). She is nevertheless right about Betrayal, the
> way people react to betrayal. You want to make a devoted enemy of
> someone, the kind that would eagerly see you dead? Betray them and
> ignore their pleas.
>
> http://www.vdare.com/bevens/060302_gop.htm
>
> Guest Worker Amnesty Pushes GOP To The Brink
>
> By Bryanna Bevens
>
> Reports reaching California from the Imperial Capital on the Potomac
> indicate that the Senate finally began work today (March 2) on an
> immigration bill to answer the flawed but fairly tough border security
> grounds at their Golf Club. Its a little harder to be insulated as a
> bill that the House passed last year. [Immigration Bills May Split
> Republicans: Bipartisan Call for Guest Worker Program at Odds With
> Push to Secure Borders, by Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post, March 2,
> 2006]
>
> To my amazement, I hear it's seriously argued inside the Beltway that
> the Senate can add a "guest worker" plan and that then Republicans
> will be able to sell the whole package in their districts this fall as
> "immigration reform."
>
> Even some immigration reformers are said to be worried that
> legislation, if passed, might "defuse" the issue - at least
> temporarily.
>
> Bryanna to Beltway (from years in California electoral politics and
> from living out here in immigration Ground Zero, the southern Central
> Valley):
>
> It won't work.
>
> The idea is a Beltway bubble, the sort of thing that happens when
> politicians spend too much time away from the grassroots socializing
> with donors.
>
> More from Bryanna to Beltway - specifically to the GOP:
>
> Not only will it not work - but YOU are in danger.
>
> My antennae tell me that, nationwide, the Republicans are in more
> trouble now than at any point since they gained control of Congress in
> 1994.
>
> Here's a tumbleweed in the wind:
>
> Last week, California Republicans held their Spring Convention.
> Although it was completely devoid of substance, there were two telling
> events.
>
> The first was an eye-opening speech by Governor Schwarzenegger
> containing this assertion:
>
> "After all, we Republicans have a history of boldness.  I love that.
> Abraham Lincoln struck down slavery. Teddy Roosevelt fathered the
> environmental movement. Dwight D. Eisenhower built the interstate
> highway. And Ronald Reagan tore down the wall and defeated communism."
> [Complete speech here.]
>
> What's wrong with this picture? This: Republican accomplishments stop
> with the Reagan administration.
>
> But 20 year-old triumphs have little to do with the problems of today.
>
> The other event worth mentioning occurred early Sunday morning.
> Attendees awoke to find letters slipped under their doors - letters
> that urged voting members to blindly back the Governor's proposals and
> stop the rampant dissent in the ranks.
>
> The rank and file Republicans were told to place party unity above
> principles.
>
> Just two examples of conflicting principles: the Governor wants a $1
> minimum wage increase and to appoint liberals to various judicial
> seats.
>
> No wonder the rank and file are rampant.
>
> And Schwarzenegger didn't even mention the word "immigration."
>
> This in a state where it was recently reported that one-fifth of high
> school seniors don't speak English well enough to graduate - and don't
> see why they should.
>
> Hmm -  when you think about it, this seems to be the emerging theme of
> the new, improved GOP - what I've called "the Mehlman Monstrosity."
>
> Thus, just two months ago, the Republican National Committee held
> their Winter Meeting amid similar conflict.
>
> Randy Pullen, a committee member from Arizona, drafted a resolution
> asking the RNC to officially oppose all guest worker legislation.
>
> The White House intervened (of course) and urged members to maintain
> party unity over principles and back the President blindly.
>
> And they did - just like the members in California.
>
> Recently, I asked Randy Pullen whether he thought the guest worker/
> border security combo would go down well in Arizona. He said flatly:
>
> "Of course, some [politicians] will want to spin it. It would hurt the
> credibility of Senator Kyl if he tried to spin it.  Arlen Specter -
> who cares? If Kyl tried it here, he would immediately lose face in the
> party."
>
> Lose face in the Party - meaning, with the rank and file Republicans.
>
> The voters, as some like to call them.
>
> Pullen is right. Let's look a few months into the future:
>
> 2006 Candidate: The new Guest Worker Program we passed this year will
> enable us to keep our economy growing with foreign workers.
>
> Average Voter:  My husband worked in construction for 15 years but
> lost his job to an illegal alien that was willing to work for half the
> wage.
>
> 2006 Candidate: Did I mention that it strengthens our national
> security? - if there is a foreign national in our country, we will
> know where they are.
>
> Average Voter:  I already know where they are - they're at my
> husband's old job site.
>
> 2006 Candidate:  Once again, Republicans are solving the America's
> problems.
>
> Average Voter:  Funny, that's what George Bush the First said - just
> before we tossed him out of office.
>
> George H. W. Bush lost his 1992 bid for re-election in spite of his
> 56% approval rating for one simple reason:
>
> Rank and file, grass roots Republicans refused to support him after he
> broke his word and raised taxes.
>
> And guess what? Inside the Beltway, raising taxes was universally
> praised as politically astute and the right thing to do.
>
> But the Beltway was wrong.
>
> WRONG!!
>
> Rosemary Jenks, the Director of Government Relations for Numbers USA,
> strikes me as one of the few people in Washington with a finger on the
> real pulse of the electorate.
>
> She thinks a guestworker bill may well pass the Senate:
>
> "The bottom line is that House Republicans understand that the public
> does not want amnesty, and that they do not support the importation of
> more foreign workers.  The Senate, as usual, is clueless as to public
> feeling on this issue."
>
> (Rosemary did mention that the Senate might get a better feeling come
> the November election!  But that could be too late!)
>
> As for the grass roots movement and their reaction, Rosemary was quite
> adamant that we would see a rebellion:
>
> "I absolutely believe that passage of a guest worker/amnesty program
> (and any guest worker program the Senate passes will be an amnesty
> because it will allow current illegal aliens to apply for work
> permits, whether or not they are allowed to stay permanently - which,
> of course, they will do regardless of what the law says) will fire up
> the grassroots and have a major impact on the November elections."
>
> Indeed - "a major impact on the November elections" which could bring
> about a Democrat majority in the House and possibly the Senate.
>
> Rosemary is right, too. I can see this in my own email. I get a ton of
> email from self-proclaimed "Recovering Republicans." These are
> examples:
>
> - "People who have been longtime party members are leaving, including
> my spouse - I may follow soon if the party doesn't come to its
> senses."
>
> - "I am a Republican, but recently became a one-issue (illegal
> immigration) voter.  The powers that be seem intent on destroying this
> country, via illegal immigration.  I am so frustrated that I may sit
> the next election out."
>
> - "I voted the party line (RNC) for decades now -  no more.  This
> president ruined that."
>
> - "Having been a "blue dog" democrat that traditionally voted
> conservative and Republican, I for one am registering 3rd party this
> year.  Both parties now have the same masters - no real difference in
> what they will do in power."
>
> Paul Weyrich, political consultant extraordinaire and the Chairman and
> CEO of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, sees the
> same writing on the wall:
>
> ".if the e-mail and snail-mail traffic I receive is any indication,
> lots and lots of people are telling me they do not intend to vote in
> the 2006 election. Others are saying they will vote for third-party
> candidates." [Take Heed Republicans - The Alarms Have Been Sounded,
> February 20, 2006]
>
> Weyrich cites immigration as the issue that is splitting the GOP,
> specifically the guest worker amnesty plan.
>
> "The President is insisting upon a link between securing the borders
> and having some sort of guest-worker program. In theory he may be
> correct. But conservatives want none of it until we have a handle on
> illegal immigration."
>
> The White House should be careful. There is more at stake here than
> losing a Republican majority.
>
> President Bush could face impeachment.
>
> Paul Weyrich is one of the few willing to say it - but he says it
> convincingly:
>
> "I am here to tell you that if Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is Speaker of the
> House come next year George W. Bush will be impeached. It just takes a
> majority."
>
> You see, unity is a powerful argument to Republicans. They are, as
> Dick Morris has said, a hierarchical party.
>
> But betrayal is a powerful issue in Republican politics too. And the
> Guest Worker Amnesty legislation betrays all known Republican
> principles.
>
> An example of how betrayal motivates the rank and file:
>
> In 1995, Republicans in the California Assembly achieved a one-vote
> majority - until Democratic speaker Willie Brown convinced Paul
> Horcher (R-Diamond Bar), Doris Allen (R-Cypress) and Brian Setencich
> (R-Fresno) to vote with the Democrats.
>
> Horcher cast his vote to keep Willie Brown as Speaker - the enraged
> Republicans had him recalled.
>
> Allen was elected Speaker. The enraged Republicans organized a recall
> election in her district as well. She resigned and handed the reins
> over to Setencich.
>
> Republicans rallied and - you guessed it, had Setencich recalled.
>
> I had the pleasure of working the campaign that unseated Setencich. I
> will tell you, I have never seen Republicans so organized and focused.
> And I have worshipped Curt Pringle ever since.
>
> The GOP has nothing to sell this year. (Iraq, anyone?) I hope they
> don't see a guest worker amnesty as a selling tool.
>
> Betrayal - nothing calls a rank and file Republican to arms faster
> than a duplicitous politician.
>
> Let the White House and GOP Senate leadership - and the California
> Republicans - pass guest worker legislation and find out for
> themselves!
>
> -------------
If the Republican controlled Senate fails to pass the House bill then the
GOP deserves to die.

Hank