Mel Wants A Solution

Senator and RNC chair Mel Martinez apparently had a temper tantrum yesterday in his home state of Florida after the collapse of the immigration reform bill. He angrily challenged the bill’s opponents to come up with their own plan, saying the “voices of negativity” had to start offering solutions (via TMV):

The Chairman of the Republican Party on Friday lambasted Democrats and Republicans who helped kill an immigration bill in the Senate and challenged them to come up with a solution beyond “just build a fence along the border.”
“The voices of negativity now have a responsibility to come up with an answer,” RNC Chairman and U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, R-Fla. said.
“How will you fix the situation to make peoples’ lives better? How will you continue to grow the economy? How will we bring people out of the shadows for our national security and for the sake of being a country that is just?” he demanded.

The answers seemed very clear to everyone outside of the Senate chambers for the past four weeks. Instead of offering a repeat of 1986, fix the underlying problems that allow for lousy border and visa security, as Congress has repeatedly promised, before saying “Trust us!” How difficult is that to comprehend?
For decades, we have encouraged people to illegally cross into the US, both through a lack of effort in securing the border and then even less effort to enforce the laws even when police discover them living in the country. Many of them have spent most of their lives understanding that Congress and each succeeding administration shrugged off the hypocrisy. We created this situation, and I would probably find myself in agreement with Martinez that we can’t just lay all the blame on those who took advantage of our own hypocrisies. We should find a way to normalize the status of those who have put down roots, lived lawfully, and want to assimilate into the US in a manner which treats them humanely but gives them no advantage over legal immigrants.
But we can’t do that until we have fixed the problems on the border and in the visa program. If Martinez finds himself offended that Americans look at the last several decades of deceit and hypocrisy of Congress and the executive branch and come to the rational conclusion that we don’t want to get fooled again, then he should grow a thicker skin and learn to listen a little more carefully. We have tried one amnesty with a message from Congress that “the check’s in the mail” for real border security and visa management. Pardon us if we can’t quite bring ourselves to play the Three-Card Monty again.
Secure the borders. Fix the broken visa system. Do that before creating an underresourced bureaucratic nightmare, and creating entire new classes of visas while the existing system remains an embarassing and dangerous failure. In other words, take responsibility for the decades of failure from the political class and build some credibility with the American voter.
That’s the solution, Senator Martinez. We’ve been saying this for years. Perhaps the problem is that you refuse to listen.
UPDATE: Michelle Malkin notes that some Floridians have begun a movement to recall Martinez. In my opinion, that’s a short-sighted mistake. This is a man who gets a 100% from the National Right to Life Committee, a 70 from the National Taxpayers Union, a 100 from National Federation of Independent Businesses, and a 100 from the Gun Owners of America. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

71 thoughts on “Mel Wants A Solution”

  1. Martinez is another sign that the Republican party apparatus is not in good hands.
    I saw the RNC Communications Director on Hardball yesterday. Matthews lobbed what should have been a softball about the disrupted London bombings. Instead of an answer about continued vigilance, keeping track of potential threats, don’t tie the government’s hands, long and serious threat, etc. – the RNC person started talking about how Iraq was part of the war on terror, She was promptly torn to shreds by Matthews and the other Democrat.

  2. I leave to Floridians whether Martinez should be recalled, though it does strike me as a very rash idea. But the notion that Martinez has the temperament and judgement to lead the GOP at this or any juncture also seems imprudent.
    That the Bush II White House picked him seems par for the last two years.

  3. Martinez is one arrogant dude.
    As a Florida resident, I’ve called his office twice in the last six months. On both occasions an automated voice mail hung up on me 15 to 20 seconds after the machine answered the phone.
    You say he doesn’t listen. His voice mail proves it in spades.
    There are other conservative Republicans in Florida who could represent us better than the guy with ear plugs.

  4. In how many American films (comedies) of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s did the “hero” need to cause a diversion in a factory or restaurant, and in a moment of desparation decided to shout, “La migre! La Migre!…?” And then fifty or a hundred Latinos would run in every direction, and our “hero” would get away from the bad guys, or the cops, in all the commotion. And the movie audience would roar with laughter, as planned.
    At some point, that scene stopped being funny to Amercian citizens, just because of the numbers involved. But for each of those individual border-jumpers from Latin America, theirs is the same process as it was 20-years ago, the same act as it was 20-years ago. But something’s changed. The difference is that they have a lot more company. For the individual here illegally, what once was laughed at, and winked at by the American public, is now seen by the same people as the equivalent of robbery. Nobody laughs at robbery. But to the individual, from the other side of the border, it may be a little puzzling. That laugh line of fifteen years ago all of a sudden wasn’t funny–it got deadly serious. Understandably, the individual illegal alien says, “what happened?” What happened is the numbers.

  5. Senator Martinez may have made a mistake.
    But the expression reported by Ms. Malkin is really regretful.
    Wouldn’t it be nice to see these folks advocate for the Conservative Agenda in a constructive manner?
    Instead, the effort seems only to empower the Democrat Majority…
    Where is the movement to recall Pelosi and Reid?

  6. The recall movement is unlikely to get any traction, but it still serves a purpose. Perhaps the Senator will realize that a lot of his constituents want him to deal with the problem honestly. Shamnesty is dead.
    The last election should have been a wake up call for the Republicans. Maybe it’ll take getting rid of Hagel and Graham for the rest to finally wake up.

  7. My husband and I just enthusiastically signed the petition to recall. It doesn’t have much of a chance – you need over 400,000 signatures – but it surely FELT GOOD.
    I can’t stand this guy. We voted for him twice, and – oh – in 2004 he stated he was against illegal immigration. What a traitor! I would love to see him leave my state and my country.
    P.S. to the Captain: The only to “normalize” (your favorite word) these people is to get them out of the country and at the end of the line to get in. If there are jobs Americans won’t do, how about asking LEGAL immigrants to do them?

  8. I never understood why phrases like “which treats them humanely” pop up everywhere in the discussion about illegal immigrants. Is someone suggesting we should, for example, force them on a bus and dump them off in the middle of a desert?
    I understand Sen. Kennedy talks about some anti-illegal immigrant gestapo but c’mon…
    Of course even if we take out that phrase, we still run into a logic flaw: “We should find a way to normalize the status of those who have put down roots, lived lawfully, and want to assimilate into the US in a manner which … gives them no advantage over legal immigrants.”
    Legal immigrants don’t get to live and work in the US for years (or decades!) before bothering to file any paperwork.

  9. I was about to send in a complaint to Mel, until reading your update. Yes, we have too many left-leaning Rep. Congressmen now, and Mel looks good compared to a lot of them. For me, the immigration issue is way down the list, certainly after the WOT, SS, Judges, healthcare, taxes, etc. This is a free society (for now), and if someone wants in illegally then a fence lined with guard towers ever 20-feet ain’t going to stop them, unless we’re prepared to kill them if they try. Besides, we have miles and miles of shorelines if someone doesn’t want to dig under the fences. I do like the ideas of seriously punishing those who hire illegals, deporting the illegal immediately when found, stop all funding for their education, healthcare, etc.

  10. “Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.”
    I think the time for one-sided reasonableness is over. This last attempted action by our Congress and our President to both fool and strong-arm us has left me disillusioned and very, very angry. We have momentum now and we should use it. I fully support this and other recall efforts. There is no precious “baby” to worry about here. I’m sure we can find capable representation without Mr. Martinez and others like him who refuse to “build a fence”. If that takes people who get lower scores on other issues – oh well. That’s compromise for ya. The sad fact is that with the demise of that ill-conceived shamnesty bill our leaders seem to believe that this issue has somehow been “tabled”, to use a big-boy congressman word.
    It has not been.
    We are at a crossroads and our team is either with us or not. If not then it is time for Martinez and his ilk to go. It really is just that simple. You know, our country has millions of conservative Republicans – I’m sure we can find SOMEBODY to represent us and do the right thing. I say: Send a message – recall him now.

  11. There is no room in the conservative movement for Senators who abuse the very people who voted them in.
    Martinez may be 100% on Right to Life but he is 0 on immigration. On top of that he lied about his immigration position.
    Sorry, there is no room in the big tent for people like that.
    Ken
    Dallas

  12. The issue of recalling Martinez is an issue for the people of Florida.
    But if I were a Floridian, I would be signing said petition. It is true that the Senator has done good. However, the sheer arrogance and sense of “divine right” that accompanied the attempted “ramdown” of this bill give me pause to consider if the good Senator truly has a republican-democratic ethos guiding his legislative philosophy.
    To refrain from looking at true rot in the timbers of state merely because someone has a good record on other issues, or we are concerned about party discord, is to risk the entire house one day crashing down around us.
    Sometimes behavior just needs to be called, and if the satisfaction cannot be met through discussion–as it appears it probably won’t with Mr. Martinez–then he should not be enabled to do again as he pleases. The word is, I believe, “intervention”, and having had to do one once, they are not pleasant.
    Once again, the issue of recall is a matter for the people of Florida, and I leave it to them as their right. As far as the Senator leading the rest of the party, I think that needs to end now, for who here thinks he truly can lead us? Not I, based on these past two months. We will not get to the Promised Land with him as Moses, so let’s just cut the losses now.
    And that would then lead the Senator with two options–follow or get out of the way.

  13. There is no room in the conservative movement for Senators who abuse the very people who voted them in.
    Martinez may be 100% on Right to Life but he is 0 on immigration. On top of that he lied about his immigration position.
    Sorry, there is no room in the big tent for people like that.

  14. We created this situation, and I would probably find myself in agreement with Martinez that we can’t just lay all the blame on those who took advantage of our own hypocrisies. We should find a way to normalize the status of those who have put down roots, lived lawfully, and want to assimilate into the US in a manner which treats them humanely but gives them no advantage over legal immigrants.
    Ed,
    The above quote shows your inability to understand what drove most Americans to oppose the immigration reform bill. It also contains an oxymoron . How can people, who are in this country illegally, ever live lawfully? We don’t want people here who enter illegally.
    As for Mel, I hope he is recalled. He misled his constiuents, and has betrayed them and his Party. You have no idea how upset the American public is about the governments’ refusal to enforce existing immigration laws. That’s why we are so up in arms about the “comprhensive immigration reform”. We don’t trust Congress, or the President, and the charade in the Senate over the past month was what tipped this bill over. Besides it being bad law.

  15. I attended the NRO conference earlier this year where I heard Jeb Bush speak. Jeb basically reduced the (illegal) immigration problem to nativist Conservatives who need to be extra careful in the words they use because people might get the wrong message. Never once did he address the real problem of Illegal, instead he warned the audience to be very careful of what they say as it may paint a bad picture of Conservatives.
    This arm of the Republican Party(the Jebs, the Georges, the Mels, the Lindseys) are basically parroting the progressive Lefts identity politics mantra that Conservatives are racist, bigoted nativists rubes. The Jebs, the Georges, the Mels the Lindseys like the progressive Left believe you the American citizen is too stupid to be left to our own devices.
    I joined the Republican Party for the first time in 2004 to get away from the Collectivist mentality on the Left.
    Personally, I rather throw out the dirty water of Big Government Republicanism than protect the 100% pro-life movement because the abortion issue used as a National issue will never go way until Roe vs Wade is overturned for the Republic to decide. Big Government Collectivism will only grow larger and more powerful.
    That said, how come Mass legistaure still has not voted on gay marriage when the Mass legislature has the power to do so? I am beginning to thing they won’t enact the law as a way to continually the game of identity politics which blames gay hate on middle America Christian rubes.

  16. I’m not so sure about recalling Mel Martinez from the Senate — and the chances of this succeeding must be slim at best.
    But he definitely should be removed as the head of the RNC. Someone so completely out of step with the rank and file cannot really lead, and more importantly, cannot get donations. It’s time for the RNC to start having someone who actually represents its membership.
    The RNC needs to get away from Martinez and GWB. It needs to start looking towards the future if there are to be any electoral successes at the congressional or presidential level in 2008.

  17. Not only do I approve of the idea of Floridians impeaching Mr. Martinez, if they want to, but I would also be up for a serious run at impeaching Mr. Bush.
    I know we’re in the middle of a war on terror, and he’s ostensibly our commander in chief, but jesus! What the hell does he *do* all day since he is constantly playing catch-up with current events, and not out leading or being pro-active.
    If he had to defend himself against impeachment, too, then Dubya wouldn’t be coming up with idiot immigration legislation to sell his country to Mexico.
    It’s interesting to read the comments in the LA Times about immigration. The Times *always* writes “Mexicans are our Friends” sorts of stories and *never* uses the word “illegal”, so it’s fascinating reading Normal Americans speaking up and voicing their concerns. Not oddly enough, they are not what the LA Times would have its readership believe we should be thinking about.

  18. In my opinion, that’s a short-sighted mistake. This is a man who gets a 100% from the National Right to Life Committee, a 70 from the National Taxpayers Union, a 100 from National Federation of Independent Businesses, and a 100 from the Gun Owners of America. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
    The baby has explosive diarrhea, projectile vomiting, has the temperment Eraserhead’s baby, and looks like Rosemary’s.
    I want a new baby!

  19. Re: Tossing the baby out with the bathwater
    Martinez has a 100% rating on gun control, right to life and business and 70% on taxes. so we shouldn’t toss his backside in the dustbin of history? Why don’t we try electing someone who is 100% on guns, life, business, taxes AND IMMIGRATION. I voted for him but that was ONLY because he was the candidate and I refuse to vote for Democrats — they are even worse.
    Just because a guy rates high on some issues doesn’t mean he should get a pass on an issue as important as immigration. The man needs to go at least from the RNC — in his view the people are the problem? This is a responsible political leader?.

  20. “But we can’t do that until we have fixed the problems on the border and in the visa program.” – CE
    And we can’t do those until we get representatives, not ‘leaders’, representatives who understand that seeing to those items, and to our sovereignty, is what we elected/hired them to do.
    That they insulted us, called us names, and attempted to over-ride doing the right thing, while threatening our right to free speech and TO CONTINUE TO CONTINUE TO NOT ENFORCE THE LAW indicates a measure of arrogance that is very, very dangerous to the American people.
    If I was a Floridian, I’d sign that petition.

  21. It looks to me that the illegal immigration problem is all the fault of people like Kennedy and Martinez.
    They profess to be greatly concerned about the plight of the 13 million illegals or so here and their famillies.
    Yet they are also quite aware that the voting population is made up of at least 60% or so of rabid racist nativists like me who are quite skeptical of the governments ability and intent to police our borders. Hence, they know quite well that the only chance to pass an immigration bill like they wanted was to rush it through Congress in hopes that the neanderthals were napping.
    Well, it didn’t work.
    But they also should realize that if all of a sudden they built the fence (really, how long would it take if became priority #1?) and manned it appropriately, then theh racist, nativist neanderthals like me might trust the government more and might be open to the concept of ammesty for hard working (as opposed to criminal) illegals.
    But they refuse to consider enforcement — which makes me think they are not all that concerned about the illegals they profess to be concerned about.

  22. I’m a Florida resident who signed the petiton. Martinez lost my support when he conspired with “Spaceboy” Nelson to block oil exploration permanently inside 100 miles of the Florida Coast. There are indeed many other Florida conservatives who would serve the country better.

  23. I am not that worried about Senators Martinez and Graham as well as President Bush making disparaging remarks about opponents of the bill. I get far worse from the MSM and their Democrat pets.
    On the other hand – I find it disconcerting that the aforementioned individuals are adopting some of the same slimy tactics that the Far Left has used for decades.
    As for whether or not Martinez is recalled – I don’t know, and since I am not a resident of Florida I don’t get to vote on the matter. But it seems to me that the “McCain-ization” of certain Republicans should worry all of us. McCain, Hagel, Graham, Lugar, Martinez – all of these and more seem to be more interested about what the New York Times, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, al-AP, Reuters, MSNBC, and the Washington Post think than the people who elected them. Hamming it up for the MSM may make life easier in DC, but at some point they could turn off enough of their base to be in serious political jeopardy. Nor will the MSM ride to their rescue since in any battle between a Democrat and a Democrat-lite they will always chose the former.
    As the spouse of a legal immigrant, I don’t support amnesty in any form. But had supporters of normalization taken a measured approach like the one Captain Ed advocated they would have encountered much less opposition. Unfortunately, arrogance and deceit ruled the process and the bill finally (and thankfully) collapsed. For now.

  24. A Good Morning from Miami, The senator for Florida and Chairman of the GOP acts more like a registered agent for foreign nationals and their government than my representative .Florida’s other senator has gone on ,and is a space shot. So many concerns…none of them are for the U.S. citizen.

  25. I think that a possible first step to normalization for those illegal immigrants who have been in the country for many years and have set down roots is a sponsorship program. After WW2, my paternal grandfather sponsored the emigration to America from Germany of his nephew. There are still sponsorship requirements for claases of immigrants today.
    What might such a program look like?
    Proof of long term residence (none of this January 2007 boondoggle).
    Affidavits by several to many neighbors, friends, pastors, social organizations or other individuals in a position to attest to the illegal immigrant’s character that the individual and his family are members in good standing of a community. Such sponsors must be citizens of the United States to have standing.
    Proof of employment.
    Evidence that the illegal immigrant has no felony or misdemeanors on his record, although the odd traffic violation or so should not be enough to stop the process. Indeed, if a crime occurred outside the past ten years, even that can be waived if sufficient sponsors and supporting documentation can be accumulated as to the individual’s standing in the community.
    Some form of this happens every now and then, when a long term resident overstays a visa and then gets “caught” and supporters come out of everywhere to campaign for their retention in the country. Let’s just regularize the process. If an illegal immigrant wants to sign up for something like the “Z” visa, then he has to have x number of American citizens to sponsor him to get in the door. There should, of course, be penalties applied to any citizen who uses this system to accept any form of compensation to act as sponsor or to knowingly make false statements regarding the illegal immigrant’s character or circumstances.
    Perhaps if we look at this problem from two lenses, that of the illegal immigrants and that of the community in which they reside, we could get somewhere. We should not necessarily disrupt communities of US citizens in order to weed out every illegal immigrant among us when those immigrants are, in fact, valued members of our communities. On the other hand, we should not be obliged to try to normalize or grant even provisional status to illegal immigrants who have not “Set down roots.” For me, that notion of a January 1st, 2007 cutoff date was absurd when I first heard it. I’d love to know just how many people heard that and it proved to be the deciding factor in their journey across the border.
    And finally, second generation birthright citizenship should be reassessed. Children of illegal immigrants regularized under any type of normalization program should not be granted automatic citizenship even if they are, or were, born here prior to the program. Their path to citizenship should mirror that of legal immigrants.

  26. The problem remains a problem simply because Congress does not want to fix it. Any clever person could come up with a plan better than we have now, or the ‘solution’ recently before the Senate.
    Here’s one plan. Make it EASIER for legal migrants (not immigrants) to cross the border with work visas, while making enforcement of illegals much stricter. Build the wall, whatever. That automatically channels those who want to work through legal pathways and helps with the problem of terrorists. Anyone sneaking in can be assumed to have bad motives and dealt with as such deserves.
    Ok, I don’t claim my little plan solves all problems, but it would help with some of them. It took me all of 5 minutes to think up.
    My wife is a legal immigrant. I remember all the money, time and hassle we went through to get her a green card. It is simply unfair to responsible immigrants to allow illegals the same privileges.

  27. Does the good Senator need a FAX containing the anti-amnesty and opposition message pinned to his shirt for his mom to explain it to him?
    You just cannot make up this level of disingenuity… even from a politician. Have we voters just not had enough of these shysters yet?
    RE: brooklyn (June 30, 2007 10:56 AM)
    Where is the movement to recall Pelosi and Reid?
    Good question. I hope the classical liberals (as opposed to the progressive ones) will work their own side of the aisle, too. Perhaps the “blue dogs” will get more support and can keep that party from moving further left.
    Nonetheless, this fundamentally is not a partisan issue except when it is framed by politicians and advisers who need to create voting blocs via well-measured demographics. Legal citizens want fair process in law and intent. Congress isn’t providing, so let’s dump the most egregious offenders on all sides. That’s our obligation as voters since incumbency and the shenanigans to keep it have tarnished democracy. Replace a Democrat with a more honest and responsive Democrat. Replace a Republican with a more honest and responsive Republican. Keep this particular memory of sausage-making in mind and pledge to change the next Congressional membership.

  28. I’ve been trying to fax a letter telling RNC to take me off their call list (I have donated substantially to the RNC) if Martinez does not resign as RNC chair. I want someone in that seat who represents Republicans and the citizens, and who doesn’t declare us “unfair.” That poor old fax machine can’t get through the busy signal at RNC. Heh.

  29. Martinez was not the first choice at the TxGOP convention for RNC chair. Michael Steele was. But Martinez was another Bush appointee foisted upon us and we viewed that move as a prelude to what was coming, amnesty cloaked in a label that read “comprehensive immigration reform”.
    Everyone at the convention talked about how Martinez talked a good “stchick” but we knew he was pro-amnesty.
    I have refused to donate to the RNC for the past six months. I will now only give to the candidate of my choice and one who stands for my values; enforcing our laws, protecting the 2nd Amendment, appointing strick constructionalist on the SCOTUS and keeping the promises already made to the American people in 1986.

  30. Throw THIS baby out with the bathwater.It’s one ugly baby.
    He & Lott have cornered the market on arrogance. I don’t care if this geek gets a 100% rating from the Risen Christ.

  31. With all the discussion of the Shamesty plan over the past few weeks, there was miniscule talk over the fact that it would immediately relieve those businesses who wittingly hired illegals (and the politicians who looked the other way) of any wrongdoing over the years.
    To me, THIS is what was propelling the politicians to try to ram the bill through the Senate.
    I suspect that many large businesses and corporations fear that if the government gets serious about deporting illegals, that those illegals will in turn lawyer-up and haul them into court and prove that the businesses themselves literally “lured” them to fraudulently enter the country and helped them do it.
    We keep focusing on “amnesty” for the illegals when we should be talking about the “amnesty” that would have been given to those large businesses and corporations.

  32. I support the effort by some Florida residents to recall Mel Martinez. I live in Ohio and would support efforts to remove George Voinovich from office. Even though he did wake up and vote against Amnesty I find Voinovich an embarrassment and would like to see him removed from office. I don’t care about losing Republicans like Martinez and Voinovich since the Dems seem to run the Senate whether they are the majority or the minority.If a Graham, Martinez or Voinovich was removed from office it might serve as a wakeup call for other arrogant Senators who think they can defy the will of the people.
    Rather then blaming American citizens who want the laws enforced Martinez and other Amnesty advocates should blame illegals for the defeat of CIR.The illegal immigrant marches where illegals came “out of the shadows” to brazenly marched in the streets demanding their “rights” angered many Americans and turned people against the very thought of Amnesty. Now its up to GWB, Martinez and other “grand barginers” to restore confidence in the government by first building the fence and enforcing existing laws. Then we can talk about bringing people “out of the shadows” if and only if they have not committed crimes, are not jihad sympathizers, are working, get to the back of the line behind legal immigrants and pay all back taxes and penalties.

  33. If they _insist_ on a ‘comprehensive’ bill, the only missing component is something we can trust as an honest metric _BEFORE_ any of the non-security-focussed activate in the slightest way.
    700 miles _built_. XXX (doubly) criminal aliens deported. YYYY Employer sanctions.
    And a reasonable time period to actually measure those metrics. Say 5 years.

  34. as i stated previously this is a golden opportunity for the repubs in congress. they should bring up a bill, in this session, that demands homeland security to enforce the visa act of 1996 and the fence act of 06. part of the bill should be an appearance of the weasel himself, michael chertoff, every 90 days posting updates to the exact mile the progress of the fence etc.
    this is a major opportunity. if congress doesn’t self motivate we should make sure that we constantly ask them why these two mandated and funded laws are not being enforced. the visa bill is already 2 years overdue, with no date certain.
    myself, i will not let up. i will post, email, editorialize etc until i’m blue in the face. this is finally doable

  35. May I suggest: LISTEN TO FRED THOMPSON!
    He spotted the problem as one where the senators are not trusted. Now? To win back that trust they’ve got to think solutions that are clear cut, and simple. No padded bills. Nothing so complicated, the senators, themselves, vote without reading the package.
    THEN? Concentrate on the laws you have now.
    And, to get back America’s TRUST you have to offer Americans SMALL bills, limited in scope to what YOU CAN REALLY DO.
    While, I gotta tell ya. I heard that this bill was a “slam dunk. Drudge said so a few weeks, ago, on the air. THEN, the diluge.
    Then, Drudge said the senate-critters were saying “the phone calls stopped coming in.”
    And, Dubya, taking another bite of this poisoned apple, gushed that the senate would “try again.”
    Indeed they did.
    I just wish I could’a sen Lindsay Graham’s face, when someone on his staff said that U-TUBE was seeing many visitors. To view Michelle Malkin’s “Mucias Gracias” 30 second spot.
    Unlike the lamestream, I do believe that if the GOP decides to hide good primary candidates to run against Lindsay Greaham? Just about anyone with a modicum of common sense will throw himself into an INDEPENDENT RUN, when Graham comes back up to retain his seat. How far will his calling his constiuents “bigots,” sail then?
    As of yet, the senate-critters have not recovered from their discovery that the People are listening in.
    The Internet is a jewel! Today, I bookmarked the SKY feed, because it’s showing the Glasgow terrorist story. If I’m tuning into TV? I’m doing it, here. Right at my computer.

  36. Maybe Mel is somewhat right. Where is the workable solution from the opponents. I am talking about workable, it’s easy to spout of your Washingtonian mouth about sending 12 million people back, but how in the heck would you do it. There are a ton of elected officials, ON BOTH SIDES, angrily objecting to this bill because it carries political power with the people … but where is the solution from these politicians? It’s easy to be on the right side, just hard to do things about it, just like the dems in stopping this war, they are spot on with the American people in wanting to put it to an end, just can’t break through the incredble archiac rules of the Senate.
    Oh, and where is the support to beef up the border security now. This president has the power to send in the resources, but yet, nothing has been done.
    Another empty promise by this President. Add it to all the other domestic agenda items, besides tax breaks for the rich, that he has failed on … thats BEFORE we start talking about foreign policy. GWB, the best Democrat I know.

  37. Rave on, you racist bigots. Do you really think that there will now be “enforcement” of your silly “borders”? Do you really think that the stupid fence will be built? Do you really think that the government will begin arresting and deporting brown people, even if they dared to try it?
    Here is what will happen. Millions and millions of “illegal immigrants” will vote in November, 2008. (Remember, most have “papers” and drivers licenses, so how will you stop them?)
    Say hello to your next President, Senora Clinton. Say hello to complete and total amnesty. Say hello to open borders. Say goodbye to your Anglo Republican Party.

  38. Ed Morrissey: “For decades, we have encouraged people to illegally cross into the US, both through a lack of effort in securing the border and then even less effort to enforce the laws even when police discover them living in the country.” Who in blazes is “we”. Ed Morrissey; he doesn’t speak for me. Let him take his arrogant presumption, his criminal activity and his blame shifting soft on crime soft on national survival advocacy and stuff it
    Let me be clear. I don’t trust him. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him. When he writes something that Ted Kennedy could comfortably write, then he’s not to be trusted: “We should find a way to normalize the status of those who have put down roots, lived lawfully, and want to assimilate into the US in a manner which treats them humanely but gives them no advantage over legal immigrants.’
    I’ll never forget the story of those poor black people, laborers who left their own Katrina stunned families and devastated homes to help others rebuild and recover in another state, crying bitter tears on being told at arrival: “Go back home. The Mexicans are here.” Americans were treated like dogs because some cheap faux free marketeer wanted to pay peasant rates.
    Americans were sacrificed to some of Ed Morrissey’s Mexicans who “put down roots (anchor babies), lived lawfully (cut the queue, went on welfare, got food stamps and health care, had cost free education up to and including scholarships to private institutions as Harvard), and “want to assimilate… in a manner which treats them humanely (no heavy employer fines, no long term employer imprisonment, no pulling the illegals from the goverment tit, no mass expulsions, no punishment of the sanctuary cities, lots of family unification under which 12 millions become 60) but gives them no advantage over legal immigrants (somehow).
    The Ed Morrissey blog relevance tactic on illegal immigration: look strong but be weak yet remain credible. No wonder he clutches onto Mel Martinez (who clutches onto George Bush): “Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.”
    Dear G-d, I never in a million years thought I’d thank Bernard Sanders and the AFL-CIO for anything, but I do thank them. I thank then for helping good Americans stop weaklings, betrayers and state enemies like Ed Morrissey, Lindsey Gramnesty, Trent Lott and George Bush.

  39. Daniel provides a great example of the kind of asinine hyperventilation that guarantees nothing gets done. Call everyone who barely disagrees with you a traitor and a state enemy instead of people with honest differences of opinion — and in my case, a pretty thin difference at that.
    That always leads to productive solutions …

  40. “The voices of negativity now have a responsibility to come up with an answer,” RNC Chairman and U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, R-Fla. said.
    “How will you fix the situation to make peoples’ lives better? How will you continue to grow the economy? How will we bring people out of the shadows for our national security and for the sake of being a country that is just?” he demanded.
    Senator Martinez,
    In the interests of adult debate and discourse, I will restrain my urge to tell you to go f*** yourself, you arrogant prick. Who the HELL do you think you are to take that tone with the American people in general and the members of your own party in particular???
    But I won’t say that. Instead, let me point out that we HAVE offered a solution: it’s called building a fence. Why is this not enough for you? Why do you feel compelled to have some guargantuan “comprehensive” solution to what is effectively a simple problem? Could it be that you’ve been in DC for so long that simple solutions just don’t feel right to you anymore? Or is it that you know that a “comprehensive” bill will be so lengthy and complex that you and your fellow conspirators members of Congress can both take the teeth out AND load it up with pork while claiming that you’ve solved the problem?
    Personally, I think it’s the latter.
    You seem to think that we’re fools, and you’re complaining like a street hustler when somebody beats him at his own game because we’re not.
    Here’s a tip for you: we elect YOU to come up with solutions, bucko. If we don’t like what you’re doing, it’s not only our right but our RESPONSIBILITY as citizens to let you know. Sorry to hear that this gets your panties in a bunch, but if you don’t like the way our American system of government works, then I suggest that you clean out your office because we want REPRESENTATIVES, not an American House of Lords.
    You will either do what we want, or we will arrange for you to find another job. Maybe you can work at the DMV: you’ve got and arrogant and unhelpful attitude that makes you perfect for the job.
    Cap’n Ed wrote:
    Michelle Malkin notes that some Floridians have begun a movement to recall Martinez. In my opinion, that’s a short-sighted mistake. This is a man who gets a 100% from the National Right to Life Committee, a 70 from the National Taxpayers Union, a 100 from National Federation of Independent Businesses, and a 100 from the Gun Owners of America. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
    I’ve heard this argument before, and I admit that it has merit. However, I’m getting a little tired of it. Keep people like Trent Lott and Ted Stevens? Mel Martinez? Chuck Hagel? Those babies shouldn’t be thrown out with the bathwater: they should be DROWNED in it. As John Steele notes (June 30, 2007 11:41 AM), why not get representatives who are solid on ALL things that conservatives value, instead of settling for RINOs like that doddering fool Specter or our favorite tin plated dictator McCain and his mincing pansy sidekick Graham?
    But it’s not even that the members of Congress aren’t ideologically pure. In my mind, the real problem is that they are so corrupt and arrogant that they aren’t serving us anymore at all unless it’s by accident. Throw ’em all out, I say, and start from scratch.
    Some will argue that we’ll lose all their experience. Well, from what I can see, the average member of Congress doesn’t even bother to read the bills they vote on; their staffers read ’em and give the congresscritters a brief and simplified synopsis (basically, “vote yes on this” or “vote no on that”). It appears to me that any idiot can be a member of Congress, so why not get a fresh crop of idiots and see how that works out? When they realize that their phoney-baloney jobs can AND WILL BE ended if they start neglecting their duty, maybe we’ll have good government for a change.

  41. The solution:
    Enforce the Border. Increase penalties for employers who hire illegals. End “Sanctuary Cities”. Deport illegals who have been CONVICTED of FELONIES after they have done their time. End government handouts to illegals.
    By making it harder for illegals to get paid for work or get handouts in liberal counties many will go away on their own.

  42. From comments:
    “With all the discussion of the Shamesty plan over the past few weeks, there was miniscule talk over the fact that it would immediately relieve (of wrongdoing) those businesses who wittingly hired illegals. I suspect that many large businesses and corporations fear that if the government gets serious about deporting illegals, that those illegals will … haul them into court…”
    I think this is an excellent point. This is an issue that will need to be dealt with. But I still see no reason why we cannot stop the flow first. The longer big-business delays the worst the terms of their amnesty is going to be. Thank you commenter for putting them in my sights.

  43. “With all the discussion of the Shamesty plan over the past few weeks, there was miniscule talk over the fact that it would immediately relieve (of wrongdoing) those businesses who wittingly hired illegals. I suspect that many large businesses and corporations fear that if the government gets serious about deporting illegals, that those illegals will … haul them into court…”
    It may have been Captain Ed who posted comments from Sec Chertoff about the administration’s concerns about local governments passing laws to deal with illegal immigration.Thus the rush to pass CIR. Businesses may have been concerned because employers who employ illegals and don’t pay taxes are guilty of tax fraud and subject to back taxes, fines and possible prison time. CIR would have wiped out these tax crimes by illegals and their employers. One way to slow illegal immigration is to make it very costly to hire illegals. How about bringing some of the employers of illegals to justice for tax fraud?

  44. Jose forgets 1 little thing, the next terrorist attack.
    If I’m reading correctly, there’s a big one somewhere near NYC in the works.
    It won’t matter what “the law” sez, the sob stories, the whining.
    Especially if they came thru the border, even the Iranians noticed it in a speech threatening us.
    Because of your ilk’s lack of vision and sensitivity.
    And Evita won’t be able to stop it, she’ll have a photo-op driving the first post in.
    Or it will be open season on the border – your choice.

  45. The greatest casualty of this fiasco is the RNC’s ability to raise money. Unlike individual campaigns where money is given in big chunks by vested interests to gain access and influence, the RNC gets much of its money from the party faithful in small contributions.
    After the tin ear we got from many of our senators, it will be cold day in hell that we will throw our money in a pot to help McCain, Martinez, Graham, Lott and all the others who broke faith with right-minded Republicans.
    Senator Martinez is the Chair of the RNC, so he is the big loser. This may be the reason for his recent bitterness. Unlike other turncoats, who can hope we will all forget, Martinez will have to face the disastrous consequences month after month. Will he call us all bigots again, this time for not sending him money?
    Senator Martinez should look at himself as the problem.

  46. It is only fitting that President Bush, having appointed this incompetent boob to head the RNC, is stuck with Martinez for the balance of his term. And what about the GOP? They deserve him. Boo-freakin-hoo, as MM would say.
    If the folks in FL can recall Martinez, more power to them, and I don’;t blame them a bit. But if that effort falls short, it is appropriate that the weight of his stupidity come to rest around the neck of the Bush Admin.

  47. How about bringing some of the employers of illegals to justice for tax fraud?
    Lily,
    You said it better than I.
    It’s about time that the light be shined upon these employers re. the tax code. Yet we all know that it’s the pols in DC who write the tax code…so we’re confronted with a never ending self-licking ice cream cone.
    This latest immigration bill was designed to protect the status quo. Seems to me we need to make a fundamental change of the tax code 🙂
    Go Fred.

  48. The reason why Martinez should be recalled, Grahamnesty get defeated in the primary, and McCain’s presidential aspirations trampled into dust can best be summed up using the word in the original French:
    “pour encourager les autres”(I hope I have the spelling right)
    If we don’t make the costs for endorsing amnesty unacceptably high, we will get it again and again. An anti-Amnesty platform needs to be such a part and parcel of the republican party that it should be more acceptable for a presidential candidate to say “Ronald Reagan was a Jackass,” than to espouse amnesty.

  49. Martinez has remarkable insight for a Senator. As referenced, he values:
    1. making people’s lives better.
    2. growing the economy
    3. taking people out of the shadows
    Curiously, I haven’t seen Mel publicly promoting his tax amnesty act (the Martinez-Hagal-Bush Comprehensive Tax Elimination Reform Act of 2007). Just think of all those tax cheats hiding in the shadows (don’t they have a handful of them up in Mass. living in absolute terror of their government right now?).
    Indeed, the Martinez-Hagel-Bush Comprehensive Tax Reform Act of 2007 addresses these goals, but focuses on the 200+ million residents of this country to achieve these important goals rather than a 12-20 million minority population. Key components of the bill include:
    – Establishing Tax-Avoider Safe Havens: The IRS is instructed to ignore all enforcement provisions of all tax laws, allowing millions of tax cheats to come out of the shadows.
    – Economic Growth Incentive: Income, sales, capital gains and property taxes are hereby classified as strictly optional. Just think of the hundreds of billions of dollars that will be injected into buying new cars (saving the domestic car industry), propping up the subprime real estate market and allowing countless millions to buy their first home. Prior to the bill, this money would have been wasted on stupid earmarks for useless bridges in Alaska and rainforests in Iowa, but now it can impact every citizen’s well being. And just think of the billions we’ll save by abolishing all jobs at the IRS, not to mention the fear that will be abated by eliminating this most hated governmental agency.
    Let’s quit wasting time on minor issues and support our President and Senators efforts in this most important comprehensive reform of our government in nearly 100 years. Write your Senators and Representatives to support the Martinez-Hagel-Bush Comprehensive Tax Elimination Reform Act of 2007.
    Oh, and regarding that pesky immigration issue, I’m sure some thoughtful Senator will propose an amendment that will establish work camps for illegals that’ll put an end to any incentive for sneaking across the border. Mandatory one-year sentences for first offenses with convicted offenders spending an entire year in a Federal work camp with no pay (followed by 2, 3 and 5 year subsequent sentences for repeat offenders) will convey the economic disincentive to those that violate our nation’s laws and seek illegal employment.

  50. The longer big-business delays the worst the terms of their amnesty is going to be.
    Philip,
    Precisely. Me thinks they are not very happy with last week’s outcome. Notice that we didn’t hear very much from any specific businesses regarding this bill? The Wall Street Journal was carrying their water on this topic.
    Still, as far as I am concerned, we need to fundamentally change the tax code. That’s the crux of the problem. We need to switch from an income tax to a sales tax…totally. No hybrid.

  51. So some think we should save Mel’s bacon because he is good on some issues, while admittedly bad on “only one”.
    Trouble is, the one he is bad on, he is very very bad – and it an issue that is FATAL for America if not taken care of RIGHT.
    I live close to the Mexico Border in Texas – you cannot afford to wink on this one, your ship of state is badly listing, and a few more inches and it will become swamped, and sink.
    BTW, THEY JUST FOUND ANOTHER TUNNEL IN ARIZONA TO MEXICO.
    Holding onto someone like Mel because they are only bad on one issue is like realizing that the Titanic is still 95% sound, after hitting the iceburg, and deciding to ride it out with the ship instead of getting oneself on a lifeboat and far away from the sucking power of a swamping ship.
    Maybe some have not yet realized, look, some of these “good folks” can still make a great living at something else, just because they are NOT FIT to be Public servants – having a warped sense of the IMPERITIVES that face our nation in this day and time.
    It ain’t as if you are consigning them to hell to say they ain’t fit for this or that Public Office.
    We are down to some brutal ESSENTIALS as we have not been for more than 150 years, in this nation – and perhaps worse than in our whole history – if nothing else – for sheer diversity and variety of many different vital issues in which we are currently hemorrhaging to death, all at once.
    We only had a few issues at the time of the American revolution – centering around citizenship rights of the British citizens who were American colonists; and only about two at the time of the Civil War – property rights and slavery. Three – Manufacturing rights, too.
    But now, we are assaulted mortally on many facets at one time.
    I hear so many arguing that we cannot be a one issue person – meaning that someone who fails us on one issue can be legitimate candidates because they are right about a certain number of OTHER also-vital issues.
    I put it to you that in these days, we are so borderline to swamping the national Ship of State, on such a wide variety of issues, that we can ill afford to hang onto someone just because they are good for it for say 95% of coverage.
    I think I heard that we share 95% of the DNA of the DAFFODYL – I won’t be looking THERE for a heart transplant, though!
    I am telling you, we cannot afford to let candidates for any office think we are so desperate, we are willing to “settle” and allow them their own pet destruction.
    Do you think an employer of say brain surgeons, would say well, this guy is 95% square, but he has this little quirk about his crack cocaine use….
    I am telling you, as a border region resident – you cannot afford to let a Mel Martinez at the helm of your Titanic in this iceburg field.
    And it has nothing to do with what a swell guy many people thik he is.
    How dedicated are you to the proposition that your family cannot survive without a viable community to live in?
    You now have to think of your children and their future – and get seriously real about who has your back while you are up on the wall at the fort watching out over the fields around the fort – that who you let at your back isn’t opening the back gate and giving your enemies the keys to your storerooms of food and ammo.
    YOU have to think more about your family, spouses and children than you do about “hurting someone else’s feelies”.
    I am deadly serious.

  52. I’ve been trying to fax a letter telling RNC to take me off their call list (I have donated substantially to the RNC) if Martinez does not resign as RNC chair. I want someone in that seat who represents Republicans and the citizens, and who doesn’t declare us “unfair.” That poor old fax machine can’t get through the busy signal at RNC. Heh.
    Posted by: ggeisel at June 30, 2007 12:38 PM
    ***************
    Michelle has a phone number where you can force the RNC to return your donations to you – I think it has to be the ones inside the last year, I don’t remember – but she posted that about a week ago, I think it was.
    THAT might get their attention.

  53. Oh, sorry, that was Michelle Malkin, I referred to in my last post.
    —————————–
    Still, as far as I am concerned, we need to fundamentally change the tax code. That’s the crux of the problem. We need to switch from an income tax to a sales tax…totally. No hybrid.
    Posted by: maidmarion at June 30, 2007 11:10 PM
    *******************
    EXCELLENT IDEA the Founding Fathers would totally back!
    POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

  54. BTW, when considering only trying to remove JUST the “CRIMINAL” Illegal Aliens – merely because POLITICIANS AND BUREAUCRATS tell you you cannot remove them ALL, because it is logistically “impossible” (considering some of the logistical miracles America has already accomplished when she p uts her mind to it ) – in spite of many innovative Americans coming up with a wide variety of methods to do it quickly and mostly under the illegal aliens’ own steam – may I ask a simple question of you who fall for that “BAIT”:
    If someone breaks into your home, do you seriously consider letting them stay permanently – ~if they haven’t broken any other laws inside your property besides “JUST” Breaking and Entering~????????
    Especially if there are “just too many of them for that to be a reasonable decision”????????
    I’m thinking of some neighborhoods the “authorities” told the residents they could not clean the street gangs and crack houses back out of – yet in some cases they did – and that was often the major work of one irate mother or grandmother who went on a serious and determined campaign and did a lot of things the “authorities” told them they just could not do!
    Like walk right up to them in the middle of a drug deal and tell them they didn’t have a right to be there doing that! Organizing patrols with flashlights, cameras and video cameras. And publishing the photos on local flyers when the cops won’t do anything about it.

  55. Even in places where fences have been backed up by guard towers and air cavalry, they’re just used to coordinate and control the INTERCEPTION, not be absolute barriers to penetration. You make it darned hard to breach, so that you only have to react to a narrow and recent breach instead of a thousand mile watch.So long as we’re going to accept the concept of sanctuary cities, then the fence is going to fail. We already have laws on the books to deal with that.
    Already there are calls in Los Angeles for more marches and boycotts on behalf of “amnesty for workers” –THEIR language. Oct 12 is being given as the date in radio broadcasts. Bring. It. On. The louder “workers who the government call illegal” demand their “rights” the more the “moderates” of the Senate will be proved as dupes. The humane and effective solution is to cripple black market labor same as any other illegal industry–drive it underground.

  56. On my scorecard Martinez rates:
    *100 for toadying
    *0 on national security
    I signed the petition.
    We have plenty of conservatives in Florida who
    will score higher on your criteria than Martinez.

  57. “How will you fix the situation to make peoples’ lives better? How will you continue to grow the economy? How will we bring people out of the shadows for our national security and for the sake of being a country that is just?” he demanded.
    I would like to tell Senator Martinez it is not my job – that is what he was elected to do. In the words of Aunt Bea – Get to it.
    And Voinovich says he wont be intimidated – he needs to be – by the people that elected him.
    It’s high time our senators and representatives get the idea they are not kings and queens nor perfumed princes, nor should they serve for life.
    It’s people like Bush and Lott and Martinez that broke me from being a Republican.
    It’s time for term limits – NOW!

  58. Captain … you points about MartineX’s scores on gun control and right-to-life do NOT support opposing the RECALL MEL .. The Illegal Aliens are NOT having abortions .. quite the contrary … and with the crimials swarming in, we darned sure need more citizens with guns for self-protection. I regret having voted for him … his opponent would be 10X’s better.

  59. An open letter to Mr. Martinez- Let’s cut out the meetings with 1000 Hispanic officials. There are a lot of red, white, and blue average Americans here who are fed up with your pandering to the Hispanics. Stop trying to divide America. Talk to those average Americans and see what they want. You might learn something.

  60. I live in South Florida and signed the petition. Senator Martinez broke his major campaign promise on immigration. I would not have voted for him if I had known that he would turn like this. I didn’t like him from the start, but his stance that he was against illegal immigration and amnesty caused me to hold my nose and vote. Now I know why Jeb Bush and the Repubs tried to hard to get Katherine Harris out of the race. Party loyalty no longer trumps everything. It’s time to get rid of the deadwood, even if it puts us in the minority. We need more DeMints, Sessions and Vitters. I’m willing to wait until we can.

  61. No! Let’s throw him out. This is too big an issue to care about the fact that he supports gun rights, or is pro-life. And apparently he still can not hear what people want…enforce the borders so the problem does not get bigger. The nerve to say the people have the responsibility to provide a solution beyond “just build a fence along the border.” Why? Its a solution.

  62. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
    That a tad disingenuous Cap’n for two reasons
    1. You and the entire rightwing Blogosphere as well as talk radio have been encouraging us to do just that for the past month. Throw ‘em out if they won’t listen to us and replace them with someone who will and,
    2. Are you sure you’re listening? People are mad, I hear people talking about the issue in restaurants and none of them are in favor of it. I heard them talking last night in a Mexican restaurant in the suburbs of Dallas where much of the wait staff can’t endure too much scrutiny.
    What was that movie that had the line “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”?
    People are p***ed and properly so. I think that some senators and several representatives are going to be righteously held accountable for their arrogance.
    Our own Kay Bailey Hutchinson even backed down from her original support for the Bill and from past experience I can tell you that a lot of calls had to have been made for her to do that. She’s been so secure in her tenure that she hasn’t always been a faithful servant of Texas voters, not so this time. She got the message and it must have been very loud for her to do so.

  63. Captain Ed wrote
    Call everyone who barely disagrees with you a traitor and a state enemy instead of people with honest differences of opinion — and in my case, a pretty thin difference at that
    Geez Captain … your blog is FULL if right wing zealots who do that on a daily basis for anyone not drinking their brand of cool-aid.

  64. Jeb amd George Bush and Mel Martinez have received money and private jet transportation from the developer of the The Villages in Lake county . The Village is a planned retirement community that hopes to have 125,000 by 2010. Feel free to check out the labor force building this massive community . You will need to know Spanish to talk to almost everyone. This same town had a tornado recently the new homes exploded in two pieces. Jeb , George, and Mel have used this developer private planes during the last two election cycles.Its public record.
    I should know since I have done consulting for this same company.
    Mel is now a very destructive person and the GOP needs a uniter not a bitter and vengeful Bush
    bagman in the RNC PR role.I think the GOP should start to distance itself from the Bush White House in order to win in 2008.

  65. Our own Kay Bailey Hutchinson even backed down from her original support for the Bill and from past experience I can tell you that a lot of calls had to have been made for her to do that. She’s been so secure in her tenure that she hasn’t always been a faithful servant of Texas voters, not so this time. She got the message and it must have been very loud for her to do so.
    Posted by: E9RET at July 1, 2007 10:34 AM
    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
    BOY THAT IS THE TRUTH – AND THIS LAST ELECTION THERE WAS NO ROOM ON THE ELECTRONIC BALLOT FOR A WRITE-IN ON HER – I had to vote third party which was a horrendous option – prolly why more folks didn’t vote against her – the opposition ON THE BALLOT was worse than HER – if possible.
    Anyway, I heard her Governor aspirations were not killed when the Texas GOP told her to feel fortunate is she should prove able to hang onto her own seat, when they told her she was NOT going to be allowed to run against Rick Perry for HIS Second term.
    That was obviously the reason she slid quietly away from a position in the usual company she kept when they formed the Gang of 14.
    Hard to imagine, but even in HIS (Rick Perry’s) case, every option was only WORSE.
    So I am SURE that is why all the flood of calls to her office had any response from her, since she has a new 6 yr term, and she obviously would have loved to help her butt buddy McCain through ’08, and help him with SHAMNESTY TOO, if that is what he wanted.
    It will be a sorry day for Texas if she should get through the primaries for Texas Governor.

  66. Rose,
    As you know, Perry’s an open borders governor. Just before the ’06 election, he promoted a publicly-accessible-via-internet-cameras border surveillance system to address voter concerns, to allow public involvement, and to pacify those who criticized his poor enforcement/illegal immigration policy. This was the supposedly new-and-improved Perry that was running for governor. Changes would happen.
    After a brief trial run right at election time, which received considerable citizen interest, the test was promptly terminated and there was no timetable set for reimplementing it. It remains “under review”, which, when translating the newspeak, means “conveniently dumped except when politically expedient.” It was yet another well timed facade to trick the voter. The process was a lie. Surprise!
    Also, he just vetoed a strongly bipartisan bill to defend property owners of Texas (see Perry veto leaves state’s property owners exposed) and just returned from the Bilderberg Conference (see Perry off to secret forum in Turkey) where he was an invited speaker. Don’t think that the Trans-Texas Corridor doesn’t have everything to do with those developments.
    Perry is a political snake and conservatives should have dumped him last year.

  67. Personally, I am much more offended by Senator Lindsay Grahman of North Carolina than I am of Senator Martinez. In fact, I almost wish I was from North Carlina, just so I could vote against him. They both need to go.
    Govchance

  68. Not that anyone cares, what with the amount of righteous indignation above, but I’ve never had difficulty getting through to Sen Martinez’s staffers (though I was calling one of his FL office numbers). As long as you call during working hours, at least, I’ve always found the phones to be answered by congenial sounding people, willing to listen to your opinions (they do want confirmation that you’re from FL, but who can blame them?). I called Sen Martinez’s office after the bill died, and politely explained that I hadn’t been happy with the bill, and one of the big reasons why was that the *legal* immigration system was in trouble. I ran down a short list of assumptions in the bill, the actual reality as I saw it, and the state of dibilitation likely to come if it got swamped with an additional 12 million plus people. I got a few “Really?” remarks from the staffer, and I encouraged him to research what I was telling him. I also pointed out that if Sen Martinez wanted to position himself as ‘pro-immigrant’ making life easier for those who are trying to follow the rules would be a big help.
    I also tried to contact Sen Nelson. Unfortunately, Sen Nelson’s official website only lists one phone number, and that was out of service while his office was being renovated, according to the recording. No messages were being taken. I leave it to your imagination which senator gets on my nerves more.

  69. RE: FL lurker (July 2, 2007 11:20 AM)
    …I also tried to contact Sen Nelson. Unfortunately, Sen Nelson’s official website only lists one phone number, and that was out of service while his office was being renovated, according to the recording…
    It’s unfortunate that you had difficulty contacting Senator Nelson, but your statement about only one contact number being listed is incorrect. Which number did you call? Nelson has the same generic listing of multiple offices (FAX and phone) as every other Senator as well as an email link on his official Senate portal front page to direct you to an email contact form.
    Bill Nelson‘s versus Senator Martinez‘s.
    I’m glad to hear you had receptive ears on the staff side of your call to Martinez, but I’m a little disturbed that they had to keep asking you “Really?”. That doesn’t inspire much confidence when those handling perhaps thousands of calls/faxes still remained unaware of that bill’s horrendous contents and genesis.

  70. This entire piece and most of the responses ignor the fact that politics in America has changed forever, this rotton bill kicked awake a political monster that will not go away to please anyone.
    Martinez can take his punishment along with the rest, my two senators will be facing a recall effort as well, and the one in the race for president just shot himself in a vital organ. McCain will never see the White House, insured by this stance on illegal immigration.
    We have a long way to go getting this country squared away concerning basic security, but with the power of the 100,000 pound gorilla of SERIOUSLY irritated Americans patrolling the scene in AMerican politics, we are finaly at least not going in the wrong direction.
    If I’m not wrong, there were MANY instances of otherwise loyal Americans, many over the age of 65, freely offering politicians their views on the second ammenment option. you could hear it in Voinaviches voice.

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