How did being a “hard liner” work out for you?
More good news for Lou Dobbs…
Virginia Republican Congressman Virgil Goode’s narrow loss to Democrat Tom Perriello became official last week, and it caps another bad showing for immigration restrictionists. For the second straight election, incumbent Republicans who attempted to turn illegal immigration into a wedge issue fared poorly.
Anti-immigration hardliners Randy Graf, John Hostettler and J.D. Hayworth were among the Republicans who lost in 2006. Joining them this year were GOP Representatives Thelma Drake (Virginia), Tom Feeney (Florida), Ric Keller (Florida) and Robin Hayes (North Carolina) — all Members of a House anti-immigration caucus that focuses on demonizing the undocumented.
According to a review of election results by America’s Voice, an advocacy group, Republican restrictionists had especially weak showings in “battleground” races. “Nineteen of 21 winners advocated immigration policies beyond enforcement-only,” says the report. “This includes 5 of 5 Senate races and 14 of 16 House races listed in the ‘toss-up,’ ‘leans Republican,’ or ‘leans Democratic’ categories of the Cook Political Report.”
Mr. Goode, a 12-year incumbent, had made a name for himself in Congress as a seal-the-border advocate. Among other things, he has called for mass deportations and amending the Constitution to deny U.S. citizenship to children of illegal aliens.
Gee, smaller and smaller groups of angrier and angrier people. That’s the ticket!
If Republicans want to reclaim that lost 14% (and more) without losing too much of the “angry white male” vote, one way to do it would be to become the “assimilationist” party - as opposed to the Democrat’s “Balkanizationalist” model.
The left wants the undocumented workers as another excuse for their “welfare state” programs, and the right wants the cheap labor. What do the American people want?
They want to know who is here, what they are doing, and how long they plan to stay. (do the polling, and I’ll bet you’ll find that is accurate). Crafting an immigration program that separates temporary workers from those who want citizenship is the first step. Tracking (or at least trying) them is another.
Regardless, by framing the issue as Balkanization v. Assimilation, the Republican Party will be more in line with existing citizens AND a good chunk of the recently assimilated. They need not win all the new citizens. 45-55% puts Republicans right back in the drivers seat.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:33 am
[...] Extreme Wisdom » Blog Archive » How did being a “hard liner” work … Assimilation, the Republican Party will be more in line with existing citizens AND a good chunk of the recently assimilated. They need not win all the new citizens. 45-55% puts Republicans right back in the drivers seat. … [...]
December 4th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
I do not think that JD Hayworth lost b/c of his stand on illegal immigration; during that same election, several ballot initiatives that were considered anti-illegal immigration passed. As to Mr. Graf the republican party supported his opponent in the primary and, as I recall, did not actually support him in the general.
December 6th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Maybe hard-liners can’t win anymore because we have finally reached the tipping point of too many Illegals voting and other vote fraud working against the interests of actual citizens who care about the country.
December 7th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Margaret,
I need to see all the evidence on Illegals voting. Serious, consistent evidence. I know it goes on, but I want to see the numbers.
Next, tell me, under today’s circumstances, whether it makes more sense to try to win over this socially conservative (Hispanic Catholics) group with our better ideas, or whether we want to be the party of angry white men and sometimes their wives.
Playing to WIN is better than playing not to lose.
December 18th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
JD hayward lost because he disrespected Russell Pierce, a very respected Conservative Arizona, State Representative.
Randy Graf, Robert Vasquez, Virgil Goode, and these other Constitutional candidates, were out spent by their own party of open border ghouls, who targeted them to lose in order for them to pander for amnesty.
Bruno you’re starting to defy reality. Who cares which party these Catholics go to. The Archdiocese of Chicago just payed $1.2 million to the family of a boy Catholic priest, Danny McCormack molested, and another $2.5 million for his brother who McCormack molested at a SOX Game a few years ago.
Maybe they should stay in the Democratic wing of this global party. Sounds like they’re going to need all of the tax dollars and charitable contributions they can muster.
As for the Angry White Males … and their wives… they are the only thing that’s standing between our heritage, and total anarchy.
The nuetered white males don’t seem to be winning too many elections these days. I wonder why, maybe it’s because of their defeatist attitude, caused by the infiltration of liberalism.
It’s the bleeding hearts and compassion, that will lead this nation to suicide.
Go SOX !
December 19th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Rick,
We have an honest disagreement here. We represent two different camps on the “right”, and those camps ought to find a way to work through the immigration issue. OTOH, if we can’t, I will say that I do not necessarily fear a 3rd party style split on this particular issue.
My point is that all the anger and frustration in the world cannot forestall the inexorable march of demographics. Older whites are a declining portion of the electorate, and Hispanics are a growing part of it. At the end of the day, the GOP (or some other, more intellectually robust party) has no choice but to win over at least 40-45% of those votes. If it fails, it will die.
It really is that simple.
For my part, I think the issue can be “won” by framing the debate as the “assimilationist” right versus the “Balkinizationist” left. Most Hispanics voted against “bilingual” ed in CA. Most are pro-life. Most respect America for what it offers.
You may disagree with some of those points, but you can’t take the unbelievably powerful ideology of “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” and pretend that it can be locked up in a large landmass called America. I stand for the proposition that “America” is MORE than a place. It is an IDEA. I think we would agree that the IDEA still requires the PLACE to thrive, but the fact is that for America to truly succeed, the “declaration” ideology must eventually win over the globe.
I hope all is well, and that, despite our disagreement on this issue, we can still find areas of common ground to defeat the enemies of freedom.