Democrats Stop Immigration Reform

[Human]

Just want to make CLEAR on who stopped immigration reform.

 

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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/n...e12navarre.html

 

Who killed immigration reform? The autopsy shows it was Senate Democrats.

 

It's tempting to put a pox on both parties. But it wouldn't be fair. Republicans were tireless in search of comprehensive, and bipartisan, reform. Sen. John McCain of Arizona joined with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to draft the guest-worker legislation, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter made that legislation central to what his committee sent to the full Senate. Sens. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina and Sam Brownback of Kansas were vocal in their support. Sens. Mel Martinez of Florida and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska offered a helpful compromise. And Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist showed leadership by reaching out to the other side.

 

Too bad you can't say the same for Democratic leader Harry Reid, who was the villain in this drama.

 

Hector Flores, president of the League of United Latin-American Citizens, told me that he tried to impress upon Reid's office that it was important to get immigration reform done.

 

“Apparently, it fell on deaf ears,” Flores said.

 

Reid claims it was GOP hard-liners who killed reform by running roughshod over Frist.

 

Baloney. The hard-liners had – by all accounts – no more than 30 votes, including those of conservative Democrats. On the other side, you had – according to McCain – as many as 70 votes.

 

A deal was at hand that would have offered legal status to some illegal immigrants. It would have made the GOP seem more Latino-friendly, but it would also have infuriated organized labor, which opposes something that was in the mix: guest workers.

 

After the Senate Judiciary Committee put out a guest-worker bill, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney issued a statement saying: “Guest-workers programs are a bad idea and harm all workers.”

 

That did it. Senate Democrats sided with labor and sold out Latinos. The deal came undone because Reid refused to allow the legislation to go through the amendment process. Republicans had come up with as many as 400 amendments but whittled the list to 20. Reid agreed to proceed with debate on just three.

 

It was a masterstroke by Democrats. Labor is happy. And while Latinos are angry, there's always the chance that Democrats can fool them into channeling that anger toward Republicans.

 

Remarkably, it's working. At a protest in Washington Monday, one Latina held up a sign that read: “The GOP is losing my Latino vote.” At another protest in Dallas, someone handed out registration leaflets urging demonstrators to vote Democratic.

 

Some Latino leaders don't think it'll be that easy. Cecilia Munoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, told me: “I don't believe that it's wise for Democrats to come to our community and ask for votes by saying: 'Hey, we kept an immigration bill from going forward.' ... People understand when they're being used.”

 

Even so, it looks like Reid and the Democrats orchestrated the perfect deception. Trouble is, they left fingerprints.

 

The Washington Post said in an editorial: “Democrats – whether their motive was partisan advantage or legitimate fear of a bad bill emerging from conference with the House – are the ones who refused, in the end, to proceed with debate on amendments, which is, after all, how legislation gets made.”

 

Frank Sharry, the executive director of the liberal National Immigration Forum, said in a statement: “We cannot escape the conclusion that the Democratic Senate leadership was more interested in keeping the immigration issue alive in the run-up to midterms than in enacting immigration reform legislation.”

 

And Sen. Kennedy told The Associated Press: “Politics got ahead of policy on this.” He then refused, according to the article, to defend Reid's performance. The story noted that, “Outside the Senate, several Democratic strategists concluded that the best politics was to allow the bill to die.”

 

The moral: Marches and Mexican flags don't equal power. Labor uses millions of dollars in political contributions to take care of Democrats, and so Democrats take care of labor.

 

After the bill died, Democrats rubbed salt in the wound by insisting that Latinos had no choice but to stay on the liberal hacienda. Susan Estrich, who served as campaign manager for Michael Dukakis in 1988, told Fox News that Republicans had blown their chance to win Latino votes and predicted that Latino support would help Democrats win both houses of Congress.

 

You see, in a twist on the famous words of one of their icons, Democrats no longer ask what they can do for Latinos, only what Latinos can do for them.

 

Navarrette can reached via e-mail at ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.

[Luke_Wilbur]

It is my opinion that the problem does not lie on either the Democratic or Republican parties on most issues. Rather, the problem is that our political leaders are not passionate about leading and preserving the people's trust. It is my opinion that that both parties need to reform their principle platforms before meddling with an issue on which the country was founded.

 

Right now the Republican National Committee (RNC) is failing its responsiblity for promoting presidential immigration goals. This is because the party members do not believe in an Executive branch which they have no control over. George Bush is not King George that dictates over the people. George Bush is the President that works for the people. Sometimes he clearly forgets that.

 

Republicans must ask themselves whether George Bush is capable of still leading our country. The safe bet is to wait it out until after the elections. Maybe they can convince President Bush to offer to step down from office to benifit the party. I am sure if he did that Republicans would follow him on any battle.

 

If Bush gets impeached. Then John McCain is the current people's choice. He is gained Americas thanks by receiving a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, and a Distinguished Flying Cross. The Military respects him. Congress Respects him. Business respect him. Democrats respect him.

 

Republicans believe that good government is based on the individual and family, that each persons ability, dignity, freedom and responsibility must be honored and recognized. Our basic freedom, the value that makes our country unique in the world is rooted in Free Enterprise and the basic right to Private Property. The role of Government is to preserve and defend our ability to live in a free, peaceful, and healthy society.

 

Republicans reaffirm the words of our founding fathers as written in the Declaration of Independence: WE hold these Truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness -That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.

 

Our Republic was founded as one nation under God on principles clearly set forth in the Declaration of Independence and codified in our Constitution.

 

Government must practice fiscal responsibility, while individual citizens should enjoy an atmosphere of free enterprise, with government regulation that nurtures our social and physical environment. Excessive taxation is a loss of personal freedom if it does not directly benefit the taxpayer. Allowing people to keep more of what they earn allows opportunity and wealth created in the private sector to give hope and relief to those ill-served by government, and gives families and communities the resources to confront wider social problems.

 

Economic opportunity should include:

 

Reducing taxes and fees on individuals.

Reducing excessive regulation on businesses.

Examining government regulations to ensure they reflect the intent of the law.

Enhancing international trade.

Establishing and growing secure, green based energy resources within our nation's borders.

Promoting America's Labor Force and products made in the USA

Permiting lmmigration within our welfare carrying capacity

[Guest human_*]

As a former RNC-er " myself :) " the RNC is following the presidents goals, and Luke, I really hope to God that the Democrats try to impeach the President for safe guarding our "democrats, and Republicans a like"

Country.

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It is my opinion that the problem does not lie on either the Democratic or Republican parties on most issues. Rather, the problem is that our political leaders are not passionate about leading and preserving the people's trust. It is my opinion that that both parties need to reform their principle platforms.

 

Right now the Republican National Committee (RNC) is failing its responsiblity for promoting presidential goals. This is because the party members do not believe in an Executive branch which they have no control over. George Bush is not King George that dictates over the people. George Bush is the President that works for the people. Sometimes he clearly forgets that.

 

Republicans must ask themselves whether George Bush is capable of still leading our country. The safe bet is to wait it out until after the elections. Maybe they can convince President Bush to offer to step down from office to benifit the party. I am sure if he did that Republicans would follow him on any battle.

 

If Bush gets impeached. Then John McCain is the current people's choice. He is gained Americas thanks by receiving a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, and a Distinguished Flying Cross. The Military respects him. Congress Respects him. Business respect him. Democrats respect him.

PREAMBLE

 

Republicans believe that good government is based on the individual and family, that each persons ability, dignity, freedom and responsibility must be honored and recognized. Our basic freedom, the value that makes our country unique in the world is rooted in Free Enterprise and the basic right to Private Property. The role of Government is to preserve and defend our ability to live in a free, peaceful, and healthy society.

 

Republicans reaffirm the words of our founding fathers as written in the Declaration of Independence: WE hold these Truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness -That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.

 

Our Republic was founded as one nation under God on principles clearly set forth in the Declaration of Independence and codified in our Constitution.

 

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM

is as follows:

 

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY - Jobs, Growth and Prosperity

 

Government must practice fiscal responsibility, while individual citizens should enjoy an atmosphere of free enterprise, with government regulation that nurtures our social and physical environment. Excessive taxation is a loss of personal freedom if it does not directly benefit the taxpayer. Allowing people to keep more of what they earn allows opportunity and wealth created in the private sector to give hope and relief to those ill-served by government, and gives families and communities the resources to confront wider social problems.

 

Economic opportunity should include:

 

Reducing taxes and fees on individuals.

Reducing excessive regulation on businesses in Washington State.

Examining government regulations to ensure they reflect the intent of the law.

Enhancing international trade.

Establishing and growing secure, green based energy resources within our nation's borders.

Promoting America's Labor Force and products made in the USA

[Luke_Wilbur]

I hope the Democrats and Republicans do not. I think it would be bad for our country. We cannot have people lose faith in our leaders. That goes for both parties.

 

The U.S. is a free and open society. We should welcome citizens from around the world who genuinely want to visit, study, and do business here. We should be dedicated to protecting their safety and keeping our doors open to them.

 

The greatest import the United States has is creative minds.