The reality is much simpler and has nothing to do with legislative tactics. The immigration bill failed because a broad cross-section of the American people are opposed to it. Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated voters are opposed. Men are opposed. So are women. The young don’t like it; neither do the no-longer-young. White Americans are opposed. Americans of color are opposed.
The last Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll found that just 23% of Americans supported the legislation. When a bill has less popular support than the War in Iraq, it deserves to be defeated.
Rasmussen is correct - it didn’t matter what tactic was used to drive a stake through the heart of this thing, it was the opposition of the American people (running 100% counter to the instincts and desires of the elites purporting to represent them) that killed this bill.
And I have to say that the right blogosphere as a whole did an excellent job of revealing and mobilizing this sentiment. First, we exposed the crudely hacked polls that claimed amnesty was overwhelmingly favored by those they polled. Second, we publicized the polls that showed the true state of affairs - that Americans hated this travesty - and thus gave folks who thought they were alone in their opposition the comfort of knowing that, far from being a lonely minority, they were part of a whopping majority. Third, we turned up the heat on congress, and kept it on flambe until the bill was toast. Fourth, we exposed the bill itself to public scrutiny, so that voters understood what was being attempted supposedly in their name. Fifth, we acted as instant response teams to the lies being told about the bill by the hacks, flacks, and whores desperate to pass it on behalf of the special interests they fronted for.
Ten years ago, this bill would have been passed and signed by the president before most Americans were even aware that it existed. Those days are over .
The right blogosphere has put many notches in its belt - Dan Rather, Trent Lott, Ports Dubai, Harriet Miers, Alberto Gonzales (for SCOTUS), the destruction of the GOP congressional majorities, and now the Bush/Kennedy/McCain amnesty plan. This one was the biggest yet.
Pat yourselves on the back, folks. And welcome to the big leagues.
Submit to Stumbled Upon!
Has the dust settled? Is it safe to offer my congratulations?
Congratulations!
My that was fun to watch!
I underwent a bout of magical thinking before posting that, Tom - “Jeez, if I crow, will they pass it on Monday just to spite me? - but people who are wired in much more tightly than I am - Kaus, Shrum, others - seem to think the beast is dead, so I’m going on the assumption they know what they are talking about.
I don’t know whether I should feel like a dummy or not, but I’ll say what dumb people say in this kind of situation: Hey, at least my heart’s in the right place!
You know, I have a good, strong belief in immigrants, even some illegal ones. But, the way we haven’t enforced, and the flouting of what laws there are, combined with the outright criminality of way too many of those illegal immigrants should certainly indicate that we should do just what the Conventional Wisdom of the average American wants: enforce the current laws first; deport those who have committed felonies (at the very least); regularize those lawful immigrants who are on a list first, and; only then addressing the other problems.
This is only hard because very strong interest groups in both Party camps want other stuff first.
We’ll see if our Congress learns anything at all from this. I have my doubts.
Knowing this lot, they will attach the whole bill as some amendment to an even larger omnibus bill that is promoted as providing funds for the war in Iraq…..
Not with Donks in power in Congress, Joel. The omnibus bill will Health Care for Disadvantaged Youth.
As one who spent hours writing & calling politicians, editors, talk show hosts, journalists, anybody I thought had influence, I am very relieved but still very nervous.
Bush already says he wants to revive this bill. The Big Interests want to pass this bill. Who is to say our idiot politicians won’t literally try to pass it in the dark of night!
The next thing we need to start pounding and screaming into their awareness is: close the borders, enforce our existing laws. THEN, we will pay you some attention on what to do next!
I agree that we probably can’t deport all illegals, like Iran is trying to do.. (!!) but, we can enforce our borders and please do not try to tell me that we cannot!
And, we can deport criminal illegals! Can you believe they said NO to that!!??
Third action: demand that our politicians and our society start raising holy hell with MEXICO for it’s abuse and neglect of it’s citizens.
Mexico’s corruption and monopolies need to be exposed.
Mexico is NOT a poor country! It is self-inflicted mismanagement.
It is time we stopped enabling the Mexican government and began holding them accountable for the problems in their own country.
We cannot absorb more workers than we truly need. What will we do with all of the illegal workers in the next recession? Put them on welfare? We already have enough of them getting free benefits!
There is a violent drug war going on in Mexico, but what do most Americans think about Mexico? Good vacation resorts & tequila!
The media barely cover the real violence going on right next door.
We don’t only need to fear Middle Eastern terrorists coming across our borders, we should fear Hispanic drug dealer terrorists, as well. Both are into beheadings, or did nobody notice that yet?!
Keep on your politicians, this thing is FAR FROM OVER. SS
Absolutely it’s not over: Lindsey Graham on Fox News:
I wonder if we’re in the midst of a Great Change that hasn’t been fully recognized yet.
I mean, we’re all aware of the big effects the Internet has had, but the reaction to the immigration bill is showing that more information is getting disseminated that wouldn’t have surfaced before.
And in the presidential race, we’re able to learn more about the candidates, faster, than even in the last presidential election.
And not just analyses from bloggers, but we can tie into what the national media’s saying. Fred Thompson announces, and a day later, someone offering a theory of what his economic’s policy would be like.
Would it mean that we’ll make more informed decisions? I hope so. What it does mean is that the era of “The Selling of the President” has passed. And even if there are advisers savvy enough to model their candidate for the Internet age, there will be plenty of people around tugging at the curtain.
I will predict that little boy lindsey is the republican analog to john edwards…aka politically dead in the water due to foppery.