The Republican party has always been a big tent who welcomes all, even the “log cabin” type. The three center poles of the tent are the pillars of Conservatism and each of them is touched by illegal immigration policy. Without fiscal, social, and national security conservatives working together the tent will collapse and yield millions draped in the canvas trying to find an exit, any exit.
Conservatism stands for many things. Some conservatives like to own guns, most believe in the rule of law, some don’t like a large federal government, many don’t like taxes, a few don’t get along with unions, most think entitlements are stupid, many believe abortionists are murderers, all believe that anyone who attacks our country should meet God sooner rather than later. Of course, most candidates were not always on the right side of all issues prior to courting us, but luckily for the candidates conservatives don’t care where a candidate has been, we care about where they are now and will promise to be in the future. The parties icon, Ronald Reagan, signed a bill legalizing abortion as governor of California. He said he regretted it, it was wrong, and he shouldn’t have done it. That’s cool. We elected him.
Mitt Romney and John McCain both understand the short memory of the conservative electorate.
Mitt Romney was pro-death 15 years ago, now he is pro-life. That’s cool. He has seen his evil ways and has been converted to our ideals.
John McCain has had to kowtow a bit more to the conservative base. He has flip-flopped on 4 main issues. 1) McCain opposed giving folks a tax cut, but he has now repented and is now in favor of an extension of the very tax cuts he and Hillary opposed. That’s cool. 2) Just this year, according to Bob Novak, McCain stated a dislike for Justice Samuel Alito because he wore his conservatism on his sleeve. McCain was also not supportive of the Republicans constitutional option to get nominated judges an up or down vote. However, McCain now says he doesn’t recall the Alito thing (maybe he is more like Reagan than we think!) but swears he would appoint justices like Alito and Roberts. That’s cool. 3) McCain left his first wife after admittedly cheating on her (Reaganesque?), but he now has a beautiful young wife and swears that his moral compass has been straightened by Miss Budweiser. That’s cool. 4) McCain was for granting amnesty to all illegals, with the exception of criminals. He now claims that he is for building a wall. That’s not cool and here is where he loses the conservative base as was apparent at CPAC today. Does he think we are stupid? Building a wall doesn’t tell us what he is going to do the the 12 million criminals that are already here! Had McCain simply stated “I messed up with McCain-Kennedy, Sorry. I realize now what a foolish precedent that would have set. I promise to build a wall in the first 6 months of my presidency and not let folks who break our laws have a head start on the immigration process. They need to get in line like everyone else.” Boom. Those magic words would have appeased nearly all immigration conservatives and immigration conservatives are found in all the ridge poles.
Many conservatives will simply not vote in November if there isn’t an immigration conservative on the ballot. However, until McCain flips on the immigration issue, he will be a flop with the immigration conservatives. Maybe he thinks the Hispanic vote will more than make up for it . . . doubt it. Immigration conservatives really don’t care where McCain’s been, we care about where he is now on immigration. Simply come out and tell us what your intentions are and we will decide whether to vote for you . . .
February 7th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
A lot of good points. I heard McCain say that he heard us loud and clear on illegals. That isn’t quite admitting mistake, but it is close. FYI nobody is going to kick the illegals out. Let’s have a reality check. What we need to do is get something for their presence. They ain’t leaving, never. Can’t beat that dead horse any more because it isn’t going to happen.
One point of contention in your list: The gang of 14, much maligned by knee-jerkers at the time, brought us Alito and Roberts on a silver platter. I think this is one of the rare occasions when Republicans pulled the wool over the Dems. It gave the Dems an out with their base, meanwhile the nominees were steamrolled through.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:33 am
“They ain’t leaving, never”
Why?
February 8th, 2008 at 12:43 am
You’re kidding, right? There is no political will on either side of the aisle to expel illegals from the country. Ask yourself why Republicans never brought up a resolution while in power to kick everyone out. You would have 96-4 vote in the Senate. Get serious, man. Nobody is going anywhere.
February 8th, 2008 at 4:02 am
I think before to address the inmigration issue, Mac need to know who will be his opponent in the dem party. Because, if Obama is the candidate, then Mac could win in his favor the hispanic vote. If the candidate is Hillary, then he will lost the hispanic vote, and then can have a stronger position against illegal inmigration.
February 8th, 2008 at 6:34 am
I do think attrition will work over time, in addition to stronger Border enforcement and an end to social benefits to illegals.
I agree deportation of all illegals will not work, but you have to deport the criminals, thugs, and gang members right away.
February 8th, 2008 at 6:59 am
So turn out the lights, (lights out) the party’s over.
Turn out the lights, (lights out) the party’s over for you.
This time is the last time, never be a next time.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:46 am
We don’t need to deport them. Have a verification system and then put employers in prison for 30 days for a first time violation, 90 days for a second, 1 year for a third. Add to that a $5K fine for employers and there you have it.
I guaranteed they would deport themselves. Take away their reason for being here (ie work and $$) and they will exit just as quick as they entered. They’ll find there own way back down south.
Don’t say it’s not possible, it just happened down in Utah yesterday, they raided a welding shop and arrested the HR manager.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Milo,
I agree McCain is waiting to flip on immigration until he absolutely has to. He thought if he could get the nomination without flipping, he’d be in a better position to court Hispanics. Risky as hell. Huckabee might show some life in these last few weeks because of it.
February 8th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Brian, I realize there are some token efforts in that regard that the DHS assures get high publicity.
But do you know how many illegal Mexicans were actually deported last year?
They aren’t arresting any homeowners for hiring nannies, gardeners, and cleaning ladies. Otherwise Mitt Romney would be in jail. And you won’t see it on the farms either because farming conglomerates are huge donors, nor would it be desirable to kick out farm workers anyway.
Token effort, sure. Nothing more.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Read this story out today on Fox News.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,329829,00.html
Looks like hitting the employers might work.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Well that’s cool, I like that news. However, if 94 left Arizona, that means 100,000 more moved to my overcrowded California.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Brian, of course hitting the employers would work. As an employer I can easily agree with you on this issue. Of course McCain enablers are going to differ because they have to on his behalf.
The real problem is why would the government expect employers to follow the law when they don’t enforce the law in regards to illegal immigration.
It isn’t nearly as hard as some of these people want to make it out to be. You start with the border naturally, and then you work your way through the other problems. After the border you get them to sign up for the identification card that will be required for them to work, and enforce that by not allowing employers to hire these workers without the ID card. That part is simple. Simply stated you enforce the laws in place.
Once the illegals have signed up for the identification card they are put on a list to come in as a guest worker. Certainly you would respect and treat certain families differently. You can’t just round them all up and send them all home. It has to be a gradual process, and one that Romney laid out the best plan for.
But again the simple fact is you start with the border, and then move to something like a registration process so that they can legally work in this country. You deport the criminals first, and then start with the illegals who have been here the least amount of time. They are put on a waiting list to come back into the country. It sucks, but it is just the way it is going to have to be. Employers will understand the consequences of hiring illegal workers, and in turn will pay harsher penalties for violations. That is so simple.
February 8th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Brian good article, especially the line about meeting God earlier rather than later . . . LOL. I will take McCain at his words. I do believe that he will try to make permanent Bush’s tax cuts and appoint “conservative” judges like Roberts. Olson has endorsed him so maybe he can advised McCain on good judges. As for his wives, well . . . I’ll stay out of that one.
As for immigration, McCain never said that he would not try for McCain-Kennedy again, but that he will enforce the borders FIRST (emphasis added). This means that later once the borders are “secured,” he will move towards the rest of McCain-Kennedy.
MCCAIN, I agree with you that deportation of 10-12 million illegals is not politically practical. But punishing and severely penalizing businesses who hire illegals knowingly or irresponsibly is a start.
February 8th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
On imagration.
1. We as a nation need to know who is here and I translate as controlling the borders.
2. Any one who entered illegally, should not be elilgible for citizenship and encouraged to return from ‘whence they came’ or otherwise leave.
3.Employers who knowingly hire illegals should be penalized sufficienly that such hiring is not worthwhile.
These three comment are my opinion.
Also notice the economy in general and housing in paticular have been on a downturn as border control has been implemented. While correlation does not mean causation, successful control of illegal immigration will exact fiscal pain of some type for almost every one of us.
We need the high end immigration (ie highly educated in science) and we need the lower end as well. That is what I don’t see being addressed. The liberal leaning unions seem to be the most opposed to adressing this part of the issue except to say ‘the less legal immigration the better.’
Remember that a lot of these illegal immigrants left behind deplorable conditions with the noble intention of improving they and their families lot in life.