Kill the Bill: Shamnesty showdown Update: Telephone system has shut down Update: Video of Kennedy’s “Gestapo” diatribe Update: Reid attacks talk radio Update: VICTORY! Roll added Update: Goat of the day–Sen. Sam Brownback Switchback Video of the switchback added
9:30pm Eastern update. The venerable economist George Borjas weighs in on his blog with a sober and sobering assessment:
The President bet all his remaining political capital on a proposal he knew would tear his party apart. And the Senate came close to enacting very bad policy. It really makes me wonder: what the heck were they thinking?
There’s something else worth pointing out. Here’s a policy shift–amnesty and guest workers–that the entire political establishment as well as much of the mainstream media and academic elite wanted badly. It is seldom the case that something that the powers-that-be want so much fails to make it through. I am pretty sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere. And the tactics used by the bill’s opponents to fight the establishment’s power and to weaken their control over key junctures in the information flow will provide lots of case studies that will be studied far into the future. No “Mission Accomplished” banners this time around.
Does this end the debate over immigration? No.
Why? Because our immigration system is truly broken.
Regardless of what happened at the Senate today, there are still 12 million illegal immigrants living in the country, and that number is increasing at the rate of about half-a-million a year. And there’s no longer any need for the Bush administration to keep playing the charade of “more enforcement” that received wide media attention in the past few months. The economic and social dislocations caused by illegal immigration are not going to disappear simply because the issue is no longer in the political headlights.
Combine this with a legal immigration system that admits about 1 million immigrants a year–most of which tend to be low-skill workers. The economic pressures that both legal and illegal immigrants put on the low-skill labor market are severe, and have been ignored for years. I suspect that the immigration “problem” would have been long resolved had the labor markets for high-skill workers–say, for example, journalists and attorneys–faced the same pressures as those faced by low-educated workers.
Now that the debate is over, perhaps we can return some sanity and honesty into the intellectual discussion of what immigration does to the United States…
4:30pm Eastern update. Check out our new Hot Air political ad: Meet Senator Switchback.
2:59pm Eastern update. Caught on tape. Allah captured Sen. Sam Switchback’s dirty deed. Gotcha:
1:46pm Eastern update. What does President Bush have to say about shamnesty going down in flames? This:
Connelly Hall, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, White House News 12:38 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: I thank the members of the Senate and members of my administration who worked so hard on the border security and immigration reform bill. I’m sorry the Senate was unable to reach agreement on the bill this morning.
Legal (sic?) immigration is one of the top concerns of the American people and Congress’s failure to act on it is a disappointment. The American people understand the status quo is unacceptable when it comes to our immigration laws. A lot of us worked hard to see if we couldn’t find a common ground — it didn’t work.
12:40pm Eastern update. Vote-switching weasel Sam Brownback should really just end his presidential campaign bid right now and stop wasting his poor staff’s time.
Reader Dave e-mails: “I think an enduring legacy of the vote will be a new nickname for the Senator from Kansas: Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Senator Sam Switch-back.”
12:34pm Eastern update. Now what? Sen. Jim DeMint has it right:
“When the U.S. Senate brought the Amnesty bill back up this week, they declared war on the American people. This act created a crisis of confidence in their government. Thankfully, the American people won today,” said Senator DeMint. “This is remarkable because it shows that Americans are engaged and they care deeply about their country. They care enough for their country to get mad and to fight for it, and that’s the most important thing of all. Americans made phone calls and sent letters, and convinced the Senate to stop this bill.”
“The Senate rejected this bill and the heavy-handed tactics used to ram it through. Americans do not want more of the same – amnesty and broken promises on the border. Americans want legislation to be written in public – not in secret – and they want Congress to engage in an open and fair debate.”
“There is a better way forward without this bill. The President has said that the border security measures can be implemented over the next 18 months, and they can be done under current law. Now the Administration needs to prove it and stop holding border security hostage for amnesty.”
“Once we have secured the border and restored trust with the American people, we can begin to take additional steps.”
Over to you, President Bush.
Polipundit adds:
In order to pass the Bush-Kennedy amnesty, el Presidente tacked on a $4.4. “emergency supplemental” funding request to the bill. The president should still ask Congress for that “emergency” money to help solve the crisis on our borders.
11:57am Eastern update. Roll added:
Allah adds:
The yes/no switchers were Bingaman, Bond, Brown, Brownback, Burr, Coleman, Collins, Domenici, Ensign, Harkin, McConnell, Murkowski, Ben Nelson, Pryor, Stevens, Voinovich(!), Warner, and Webb…I guess you can thank Sean Hannity for shaming Voinovich into flipping.
It’s worth going back and looking at the order in which they voted, to see who held back and waited to gauge how the vote was going before casting his/her ballot. I’ll bet Mitch McConnell was one of them.
11:55am Eastern update. “A stake through the heart.”
11:30am Eastern update. VICTORY. 53 No’s. Shamnesty is dead. A stake through the heart.
And yes, so was my website for about 10-20 minutes.
Thanks to the stalwart, true leaders in the Senate — especially Sens. Sessions, DeMint, Vitter, Inhofe, Cornyn, and their staffs. Thanks to the House GOP members who made their opposition known. Thanks to the Loud Folks on the right side of the dial. Thanks to the Loud Folks at The Corner, RedState, Human Events, Townhall, Kaus, N.Z. Bear, my colleagues at Hot Air, and all the enforcement-first bloggers out there who weighed in. Thanks to the analysts at the Heritage Foundation, the enforcement/assimilation proponents at The Manhattan Institute, George Borjas, Kris Kobach, Eagle Forum, 9/11 Families, FAIR and Numbers USA. Thanks to the immigration enforcement activists who’ve been at this for years and decades before this one battle began. Most importantly, thanks to all the ordinary “Loud Folks” who called, phoned, e-mailed, and blogged their opposition.
The bill is dead. The work of immigration enforcement and border security continues.
Rolling updates on Senate floor activity
11:04am Eastern update. Finally. The vote begins.
Notable votes so far:
YEA: Brownback (Update: Apparently changed his vote at the last minute.)
NAY: Bond, Domenici, Ensign, Webb
10:59am Eastern update. Sessions interrupts Reid’s drone. What about the time limit? Obama is giving Reid overtime. Now, Reid is using his “leader’s time.” Reid chastises Sessions for rudely interrupting him.
Readers: This is your Grand Bargain. I hope as many of you are watching this as possible. It’s really revolting. Reid continues to drone. I remind you again: The opponents were allocated 10 total minutes to make their case. Harry Reid has exceeded the rest of the hour they said they would take.
10:48am Eastern. Well, here we go. It’s sniveling Harry Reid: “Is immigration a problem? Of course it is. But is immigration a problem limited…to border states, big cities? No. Immigration is a problem all over America.”
Another Sherlock Holmes!
The Corner is buzzing that Reid will be able to strong-arm some of the anti-amnesty Dems.
Now, he’s mentioning a hate mail. As I’ve been noting all morning, this is the Big Theme of the shamnesty side. This is all they have. “Talk radio has had a field day. These generators of simplicity.” After playing the hate card, he disingenuously asserts that he is not suggesting that senators who oppose shamnesty are prejudiced. Reid tells his melting pot story for the 999th time. And he keeps muttering about a watch.
Now: “Mr. President, my skin is real white.” He points out that Obama is black. He points to a Hispanic. “But my skin is American skin.” This is what the precious time on the Senate floor is being used for–emotional bleating that ignores the actual bill on the table.
What an incredibly less-than-mediocre speaker Reid is. And he keeps going on. It’s way past time for the scheduled vote.
10:43am Eastern update. While Specter drones, here’s the video of Teddy Kennedy’s Gestapo diatribe.
Specter: “A vote against cloture is a vote to kill the bill.”
He’s a veritable Sherlock Holmes!
10:37am Eastern update. So we have two basic themes from the pro-amnesty and anti-amnesty sides this morning. The shamnesty senators are playing the fear/bigotry/can’t-do-nothing card. The enforcement senators are repeating the point that the American people have lost faith, confidence, and trust in the government to do its job. Arlen Specter is now trying to argue that the “silent majority” supports his side and that the noisy callers and e-mailers who oppose amnesty do not represent the vast American majority who have consistently supported immigration enforcement first.
10:32am Eastern update. Mel Martinez. Groan. He plays the “can’t do nothing” card. How many seconds before he plays the fear/bigotry card? Waiting. Oops, he ran out of time. Specter jumped in and gave him an extra three minutes because he’s an immigrant. Martinez obliges and echoes the other pro-amnesty senators who have repeated the line about “ugly” opposition.
10:30am Eastern update. Ted Kennedy is yelling at the top of his lungs again, doing his Jesse Jackson impersonation. Invokes civil rights legislation. “We were part of the march for progress. And today we are called again…who among us would retreat on any of those great traditions? Now is the time to secure our borders…Now is the time! This is the place! Are we going to vote for our hopes? Or are we going to vote for our fears?”
In case you didn’t catch this, the opponents of shamnesty are rushing through their statements because the Grand Schemers have only given them 10 minutes to speak. The shamnesty senators will get the rest of the hour to talk. “Typical,” says Session, of the way this debate has gone. And so starkly absurd. You’ve got the pro-amnesty senators on the floor now all bleating about how debate shouldn’t be ended…having just limited their opponents’ time to a measly 10 minutes.
10:24am Eastern update. Vitter spoke briefly about arrogance of the out-of-touch Senate. DeMint notes again that the phone system has crushed. Session– I wish our side had gotten more than 10 minutes. Durbin is now up attacking “dark” and “ugly” voices against amnesty.
10:20am Eastern update. Jeff Sessions gives a reality check to the shamnesty claim that illegal immigration will be reduced by referring to CBO analysis. Sessions reports that the Senate telephone system has shut down and crashed because of overwhelming public feedback.
10:16am Eastern update. Salazar’s up. This is the shamnesty talking point of the morning: People are afraid. People are filled with hate. Now, he’s invoking Cesar Chavez! He is obviously clueless about Cesar Chavez’s position on illegal immigration.
10:10am Eastern update. Mr. Melodrama, Lindsey Graham is up. “I don’t claim to be on the right or the wrong side of the American people.” No need to claim. It’s clear as day. I need a Dramamine, he’s moving around so much. I feel bad for the C-SPAN cameraman. “This is as good as it’s gonna get.” Mercifully, he has run out of time.
Meantime, a reader e-mails:
Just got off the phone with Gregg’s office. He’s still NOT committed one way or the other. All offices are open for business.
(202)224-3324
(603)622-7979
(603)577-3823
(603)225-7115
(603)431-2171
(603)752-2604
Another reader e-mails:
Dear Michelle:
I’m a member of the Republican State Committee of Maine. Susan Collins was blasted on local talk radio today by Republicans who said they will not support her re-election next year if she votes for the Immigration bill. There are rumors going around that she has doubts about the bill. If you could post her phone number, it might help swing her to our side. Thanks. Susan Collins Maine office – 207-780-3575.
10:09 Eastern update. DeMint — “This immigration bill has become a war between the American people and their government. It’s a crisis of confidence…This vote today is really not about immigration. It’s about whether we are going to listen to the American people…the allocation of time as we approach this vote is very symbolic. the supporters of this bill out of an hour’s time have allocated 10 minutes to the views of the American people.” Urges vote against cloture.
10:06am Eastern update. Corker: “I have voted three times against cloture, and will vote a fourth time against it…A lot of different things at play–compassion, cheap labor, party politics…America has lost faith in our government’s ability to do the things it says it’s gonna do…People feel they are losing their government. Not to people who speak or look differently. They are losing it to a government not doing the things it says it will do.”
10:02am Eastern update. Dole invokes Grassley’s admission that 1986 amnesty was a debacle. My strong view is that it’s not just promises, it’s proof (of border security and enforcement) that people want.” Dole notes that she has met with sheriffs to help enforce 287(g) to deputize local law enforcement to help enforce immigration law.
9:57am Eastern update. Kyl pimps shamnesty. “I hope that my colleagues will accept that doing nothing is not acceptable.” No. Passing shamnesty would be much worse.
9:49am Eastern update. Teddy Kennedy did his best Geraldo impression, likening immigration enforcement to Gestapo tactics. Video coming. Arlen Specter is lavishing praise on the maaaverick, courageous John McCain, pleading to the Senate not to kill the bill.
Dianne Feinstein: “There is no more important bill than this one.” She invokes the NYTimes line about the “threats” being made to pro-shamnesty. She parrots the line that we are stupid, that “people don’t understand this bill…they don’t understand the threat to national security.” Oh, we understand the threat this bill poses to national security just fine. She plugs the Graham amendment. “Puh-leeeease vote for cloture.”
BTW: NR reports that Ensign is a definite no and informed the the White House and McConnell last night.
***
The second cloture vote, as you know, is scheduled for 10:30am. I’ll be here doing my thang. As I reported last night, there are dire forecasts for shamnesty from every corner of the blogosphere–and MSM: Illegals bill loses support in Senate. Senate Immigration Reform Bill Takes Step Toward the Grave. New Senators Resist Overhaul of Immigration. Immigration Measure Appears Imperiled Again. Shamnesty in deep, deep doo-doo.
Ok, I made that last one up. Dire forecasts never sounded so good. But nothing is in the bag. As readers e-mailed yesterday and the WashTimes reports today, Sens. Burr and Nelson look like solid no’s. Repeat: Nothing is in the bag. Here are some quick phone numbers:
Christopher Bond (R-MO) (202) 224-5721
Sam Brownback (R-KS) (202) 224-6521
Richard Burr (R-NC) (202) 224-3154
Larry Craig (R-ID) (202) 224-2752
John Ensign (R-NV) (202) 224-6244
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (202) 224-2541
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (202) 224-6665
Of note: A source tells John Hawkins that Linsdey Graham-nesty is “running scared.” Keep running.
While we wait for the Senate to start its business, here’s a little entertainment from James Kole, who penned “The Amnesty Bill Blues” (hat tip: Freedom Folks):
More entertainment: Be sure to check out the update to the story about Tom Tancredo’s special delivery to DHS head Michael Chertoff. Priceless.
And a great one-liner from Lucianne in response to a NYTimes sob story about shamnesty senators trembling at negative mail from constituents: “How are they supposed to fight an enemy that beheads people if the mail turns them to jelly?”
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Trackbacks
- Voinovich Embarrasses Ohio (Again) « Thespis Journal
- Pajamas Media
- The Roundtable
- James Kole for Senator | BitsBlog
- Amnesty: The Finale? : The American Pundit
- …gettingpaidtowatch » This morning’c cloture vote on the amnesty bill
- Hot Air » Blog Archive » 10:30 a.m.: Cloture 2 — Something Wicked This Way Comes
- Bluey Blog | Robert B. Bluey » ‘Let’s End This Thing’
- Amnesty Bill II: Morning Roundup For 06/28/2007 | Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff
- FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
- Shamnesty Bill to die today? | BitsBlog
- Right Wing News
- BizzyBlog » Further Reflection on Voinovich
- Turning 25 » Blog Archive » Senate Scratchpad
- Bill's Bites
- Wake up America
- Blogmeister USA
- Ankle Biting Pundits » Blog Archive » VICTORY! Amnesty Bill Dies A 2nd Time
- AMNESTY IS DEAD!!! | Political Vindication
- Amnesty Bill Killed « Axis of Right
- Vote For Cloture On Immigration Bill : The Nays Have It! | Stuck On Stupid
- Dinocrat » Blog Archive » It wasn’t just the GOP
- PAXALLES
- Pierre Legrand’s Pink Flamingo Bar » LOOKS LIKE WE ARE GOING TO KILL AMNESTY!!! THANK YOU MICHELLE MALKIN, RUSH, HUGH HEWITT, THE CORNER, MARK KRIKORIAN Y'ALL DID GOOD!
- Immigration bill pwned in the Senate!
- A Blog For All
- Out And About! » Freedom Folks
- Ding Dong! The Bill is Dead! The Bill is Dead! « Chaotic Ramblings
- JammieWearingFool
- Joust The Facts
- The TIW Blog » Blog Archive » Lindsey Graham Defiant to the End!
- Happy No Amnesty Thursday « Freedom Ain’t Free & Take Our Country Back
- Wake up America
- NixGuy.com » Ohio Senators Stake Immigration Bill
- Pirate’s Cove » >>Americans Never Quit » Senate Shamnesty Goes Down In Defeat
- The amnesty bill is dead. « HoodaThunk?
- Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog » Blog Archive » Immigration Bill Faces Crucial Vote
- Keith Burgess-Jackson » Immigration
- A Lady's Ruminations
- Cloture FAILS on Immigration Bill and Reaction Roundup at Conservative Times--Republican GOP news source.
- Lump on a Blog » Blog Archive » Amnesty Bill Dies In Senate (for Now) - Next Target: Fairness Doctrine
- UniversalUpdate.com
- Iowa Voice » » Bloggers React To Amnesty Bill Defeat
- Thinking Right » Blog Archive » Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead
- Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian Kill the Bill: Shamnesty showdown Update: Telephone system has shut down Update: Video of Kennedy’s “Gestapo” diatribe Update: Reid attacks talk radio Update: VICTORY! Roll added Update: Goat of the day–Sen. Sa
- Tel-Chai Nation
- Conservatives Under New Thinking » Here Sir, The People Got Their Mojo Back
- Life on the Road - A Trucking Blog » Blog Archive » Why The Immigration Bill Failed
- Blog @ MoreWhat.com » Blog Archive » Senator McCain’s Support of Amnesty
- June, 2007 Archive « Right Minded Online
- Time to break out the finest meats and cheeses for a celebration « Right Minded Online
- Michelle Malkin » Today was a good day for conservatism
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We need to know what companies and corps. hire illegals and refuse to buy their products.
If there are others like retail chains, discount store, etc., likewise.
Who can compose a list? Michelle??
Good work Michelle!
Half of Nevada (Ensign) did the right thing.
But watch out, the next big push is the New Hush Rush Doctrine. Talk radio must be shut down to protect the Left. There is no room for disagreement with them – after all the first amendment only applies to them.
Cornyn R-TX is a real hero in all this. He started out working with the “Grand Bargainers”. When he saw what a piece of crap they turned out, he switched sides. Took some abuse from McCain (jerk!).
I’m proud of him.
Yeah Alabama is going to save the Union, we are in the twilight zone folks..don’t get me wrong Jeff Sessions is the Man..where are the rest of the States Persons? I was a little concerned about Hutchinson in TX., cause I have caught her using the White House talking points here and there.
I think the phones should get jammed again With “Wheres the Fence”
Ted Kennedy ???? What is up with that tirade? Harry Reid makes me miss Tom Daschel of SD.
I wonder now if all the Presidential Canidates will get the message? the phones got jammed!!
I don’t want “These Elected Officials” to decide to pass a bill for my own good, I want them to pass the bill, that The Majority of the American People want. The list of yeas should be noted for those Senator’s next Senatorial Elections.
What is the Senate doing now?
I have not watched for over an hour.
I’ve come up with a new term:
Shazamnesty!
With the wave of the hand all criminals in the country illegally will be made citizens! –Ted Kennedy
Senator Switch-back is my senator.
I’m so embarrassed.
This pretty much kills MaCain ever being anything more than what he is now.
No comment on what I think he is now.
Anyone?
I am watching people move around and just wondered if the Senate has other issues to deal with today.
All,
Here is Senator Hutchinson’s position on the Bill. I think in the end she did the right thing. I think she wanted to deliver somekind of immigration bill for the President. It couldn’t happen in the form of this really bad bill.
http://hutchison.senate.gov/speech561.html
I don’t know what is so hard about deporting 12-30 million (gov probably lies about the numbers) illegal aliens. That would be a tiny portion of the yearly airline traffic.
Eduardo Kennedy is a shameless BSer–a manipulative sloganeer. What else do we hear from Washington these days besides manipulative sloganeering? We’re stupid. Duhh.
Not that it is necessary to deport illegal aliens. Simply remove the motivation to come by ending the jackpot baby program (which has no basis in the Constitution as the 14th amendment was written for freed slaves) and punish employers for hiring illegals to dry up the jobs.
I don’t think this is over by any means. Here’s some relevant information the overclass doesn’t want to hear about. Might be a good idea to flood the bandwidth with this information, ’cause the fight’s not over:
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/tst052107a.cfm
citizen
95theses.wordpress.com
I’ll see you at the Bill signing El Presidente Bush.
Thank you very much Michelle for all your hard work and a very big thank you to all of you out there that made calls, faxes, and everything else to make this VICTORY!!!
Is there going to be a Parade or anything? I feel like We just won the World Series. WhooHoo!!!!!!
I heard Reid, Teddy and trent were all
headed to Martha’s for a drink.
Reid and trent voted 2/3 majority for Teddy not to drive and had to ride in the back seat.
I dont know Gayle, I took a break and watered the garden smiling the entire time.
While read your blog posting concerning the Senate and the “Shamnesty” debate and cloture vote I am listening to Rush Limbaugh via the WOAI listen live fed.
They are currently on break for top of the hour news. They just played a clip of President Bush saying, and paraphrasing, The American people are very concerned about the immigration issue. It is a shame that the Senate/Congress have not acted on it.
Didn’t the Senate just vote for cloture? Didn’t they vote for cloture because they finally woke up and listened to the American people?
I believe President Bush purposely made that misleading statement to make it sound like the Senate is DOING NOTHING, when actually the are doing something…………listening to the American people and voting against his Amnesty bill.
It’s not that they’re not doing nothing. They are not giving amnesty to illegal aliens.
He’s delusional or covering his butt.
Either way, he can kiss his legacy, “GOODBYE, ADIOS!”
I just see a few Senators sitting around..guess they’re on lunch break.
Heard the HOUSE passed a wage increase for themselves.
No surprise there huh?
Mourning.
Again, well done Michelle.
Now is the time to start telling our reps and senators, as well as the President to start enforcing the laws that are already on the books and to
Build the fence!
Dersu, are Reid and Trent aware enough to know it’s a problem if Teddy drives…
Thanks MM – take a break.
Now, if you take that idiot Reid’s speech and you substitute “lettuce” for “immigration”, you would get Chertoff’s talking points – “Is lettuce a problem? Of course it is. But is lettuce a problem limited…to border states, big cities? No. Lettuce is a problem all over America.”
Buffoons everywhere.
Nice work everyone.
Sessions will now open with;
“Let tuce Pray”
You could feel their ship sinking yesterday, the more they spoke the deeper into the ocean they sank.
While we, and others who saw this bill for what it truly was, rightfully and happily pat ourselves and each other on the back for all our grassroots work to kill this bill, we must now move forward.
Today,we have seen that the true power lies not with the chosen few in Washington, not with the corporations and big-money lobbyists, and certainly not with the main-stream media mouthpieces, all of whom wanted this bill to pass.
The true power rests, as it should, with real American citizens like you and I, and when we exercise that power, we are a force to be reckoned with.
In November 2006, a portion of that voice was sounded – when the GOP received a shot across the bow and lost both houses.
Today, an even louder cry was issued. This one to all, Democrats and Republicans, that the will of the people will not be denied or ignored.
It is our responsibility to answer those who throw up their hands today and say, “You got what you wanted – we wanted to do SOMETHING – but now we can’t do anything.”
We must continue to apply pressure to Congress and the White House to do what we, as a majority of Americans want, and that is to secure the border and enforce the laws which are already on the books.
Do not let the celebration of today’s victory overshadow the need to continue your hard work in gaining the ears and minds of those in power to do what we’ve elected them to do – represent us and our ideals.
HURRAY!
WE TOOK ON THE “HOUSE OF LORDS” AND WON! IT’S 1776 ALL OVER AGAIN.
DeMint’s speech said it all.
Kudos to the blogosphere and to Sessions and DeMint. Let’s show them the love and make contributions to all our tireless bloggers and to heroes like DeMint and Sessions!!
Lol @ Gayle…..
Bush’s statement. Nothing about border security, mandatory English, sending illegals home.
http://www.fednews.com/transcript.htm?id=20070628t1209
No. he will try to use nonenforcment as a club again.
My idiot Senator, McConell, will now probably pull a Kerry when this issue comes up during his re-election (and it WILL come up):
I voted for amnesty before I voted against amnesty.
What a gutless enema juice.
THE PEOPLE WON THIS ONE (AGAIN)! Thank you Michelle and everyone else who joined together to defeat AMNESTY!
Sen. Boxer is one of the one’s that waited and now there is a statement of her waffle recipe on her website. I’m sure others are posting their lame excuses as well.
It is now time to be vigil regarding the Fairness Doctrine. Talk radio will get blamed for the defeat of the immigration bill only because talk radio is the current target. For me, the internet had more of an affect than any other medium.
A BIG thank you, Michelle.
Senator Menendez of New Jersey stated on C-Span 2 stated that the Senate yielded to fear and the lowest common denominator.
Well we know what our illustrious Senator from New Jersey thinks of us.
We are “fearmongers” and the “lowest common denominator.
Jorge Arbusto – “A lot of us worked hard to see if we couldn’t find common ground. It didn’t work.”
After he is no longer President Arbusto can always become a stand up comic.
Jorge – “Some of us wanted to call law abiding Americans bigots and some of us wanted to call them racists and some of us wanted to call then nativists and we just couldn’t agree on a common word.”
Jorge – “Some of us wanted to make Spanish the required language of the United States of Greater Mexico in 5 years, others in 25 years, sadly we just couldn’t reach a middle ground.”
Jorge – “Some of us wanted to put “Welcome to what used to be the United States of America” signs up every 100 feet along the border and some wanted to only put them up every 1000 feet, we just didn’t seem to be quite able to split the difference.”
Jorge = “Some of us wanted to put a big Tysons Chicken monument on the top of the Casa Blanca and some wanted to put up a giant Head of lettuce monument there instead. I myself wanted both, but again we just could not agree”
The possibilities are endless.
Now we have to turn our attention to winning the war.
Remember, it’s either we fight them over here or we’ll have to fight them over there.
saludos mm!
These gutless cowards who wait to see which way the wind is blowing before they vote should be run out of Washington on a rail. Even worse is changing your vote to be on the winning side after it’s over. Shameful.
puhiawa @299 “No. he will try to use nonenforcment as a club again.”
It seems to me that at some point deliberate failure to enforce the laws becomes, itself, lawless conduct and impeachable.
Maybe now the deceit will decrease. The emperor has no clothes and has been called out.
Thanks to everyone, Michelle, all the bloggers, NumbersUSA, FAIR, ALIPAC, talk radio (Jeff Katz did a phenomenal job in NC/SC), and so many others. You have defeated the evil globalist Bush and his sycophants.
Does anyone have a list of who waited to vote to test the wind?
Senator Bob Menendez has also called us Xenophobes besides just saying that the Senate yielded to fear and the “lowest common denominator”. Did so in a speech on C-Span 2 just moments ago.
It is sad that the Senator is so arrogant and condescending to the people that put him if office.
Thank you, Michelle. Your sites have proven to be a great resource in this fight.
Bush’s statement: I am right, I don’t hear you, I am right, I don’t hear you…
Listen up, Mr. President, swallow your loss and you can still get much of what you want. Simply get the fence built and manned (about a mile/day is doable if you’re serious); then crack down on illegal hiring through old/new enforcement; then you’ll have a majority on legalization legislation. You’ll need to start work now, though, and the legalization probably won’t kick in until you’re gone, but the law could be in place next year if you hurry.
I guess we won’t see you at the signing.
There is no doubt in my mind that the weasels who switched their votes (or who didn’t vote until it became clear where the vote was going) should be treated as supporters of the bill anyway and denied funds for reelection by the grass roots.
How transparent can you get! They should be reminded of that great martial arts movie: “No Guts, No Glory.”
Looks like a lot of folks get paid to walk around and sit, on our dime!
What in the world is the SENATE DOING?
Thanks, Michelle and all for this great website! I just got back from a funeral and missed all the live activity. This is where I went to first to get the info.
Thank God we can stick a fork in that bill!
I’ll actually have to email my senator, Stabenow, and thank her for something this time…shocking!
Comment from John Kerry; (as if we care)
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., called the vote “a victory for fear- mongering and obstruction over a bipartisan commitment to fix our broken immigration system.”
The problem with enforcing the law as it’s currently written is that it implies some degree of discomfort for the illegals currently here as well as their employers, and frankly it appeared that most of the can that was just kicked back to the White House was intended to avoid just that.
Finally those idiots in the Senate got the message.
It is amazing what we Americans can do if we make the effort.
Shock and Awe I’m telling ya..
I’m shocked and in AWE of all of you.
I’m totally amazed that my Senator (Collins – R ME) came thru. Her office wouldn’t even acknowledge my emails or letters. But they must have gotten them.
Damn.. what a run. Now.. it’s totally dead now right? We don’t have to do this again next week?
Time for the (Un)Fairness Doctrine?
The defeat of this immigration bill and the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS v.
SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 ET AL. where RACE cannot be used as a criteria to allocate slots in oversubscribed high schools.
Discrimination, reverse or otherwise, is wrong and this decision is a major blow to such discrimination. Time to move to being a “colorblind” society. Case found at: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-908.pdf
It is a very good day today. Thank God our Supreme Court is getting some sanity and at least on this issue is moving back from the left to the center.
What is Kerry talking about? The people who invade a sovereign country, are invaders not immigrants. This has nothing to do with immigration that is legal, this country is made up of immigrants and their descendents. This is about Sovereignty and Border Security and they have really let us down in those regards. I didn’t hear Senator Kerry, mention this did I miss it? THEY LET US DOWN – They are doing nothing about our Security 6 years after 9-11. Talk about a low water mark in American History, we stopped our elected leadership from selling us out…they are still not doing the people’s work or our bidding. We the People, they took civic classes these Senators right?
This is a great day for America and for those who came here and plan on coming here legally.
The President:
The “status quo” part that is unacceptable to the American people is the governments failure to enforce the laws already on the books. Oh yea, and close the borders you moron.
One more thing, you might want to quit sending border patrol agents to prison for doing their jobs.
That would make the American people happy too.
Just thanked my Senators, Cornyn and Hutchison. God Bless all the Senators who got it right!
This is going to be a great 4th of July after all! YES!!
Now if we can channel this awesome power and energy into building a fence…
Congratulations everyone ! I just want to jump on the band wagon and say thank you Michelle for everything you have done here.
Now that they have told us all of these things they are capable of doing . Let’s see it. Where’s our 4.4 billion dollars for our fence ?
I pay about as much attention to Mr. Ketchup as I do Rosie O’Stupid…..zippo
Just had to have some FUN so posted this at DailyKos:
Great Day to Day! This Supreme Court Decision… (0 / 0)
The defeat of this immigration bill and the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS v.
SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 ET AL. where RACE cannot be used as a criteria to allocate slots in oversubscribed high schools.
Discrimination, reverse or otherwise, is wrong and this decision is a major blow to such discrimination. Time to move to being a “colorblind” society. Case found at: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/...
It is a very good day today. Thank God our Supreme Court is getting some sanity and at least on this issue is moving back from the left to the center.
Oh I’m sorry…most of you don’t believe in God…
Now build the fence Mr. Bush.
by FLLaw33870 on Thu Jun 28, 2007 at 12:08:35 PM PDT
Just got home from work and checked the bill’s status. I was so surprised and relieved, I cried. All those emails to my own senators (Levin and Stabenow) and the dozen or so other “waffler” votes Michelle listed…they paid off.
I also took the time to send thank you notes to those I’d written earlier and who voted “nay”. I hope others do too. We need to contact them positively now and also urge them to get on the President’s case for enforcement of our current laws.
Ms. Malkin: Why don’t you run for the Senate? I’d love to see you work over Teddy, and his ilk the way you worked over Geraldo on Oreilly.You really gave that whinning, race baiting , open borders, sniveling, lib a thumping he’ll remember for a while.You wouldn’t have any trouble finding support if you ran, anywhere. We’re going to need a Senator here in SC in “08″. If you’d move here I’d help you find a house…Hell I’d buy you a house…Not to be indelicate; but are you old enough to run?
???????????????????????????
Did I miss something? When did Rosie get brought into this?
One thing I’m sorry about is not getting to set up a Ranch for Fly Fishing in New Zealand. If Rick wouldn’t have minded I was going to call it “Sunny Acres Ranch” lol
Let’s not forget that some of these Senators voted no because they thought the bill was too tough on illegals.
It was just a comparison to Kerry, Mr. Ketchup.
Got it!
Michelle – Thank you, and all those you linked, for educating us on what was in the bill, informing us on the deals being made and keeping us optimistic that we were making a difference.
I’m one of those loud, nasty people that e-mailed, called and generally pestered Arlen Specter, poor man.
Thanks again for your tireless efforts.
Called Switch-backs office.
They have a prepared statement to read on his 2 votes
First yay and then nay
Said that during the vote he became convinced that this bill was not going to be the vehicle to solve the problem.
And that he is now looking for other solutions.
I gagged, but was polite to the young lady.
Utah needs to replace Mr Bob Bennett who just voted for this bill. Utah has great skiing Michelle…..sadly you would have to wait until 2010.
*Clapping hands* Build that fence! Build that fence! Build that Fence! Build that fence…Oh, sorry. Just thinking of new cheers for Michelle’s next cheerleader Vent.
Give Switch_back a call, he needs to explain it to all of us.
(202) 224-6521
Switch-back decided DURING the vote that the bill was not going to solve the immigration problem…….?
I’d love to hear what exactly it was that made this ‘decision’ clear for him DURING the vote itself.
What a chicken-poop answer….
And this guy wants to be President?
No thanks – we already have one of those double-talkers in there now.
Chiming in late, but WOOOOOOOOOOO!
What a great country this is – we can call a senator “Goat of the Day” and not be locked up. Love it, love it, love it!
Ding, dong, the wicked bill is dead !!!
We Malkinites who followed our leader’s example and fought against the bill should be very proud.
Thank God for MM, Rush, Boortz, Hannity, Ingraham, Dobbs, et al for their efforts, and to the Senators with gumballs who voted nay – especially those who did so for the right reasons.
Michelle, you are amazing. Your dedication, diligence, tenacity and patriotism inspired and motivated everyone to keep up the fight. You are incredibly well informed, and up to the second with your information.
Well done, Michelle!
I believe he used the term “LEGAL immigration”. And he his right that we are concerened. We want ALL immigrants that come here to do so legally. Conrgess DID act, correctly, on this terrible bill.
It is El Presidente Jorge Arbusto that hasn’t acted correctly on enforcing immigration laws during his administration, evidently caring more about law breakers than citizens of this nation.
AND because the borders (Canada’s too) and ALL points of entry are insufficiently protected, even one of the justifcations of fighting in Iraq, “fight them there so we won’t have to fight them here” rings hollow.
who knows how many terrorists have made it here across the porous borders and overstaying visas and are patiently waiting to do us damage.
To Representative John Boehner; Ohio desperately needs a conservative to run against Voinovich. He has lost all remaining credibility due to his stand on the Immigration debacle. Changing his vote at the last minute was unforgivable – he couldn’t even stand with his own misguided convictions.
Please consider running for the Senate against Voinovich. If you don’t, we’ll have two Democrat Senators because we Independents and Conservatives will stay home. Remember a guy named DeWine? He wasn’t defeated by Democrats; he was defeated by the groundswell that stayed home that Tuesday.
Email Sent to President w/ copy to Vice-President:
Dear Mr. President:
I know you are saddened by today’s event wherein the proposed Senate “Shamnesty” bill failed. I know you wanted this bill for your legacy. I contend Mr. President that had this bill passed, this country would have suffered under this bill and hence tarnishing your legacy.
You don’t know it, but this failure today will save your legacy tomorrow.
PS – Now build the Damn wall and enforce current law. Secure our borders. What you have done so far is a joke.
Michelle is one of the true heroes of this thing, up front and center. I don’t know of anyone, anywhere, who fought so hard, passionately and intelligently against slurrs and name-calling of the worst kind, from Jerry “every lawbreaking Hispanic is an angel at heart” Rivers to across the political spectrum. Many long years from now her Grandkids will toddle up to her and say, “Grandma, did you really help to save America” and she would be within her rights to say, “Yes”.
THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE
Yes, we all celebrate today, but two things still lurk in the shadows:
1. As so many have said, and I’ll repeat it because I’m a repeating kinda guy; immigration is still a broken mess, and the longer we wait, the more power the illegals will exert over our pathetic excuses for congressmen to try it again.
2. The bill is dead – kinda. But somehow I cannot believe that the likes of Reid and Kennedy will let this thing end in a humiliating defeat. Reid, especially, with his clay pidgeons and his bitter, vendictive way of looking at the world, is likely to sneak in all sorts of amendments into other bills which, by stealth, will accomplish the same thing. Until a bill is passed which makes it a law to not do such things, I think we STILL need to keep making calls, sending faxes and e-mailing.
You know, we have really power again at this moment, and to relax in any way, shape or form on this issue would be a huge mistake.
Our “leaders” have tipped their hand and served notice of their intentions. They still want to be able to crow “sensitivity” for that Hispanic vote. The line in the sand was crossed. They backed down today, but there is no question that they are already at work to do it all again in a way even more stealthy, more invisible than it was before.
We do need immigration legislation and need it now. We need a bill that states catagorically that what was attempted before – Z-visas, extended family considerations, and the rest shall be implicitly illegal.
We also need a new bill which builds the fence and puts the troops up according to a timetable, because Bush won’t do it even if the laws otherwise exist: there needs to be a DEADLINE, and one in writing.
Keep the pressure on, and make those fools on the hill (with a bow to the Beatles) wish they never brought this monster up – and force them to do what they’re supposed to do: SECURE THE BOARDERS!
I’m done speech-making. Phew. I yield the floor.
Nuts, I misspelled Borders again!
Dear Michelle,
Awesome job!!! I salute you!!! I hope the magnitude of what you accomplished in this matter has struck you by now!!!
Kudos to all who wrote, faxed, emailed and/or called their Senators!!!
It was INCREDIBLE to see “We the people” in action.
I second the comments from Mr_Conservative_Cat with a big BooYah! Let’s see if we can keep this ball rolling………..
Everyone’s asking ‘what can I do now?
go here:
http://teamtancredo.typepad.com/team_tancredo/2007/06/what-you-can-do.html
Couldn’t the cheer be shortened to just
“Deee Fence! Deee Fence! Deee Fence!”
(?)
Don’t forget Glen Beck on CNN.
He’s on our side too.
Rush has Ditto heads.
How about:
Michelle’s Munchkins