We’ve all had fun with the Snob-ama story the past week (ARUGULA!). The thing is, my friends (as a certain McSnob likes to say), the GOP has a snob problem, too. When Obama derided small-town Pennsylvanians who oppose immigration enforcement, for example, it was nothing compared to the dripping condescension of open-borders Republicans. This is the subject of my latest column. Some of you will not like it.

I give you straight talk. That is my job.

***

Snob-ama is not alone
Michelle Malkin
Copyright Creators Syndicate 2008

The odor of elitism is like onion breath: It’s quick to acquire, hard to mask. Try as he might, Barack Obama cannot camouflage the political stink he exhaled when he dissed small-town Americans as “bitter” Neanderthals “clinging” to their guns, faith and belief in strict immigration enforcement. It wasn’t the first time the effete Snob-ama revealed himself.

In Philadelphia, he passed up the hometown cheesesteak—gloppy, artery clogging and blue-collar (yum!)—for a nibble of Spanish-imported, $100/pound ham. In Iowa, he moaned to voters about the price of arugula at Whole Foods market. (Fun fact: There aren’t any Whole Foods markets in Iowa.) And at an Altoona bowling alley, he couldn’t even score his age. Superficial but telling glimpses of a condescending core.

Obama is reportedly flummoxed that his remarks have been interpreted as arrogant. After all, he was a “community organizer” who came from a single-parent home! He is The Everyman. The Uniter. The Soul-Fixer. The Vessel of All Hopes and Dreams. How could he possibly be perceived as out of touch?

Well, Beltway elitism isn’t about biography. It’s a corrupted state of mind. Obama can at least console himself with the knowledge that he has plenty of out-of-touch company in both parties in Washington.

Let’s face it. Hundred-million-dollar Hillary “I’m not Tammy Wynette” Clinton, John “$400 Haircut” Edwards, John “French” Kerry and Al “$30,000 utility bill” Gore make Obama look like a peon of pretension. And it’s hard to top the imperiousness of Reps. Cynthia McKinney, Patrick Kennedy and Sheila Jackson-Lee, who all abused vlaw enforcement or service workers while demanding special privileges as “public servants.”

But Republicans are just as susceptible to the Democrats’ do-as-I-say virus.

Take Obama’s GOP presidential rival, John McCain. The New York Times-endorsed media darling got a standing ovation from the nation’s newspaper editors at a big journalism powwow in Washington this week. Some maverick. While McCain eagerly criticized Obama as an “elitist” for his derisive comments about small-town Pennsylvanians, Obama’s got nothing on McCain when it comes to insulting average Americans who oppose illegal immigration.

Pandering to the open-borders lobby as cozily as Obama panders to San Francisco billionaires, McCain has attacked grassroots enforcement activists as bitter racists and xenophobes, cursed his Senate opponents and mocked the “goddamned fence” in front of his deep-pocketed business supporters. And who can forget his disdainful admonition to conservatives, whom he berated to “calm down.”

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, McCain’s ally, infamously vowed to National Council of La Raza leaders, “We’re going to tell the bigots to shut up.” Retired GOP-Senator-turned-lobbyist Trent Lott moaned about populist conservative talk radio being a “problem” that Washington Republicans had to “deal with.”

Speaking of whom, what’s old vacant Lott up to now? The Washington Post reported last week that he’s “struggling” to adjust to life in the private sector. “I took the Metro for the first time,” he told the paper. It’s hard not having his own taxpayer-funded car and driver anymore. And this bozo bon mot: “I haven’t paid for lunch in 30 years,” he joked.

Memo to Beltway GOP: If you are looking to repair your image with your conservative base, this is not the kind of press you want. Makes for great cable TV greenroom small talk. Not so good for your beleaguered fundraising efforts.

And not so helpful if you plan to convince voters in the general election that you are materially different from Snob-ama and his Democratic colleagues who traffic in contempt for the common man.

It’s going to take more than rhetorical Altoids to dispel the smell.

Former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is struggling a bit to adjust to life as a lobbyist.

“I took the Metro for the first time,” Lott told the Sleuth Thursday afternoon in the makeup room of MSNBC, where he and his new lobbying partner, former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), were fixin (as Lott says) to do a TV segment.

“He’s been standing in front of his house waiting for his car and driver,” laughed Breaux from the makeup chair, adding with a tinge of a low-country twang, “He’s learning how to hail a cab.” (Read: HAY-ul a cab.)

Life in the private sector isn’t as cushy as Lott thought it would be. No more free lunches, no more taxpayer-funded car and driver, no more overprotective press secretary guarding him from the pesky media…

…Lott really had no idea how to even go about taking public transportation. He didn’t know how to use the Metro fare card machines, or how much money to put on his trip ticket, or how to add money to one of the fare cards his wife gave him. Truly: clueless.

So Patricia Lott did what any good spouse would do. “I took my wife with me and she helped me out,” Lott said.

The fare card his wife gave him was demagnetized, Lott said, so he got a “special note” from the station manager so he and his wife could proceed to Metro Center, where she showed him how to go to the counter and turn in his demagnetized and used fare cards for a new one. (Special notes, it should be noted, are not just for important former members of Congress; that’s the way it works for everyone who has a demagnetized card in the in D.C. transit system.)

“I’m a man of the people now,” said Lott, who retired in December of last year, less than a year into serving a new six-year term.

Besides taking public transportation, the one-time Senate majority leader is learning how to pull out his wallet, which should certainly be a lot fatter these days after bolting from public service to rake in cash in the private sector.

“I haven’t paid for lunch in 30 years,” he joked. Breaux chimed in with an eye roll, saying, “Yeah, he’s learning how to pay for lunch.”

All together now: Boo-freaking-hoo.

Memo to Beltway GOP: If you are looking to repair your image with your conservative base, this is not the kind of press you want. Makes for great cable TV green-room small talk. Not so good for your beleaguered fund-raising efforts.

Mr. Scruggs revolutionized the practice of mass-tort litigation, assembling throngs of plaintiffs to take on deep-pocketed targets. In the largest score, a Scruggs team wrested $206 billion from cigarette makers in 1998 on behalf of 46 states, a settlement from which Mr. Scruggs took home hundreds of millions of dollars.

Last spring, according to government filings, Mr. Balducci, the former Scruggs associate, approached Judge Lackey and requested that he enter a ruling in the legal-fees case in Mr. Scruggs’s favor. In exchange, Mr. Balducci dangled the prospect of a job. Judge Lackey alerted government officials, who arranged a sting operation.

The guilty plea comes as something of a surprise. He’s likely going to have to surrender his law license and have to scratch out a penurious existence on the scant hundreds of millions he’s squirreled away through asbestos litigation.

You know, though we may have our differences around here with the WSJ on immigration issues, their coverage of Scruggs’ misstep has been thorough and their big-business schadenfreude is well placed. I’m not one of these guys who thinks all lawyers are evil, but Scruggs and his anti-business hyenas sure give the rest of the industry a bad name.

P.S. Trivia, which probably isn’t that trivial, and which Michelle has noted before: Dickie Scruggs is Trent Lott’s brother-in-law.

P.P.S: If I read this campaign contribution data correctly, John McCain has given back the $2300 donation he received from Scruggs. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee isn’t in such a rush with that $28,500.

A grand jury in North Mississippi has indicted Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, his son, Zach Scruggs, Scruggs Law Firm attorney Sidney A. Backstrom, attorney Timothy Balducci and former State Auditor Steve Patterson for conspiring to bribe a state court judge in North Mississippi over a case that involved funds from a settlement with State Farm insurance companies.

The indictment, filed late Thursday, said Scruggs attempted to influence Circuit Judge Henry L. Lackey in the case by offering him $40,000 for an order that would resolve the lawsuit Jones vs. Scruggs in favor of Dickie Scruggs and the Scruggs Law Firm.

Dickie Scruggs also is accused of attempting to conceal his and the other attorneys’ involvement in the alleged bribery attempt.

Alan at Y’all Politics boils it down and points to a Scruggs/Hillary connection that will likely be severed pretty soon:

The crux of the indictment is that these four conspired to commit and actually committed bribery of a judge to deliver a favorable ruling to them over attorneys fees gleaned from Katrina related litigation. There is tape. There is documentation…

…So what does this all mean? Well, for starters, Dickie Scruggs fundraiser for Hillary Clinton on December 15th featuring BILL CLINTON, will likely be cancelled.

David Rossmiller’s all over it, too, as he has been from the beginning:

I had a chance to read the grand jury’s indictment several times on the bus ride home tonight. This scheme, if what is alleged is true, was incredibly lame and stupid. Supposedly, Scruggs and a small group of colleagues decided to bribe a state court judge in the fee dispute case — not for a final disposition of the case in their favor, but to obtain an order compelling the plaintiff, Johnny Jones, to arbitrate rather than sue in court. That may account for the miserly $50,000 total bribe offered. Under a cold, hard calculus, that may have seemed like a reasonable sum to pay for an order that was just one step along the way.

The judge, Henry L. Lackey, of the Third Circuit Court District in Mississippi, went to federal authorities when he was approached about the bribe, and one can see this case has been most of the year in the making.

It isn’t clear when it became apparent to the judge that he was being offered a bribe — the indictment says he was approached by Balducci in March and that Balducci “made an overture . . . to resolve the . . . lawsuit favorably” to Scruggs. On May 4, Balducci allegedly talked with Lackey by telephone and said the Scruggs Law Firm “had changed their strategy” and would rely on a motion to compel arbitration rather than a summary judgment motion. All other things aside, let’s just stop a moment and note the complete unacceptability of a lawyer having ex parte contact with a judge about the merits or strategy of a case, and how brazen one would have to be to carry out such contact.

That same day, Balducci faxed a proposed order to compel arbitration to Lackey. Then on May 9 — and here the indictment contains a long, long quote, so Lackey was evidently wired — Balducci met with Lackey and allegedly said that “We, uh, like I say, it ain’t but three people in the world that know anything about this . . . and two of them are sitting here and the other one . . . the other one, uh, being Scruggs . . he and I, um, how shall I say, for over the last five or six yers there, there are bodies buried that, that you know, that he and I know where . . . where are, and, and, my, my trust in his, mine in him and his in mine, in me, I am sure are the same.” Bodies buried? Hmmmm. I wonder what else might come out during the prosecution of these fellows.

Walter Olson has a round-up.

Something is definitely rotten in Mississippi, my friends.

Richard F. Scruggs, a prominent trial lawyer who has been fighting insurance companies over payments for damage from Hurricane Katrina, was indicted yesterday by federal authorities on charges of offering a bribe of $50,000 to a Mississippi state judge in a dispute over fees with another lawyer.

The indictment, filed in federal court in Oxford, Miss., Mr. Scruggs’s hometown, said that on behalf of Mr. Scruggs, a colleague met several times this year with State Judge Henry L. Lackey in his chambers in Calhoun County to propose and deliver the bribe in installments.

Mr. Scruggs’s son Zachary, who is a partner in the Scruggs Law Firm in Oxford, and Sidney A. Backstrom, another partner, were also indicted, as were Mr. Scruggs’s colleague, Timothy R. Balducci, a partner in the firm of Patterson & Balducci, and Steven A. Patterson, a staff member in the firm. Mr. Scruggs, his son and the others were all accused of conspiracy.

The indictment, signed by Jim M. Greenlee, a United States attorney, said Judge Lackey reported an attempt to bribe him to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and cooperated with investigators as payments were made.

The indictment quoted from a conversation apparently tape-recorded in Judge Lackey’s chambers and from a phone conversation in which Mr. Balducci told a member of his firm, “All is done, all is handled and all went well.”

According to the indictment, Mr. Balducci had the phone conversation on Sept. 27 after handing over $20,000 in cash to Judge Lackey in his chambers. Immediately after meeting with the judge, the indictment said, Mr. Balducci went to the Scruggs Law Firm. The indictment also cited a phone conversation on Sept. 21 in which it said Mr. Balducci discussed the bribery transaction with Mr. Backstrom.

The Biloxi Sun-Herald has more.

***
The FBI searched the law offices of notorious plaintiffs’ attorney and tobacco shakedown artist Dickie Scruggs yesterday. He’s the brother-in-law of retiring Sen. Trent Lott. (Hat tip 0 Y’all Politics). What’s going on? Lott’s office says his resignation and the crackdown on Scruggs are mere “coincidence.” A lot of local political observers/bloggers seem to think otherwise.

The Insurance Coverage blog is all over the news. There’s background from David Rossmiller on a False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit brought against Scruggs. He stands accused of “serious ethical improprieties” relating to Hurricane Katrina litigation against State Farm insurance. The charges involve use of stolen documents and direct communication with representatives of the opposing party.

Scruggs represented his brother-in-law, the retiring Sen. Trent Lott, in that revenge lawsuit.

There’s also a federal criminal contempt trial against Scruggs in Alabama. Here are Rossmiller’s observations:

The big news from yesterday, of course, was the FBI’s search of Dickie Scruggs’ law offices, and it remains today’s big news. This AP story said at least seven FBI agents and federal prosecutors searched the offices. This AP story in the Clarion Ledger said they began searching about 10:30 a.m. and were still there at 3 p.m. — they could have stayed longer, for all I know, but that is apparently about the time the story had to move across the wire.

What were they looking for? I don’t know, and no one else appears to know either, at least anyone outside the FBI and prosecutors, and they aren’t saying. Seldom have I had so many e-mails in an afternoon from readers, and usually some one is able to tell me some inside dope, but not in this instance. So if you know the good stuff, don’t be shy about letting me know.

One thing I noted in the media accounts I read was that Scruggs’ big time San Francisco criminal defense lawyer, John Keker, was not speaking for Scruggs on this matter. Keker, as you recall, is defending Scruggs against a charge of criminal contempt of court instigated by federal Judge William Acker relating to the Renfroe v. Rigsby document case in Alabama. This is smart — whether the search is related to that prosecution or not, why create the link in people’s minds? Instead of Keker, Mississippi trial attorney Joey Langston spoke for Scruggs. The story in the Clarion Ledger said that Langston is “representing the Scruggs firm but is not an employee there.” Ironically, the big Sun Herald story from yesterday, which contained extensive quotes from Langston, didn’t say anything about who he is.

Langston, according to his firm’s website, specializes in criminal defense, wrongful death and personal injury cases. According to this press release by Mississippians for Economic Progress, a group that opposed AG Jim Hood’s re-election, Langston, like Scruggs, is a big campaign contributor to Hood…

So, what’s the FBI looking for?

Langston told The Associated Press that the agents were looking for a single document that “might be ancillary to something pertaining to Katrina litigation,” but is not directly involved in any of those cases.

“Coincidence.”

Hmmm.

Update 12:55pm Eastern. Check Yall Politics for local inside chatter. Lots of interesting info and rumors there, including this:

I actually heard something about this a couple of weeks ago at a convention—thought about sending Alan an e-mail, but it struck me as an odd rumor.

Anyway, one of our DC lobbyists asked me if I had heard anything about Lott resigning. She told me she had heard from several “insiders” that Lott would resign before the end of the year so that he and John Breaux (of Louisiana) could open up a lobbying firm in DC.

I found the notion of him and Breaux opening their own shop plausible, but not the notion of him leaving before his term was up.

Don’t know if that is the REAL reason, but I now give my original source a whole lot more credit than I did when I saw her 2 weeks ago.

The timing of Lott’s actual departure from office is important. A reader notes: “If the Miss. GOP Gov appoints a replacement (probably Pickering) in 90 days there will not be time for the Dems to effectively insert Moore in the 2008 elections in November (former corrupt AG also involved in the Scruggs trials). Otherwise, if the appointment is on Jan. 1st then the person will be in the Senate til the general election in 2008. Otherwise, after the 90 day election appointment the person would finish ole Trent’s appointment til 2012.”

Also this from another Yall Politics commenter:

If his resignation is effective Dec. 31, the vacancy will occur in 2007, not 2008. That puts the special election in the 90-day requirement, not the 2008 general. No primary. No interime appointment.

If the resignation is effective Jan. 1, then what Barbour wants to do with an interim appointment and an election in Nov. 2008 (reported on the C-L and linked by Mississippi Man) CAN happen. But then Lott goes under that new “no lobbying for 2 years” deal. That’s why he chose Dec. 31.

It’s a pretty short turn-around. Who currently has the network and money to put together a decent run in a no-primary free-for-all that will be settled before the 2008 Mississippi Legislature is out of session?

***
Update 12:03pm Eastern. Lott speaks: “It’s been really a great honor representing the people of Mississippi…a wild ride, but a very enjoyable one and that I’m proud of…I still feel strongly about fiscal responsibility (editor’s note: snort)…[Describes family gathering at Thanksgiving]…We do think there is time left for us to do something else…I will be retiring from the Senate by the end of the year…” Says his health is good…”I like being a Happy Warrior…no problems, no malice, no anger…I don’t know what the future holds for us. A lot of options will hopefully be available…” Mentions teaching and music and jokes about coaching at Ole Miss. Says there needs to be someone younger, fresh blood…

(I’ll second that.)

Q&A: Likens himself to a live oak tree. Admits he’s “made mistakes.” “I loved being whip.” Hillary Clinton and Pat Leahy have called sending well wishes. He’s “opening the door for a younger person, prayed a lot about it, feels good about the decision.”

Update 10:49am Eastern. Press conference will be held in Pascagoula at the top of the hour; another one is schedule in Jackson at 3pm Eastern. The Biloxi Sun-Herald reports that “speculation [about his exit] is centering on a possible academic posting.” Still doesn’t smell right.

Update: Trent Lott unites the blogosphere!

***

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. We start off our Monday morning with a nice, big DLTDHYOTWO. The Politico reports that Trent (Vacant) Lott–you know, the goat-talking, anti-porkbusting Republican leader who thinks conservative talk radio is a “problem” –is going to resign by year’s end.

See ya. Buh-bye. DLTDHYOTWO (Don’t Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out)!

Hmmm. Wonder what’s going on:

Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) plans to resign his seat by year’s end, a senior Republican official told Politico.

The announcement took Capitol Hill by surprise because Lott, the former majority leader, seemed to be relishing his job as minority whip, the second-ranking GOP leadership job. He had regained a post in leadership after he resigned following racially insensitive remarks at a birthday party for the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.).

Lott’s departure opens up a position within Republican leadership, and there could be a fight to replace him. Lamar Alexander, who ran for the position last year, would be a natural candidate, but there are plenty of GOP up-and-comers who could compete for the slot, including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who are part of the current leadership team and could be looking for a promotion to the no. 2 spot in the hierarchy…

…A Republican adviser close to Lott said: “He’s ready to move on. It’s that simple.

Not buying it.

Inveterate Beltway creatures who love the pomp and power of their office do not just decide they are “ready to move on.”

Is there another GOP Maalox moment in the works?

***
More coverage:

USAT says they’ll be two press conferences today announcing the decision.

MSNBC seems to think this has something to do with lobbying restrictions:

While the exactly reason Lott is stepping down before he finishes his term is unknown, the general speculation is that a quick departure immunizes Lott against tougher restrictions in a new lobbying law that takes effect at the end of the year. That law would require Senators to wait two-years before entering the lucrative world of lobbying Congress.

AP quotes officials referring to Lott’s “other opportunities:”

No reason for Lott’s resignation was given, but according to a congressional official, there is nothing amiss with Lott’s health. The senator has “other opportunities” he plans to pursue, the official said, without elaborating. Lott was re-elected to a fourth Senate term in 2006.

***
More reax:

Glenn Reynolds: “He will not be missed.”

Allah starts the conversation about Lott’s replacement.

JWF: “Maybe he plans to do his barbershop quartet routine full-time.”

***

Flashback II: Reader L. points to this WSJ op-ed on Lott’s rage and political revenge campaign against insurers with his brother-in-law, infamous legal kingpin Dickie Scruggs.

Flashback: Audio: Mark Levin thrashes Trent Lott’s long and undistinguished record

What does a fence on the United State-Mexico border have to do with goats?

Sen. Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., was talking to reporters Wednesday about the immigration bill, when he said, “If the answer is ‘build a fence’ I’ve got two goats on my place in Mississippi. There ain’t no fence big enough, high enough, strong enough, that you can keep those goats in that fence.”

“Now people are at least as smart as goats,” Lott continued. “Maybe not as agile. Build a fence. We should have a virtual fence. Now one of the ways I keep those goats in the fence is I electrified them. Once they got popped a couple of times they quit trying to jump it.”

“I’m not proposing an electrified goat fence,” Lott added quickly, “I’m just trying, there’s an analogy there.”

And the analogy is…what? That illegal aliens are like goats who need to be “popped” instead of penned in? And this explains his trashing of shamnesty critics who want full enforcement of our immigration laws, fair treatment for legal immigrants, and an entrance policy that protects national sovereignty…how?

Wait. There’s more:

Acknowledging the flak he’s taken, Lott said Wednesday, “I keep trying to tell everybody ‘calm down, calm down, let me be the one that offends the left, the middle and the right.’ I’m doing great, aren’t I? But it gives you a level of utopia that is just so blissful.”

Huh? Stop, stop already! Agh:

“I don’t worry about offending anybody anymore, ” said Lott, “because I’ve already offended everybody.”

It’s not about offending everybody. It’s about embarrassing the hell out of the GOP. I would invoke that old truism: “‘Tis better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

But there’s no shred of doubt left.

Trent Lott remains, as I dubbed him years ago, the GOP’s eternal Maalox moment.

Groan.

Reader Jerry e-mailed me this morning after seeing Trent Lott’s bashing of conservative talk radio:

I was going to write Trent Lott and let him know how I felt, so I typed in TrentLott.com and it took me to, are you ready for this, Moveon.Org. No joke.

Indeed, it looks like some savvy nutroots-er snapped up Lott’s eponymous domain name. Type in www.trentlott.com and it redirects you to the nutroots’ front page:

How appropriate. It is most definitely time for Trent Lott to Move On. Allah excoriates Lott’s contempt for the conservative grass-roots and their most powerful medium:

Question: What kind of political instinct would identify the one spot on the media spectrum controlled by his constituents as a “problem” that needs to be dealt with? Answer: The same kind of political instinct that believes this bill is going to guarantee his party millions of Hispanic votes for decades to come. His comment here is the logical conclusion of the grand betrayal that this bill and the secretive maneuvering behind it represents — not just ignoring the wishes of the base, not just expressing hostility towards it and/or impugning its motives and integrity (Lott also falsely claims that critics “don’t even know what’s in the bill”), but actually moving against it by threatening to neuter its media mouthpiece.

Trent Lott and his ilk are on a suicide mission. Will they bring the GOP–and the country–down without a fight?

Like Laura Ingraham says: Save your country now.

A top inside Hill source e-mailed me a call to arms from inside the Beltway bunker. Read it and act, if you still care:

Senate Immigration Update — June 15, 2007

All indication is that Harry Reid has chosen to resume consideration of immigration sometime next week, possibly as early as Wednesday. It is his folly — a curious political choice designed to avoid the “do-nothing” label he so richly deserves.

But as much as he should be blamed personally for choosing to bring the bill back, it is the Republican leadership and Republican “grand bargainers” who are deserving of America’s contempt. Grand bargainers Graham, Kyl, Martinez and McCain made their deal with the devil a long time ago. And now, after a week of deal-making and arm-twisting, Senator Lott and McConnell have joined forces with them and with Democrats to pull together the 60 votes needed to pass an immigration bill that not only has no chance of working, but undermines our nation’s rule of law, damages our national security and will cost billions of dollars.

They do so knowingly and firmly over the objections of the American people. They have done so with great contempt for those who dare to question the decision or put up a fight. It is now up to the American people to demonstrate at a level never seen before in American politics that this is an unacceptable breach of faith with them and will not be tolerated. It is the only hope at this point that this terrible legislation — that has no chance of working — does not become law.

Up to now, a handful of Senators have been able to fight for amendments — and more, to fight for the transparency necessary to expose this bill’s fatal flaws. Senators Sessions and DeMint properly objected to a sham amendment process that was limiting the rights of Republicans. Other members offered amendment after amendment designed to target the bill’s many weaknesses – but few were granted votes. Their efforts and of those other members who didn’t just “accept the grand bargain” have exposed the bill to the American people.

But now, those members are not the hope. They are going to be limited in their ability to do anything to stop this bill. In short — the very Senate leadership who repeatedly asks that the Republican caucus stick together are now rolling their conservative members to do a deal with Democrats — to do a deal with Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton.

The hope now lies with the American people. The American people have been speaking — and Senators are beginning to listen. Don’t give up now. It is clear that Senators are beginning to understand that this bill is not supported by a sizable and important segment of the American public — middle America. There are many Senators still on the fence that are being counted on to pass this bill. This is why today it is up to the people. If there is any hope — the American people must speak, and must speak loudly. Make phone calls to Senate offices, repeatedly, and non stop until the bill is defeated. Faxes and email — flood their offices. Fax in voided checks to the NRSC and the RNC with letters saying you won’t support them — and if you have ever given money before, ask for it back. Make very clear that this is the ultimate breach of faith and that there will be consequences.

Spread the word, America — there are a handful of Republican Senators who can stop this — and it is up to you to hold them accountable. It is up to you to tell them that you refuse to take this — you refuse to be sold a bill of goods. You are on to them — you know the bill cannot work. You know that this bill is “not better than the status quo” as the powers-that-be would have you believe. You know that this bill will cost YOU billions of dollars. You know that this bill harms our national security and undermines the rule of law. You know.

If you speak, they will listen. Go.

Military-smearing Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell released this statement about the shamnesty last night:

Thursday, June 14, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement today:

“We met this evening with several of the Senators involved in the immigration bill negotiations. Based on that discussion, the immigration bill will return to the Senate floor after completion of the energy bill.”

Here’s more on the agreement reached yesterday–and Sen. Trent Lott whining like a nutroots-er about “talk radio:”

Under the agreement reached on Thursday, the Senate will consider about 22 amendments, half from Republicans and half from Democrats.

Earlier in the day, trying to start the bill moving again in the Senate, Mr. Bush called for an immediate burst of $4.4 billion in spending to show that the government was committed to “securing this border once and for all.”

Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia, described the call for $4.4 billion as “a good start.” But Mr. Isakson said Mr. Bush needed to do more to secure the border and to show that he was serious about enforcing immigration laws.

Comments by Republican senators on Thursday suggested that they were feeling the heat from conservative critics of the bill, who object to provisions offering legal status. The Republican whip, Trent Lott of Mississippi, who supports the bill, said: “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.”

No. You are the problem, Sen. Lott. You and your Republican colleagues more interested in sucking up to Ted Kennedy and Harry Reid than in protecting our borders and sovereignty.

Here’s Lott threatening the stalwart GOP senators who support enforcement first:

At some point, Mr. Lott said, Senate Republican leaders may try to rein in “younger guys who are huffing and puffing against the bill.”

If the Republican Party had a brain, those “younger guys” would be in Senate GOP leadership positions, not the old huffers and puffers trying to sell us out.

Two quotes from Republicans who have not succumbed to Beltway fever:

Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, welcomed the president’s support for more spending on border security, but said, “There’s no reason why we should be forced to tie amnesty to it.”

…Representative Duncan Hunter of California, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, scorned such linkage.

“The idea that we will have border security only if it’s paid for by illegal immigrants is unacceptable,” Mr. Hunter said.

Indeed.

If you’d like to give Sen. Lott a clue, the amnesty hotline number again is:

1-800-417-7666.

***

Hugh Hewitt spots another talk radio-bashing quote from Lott and blogs that he will be inviting Lott on his radio show next week.

Mickey Kaus: “Wasn’t it Lott who criticized as “not helpful” Bush’s bashing of GOP opponents of the bill? I think it was.”

***

President Bush spoke this morning at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast:

Left for dead a week ago, legislation to strengthen border security while bestowing legal status on millions of illegal immigrants is showing signs of life. President Bush said on Friday it’s time for Congress to act.

“Each day our nation fails to act, the problem only grows worse,” the president said at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. “I will continue to work closely with members of both parties, to get past our differences, and pass a bill I can sign this year.”

Senate leaders announced plans Thursday night to revive the White House-backed measure as early as next week, although neither Majority Leader Harry Reid nor his GOP counterpart, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, made any predictions the bill ultimately would pass.

Instead, they issued a statement that said in its entirety: “We met this evening with several of the senators involved in the immigration bill negotiations. Based on that discussion, the immigration bill will return to the Senate floor after completion” of sweeping energy legislation that has occupied the Senate this week.

There was no immediate reaction from the bill’s numerous Senate critics, who have consistently attacked the legislation as conferring amnesty on the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the country.

Bush, at the prayer breakfast, said, “We must meet our moral obligation to treat newcomers with decency and show compassion to the vulnerable and exploited, because we’re called to answer both the demands of justice and the call for mercy.

“Most Americans agree on these principles,” the president said. “And now it’s time for our elected leaders in Congress to act.”

The immigration legislation’s revival represented at least an interim victory for Bush, who returned home from Europe earlier in the week and plunged into a campaign to rescue his top domestic priority.

***

The Open Borders Lobby is all smiles:

That’s Teddy Kennedy and Republican Party chief Sen. Mel Martinez on the right. On the left is Eduardo Sotelo, the pro-amnesty Spanish radio host/illegal alien march organizer who brought a caravan of illegal alien advocates from Cailfornia to Capitol Hill.

This photo of the day comes from a protest of the shamnesty bill in front of Trent Lott’s office this morning, organized by the Eagle Forum and the Mississippi Federation for Immigration Reform. The Clarion-Ledger reports:

“We’re here because we want to voice our frustration with Sen. Lott’s position on the bill which will be going before the Senate next week and will extend amnesty to 12 (million) to 20 million people that are here illegally,” said Rodney Hunt, MFIRE president.

Hunt said illegal immigration is a national and local problem that needs to be addressed.

“There are, in the United States right now, 630,000 people who have been ordered to deport by federal immigration judges that have faded into the woodwork, and our government doesn’t know where they’re at,” he said…

…Dot Ward, Madison resident and Eagle Forum member, said she participated in the protest because she felt “there’s a disconnect with Congress and the White House and the average citizen.”

No kidding.

***

More: As Arizona goes, so goes the Republican Party–down the tubes.

More: Laura Ingraham takes on Linda Chavez.

Trent Lott is back.

Flashback 2002: I called Trent Lott the Republican Party’s eternal Maalox moment.

Nothing’s changed.

Meanwhile, RNC chair Mel Martinez is demonizing grass-roots conservatives who support enforcing immigration laws and borders.

More lameness.

John Hawkins asks: “Does the GOP Need Another Thumpin’ in 2008 to Get the Message?”

Apparently so. But John thinks it’s not too late:

Make no mistake about it, the GOP base is upset, demoralized and disappointed in the performance of the Republican Party, and if the columns, blog posts and comments I’m seeing around the net are any indication, a lot of conservatives still aren’t convinced that anyone in Washington is listening to them. That’s understandable because conservatives were pointing out many of the problems that cost the GOP the election in 2006 for YEARS without anyone on Capitol Hill, including the President, seeming to pick up on it or care.

Conservatives insisted that we stop wasting money and we got a Bridge to Nowhere. We insisted that we take an enforcement first position on illegal immigration and we got an amnesty plan that was worse than anyone had even imagined a year or two beforehand. We heard calls for ethics reform and we got the Republican leadership complaining because the FBI searched the office of a Democrat with bribe money in his freezer. With that kind of performance, is it any surprise that the base wasn’t there for Washington Republicans when it counted, at election time? For too long, Republicans in Washington have lived by one principle, “What are they gonna do, vote for the Democrats?” and it finally caught up with them in 2006.

But, the good news is that it’s not too late. Republicans in the House can still bring in leaders like Representatives Mike Pence (R.-Ind.) and John Shadegg (R.-Ariz.), who can get the party back to basics. In addition, Pence has vowed to fight the Senate’s amnesty bill if he’s elected minority leader and Sen. Jon Kyl (R.-Ariz.) is trying to organize a filibuster of the bill in the Senate. Moreover, Republicans in Congress are going to have a lot of opportunities to articulate their views and prove their mettle as they oppose the tsunami of bad legislation that will be pushed by Democrats in Congress and the son of “Read My-Lips.”

If Republicans once again prove that they’re the party of Ronald Reagan, not the party of “compassionate conservatism,” the base and the American people will support them again. But Republicans in Washington shouldn’t forget for one minute that the confidence level in them is very low, even amongst their own biggest supporters, so they’re going to have to prove themselves every step of the way.

***

Trent Lott is bombing. John Little has the right-side round-up. A sample:

The American Pundit: We really needed someone who is quoted on Porkbusters’ front page as saying “I’ll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I’m getting damn tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever since Katrina”.

Right Voices: Between this and Mel Martinez, we’re really on a roll.

PostWatch: Combined with other inspiring actions like the Sen. Mel Amnesty Martinez becoming the head of the Republican National Committee, it appears the GOP has decided it needs some time to recover from the burdens of leadership. Say, ten or fifteen years.

Captain’s Quarters: We sent Republicans to clean up Congress, not to clean up for themselves in porkfests that rival anything that came before them. Trent Lott represents the worst of that class, and the mere idea that he remains in consideration for a leadership position after his commentary this year proves that the GOP hasn’t listened hard enough.

Free Republic: We suck.

The Bidinotto Blog: Trent Lott, just elected Senate minority whip by his GOP colleagues, represents the worst of the old-boy network in the Republican Party: an aphilosophical, wheeler-dealer, pork-peddling pragmatist with a long, ugly record of compromises, sell-outs, and “me-too’ing” in the face of liberal Democrat intiatives. Lott wouldn’t know a moral principle if it walked up and spit in his face.

Mary Katharine Ham: “Welcome to “Survivor: The Isle of Crappy Republican Leadership.”

Trent Lott is squealing, and Porkbusters are busting him good.