It takes a Democrat to raise an issue
Republican mayor's sanctuary-for-illegals statement "lunatic," says Democratic Senator Zell Miller, Republican keynoter
 |
Associated Press
Georgia Senator Zell Miller with President Bush.
|
With the selection of an old-line Democrat to give the keynote speech at the Republican national convention in New York at the end of the month, the chance of a convention floor fight over the immigration issue may have increased substantially despite the best efforts of the party establishment to suppress the issue.
"Republicans," reports Adam Nagourney in a front page article in Sunday's New York Times, "are pressing for a quick and quiet adoption of a platform to minimize dissent."
But on the immigration issue, which Nagourney cites as being of particular concern to Republicans, keynote speaker Senator Zell Miller of Georgia is a plain-spoken critic of current policies, and is a strong advocate of mainstream views.
If the senator echos the comments he made in his book, "A National Party No More" (see exerpt), in his keynote convention speech, he may end up forcing Republicans to adopt a winning position on immigration.
In his 2003 book, Senator Miller wrote:
"Two months after 9/11, New York Republican mayor Michael Bloomberg put out this lunatic statement: People who are undocumented do not have to worry about city government going to the federal government.
"Unbelievable! We should be doing just the opposite. Anyone here illegally should be put in jail, his or her property forfeited, and immediately deported. An existing federal law calls for heavy fines for employers who knowingly hire illegals, but it is ignored. It should be strictly enforced. In fact, the federal government should require all employers to verify U.S. citizenship or lawful presence for each job application by a telephone or central database maintained by U.S government."
With talk like that, Senator Miller could energize not just the 82 percent of Republicans who support tighter immigration policies, but he could end up helping Republicans make huge inroads with the 76 percent of Democrats and the 76 percent of Independents who also support tighter immigration policies (Pew).
Republican Party leadership, however, won't allow the party to adopt a popular position on immigration without a fight.
An activist from a state Al Gore barely lost in 2000 reports that Karl Rove's office has warned Republican congressional candidates off from the immigration issue at the risk of losing national party funding. And the Bush campaign, apparently, vetted every delegate to the national convention to ensure loyalty to the party line.
A week ago Sunday, in another front page article on the potential for a convention floor fight over immigration policy, Ralph Hallow, senior national correspondent for the Washington Times, correctly identified the forces splitting the Republican Party over immigration.
On one hand are the voters -- heck, let's call 'em the American people -- overwhelmingly opposed to amnesties for illegal aliens and so on. On the other hand, there are the corporate profiteers and their mouthpiece, The Wall Street Journal, which, as Mr. Hallow points out, "long has been calling for no restrictions on immigration. Its editorial page advocates making the United States a nation without borders to let the forces of supply and demand freely determine who enters seeking work."
The Republican convention could become a struggle for control of the party between the people and the special interests, and a Democratic senator from Georgia could help return control of the Republican Party back to the people and help make Republicans, well, more democratic.
+== TAKE POSITIVE ACTION ==+
I am very encouraged by reports that some state GOP parties are going to adopt, or have adopted, state party planks opposing amnesty for illegal aliens.
In other words, a few state party organizations are apparently willing to tell the Wall Street Journal and Karl Rove to go jump in a lake, and will side with the "88 percent of Americans who agree, and 68 percent who strongly agree, that Congress should pass a law requiring state and local government agencies to notify both the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS/ICE) and their local law-enforcement agency when they determine that a person is here illegally, or has presented a false identification document." RoperASW Poll, March 2003
You all -- Republicans, Democrats, and Independents -- can play an extremely important role in giving the people a voice at the Republican convention by calling your state GOP party and asking whether your state is planning to adopt an anti-amnesty plank before the convention. (And you can call your state's Democratic Party and your neighboring states' parties, too. Why not?)
Just click on the link below, and you'll be taken to a page with all the information you'll need to make the call(s) quickly and easily.
And then please email me with reports on the responses you received. The feedback I get from you will be crucial to the overall effort.
Please set aside just a few minutes to do this--it may be one of our most important action alerts ever:
State GOP offensive
+== QUOTE OF THE WEEK ==+
Someday our grandchildren are going to reap the results of this madness and wonder what in the world this nation and its leaders were thinking.
Senator Zell Miller on current immigration policy
"A National Party No More" (2003)
+== EMAIL OF THE WEEK ==+
Although I will vote for whomever the Democrats nominate, I would be gratified to see Rep. Tom Tancredo receive a lot of votes. I am very impressed with Rep. Tancredo and his efforts on behalf of immigration reform. On a practical level, votes for Tancredo will send a message to Congress, and he deserves all the help he can get.
Your poll [deactivated] should probably have another "no" slot that says "I'm too afraid of Bush to vote for anyone but the Dem nominee." The "I never vote for Republicans" does not apply to me, even though I am a Democrat.
David Holzman
Motorlegends.com
member, Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform
massimmigration@adelphia.net
