Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants, Talk Radio

ENERGIZED

Over Amnesty For Illegals, Talkers Fired Up






*** Fresh post- Imus Boston updates here ***

Up and down the dial this past week, talkers from one coast to the other were consumed with one topic: amnesty for illegal immigrants.

And with a mammoth bill featuring an suspiciously peculiar blend of bipartisan supporters on Capitol Hill, hosts found an overwhelming amount of material to digest. How many will really have time to read this bill in its final, 1000 page form?

In contrast to some recent issues, conservative talkers have been virtually unanimous in their opposition to the congressional proposal, as were several GOP presidential candidates. In fact, it's hard to remember the last time many of them were this fired up about any issue.

Here's a sampling of what some hosts had to say:

RUSH LIMBAUGH: This thing is 700-plus pages. One of the things that I think is crucial here: this is not going to go to the Senate floor for debate, not going to be much of that, either, until Monday. So from now through the weekend, and all through the Sunday shows, we're going to be hearing about a piece of legislation that hardly anybody has ever seen, yet they're going to be talking about it as though they are experts and as though it's etched in stone. There are walls of opposition that are being built on all sides to this. Frankly, some of the most irritating things...

There's a big story in the New York Post today, there's the story in the Los Angeles Times. When you want to find an illegal to interview 'em, somehow you can, and they pop up, and they'll give you their names and so forth. They're telling people they're not happy with this. Now, yesterday and the day before, one of the points I made about this whole thing is it doesn't make sense to me. We're acting like we're the lawbreakers, and we're acting like we owe them something because we're mistreating them. We're acting like we're the criminals here -- and they have taken the bait.

You can't blame 'em. They're being promised a brand-new, giant, welfare state paid by the rest of us, and they're out there saying, "I don't like this. I don't like having to go home. I don't like having to go back. I'm not sure I want to pay these fines." Don't worry! You're not going to have to go home. You're not going to pay any fines. It's not going to happen. Once this bill passes, they'll be talking about, "It will split up families! We can't split up families," and of course you can't pay the fine because the libs will say, "Well, we're taking food out of the mouths of poor children by making their parents pay these ridiculous fines," even though it's in the legislation.

You might wonder, why are the Republicans doing this? I'm going to get into this in great detail as the program unfolds. There are different reasons for different Republicans, depends on who you're talking about. I once told you that you could legalize rape in this country if you simply called it the Civil Rights Act of 2007, because nobody on Capitol Hill's got the guts to vote against anything that claims to be broadening or creating civil rights. It's codeword. What's happening here is that the proponents of this -- and it's not new. They've actually been laying the groundwork for this.

"If you oppose this, why, you're a racist! Why, you're cold-hearted. You're cruel. You're mean-spirited. You don't like people of color," and, of course, you start telling an elected official that he's a racist and a bigot and anti-Hispanic or whatever, he's going to turn on a dime, because the last thing in the world he wants or she wants is to have that said about them, and to show up in a campaign ad the next time they come up for reelection. Then you have people like Senator McCain. I'm going to just read this, and see what I have very quickly here with McCain. I'm going to read it. McCain said, "We can and must complete this legislation sooner rather than later. We all know that this issue can be caught up in extracurricular politics unless we move forward as quickly as possible." Now, that is unbridled, unknown arrogance. Can I define a term for you here? When he says, "We all know that this issue can be caught up in extracurricular politics," that means you -- YOU -- can stop this, the American people. You start debating this, and you are "extracurricular politics." What that means is, "We in the Senate, we in this exclusive club, we are not going to listen to you. We don't care what you think about this. You are extracurricular politics. We gotta move forward as quickly as possible before you people find out what's in this bill and get really mad and stop it." It's too important. Senator Kennedy is saying the same thing. Here's Kennedy. Grab audio sound bite number five and not number four. Here's Senator Kennedy yesterday. The Senate held a news conference out there.

KENNEDY: We must strike while the iron is hot. I've been around here long enough to know that opportunities like this don't come very often. The American people are demanding a solution.

RUSH: They're not.

KENNEDY: The president is committed, Senator Reid has made this a priority. Senators from both parties are now determined to solve this crisis. Politics is the art of the possible, and the agreement we just reached is the best possible chance we will have in years to secure our borders, bring millions of people out of the shadow and into the sunshine of America.

RUSH: All you gotta do is send journalists to where they live and they'll come out of the shadows. You don't have to give them free access to our hammocks and our welfare state. But here you have it, "We must strike while the iron is hot. I've been around here a long time." He's right. He's been there 47 years! It is too long, folks. These people are dinosaurs. The Senate is becoming Jurassic Park. "The American people are demanding a solution." Yes, but not yours! "The president's committed." Yes, and I'll tell you why in a moment. Senator Reid has made this a priority. Oh, by the way, Dingy Harry and Nancy Pelosi are also in the crowd, saying, "Well, I'm not sure we like this," and that's just strategic maneuvering. The reason they're doing this is, they want the bill to appear to be moderate -- and with Senator Kennedy involved, of course, it's moderate. So they're out there objecting to it. "Ah, there are provisions in here I don't like here." They're just trying to toughen it up. They're trying to make it even more unwieldy, but it's a strategic maneuver. They love this. It's going to have some problems in the House, if it gets out of the Senate in its current form.

Via Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review Online:

(Salem syndicated talk host) HUGH HEWITT blogged: “John McCain's antics throughout 2005-2006 cost the GOP the majority in the Senate. Now he’s going to do for Smith, Sununu, Coleman and others what he did for DeWine, Talent and Santorum.” Ouch.

(ABC syndicated talker) MARK LEVIN, on Wednesday night, implored: “Do these Republicans ever learn? . . . Do they understand that a majority of the American people, whether they’re Democrats, Republicans, or nothing, have had it up to here with illegal immigration and they don’t want to subsidize it?”

It would seem not. And so I’ll make mention of my e-mailers flirting with consideration of the i-word (yes, as in “impeachment”).

The base, of course, will eventually calm down — a bit. The question is, how much? Was this the last straw? If conservative media is any indication, recovery will be slow.

(TRN syndicated talker) LAURA INGRAHAM began her show Friday announcing “I'm trying not to be demoralized.” But after playing tape of Ted Kennedy “waxing triumphant” Thursday, the mood was reminiscent of the morning after Election Day 2005 all over again. And now you can kiss the Senate goodbye, too, if this bill goes through, she said.

By Friday, your Radio Equalizer heard one host predict the issue would soon burn itself out, but with the bill still on the front burner and public opposition to amnesty building by the day, it may instead fuel an unusually heated Summer season for talk radio.

Photoshop image: David A Lunde


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