I seldom link it, but I check Instapundit at least daily. In addition to all his other gifts, Glenn Reynolds is brief (alas, a gift I usually lack). Here's one of his lengthier posts, and it's dead-on:
SAXBY CHAMBLISS was booed at a GOP convention over the immigration bill. The big problem for the GOP leadership is that they've lost their credibility. And they still don't understand it. This was clear a year ago when we talked to then-GOP chair Ken Mehlman, and it's much, much truer now. As a reader emails: "No credibility to fall back on. No reserve of good will to fall back on. No record to fall back on. No successes to fall back on."
And as Dan Riehl said earlier this week, Republicans were given a wakeup call with the 2006 elections, and they opted to hit snooze.
I still don't know enough to know if the bill is good or bad. But if the bill is actually a good bill that the GOP base would accept if they read it . . . then that's an even bigger indictment of the GOP leadership for failing to sell it. At this point, they've either mis-sold a good bill, or produced a bad one.
3 comments:
It was obvious that the losses in the 2006 election were due to the GOP alienating its own base. Yet what do the 2008 contenders emphasize? "I'm moderate." "I can work with the other side." "Bipartisanship."
If I wanted someone who could work with the other side, I'd vote for the other side.
The bill has a number of serious deficiencies--beginning with the presumption that we will actually KNOW who is being admitted to the US.
Then there are the vague, never-to-be-enforced provisions about "pathways."
Then there's the reduction in the Fence.
Then there's the retroactive Social Security credits...
If I had to guess, I'd guess. No. I'd take odds they've produced a bad bill.
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