There was one thing that Jim DeMint said about the demise of the immigration bill today that was absolutely correct:
"The people responded to this issue in a very emotional and just a very
engaged way, which changed the minds of many people here in the Senate."
Very emotional, indeed. And that is something that politicians certainly respond to, even in that most "deliberative" of bodies.
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Brad, just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean that the people don’t understand. As with so many other issues, you are totally out of step on this one as well. The people did take a long, hard look at this bill and it was very clear to almost 80% of the people that this was a very bad bill that had to be defeated at all costs.
Repeat after me: The people are usually right. Usually it’s the pundits and editorial page editors who don’t have a clue!
I think it’s too easy to just dismiss what happened here as the result of emotionalism. It is true that people were emotional about this issue, but they were emotional precisely because they were fully engaged and understood perfectly that this bill was horribly wrong for our country. The popular uprising against this abomination was NOT a knee-jerk, emotional spasm by ignorant boobs, it was an animated and heated utter rejection of the bill based completely on principle. Ed
And if you really want to know what caused much of the emotion, it was the unmitigated arrogance with which people like Lindsey Grahamnesty intended to ram it down our throats. It is one thing to be wrong about something but willing to discuss it. It is another thing altogether to be wrong about something and proceed anyway in the most arrogant manner, as if you’re operating in communist state. Damn right people were emotional. I hope and pray the emotion we saw last week is carried over to the voting booth next year. Lindsey go home! Ed
I would hope Americans would get emotional about ILLEGAL immigrants who entered the country ILLEGALLY, are employed ILLEGALLY, and utilize taxpayer resources ILLEGALLY… as opposed to all the huffing and puffing that The State does about a few dozen kids riding ATV’s without a helmet.
I think what we’re seeing here is an example of what Malcolm Gladwell calls “The Tipping Point”. Something triggered this visceral, viral response toward illegal immigration. Maybe it was “press 1 for English” on customer support telephone calls… or maybe it was having to choose a language when using the ATM… or maybe seeing a Spanish food section in the grocery store… or flipping through the cable channels and seeing multiple Spanish language stations… Whatever caused it, people have been stirred emotionally because it represents a change in the environment that is uncomfortable and (in this case) largely undesired by the general population.