We conservatives expect the socialist leadership of the Democrat party to anger us. They are what they are. But when the Republican party abandons us by abandoning the conservatism they touted in elections, there is a more fiery Hell that awaits them than awaits even The Bitter Left's socialist guiding wing. From a months-old post titled "In Defense of Zell Miller", I offer some clarity:
Zell did what he figured a 'good Democrat' should do. Support him [favorably introducing Kerry once before blasting him at the RNC convention in 2004], as he is a member of your own party. But soon after came a point of critical mass and as his time in Washington DC wore on, he began to realize just how much of a real 'Dog and Pony Show' it really was...camera time, mike time, face time, back biting, self interest...all of which he knew were part of the atmosphere, but the degree to which he saw it astounded him. Say anything, do anything to get the sound bite out there and worry about the details some other time. But get the dig in for effect. This he saw going on on both sides, mind you, not just within his own party. But let me ask you something: Two men are cheating on their wives. One is your friend, one is your brother. Which one saddens, angers or hurts you the most? Your brother, of course. He is your family and you expect more from family.
When our own betray us, they recieve treatment far worse than those who openly battle and oppose our ideas with rhetoric. Republicans are now poised to return to their homes from Washington in two successive waves. One is called 2006 and the other is called 2008 I am telling you now that I will sooner vote for Hillary Clinton than I will for Bill Frist or any other current member of the Republican Washington Brigade, with few exceptions. (This is to say that I will vote for a third party or not at all...which is painful to even imagine.)
You tell me...Who in Washington represents conservatives? Who?
I still have a framed Bush/Cheney '04 campaign sign hanging in my home office and it will remain, but not out of love for George Bush. It will remain because it bears the signature of J.C. Watts, who signed it at the RNC convention. J.C. Watts is one of the few Republicans I hold in high personal regard. He is a stand up man who says what he thinks and thinks what he says (like George W. Bush) and is unfailingly and consistently conservative (unlike George W. Bush). I regret that his voice is no longer in Washington, but then maybe that is why I continue to respect him so much. His job is not / was not to win elections.
Has anyone at the Grand Old (Good Ol' Boys) Party bothered to stop and think why Conservatives hold J.C. Watts and Condi Rice in such high regard? Let me spell it out for you: They are not traditional politicians (Rice not a politician at all) because they do not compromise their positions for public consumption. They are conservative first and conservative at their core. No ambiguity. No nuance. No Jedi Mind Tricks.
I dream of a Rice/Watts or Watts/Rice ticket. What leadership that would be. I would likely tithe to that campaign. But, aren't I supposed to be the poster child for bigoted racism? With all of my anger over illegal immigration and the fact that I grew up a farmboy in the Midwest and my mean conservatism...I just have to be a racist simpleton Redneck, right? Wrong. Who's doing the stereotyping now? Why, the tolerant, peace loving Left would never do that would they? (Dean and his Confederate Flag slip come to mind?)
Here is my Clarion Call to the Republican pinheads at party headquarters:
Conservatives like me are no longer available to fire up the electorate on your behalf. Don't bother asking us to 'Come home to the Republican Party' You had better wake up to the fact that it is the Party that had better come home to its conservative base. Being conservative and being a Republican are NOT synonymous.
Go ahead. Stick you your marketing-plan styled strategy. Keep listening to the 'genius' Karl Rove. Keep spending your 'earned political capital' on junk food with fancy wrappers. Keep forsaking border security because the numbers point to more hispanic voters in the years ahead. Senators and Congressmen, keep following the shepard at your own peril.
We elect these stagehands to do a job. However, they see their job as getting re-elected. Elections apparently ARE their job. Congress, Senate, the presidency…these are just things they do between jobs.
That's what is really going on here. Bush (via Rove) thinks that Republicans can lock up the hispanic vote like the Democrats locked up the black vote. I've got news for you, Senior' Bush: The hispanics you so desperately seek to woo are...(gasp)...conservative! They live conservative lives, are mostly Catholic (many devout and not of the Chris Matthews / John Kerry variety), they are family-centric and values driven. You offend them by cheapening their status/citizenship with blanket amnesty for law-breaking illegals, or whatever you choose to call it. (Note to W: Avoid nuance at all cost. It is not your strong suit.)
The Illegal Alien Amnesty package would never sail in a public Senate debate, when election-driven politicians would have to attach their name to it in open support. They know they would never survive their next election. So, the powers that be in DC have decided to slide it through an unopposable bill to fund the troops and thus providing plausible deniability and passage of the Bush Illegal Alien Amnesty / Republican Party Base-Building Lunacy Plan. Plausible deniability for one and all! That's why the lot of them who keep silent need to learn a lesson. I am sure their home states will welcome them home with open arms.
How can Ken Mehlman, Karl Rove, President Bush and each and every weak Republican Senator and Congressman not see that, in their efforts to make gains in Republican numbers down the road, they are destroying Republican numbers right now?
The Republican morale that was so high in November has now waned to anemic levels. Why? Conservatism IS the Republican Party and Conservatism just took a backhanded slap to the face...and we don't like it and won't tolerate it.
To borrow (and edit) a line from a loud feminist:
We're Fierce.
We're Conservatives.
And we're in your face!
Stand with me. Shed the Red ‘R’ jersey. It’s no more than a scarlet letter. Stand for conservatism. Conservatism must define the Republican Party and not the other way around. We do not need the Republican Party to tell us what we believe, as many Democrats follow their party.
I am done. The Republican Party has betrayed conservatism and I will stand for it no more.
American first.
Conservative second.
Republican registration not required.
Update: From the Center for Security Policy link added to first graph...
In short, S.359, the Craig-Kennedy Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act of 2005 (better known as the AgJobs bill), amounts to an amnesty for a class of illegal aliens. While the proponents insist it is something else - for example, "hard-earned legalization" - there is no getting around the fact that it hugely rewards people for coming to this country illegally. And, as we have seen with previous, misbegotten immigration amnesties, the effect is to encourage more people to do so. That will surely be the case with the Craig-Kennedy AgJobs bill, too. Even though it requires the illegal alien's 100 days of agricultural work in the U.S. to have occurred during any 12 month period between February 2002 and August 2003 - and, therefore, is not something new "invaders" could cash in on - this legislation further reinforces the expectation that, if you can get into this country by whatever means, you will at some point likely be allowed to stay legally.
Interestingly, Messrs. Craig and Kennedy have significantly fewer co-sponsors (43) on their legislation this year than they did in the last session of Congress (62). At this writing, it is unclear whether many of those Senators who no longer want to be publicly associated with this amnesty bill will nonetheless vote for it.
...and from a recent Letter to the Editor in Capital Press (Oregon):
In the article, “AgJOBS Bill resurfaces in Congress,” it stated that the bill “will provide farmers with a stable workforce.” That point is completely undercut by the quote of one of the potential workers, Luz Vezquez who states, “This (act) will allow me to get a better job. ...” So much for a stable workforce. When the current illegal alien farm workers get amnesty under the bill they will move on to other better-paying jobs.
Look, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.
Here. Have a look at the language for yourself:
Title I establishes a program whereby agricultural workers in the United States who lack authorized immigration status but who can demonstrate that they have worked 100 or more days in a 12 consecutive month period during the 18-month period ending on December 31, 2004 can apply for adjustment of status. Eligible applicants would be granted temporary resident status. If the farmworker performs at least 360 work days (no less than 2,060 hours) of agricultural employment during the six year period after the date of enactment, including at least 240 work days (no less than 1,380 hours) during the first three years following adjustment, and at least 75 days (no less than 430 hours) of agricultural work during each of three 12-month periods in the six years following adjustment to temporary resident status, the farmworker may apply for permanent resident status. During the period of temporary resident status the farmworker is employment authorized, and can travel abroad and reenter the United States.
Someone tell me that's not amnesty! Get here by any means and work for 12 months and you can stay! Wow, what a deal!
Now, I would suggest that when they 'prove' they have worked for 12 months while illegal...errr...lacking status...that the employer they proved they worked for should be brought to justice for breaking labor laws by hiring illegals in the first place. Can anyone please explain the logic behind awarding status by proving you (AND the employer) have broken US Labor laws? How 'bout we just dry up the well by eliminating the empoyers the illegals incriminate?
What car in the Logic Train flew off the tracks and allowed this language to even come up for a vote?
How much do we pay these rocket scientists to dream up this stuff?
Do the bills Senate supporters (62 last year, 43 now) even read? Or do they roll their eyes over words without thinking?
You make the call.
