When George W. Bush nominated Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court and received the appropriate blowback from conservatives, the corrupt mainstream media (CMM) said it was the beginning of a conservative crackup. The CMM’s ideal scenario is always Republicans fighting Republicans. They wanted to sit back and watch the GOP duke it out over Bush’s pick. If talk radio attacked the president, so much the better. But Rush Limbaugh correctly labeled the debate the “conservative crackdown”. And because conservatives stuck to their principles, we got Sam Alito, one of the most qualified nominees ever for the high court.

            What happened over the last month with the ill-fated amnesty immigration bill was Conservative Crackdown II. There is merit to the argument that with only 22% of the public in support of this bill it was more than conservatives that stopped it. But realistically, without due diligence from talk radio, greatly assisted by groups like National Review, the Heritage Foundation, and the bloggers, this bill would have been rammed through the Senate. Powerful forces were behind this bill, including almost all business lobbies, immigrant groups, and the democrat party seeking a new voting block.

            The latter factor prompted fear and intimidation among establishment Republicans. Even conservative columnists like Bob Novak lamented this as being a “bad issue” for the GOP. This was it, another conservative crackup. In the aftermath of the cloture defeat on Thursday the political calculations go forward. I’m dismayed when I see conservative commentators lamenting that 2008 is over for Republicans because of this vote. It’s time to set the record straight and dispel the myths that ran rampant over the last month.

“We have to do something now!”

Comprehensive immigration reform had to be done in 2007, or else. Actually, the first statement was true. The “something” is enforcing the law. Over and over American said they want the government to show they can enforce the border and other laws long on the books. This bill fell apart because people no longer trust the government’s promises. The actions to rush over a thousand pages of legislation through without committee hearings, and virtually no debate were shameless. The substance of the bill was never debated. Many details were better discussed on talk radio than the Senate floor. The truth behind the statement was we have to legalize these people now because their illegal status makes us look bad and our big business friends need cheap labor. The most accurate revision of the statement is “We have to do something first” (prove we can enforce the law).

“Hatred and bigotry are motivating the opponents of immigration reform”

We always expect the liberals to play the race card and they did not disappoint. But a Republican president? Again helpful (?) conservatives like Bob Novak jumped in and made statements such as “I don’t understand where the hostility is coming from.” The hostility was coming from millions of informed Americans, but not, for the most part, aimed at illegal immigrants, but at the government. I used this analogy. When I hear of a drunk driver who had 10 previous convictions, just killed two people in an accident, I feel anger. But my anger is not so much at the drunk driver, but at a system that allowed him to be on the road and did not protect two of my fellow citizens. I am comparing the logic, not two very different crimes.

“Maybe the motivation of our government is to help fund social security”

We can only wish these senators were so shrewd and had fiscally sound motives. The truth is the government never did any cost/benefit analysis in any area of this bill. We don’t need to be “smarter by half” to figure out the motivations. Democrats are attempting to import a voting block and alienate Latinos from Republicans. Republicans are getting big-time pressure from all business interests to legalize cheap labor. One of the most revealing statements was made by Arlen Spector who said senators are not swayed by public opinion. Usually that’s true. Senators are swayed by special interests and contributions – UNTIL their phone system gets shutdown.

“It’s a bad issue for Republicans”

This is a bad issue for everyone who supported this bill. Only 22% of the public supported this bill. The telling point of this was the deafening silence coming from the presidential candidates from the senate over the last two week. This was a McCain/Kennedy bill. Anyone remember John McCain’s last statement on this bill. I think it may have been that “F” word confrontation with John Cornyn about three weeks ago, accompanied by McCain’s plummet in the polls. Anyone heard Hillary and Obama speak out strongly on this bill in the last two weeks. They just hope nobody notices their votes. This is why senators do not become president. I think it will be true again.

So what comes next? Just like social security which is in bad need of a fix, nothing will happen. It would be nice if the Senate would live up to its historic reputation, slow down, have hearings, and craft sound legislation to address the millions of illegal aliens who are here. However our politicians are cowards who would rather play the politics against both ends. Thankfully, there are some exceptions. Some stars in this fight were Jeff Sessions and Jim Demint. Put a presidential ticket together with these two true conservatives and I would wager them going all the way on the issues they champion.

The Republican obituaries are being written by the CMM. Republicans are dead in 2008. I’m so glad I can look back and see how often they have been wrong. Democrats will continue to exploit this issue for politics and power. They’ll blame Republicans for “failure” and Bush will not be exempt. Republicans better be on the offense promoting enforcement of the law, and strengthening that area, the clear message from the people of this country. You can always hold your head up and sleep at night if you’ve done the right thing, but you have to make your case to the public – over and over again.