Quote of the Day and Some Thoughts About Shamnesty

"At this point, the people supporting this bill might as well be supporting putting crack in elementary school vending machines because quite frankly, it probably couldn't do much more damage to their political careers than this bill." John Hawkins -- rightwingnews.com

John lists a group of polls on his site this morning once again demonstrating a vile hatred of the Senate's Immigration Bill. But it is not only by Hawkins, nor just by conservatives, but also by liberals.

A Democracy Corps poll shows that democrats are evenly split over the issue. Voters said that they were more likely to support the bill if it tightened border security and stopped illegal aliens from getting government benefits. SFGate.com has info on that poll. Rasmussen polls show that only 20% of American voters support the bill, while almost 70% want an approach that focuses "exclusively on securing the border and reducing illegal immigration."

This has got to be the strangest paradox in political history. If you look at most polls, you will find that the splits are partisan. Example, look at a poll regarding George Bush and the economy. About 40% of voters give him high marks on the economy. If you break in down by party, 77% of Republicans give him high marks while only 10% of Democrats agree. On this issue those who would normally support a Republican president praise him, while those who would not support a Republican president do not.

Immigration is a different animal. This bill, and the president who is pushing it, is opposed by the left and the right. On this issue, the President gets high marks from 24% of Republicans and 10% of Democrats.

But despite this uniform opposition from the left and the right, the Senate and the President are on television daily explaining to us that they are pushing this reform because that's what American voters want them to do. And there was much confusion in the land.

Look, I'm not one to trust polls because I know that they can be skewed by biased pollsters. I also know that 90% of the people responding to these polls have done not one bit of research into the subject matter. But this is more overwhelming than most. There is no support for Immigration Reform, but we have morons in DC who swear to us that it has vast support and that it is absolutely necessary. How is this even possible? Have Bush and Cheney stopped watching Fox News?

Completely left out of the debate in DC is the fact that there is no support for this bill. Completely left out of why there is no support for this bill is the fact that Congress was not given permission to create new laws in an effort to cover up the fact that it refused to enforce laws that have been on the books for decades.

Take a look at what Hawkins has to say. If I keep typing, I'm going to get angry and punch my monitor.

Who Will Be Fred Thompson’s VP?

Now that Thompson has wrapped up the GOP nomination, the question on everyone's mind is who he will pick to be his running mate. I know we are still months away from the primaries. I am also aware that Fred hasn't actually announced his bid. But let's be honest, he is going to run and he is going to win. He is the most popular Republican in the race, despite the fact he isn't officially in the race.

The Presidential race is more about popularity than politics. Why do you think the two current front-runners are also the most liberal? Rudy and McCain are popular because of their past. The other candidates don't have the same history. Romney is doing well because he knows marketing, or someone on his team knows marketing. But the rest of the candidates, despite their conservative values, have very low poll numbers. Just don't tell the Ron Paul "truthers" that I said that. Internet polls that allow you to vote 100 times don't count, ok.

Fred is popular, mostly because of his time on the television, which interestingly enough started when he played himself. This led to some great movie rolls, and of course his current roll as a conservative prosecutor. All of this has increased his popularity amongst conservatives and has made him a favorite with conservative pundits and blogs. Some trivia for you, part of his inspiration to run was Dick Wolf, the guy who put together the many Law and Order shows.

So, again, now that he has this thing wrapped up, who will he pick as his running mate? We have seen in the past where the candidate picks a former foe from the primaries. There is some speculation that Fred will pick one of the current candidates. Steve Elliott of grassfire.org is expecting a younger governor, thinking that two senators won't play well in the fight against Barack O'Clinton. This is a very good point, especially given the recent record for senators against governors in the presidential race.

I won't speculate myself, but I will tell you what to look for. Look for polls, transformed into pairing people up with running mates. An example: Would you vote for Hillary/Obama or Thompson/Romney or Thompson/Tancredo?

Fred is running because fictional polls that included himself and Newt put the both of them well above other candidates. Fred played this so that he would know whether or not to actually run. He wanted to be certain that the people were tired of the front-running RINOs. And we are tired of them. Fred will find out who makes the best ticket, and he will start this process very soon.

I'm not sure that he can win it all right now. Republicans are very angry, mostly about amnesty, I mean "Comprehensive Immigration Reform"; I mean amnesty. I don't know if this can be saved, but with his popularity, maybe he is the guy who can do it. The pick for VP will play a very important factor here. The democrats will do the same, we could even see another Clinton/Gore ticket believe it or not. My guess is that it will be Clinton/Obama.

Don't screw it up Fred, the country can't afford it right now.

You Decide 2008. What Song Should Hillary Use

It seems that a poll has gone horribly wrong for Hillary. Always being one to take advantage of a situation, I have posted a poll on my blog to help her pick her campaign theme song. Go vote. I'll see about sending the results to her campaign manager.

Bush's Approval Rating at 33%, Congress 29%

For the past several months we have listened to the breathless reports of the news media of the President’s low approval ratings. Bush’s numbers as of Tuesday of this week are at a dismal 33% according to a recent Gallup poll. His numbers have hovered between the 30% to 40% range for the past year or so. Bush’s problem is obvious, the war in Iraq. One thing missing from the news reports about Bush’s approval numbers is the approval rating of the Congress.

In the same Gallup poll, the Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi run Congress have lower approval numbers than the President does. A staggering 29% of Americans believe that Congress is doing a good job. We have to look at the numbers a little differently than we look at the President’s. Control of both houses of Congress was handed over to the Democrats in January of this year. In January the numbers jumped from 21% before the takeover to 35% after Nancy Pelosi became the first woman Speaker of the House. In the four months that the Democrats have run the legislative branch of our government, the independent and Democratic voters have lost faith in the ability of the Democrats to get the job done.

I believe that many in the Democratic party are upset that their leaders have not ended all funding for the war, and they have not brought impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush. The independent voters are upset because they voted for a change in Washington, and they see that the Democrats are not fulfilling their promises of fiscal responsibility.

In the four months since the changeover, what major legislation has been passed? What has been accomplished? They passed a supplemental war funding bill that was laden with pork and a timetable for surrender in Iraq. They knew that the bill would never be signed by the President, but they passed it anyway to appease their far left wing supporters.

This week the House was working on another supplemental funding bill, also loaded with pork and a surrender date, and Speaker Pelosi made speeches about needing to work on a bipartisan resolution to the stalemate. I have noticed that whenever any politician speaks of bipartisanship, they really mean that the opposition needs to agree with all of my points. The Senate rejected their version of the bill with bipartisan support against the bill. I guess that isn’t the type of bipartisanship the Ms. Pelosi and Harry Reid were looking for.

The Congress and the administration were able to work on a bipartisan bill this week. The new and improved immigration bill that both the Congress and the administration worked on all week does have bipartisan support, but only when it comes to the politicians. Illegal immigration is one issue that the majority of the voting public agrees on. Most Americans want to see something significant done about the illegal immigration problem, but both political parties want some form of amnesty and are afraid to do anything about securing our borders.
I believe that both Congress and the administration would see a significant jump in their numbers if they stopped patronizing to a perceived voting block of people and actually accomplished something on illegal immigration and securing our borders. The Congress would see a change in their numbers if they stopped their sophomoric attempts at ending the war and just passed something definitive. If they believe that we have lost the war, as Harry Reid said a few weeks ago, then they should pull all funding for the war and take an actual stand for something. Congressmen are voted into office to do what is best for their constituents and for the country. I believe it would be the wrong thing to do, but if it is what they believe is best than go ahead and do it.