Freedom Ain’t Free & Take Our Country Back

On The Fairness Doctrine

There are several articles written and published that serious minded people need to read and heed. There are politicos that would like nothing better than to have a free reign at power and control over “We The People”, and the power of our votes and our voices. Most of the proponents of that philosophy, an unconstitutional one at that, are members of the Democratic Party. SO much for the self-proclaimed “heralders” of The People. One may conclude that the squelchers of Freedom of Speech are looking after their own political careers and if they can silence their opposition, the more secure they will be. Naturally, people that agree with them will be allowed to be as vocal as they so desire.

Nothing Fair About Fairness Doctrine
No Need To Bring Back The Fairness
Rigging The Debate
‘Fairness’ Blarney
‘Fairness’ Follies
Pulling The Plug
Senator Thune: Reject Orwellian Calls For Broadcast “Fairness”

From the NRSC: go there and sign the petition

Free speech is under attack.

As Democrats in Congress eagerly line up to legislate what you hear on the radio it begs the question: what’s next? Newspapers? There’s no end in sight to their power grab.

Democrats like Al Franken have tried to compete with the liberal talk radio Air America; yet they failed miserably and the network collapsed into bankruptcy.

And why did they fail? Because people chose not to listen. In this country’s Free Market system radio stations succeed and fail based on their content. If people do not like the content of the program, they turn it off. Our marketplace guarantees your freedom to choose what you want to listen to; and that freedom is what doomed liberal talk radio to collapse.

Realizing that their ideas couldn’t compete in the Free Market, Democrats schemed for ways to crush conservative talk radio’s success.

Their answer? The so-called “Fairness Doctrine.”

Revival of the “Fairness Doctrine” would have the chilling effect of censoring conservative talk radio by requiring radio stations to air liberal content. Air liberal content or your station license will be revoked.

It’s unfortunate that Democrats are willing to trample on our First Amendment rights for political gain.

What part of Congress shall make no law doesn’t Hillary Clinton and Al Franken understand?

At the Fairness Doctrine Watch blog, linked to The Truth Laid Bear, established by NZ Bear, also instrumental in the highly successful Victory Caucus, there is a wealth of information in regards to the Democrat Party’s Unfairness Doctrine…

Monday Morning Roundup

There is a video at this blog as well and I have placed it in my VODPOD above. It is Mitch McConnell Mitch-Slapping the Democrats again.

Scroll through the tags on my blog and you will find a tag labeled “Fairness Doctrine“. Click, read and learn. Including this post, you will find 17 entries and there are more to come…bank on it.

Over at the Cost Of Democrats, there is another wealth of information made readily available to the serious minded. Trolls go there as well but they haven’t the mental stamina to keep up.

The Captain’s Quarters has “A Colloquy On the Fairness Doctrine“. A CSPAN video can be viewed here in which the smiling Democrats are seen introducing the bill to silence the majority of Americans.

Newsbusters has a take on the socialist democrats as they weasel their way into the everyday lives of “We The People”.

If you had any question concerning how much the left wants the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine in order to kill conservative talk radio, you got your answer on the floor of the Senate Friday.Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota) offered an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill that would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from reinstituting this archaic edict.

As NewsBusters reported on June 30, such an amendment overwhelmingly passed in the House a few weeks ago by the tally of 309 to 115.

Unfortunately, Senate Democrats didn’t even want to debate this issue, and, instead, lead by Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), objected.

For those interested, an unofficial transcript of Coleman and Durbin’s exchange – which marvelously depicts the differences in how liberals and conservatives view the Fairness Doctrine – follows (video available here):

The Democratic Party is pushing us Patriots closer and closer to another Boston Tea Party. IAW the Constitution, that is our right.

There is another video in my VODPOD Labeled Kennedy to Hillary-Big Business payback that you will want to see and take to your own blogs.

Poor liberals.  Cry us a river.

As has been previously posted here, the whiners of the Leftinistra just don’t get it. They have lost their stranglehold on America and are lashing out and grasping for the invisible straw.

CBS News has “borrowed’ from National Review On-Line, an article with the above title. I have “borrowed” it from CBS.

Remember Jim Hightower? We didn’t think so. He was the former Texas state official who was, for a few minutes, the Left’s great hope for a liberal talk-radio host to challenge the domination of Rush Limbaugh. It didn’t work out. Neither did former New York governor Mario Cuomo, another failed radio talker. And neither did, most recently, Air America, the attempt to build an entire network of liberal talk.

Poor Jim Hightower. He and Mario Cuomo doesn’t get it, either. One of these days, hopefully sooner than later, these wanna-bes will finally see that they do NOT have the pulse of America and never have. If they had the pulse of America, folks would be flocking to them and those Big Bad Conservatives that have very successful radio shows which, are broadcasting from LIBERAL owned stations, would vanish. The Big Bad Limbaughs and the Hannitys and the Levins are reflecting what the MAJORITY of Americans think and feel. It really is that simple. Why else would the LIBERAL owned and operated radio stations keep them on the air? Conservatives are good for the Big Bad and Evil Profit Monster that the LIBERAL owned and operated radio stations maintain. Hello?

Nothing has worked too successfully for liberal political talkers. Rush, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, among others, are as dominant as ever. The only thing that has changed is that liberals now seem less interested in challenging conservative talk radio in the marketplace than in strangling it with government regulation. And that presents a much greater threat than another misguided attempt to find the liberal Limbaugh.

Rush, Sean and Laura do indeed have the pulse of America. Why else would they be so successful on LIBERAL owned radio stations? And what are the LIBERAL owned radio stations doing with all that Big Bad and Evil Profit Mongering, anyway? I smell a Double Standard. And why do the Moonbats constantly attack them?

A new blueprint for a government takedown of conservative talk radio comes from the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, founded and run by former Clinton White House chief of staff John Podesta. In a report entitled, “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio ,” the Center outlines a plan that would, if implemented, do enormous damage not only to conservatives on talk radio, but to freedom of speech as well.

Surveying 257 stations owned by the top-five commercial station groups, the report’s authors found the unsurprising news that 91 percent of total weekday talk programming is conservative, and just nine percent “progressive.” Rather than attribute that imbalance to the generally conceded superiority of conservative programming - most radio professionals would tell you that Rush Limbaugh is simply better at what he does than any of the liberal opponents who have tried to compete with him - the report finds a deeper, more sinister case. “The gap between conservative and progressive talk radio,” it concludes, “is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system. ” According to Podesta’s Center, those structural problems can only be solved by government action.

“Progressive”. The other name for “Liberal”, “Socialist”, “Leftinistra”. Not surprisingly, the Center for American Progress doesn’t get it, either. “The Gap” they refer to is “The Gap” between their ears. There are no “structural problems in the US regulatory system”. Big Brother helps nothing. More “government action” helps nothing. Unless, naturally, one wants Big Brother to dictate all there is to dictate for the stupid people that cannot help themselves and are 100% dependent on Big Brother for up to and including the proper use of toilet paper and the quantity of sheets per use.

The “problem” missed by yet another socialist “can’t” think tank is the American people are sick and tired of groups like this retarded Can’t Think Tank.

The report proposes new national and local limits on the number of radio stations one company can own. For another, it recommends a de facto quota system to ensure that more women and minorities own radio stations. And finally, it says the government should “require commercial owners who fail to abide by enforceable public interest obligations to pay a fee to support public broadcasting.”

More free give-away crap for folks that cannot make it on their own because NO ONE WANTS TO LISTEN TO THEIR SOCIALIST CRAP!

The two-for-the-price-of-one attempt to have the government both stifle voices that don’t meet “enforceable public interest obligations” while raising money for government broadcasting is certainly a worthwhile strategy for the Left. Not for free speech and free markets, however.

Exactly so.

In addition, the report claims that the Fairness Doctrine - the government rule that, before it was repealed in 1987, required broadcasters to present opposing viewpoints on controversial public issues - might not really be dead, and thus might not have to be reestablished by Congress. Instead, a new administration might simply decide to enforce it again. That point is highly debatable, but it wouldn’t be surprising if President Clinton, President Obama, or President Edwards were to give it a try.

Whatever it takes to silence the voices of opposition to socialism, eh?

The fact is, liberals simply haven’t attracted talk-radio audiences. It’s not their market. But since they still largely have Hollywood, academia, the New York Times, PBS, NPR, a network news division or two … they’ll survive. And we on the Right will, too, if we keep the Center for American Progress’s dangerously wrongheaded ideas off the table.

How about a trade-off. The socialists get the radios and the conservatives take over Hollywood? Any takers?

Related articles of note:

Air America sold: gee, I wonder why

Air America files chapter 11: gee, I wonder why

UPDATE!!

RUSH Limbaugh, the conservative talk-radio pioneer, has been called many nasty things before, but never a “structural imbalance.” That’s the fancy term a liberal think tank uses to characterize his success - and to dress up its proposal for counteracting that success through new government regulation.

The report of the Center for American Progress on “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio” marks the latest phase in liberaldom’s grappling with conservative talk radio. First came the attempts to create a liberal Limbaugh - Mario Cuomo, Jim Hightower, et al. - that fell flat. Then an entire left-wing network, Air America, was founded, and foundered. So there’s only one option left - if you can’t beat them, and you won’t join them, you can agitate for government to regulate them.

The report looks at a slice of 257 talk stations and concludes that more than 90 percent of total weekday talk programming is conservative. The supposed reason for this is, essentially, that media companies are conspiring to shove conservative radio down the throats of listeners in a way they couldn’t if, among other things, government required broadcasters “to regularly show that they are operating on behalf of the public interest.”

This is a pinched view of radio. There are upward of 2,000 U.S. talk stations that deal with news and issues, according to Michael Harrison of Talkers magazine, and they encompass all sorts of formats from National Public Radio to urban radio to shock jocks, none of which are dominated by right wingers. Conservative talk radio is a vibrant niche within that market, but there are many other places to go for news and opinion.

UPDATE 2:  Jack Kelly has a great comment in the last paragraph.

I see this every day at the very liberal newspaper where I work. Conservatives often write angry letters to the editor, criticizing the arguments made in an editorial, or what they perceive as the slant in a news story. Liberals unhappy with my columns often demand that I be fired. They object not just to my point of view, but to the fact that it was expressed. Scratch a liberal, and you’ll often find a fascist underneath.

If the Leftinistra had the “corner market” on Talk Radio, this would not even be contemplated. What would drive the leftinistra to try and muzzle Conservative Talk Radio? Is it because the MAJORITY of Americans are Conservative, Democrat and Republican alike?

Could it be that the likes of Reid DON’T have the pulse of America and it shows in the approval ratings? Does this explain the rantings of the losers and whiners? Could it be that the Hillarys and the Boxers are secretly trying to squelch Freedom of Speech and that if folks don’t agree with them, they must be silenced?

Why would the Leftinistra attack talk radio? And why do the Leftinistra fear it so much? Could it be no one wants to hear the trash from the lips of the Leftinistra?

This will be a big day for the left in its campaign to rid this country of their nemisis … those pesky right-wing talk show hosts. Today we’ll be hearing about a new study by the Center For American Progress, a Washington left-wing think tank. The man running this outfit is none other than John Podesta, the former Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton. This report will condemn what it calls a “massive imbalance” between conservative and “progressive” My guess is that the report will blame the preponderance of liberal talk radio shows on anything but the absolute failure of these shows to sustain themselves with good ratings. We’ll also undoubtedly see the typical statements about the asinine concept of “the public’s airwaves.”

Poor whiners. Nothing to offer so they whine. When my kids do that I send them to their rooms. “They” even wrote a paper on the subject of how the imbalance is driving them mad.

Blogrunner has a really good compilation of must reads on this subject. Jake Tapper has a fairly decent piece at ABC.

The conversation overheard may have been three years ago (what was going on then?) but the sentiment is alive and well as Lott so whined about not too long ago.

When will the politicos “remember” that it is “We The People” that “run government” and NOT the politicos of DC?

Congressman and Democratic Presidential Candidate discusses why he will reintroduce discussion of the “Fairness Doctrine”

The Constitution grants American Citizens (not ILLEGAL aliens or otherwise) protections guaranteeing Freedom of Speech.  Curiously, I find no where within the Constitution where Freedom of Hearing is protected.  Where is it found?  Just curious.

In a story emerging from Wierdofornia, somebody “read” something and then they “heard” something and it made them feel “targeted” and “estranged”.  Awwwwwwwwwwww.

The weirdos will be routed out and collected here.

Radio broadcasting is an artificial oligopoly. The restricted spectrum & ERP limit the practical density of transmitters. With the addition of the FM service, more frequencies became available, allowing for more competition in the market.

One factor limits competition: the FCC’s issuance of licenses. Before kvetching about monopoly, survey every major market, and compare the number of licenses to the maximum number of transmitters that can operate without mutual interference in the market area. If the market is not saturated, either there is a lack of demand, a lack of capitol, or the market is being restricted politically.

Here we have a government determining how many radio stations there will be in a market, and declaring that content must be regulated because there is a monopoly.

This is equivalent to:

• intentional iatrogenic disease

• morticians murdering to generate business

• firemen committing arson.

Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity & Mark Levin started out small and worked their way up, building skills and audiences; moving from smaller to larger markets. So did John Hightower, but he did not achieve the same success. Al Franken, Gov. Cuomo, Senator Gore & Senator Daschle dreamed of making it big. They failed miserably because of inexperience, poor production values and failure to inform and entertain their audiences.

Their solution: punish those who are successful by enacting laws to stifle their free speech rights.

The whole scam is about creating a propaganda monopoly for Socialism by preventing free market supporters from effective public speech. Our recourse is to the polls. Send the Socialists home at the next election!!!

Fair to whom? The whining Leftinistra talk shows that can’t hold their own water? The ones that go bankrupt because they are under the allusion or delusion that it is THEY that have the pulse of America? Please. Spare us the vitriol!

Michelle Malkin covered “it” here:

Spree covered “it” here:

Maggie’s Notebook covered “it” here:

We covered “it” here, here and here:

Mark Levin covered “it” here:

Many others covered “it” as well.

If one wishes to find out just what in the hell the Fairness Doctrine (snort-chuckle-guffaw) is, The Heritage Foundation has “it” all spelled out for ya.

Legislation currently is before Congress that would reinstate a federal communications policy known as the “fairness doctrine.” The legislation, entitled the “Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1993,” is sponsored in the Senate (S. 333) by Ernest Hollings, the South Carolina Democrat, and in the House (H.R. 1985) by Bill Hefner, the North Carolina Democrat. It would codify a 1949 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation that once required broadcasters to “afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of public importance.” The fairness doctrine was overturned by the FCC in 1987. The FCC discarded the rule because, contrary to its purpose, it failed to encourage the discussion of more controversial issues. There were also concerns that it was in violation of First Amendment free speech principles. The legislation now before Congress would enshrine the fairness doctrine into law.

Bottom Line? Simple. The Leftinistra have lost their grip and they see their Power Plays faltering. They blame others for their own demise and will not accept responsibilities for their own actions. SO…they want to silence the ones “responsible” for their ineptness.

NEWSFLASH!!!  Hitlery and Box-a-rocks want Legislative Action to KILL Talk radio…just the Conservatives, though.

Radio communications are transmitted by means of electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is considerably longer than that of light. We can neither see nor hear that radiation; we use electronic equipment to make it audible.

No air is necessary for the radio communication process, between the microphone and the loudspeaker. The electromagnetic radiation is not public; it is generated, modulated, amplified and transmitted privately. Specific frequencies are allocated by the FCC to prevent signals from jamming each other. There is no special magic involved. If broadcasters agreed on frequency allocation and power levels, no government intervention would be required.

Newspapers are printed privately, transported on public streets and highways, delivered to and read by consumers. Those consumers use sunlight to read their newspapers. Who owns the sunlight? Is it public?

Now explain some rational basis why government coercion should be used to determine the content of broadcast speech; why broadcasters should be told that they can’t air Rush Limbaugh’s show, or how many hours of it they can air or what he can or can not talk about.

Now explain why the government should not also control the news and opinions printed in the New York Times & USA Today. After all, they are transported on the public roads.

If they can regulate Rush, they can also regulate what you say and hear on your cell phone. Then they can also control the content which passes through your wireless computer network.

Do not be deceived: the ‘fairness doctrine’ is an attempt to violate the first amendment; to censor politically sensitive speech. Tell its proponents to go to Hell and burn forever!

BCP

He is another one that doesn’t get it. As I have posted previously here, Trent Lott needs a refresher class on what the United States Constitution says about how government is to serve “We The People” and NOT the other way around. He was whining the other day at The People’s House as were several others how some of us rallied together to defeat the non-amnesty amnesty for ILLEGAL immigration bill.

From the NYSlimes:

Comments by Republican senators on Thursday suggested that they were feeling the heat from conservative critics of the bill, who object to provisions offering legal status. The Republican whip, Trent Lott of Mississippi, who supports the bill, said: “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.”

There are several phrases I would love to place here but I would not want my family to know how low I can go with my vocabulary…small children may run across this one day and it just would not be appropriate. Suffice it to say that Lott can kiss my ass. Who in the hell does he think he is? Some moron that has no intention of bowing to the will of the MAJORITY of Americans? Moron.

Miss Beth, a contributing author to this blog, and maintains her own blog here, and is eventually and apparently migrating to here, sent me a link to a blog that I have become very fond of in a very short period of time. The site has some very “interesting” takes on several subjects.

On Lott’s oratory exposing his utter contempt for the American People, the owner of the blog afore mentioned has a special post:

“Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.”

- Trent Lott (R-Mexico)

There! Dealt With!!

Short, sweet and to the point. The American People do NOT want this non-amnesty amnesty travesty.

I have this same post over at my other blog at Townhall. I haven’t closed down the comments area like I had planned and I may not. Especially since I get comments such as the one I am going to transplant in a moment. It is an all-telling comment and is indicative of the backlash Lott and others are experiencing…and they don’t like it. Too bloody bad.

So here is the comment from Take Our Country Back:

sue writes:	Monday, June, 18, 2007 8:17 PM
THE WELFARE/REWARD IMMIGRATION BILL
TO SENATOR LOTT: **TODAY, I NOTED YOU WERE SUPPORTING PASSAGE OF THIS BILL !!. I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU ARE INVOLVED IN AN EFFORT TO PUSH THIS WELFARE/REWARD TO ILLEGAL’S BILL! DO YOU NOT CARE THAT U.S. CITIZENS DO NOT WANT THIS BILL ?? WHY ARE YOU SCREWING THE TAXPAYERS? WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM ? YOU ARE COMPLICIT IN THIS REWARD TO ILLEGALS & AGAINST THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY… IF THIS BILL PASSES, KNOW YOU WILL HAVE MADE THE DEMOCRATS (& YUK KENNEDY) AND MEXICO VERY HAPPY!   AND THE PEOPLE, YOU PRETEND TO SERVE, VERY UNHAPPY.   POLITICS ABOVE THE PEOPLE. YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO YOU SERVE. NOW YOU DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THIS FROM TALK RADIO ! OR THE CITIZENS ON THIS.??? YOUR PREFER SNEAKY BACKROOM DEALS OVER THE CITIZENS OF U.S. ??? YOU NEED TO RETIRE WITH YOUR EGO..

UPDATE!!

The Fairness Doctrine and Michelle Malkin

Go to Maggie’s Notebook…you won’t regret it; if you don’t go, you will.

Senator Lott Tells The Base To DROP DEAD!!

Thursday, June 07, 2007 2:44 PM

WAY TO GO LOTT!! That will get you some brownie points you moron!!

From Hugh Hewitt

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Republican Senate Whip Lott To Republican Senators And Republican Base: Drop Dead

Posted by Hugh Hewitt | 2:29 PM

From the WaPo, word of the continuing GOP meltdown:

Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said he has told the most virulent Republican opponents that he will not tolerate a raft of amendment votes designed simply to filibuster the measure, and he castigated his own party’s senators for their vote switches.

“We’re going to do this damned thing, and if we don’t, I think we should dissolve the Congress and just go home,” Lott fumed.

The sooner the Republican Senate caucus can find 41 votes to declare the bill beyond repair, the better of the GOP will be. The presidential ambitions of John McCain are smoldering as a result of the fire he started, and now the GOP’s 49 seats look to take another major hit in the fall of ‘08.

Lott FINALLY got something “right”!! Dissolve the USELESS CONgress and go home you IDIOT! I have been saying this for YEARS! We The People…remember us?…will elect some folks that adhere to the Constitution where CONgress does the bidding of WE THE PEOPLE and NOT You The Morons!

GO HOME LOTT!!

Poor Lott and the other RINO morons…WTF, O? GO HOME!!

From Hugh Hewitt…UPDATE

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Trent Lott, Unplugged: “Are We Men Or Mice?” (Bumped With Audio)

Posted by Hugh Hewitt | 7:10 PM

UPDATE: Here is the audio file of the Trent Lott comments listed below.

06-07Lott

Trent Lott’s floor remarks in the Senate this morning were not certainly designed to asssure Republicans that their concerns on border security and illegal immigrants from countries with jihadist networks were being addressed in a serious fashion. There is also an unfortunate, and probably unintentional tone of condescension which just doesn’t play with the voters that GOP senators seeking re-election need to help them in that effort. The backdrop to the current debate is not only the immigration bill, but also six years of Democratic obstruction and the loss of a 55-45 seat majority, a loss that is at least in part –I believe in large part– owed to the non-confrontational approach of Senate Republicans to that obstruction, and to the pervasive air of indifference to key conservative goals from judicial nominations, to John Bolton, earmarks and absurd spending, and of course the war. What Senator Lott is voicing in a strong echo of those years is a belief in an institution that many conservatives have lost faith in because Democratic ruthlessness in the use of the filibuster. Now that the GOP has only the filibuster with which to work, the leadership is not replicating the tactics of the Democrats when the Denmocrats werte in opposition, but is in fact seen to be caving on a major issue. Having been hamstrung for most of the past four years, it is simply galling to hear the Republican Whip promise Harry Reid a vote in the spirit of getting something done.

Senator Lott: If anybody in America likes where we are with illegal immigration and legal immigration, if they think what we’ve got now is good or tolerable, fair or responsible, then fine. Let’s try and kill this bill. Kill it with amendments. Kill it with the debate. Vote it down. I don’t think that is respobnsible. This is one of the biggest issues facing this country and the question is do we have the courage, tenacity and the ability to get anything done anymore. If we can’t do this, we ought to vote to dissolve the Congress and go home and wait for the next election…

Can we do anything anymore? I don’t like a lot of these amendments. I don’t like a lot of what is in the bill. I was in and out of the meetings, but I was not one of the people that worked in the so-called Grand Bargain. Some people are acting now like it was a sinister operation. I don’t believe so. Everybody knew there was an effort underway. Republicans were involved. Democrats were involved. The Adminstration was involved. Conservatives, liberals, agriculture, everybody. Now we are going to pick it to death. I just don’t think this is responsible. I am getting calls, but I would say to my constituents, “Do you have no faith in me after 35 years? That I’m just going to buy a pig in a poke here? Or be for something that’s bad?…”

Last year I voted against what we came up with because I didn’t think it got better. It got worse. But we have an obligation to try and we should not get all in a twit because we made one mistake or we don’t get the one we wanted. Look I voted for amendments that passed and amendments that failed. I voted for bills Bush…get over all of that. This is a big issue. This is the United States Senate, the great deliberative body. Are we going to belie that description, or are we going to step up to this challenge and try and get it done right? We should vote down cloture now.. Cloture shouldn’t have been filed. You can’t ram the Senate. You can’t ram the minority around here. This won’t work. All it does is make people get madder and it takes longer…

So we’re going to have a vote on cloture and we’re going to defeat cloture because more amendments are legitimately pending. But I’m serving notice that I’m going to be a part of trying to help to find a way to get to a conclusion, to a vote. Vote it up. Vote it down. But to try and kill it with all these amendments, you know, that are being thrown up here for the purpose of killing it to me is not an appropriate way to proceed….

This is time where we are going to see whether we are a United States Senate anymore. Are we men or mice? Are we going to slither away from this issue and hope for some epiphany to happen? No. Let’s, let’s let’s legislate. Let’s vote. I think the majority leader has a right to expect at some point we end it. Try and cover as many objections with as many amendments as we can. But at some point we have got to get this done….

Senator Kennedy, I appreciate the legislative leadership you have been providing. I know it is not easy, you know, and your own colleagues and those of us over here have been beating you up. I mean, your a nice poster child. Thank you very much for what you do. But I’ll tell you one thing I have learned the hard way. When it comes to legislating, when you are dealing with Senator Kennedy, you had better bring your lunch, because you are going to get educated, you are going to learn a lot, and you are going to get a result. Hopefully it is going to be a good one. Good luck, senator from Massachusetts. I yield the floor.

Sen. Kennedy: And the senator too. I thank my friend from Mississippi, and I commend him for a constructive and a positive attitude.

I continue to urge readers and listeners to contact Republican Leader McConnell, Republican Whip Lott and NRSC Chair Ensign via the Hill switchboard at 202-225-3121 to urge the bill be fixed to mandate full and immediate construction of the fence prior to the grant of probationary benefits, a robust expansion of the Border Patrol and other federal agencies being tasked with the adminsitration of the background check and employment verification systems, and a separate treatment of illegal immigrants from countries of special interest in the war which would confer no rights to employment or travel until a positive showing of loyalty is made.

Senator Lott would gather greater support for the idea of trying to fix the legislation if he would, in consultation with the caucus, set some minimum reforms without which cloture would not be agreed to. But his remarks today suggest just the opposite is unfolding: a charade intended to present the appearance of reform of the compromise leading to a gentle but no less final jam down.

I expect the cloture vote that looms to pass given Senator Lott’s remarks, and when it does, the Senate GOP is going to see blowback that it will not recover from in time for ‘08. Political insanity of the first order, orchestrated by leadership that seems not to have grasped that it is just as easy to go from 49 to 39 as it was from 55 to 49.

UPDATE: A typical e-mail:

Hugh:

I’ve sent Senator Lott an e-mail suggesting that he take the rest of
the year off.

His speech embodies all that I DETEST about Republicans in the Senate.
I don’t care what McConnell or Kyl say, they are just as culpable as
Lott in the meltdown of the party.

I am leaving the party, Hugh.

I will follow the “blow-back” on your blog.

Dave W.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Harry Reid Mitchslapped Again?

Posted by Hugh Hewitt | 8:08 PM

There are some signs that Leader McConnell might be able to hold enough Republicans to defeat the cloture motion. If he pulls that off he will have demonstrated more fight and guile in the GOP caucus than we have seen in a decade. Good luck to him.

Call and support the Leader in his efforts: 202-225-3121.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

The Bill Sleeps with the Fishes

Posted by Dean Barnett | 10:08 PM

As surely as Sonny Corleone was left for dead at that toll plaza, McCain-Kennedy will not become law in anything like its current form. Even the author of the grand compromise, John Kyl, voted against cloture. As far as John Kyl is concerned, I think we have enough good stuff in the bank to get through this little episode. The fact that he voted the right way tonight means he can remain our favorite Senator. He’s certainly in no danger of having Trent Lott steal his place in our hearts.

And what is the media reward to the Republican Party for this insanely misguided misadventure? MSNCB.com now leads with the headline, “Bush-backed immigration bill stalls in Senate.” Thank you Senator McCain for so courageously once again reaching across the aisle and getting your party yet another stick in the eye.

As far as the putative Republican crack-up is concerned, allow me to offer a dissenting theory. I have never seen the Republican Party more united than in its hatred for this bill. On one side you have George Bush, Lindsey Graham, Trent Lott and John McCain. On the other side, you have virtually every other Republican in America save the Wall Street Journal editorial board. 30 million people united against roughly 13 individuals - when you think about it, that’s pretty good unity.

And there’s even better news. The Democratic nominee for president will likely be a Senator who hasn’t done a blessed thing to secure the border during her/his time in office. And best of all, the Republican nominee will definitely not be a Senator.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Now that the BushMcCainKennedy SHAMNESTY bill is dead…

Posted by: Kevin McCullough at 10:49 AM

…or is as close to it as is possible for now.

Mr. President - BUILD THE REST OF THE FENCE YOU PROMISED US LAST YEAR!