By Joe Guzzardi
10/19/2007
Some bad cats who oppose true immigration reform are — at last! — retiring from the U.S. Senate.
Other incumbents, many dragged down by their pro-illegal alien stances, face a steep uphill climb in their 2008 re-election efforts.
U.S. Senators are, taken as a whole, old verging on ancient. Several of them are ill or have recently recovered from serious medical conditions.
Even if they were young and healthy, they have served their country poorly and consistently opposed their constituents' will.
Can you think of better news than the nation ridding itself of these pompous elitists?
As the old saying goes, "Don’t let the door hit you on your way out!"
Officially gone are:
With Florida’s Sen. Mel Martinez, Hagel co-sponsored S. 2611 that would have amnestied 10 million aliens and allowed another 5 million family members to join their newly legalized relatives.
Nebraska residents who have lost thousands of meat packing jobs to illegal immigrants are increasingly opposed to pro-immigration legislators.
Even a beloved local football hero, former University of Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne, lost his bid for the governor’s seat because he favored in-state tuition rates for illegal aliens. [Nebraskans Show Immigration Frustration, By Scott Bauer, Associated Press, May 31, 2006]
In addition to battling a degenerative brain disease, Domenici is looking over his shoulder at a brewing scandal regarding the role he may have played in the firing of Albuquerque’s U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias.
Warner, in his retirement speech, noted that he would "be near 88 at the end of another six-year term." [Virginia GOP Senator To Retire, By Robin Toner, New York Times, September 1, 2007]
Toughing it out, often against long odds, are:
Irate Floridians, reflecting the state’s attitude toward the shamelessly pro-amnesty Martinez, have mounted a recall effort against him. Imagine how bad the Cuban-born Martinez must be if he’s lost Florida’s backing despite the state’s largely Republican Cubans.
Whoever Graham’s opponent may be, he'll have plenty of fodder including some of these remarks the sitting Senator made: to La Raza, "No group owns being an American," "We're going to tell the bigots to shut up," and, referring to Kennedy’s work on amnesty "I don’t do this much but I want to thank Ted Kennedy." See the YouTube video here.
Only California Senator Dianne Feinstein (sadly, not up for re-election until 2012) can match Craig in his unrelenting pursuit of an agricultural worker amnesty. Craig’s addiction to cheap labor came back to haunt him in his recent bathroom scandal. Few Idahoans rallied to his defense, some pointing to his pro-amnesty position as a reason they would be glad to be rid of him.
Add to Stevens' dismal immigration record, his infamous "bridge to nowhere" scandal and the current FBI and IRS investigations into possible corruption charges and he looks like a goner. [Mr. Stevens’s Tirade, Editorial, Washington Post, October 23, 2005]
The crotchety Stevens was recently caught on video tape scurrying down the Senate hallway insisting on his innocence after the feds ransacked his house and confiscated potential evidence for its case against him.
A warning note to any potential candidate: over-enthusiastic support of more immigration cost St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly his job.
In May, Coleman’s approval rating slipped below 50 percent for the first time since he took office.
His notorious "Lautenberg Amendment" that grants automatic refugee status to residents of the former Soviet Union has been thoroughly exposed by VDARE.COM’s Thomas Allen. Since the inception of the "Lautenberg Amendment" nearly 500,000 FSU refugees have entered the U.S.
To boot, Lautenberg has voted in favor of every amnesty and foreign worker visa he’s ever seen.
Like most other Senate Democrats, Johnson is hideous on immigration with a pro-amnesty voting record second to none.
Encouragingly, in 2004 South Dakotans demonstrated a preference for immigration reform by electing, in a big upset, Republican John Thune. The former Congressman, a strong anti-immigration ally, won over pro-amnesty Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle
To add to the probability of his exit, Johnson is recovering from a brain hemorrhage that has left him paralyzed on his right side. [8 Months After He Was Stricken, A Slowed Senator Returns, Associated Press, August 29, 2007]
With the Congressional approval rating currently standing at about 20 percent, every incumbent is vulnerable.
One thing is certain: we're on verge of getting rid of at least a handful of bad actors on immigration.
And it is impossible to imagine how they could be replaced with anyone worse.
Joe Guzzardi is the Editor of VDARE.COM Letters to the Editor. In addition, he is an English teacher at the Lodi Adult School and has been writing a weekly newspaper column since 1988. This column is exclusive to VDARE.COM.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.