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Title: Skillful immigration word games
Source:
Waco Tribune
URL Source: http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/conten ... /07/08/07082007wacsanchez.html
Published: Jul 8, 2007
Author: Carlos Sanchez
Post Date: 2007-07-09 23:44:22 by Peetie Wheatstraw
Keywords: None
Views: 56
Comments: 1
I read a fascinating article a few months ago in Vanity Fair magazine about the inner workings of Vice President Cheney’s office, which became public during the trial of his former chief of staff, Lewis I. “Scooter” Libby. Among the many details that emerged during Libby’s trial on obstruction of justice charges was how efficiently Cheney’s office and, one would assume, the White House is able to control the message. Controlling the message is at such a premium that the best and brightest of Cheney’s staff did not work in setting policy; the real power came in working for the public relations arm of the vice president’s office. Chief among those who had an innate ability to set and control the message was Libby himself; the article smartly observed, for example, that much of Cheney’s recent public image problems came about after Libby was forced to resign because of his indictment on the obstruction charges. The irony of this mastery of the message is that, ultimately, Cheney’s party used it with admirable efficiency to kill the last major domestic initiative of the Bush administration: immigration reform. Best chance in three years I have long supported Bush’s philosophy on immigration, a philosophy that I believe was honed by his experience living in and governing a border state. And I supported his recent attempts to pass immigration reform in a bill that, admittedly, had flaws, but which was the best chance at taking a stab at the problem for at least three years. But, alas, the opponents of the bill prevailed and did so in a grand manner that I had to respect. It was democracy at its best — and an instructive lesson for anyone remotely interested in politics. It happened in spite of warnings by many sage political observers, one of whom delivered a message directly to a Waco audience. His name was Juan Hernandez, the son of a Mexican father and American mother. He grew up on both sides of the border and has a unique perspective on the immigration issue as it relates to Mexico. Ultimately, he served as a member of the president’s cabinet — the president of Mexico at that time, Vicente Fox. Hernandez was the keynote speaker at a Mission Waco dinner and he urged everyone to get in touch with a member of Congress and support the immigration legislation. So intent was he to demonstrate the message that he pulled out his cell phone, held it up to the microphone and called Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office, only to hear a recording that her voice mail was full. All the evidence that I saw since Hernandez spoke is that several people acted on his message, but they acted on it to defeat the bill. I can get several hundred emails a day from various interest groups, and based on the sentiments of these emails it was startlingly unanimous: they said “no” to the proposed immigration reform. I’m certain there were people who supported the legislation, but I never saw a single shred of evidence that they were out there. But countless times a day, I received messages from a variety of groups that had Freedom or American or Liberty as part of their title. All of them deplored what they called the amnesty legislation. The discipline of these groups was a sight to behold. Someone created a set of talking points that declared opponents need only focus on one word — amnesty — to denounce the legislation. And every group that came out against it did precisely that. So my hat is off to those mostly conservative groups who won this debate. It was textbook democracy and they deserve the victory.
Poster Comment: "Democracy at its best"---precisely why corporate whores like my Senators Feinstein and Boxer want to revive the so-called "Fairness Doctrine": they don't want the voice of hoi polloi drowning out the satisfying clink! of money in their coffers from lobbyists.
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#1. To: Peetie Wheatstraw (#0)
Well then nothing else you say, Carlos, is credible now is it. So fuck you.
Law Enforcement Against ProhibitionI have long supported Bush’s philosophy on immigration, a philosophy that I believe was honed by his experience living in and governing a border state. And I supported his recent attempts to pass immigration reform in a bill that, admittedly, had flaws, but which was the best chance at taking a stab at the problem for at least three years.
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