In today’s debate about the amnesty plan, McCain says he’s “growing a little weary” of people calling it amnesty and had some harsh words. Ian at Expose the Left has the video of his rant. I’m growing a little weary of people who are selling American citizenship for a lousy two grand and acting like that’s a good thing. As for the back taxes; please! Do you think illegal immigrants earn enough to have to pay taxes? I can tell you what’s going to happen – they’ll file (not PAY) their back taxes, receive the earned income credit, and use that to buy their amnesty.
What ticked McCain off? My Senator, David Vitter.
From an AP report about the contentious illegal immigration debate in the Senate, h/t Powerline.
Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana said it did. “Surely this is a pardon from what present law says must happen,” he said of provisions in the bill that require immigrants to undergo background checks, pay back taxes and take other steps before they can become citizens.
Sens. John McCain and Chuck Hagel replied heatedly it was not amnesty.
“Let’s stop the nonsense,” said Hagel, addressing fellow Republicans. “You all know it’s not amnesty.” Said McCain, addressing Vitter, “Call it a banana if you want to … to call the process that we require under this legislation amnesty frankly distorts the debate and it’s an unfair interpretation of it.”
Vitter sought the last word. “Methinks thou dost protest too much.”
The clash erupted after Vitter sought a change in the legislation to strip out provisions of the bill that would allow for guest worker programs and give some illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship.
As far as I’m concerned, Vitter took the point – McCain had to spend ten minutes defending his position on the record. It’s going to make for some GREAT soundbites come election time. I am SO delighted that I voted for this man. He will certainly continue to have my vote and my contributions. Louisiana has not had a lot to be proud of recently, but Vitter more than offsets Jefferson.
One easy way to keep an eye on what your Congressional representation is doing is to set up Google alerts on their names. Quotes around the name gives you articles with an exact match. And when they do something you really like, give them a call or drop them a note to let them know that a) you were watching and b) you appreciate it.
In the meantime, Mr.McCain, what do we do with the millions of ILLEGALS who are here now and will continue to come UNTIL we close our borders???
Why don’t some of you fools in Washington PC start realizing where the problem lies: in the socialist state south of our borders? If the government of Mexico offered a system of government conducive to honest business and a working wage for their people, we would have no illegal immigrants. Why don’t you work toward that instead of accusing the American people of being the problem?
Preach it, brother!
Your Right Hand Thief, anothe NOLA blogger, has a different perspective.
Like your blog. I shall return. Let me say this about the above. As a Pro-life conservative Louisiana Republican Sen Vitter is totally out to lunch on this issue. He is in fact, ok I will say it pandering. If Sen Vitter feels so strongly about this , he needs to go down to NOLA and tell his contributors and supporters to please stop using illegals. However, if they leave who is going to rebuid. The Christian commentary has been pathetic on this issue and so has the Christian leadership.
(1) When are the Christian LEaders going to wake up and see that the many of this “anti illegal” groups are spun off one organization. The person and people that run it promote population control through various means including RU 486, abortion, and etc. Its ridiculous. But pro-lifers are oblvious to the motives. For more info on the man behind this go here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1621143/posts. Read all the links even the ones in red.
(2) Someone tell me how even mass deportation of folks with American families is Christian or pro-life. Or in the alternative starving them to death. There is a difference between criminals and people living their lives here for years peacefully. Often we have benifited off the fruits of their labors. Shall we put their “American kids” in homes. There has not been much commentarry on that. For heavens sake the question not even raised. People are going to be shocked how many of these illegals are going to our very churches. Hope we are prepared to be foster parents.
The Southern Baptist Church came out a couple of weeks ago indicating they felt that the Senate was on the right track with a Bush like bill. Their pastors have heard and experienced the Hispanic and Asian community thats often living in the shawdows. We have asked that the Hispanics help us put Christ in our laws as to abortion, stem cell, etc. Now their asking can’t we have Christ in our immigration laws too? They are listening and watching.
This doesn’t make me some open borders fanatic. I believe in border security. Buts there is a bibilical mandate to care for the alien. One can be tough on borders and still treat people with human dignity. Thats starts out with the the most basics the individual and the domestic church aka the family. Tough questions that Sen Vitter is not addressing. Oh well thats my rant. Sorry for my spelling areas lol. But the side bar is some how making on your blog is making it difficult to correct them . For some reason it keeps closing out the window. Lol this is my third attempt to write this.
James, the people who are using illegals to rebuild are morally wrong for doing so. It’s called “illegal” for a reason, and I don’t remember, as a citizen, being invested with the authority to decide which laws to obey. As for who is going to rebuild, in the absence of illegals, Americans will do it. When the pressure builds enough to get the work done – and the wages rise back up to what they were back in September/October – Americans will do the work. My church has been sending out crews and so have others. Americans have come here from all over to work, and more would come if it were worth their while financially.
1. I’m sorry the guy has some serious baggage. But the objective facts are not on the side of uncontrolled immigration. CA and AZ have some serious problems, including hospitals closing, schools failing, that we don’t need to replicate. Every other sovereign nation limits their immigration numbers and enforces their border, including Mexico which does so MUCH more harshly than we do.
2. Nobody who is serious is suggesting mass deportation. The fact is that people who are well entrenched here, especially with American children, will end up staying. I don’t think they should be rewarded with citizenship; permanent legal resident is as far as I’m willing to go. And the alternative to mass immigration is not starving them to death; please provide some data why you think that is so. Mexico is a rich country, with plenty of arable land, plenty of oil and other resources, and unfortunately plenty of corruption.
I disagree with a lot that the Southern Baptists say, I guess I’ll have to add this to that mental list. Please provide scripture references that support the case for uncontrolled immigration, which is what we have now and what the Senate and the President are trying to legalize. Also, please reconcile those scriptures with the multitude of scripture that commands us to obey the law. Next, please address the fact that there are billions of other people suffering and starving (Darfur?) and what our responsibilities toward them are. Should they all be permitted to come here?
[As an aside, I'm in the enviable position of being supported by my husband, so my income is almost all "gravy." We live modestly (small house, I drive a Saturn) and consequently I give away more than half my income. So as far as giving to the poor, I'm very much on board with that idea and I already put my money where my mouth is.]
Border security and lawlessless are serious problems that need to be addressed. But the facts and numbers on how mass immigration is harming our country are available, observable, and not really in dispute. People overlook them because it’s a lot warmer and fuzzier to talk about human dignity. Does anybody, anywhere, have a concrete plan to address the serious problems in San Diego, for example, that still leaves the border as open as it is? If such a plan exists, I’ve never heard of it.
Hey, can you give me some more detail on the problem with the sidebar? I can’t replicate it. And if you’re worried about your spelling, get the Google toolbar, it has a spellcheck you can use when you’re commenting anywhere.
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