5/22: In A Nutshell

Blogger sentiment on WH '08er reaction to the Senate immigration bill ably illustrates the larger frustration GOPers feel about their field. John McCain is perhaps the bill's biggest supporter. Rudy Giuliani is largely silent and suspected to be highly sympathetic. Mitt Romney is a recent convert whose campaign still can't hit the right notes on the issue. Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee are both from the Pres. Bush 'compassionate-conservatism' mold, disinclined to push aggressively on enforcement, while Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo have little credibility outside this signature issue. Even potential saviour Fred Thompson is purported to have a pro-amnesty past. Whatever unhapiness the netroots may be feeling over the Iraq war supplemental pales in comparison to GOP angst in re: '08.

GINGRICH: Fool Me Once...

Newt Gingrich talked immigration at Human Events Online including: "In 1986, I voted for the Simpson-Mazzoli immigration bill. We were promised that in return for amnesty for far fewer than three million illegal immigrants we would get: 1)Control of the border; 20 Enforcement of laws requiring employers to know someone is here legally before hiring them; and 3) No more amnesty and no more tolerance of illegality. ... The government broke its word on every one of those provisions."

Hot Air also posts a "concise destruction" of the Senate's bill by Michelle Malkin and Gingrich on Fox News.

GIULIANI: Abortion Might Have Been The Easy Issue

Mark Levinspeculation that Rudy Giuliani's relative silence on immigration is due to his desire for CA Gov. Arnold Scwarzenegger's (R) endorsement prompted NY Sun's Ryan Sager to blog: "There's certainly a political logic to this, but it's also worth noting the obvious: Mr. Giuliani is far more pro-immigrant than National Review. While principle isn't a characteristic I like to ascribe to politicians particularly often, both John McCain and Mr. Giuliani seem to actually think that legalizing millions of currently illegal immigrants is the right policy - and both believe that immigration strengthens America."

AmSpec Blog adds: "Political problem is -- Rudy's pro-immigration views are likely to get him into hotter water with today's conservatives than his pro-choice views already have. ... In coming weeks, he will have to find a way to pull off an even more impressive stunt, and not just for his own good."

MCCAIN: My Bill Says What Now?

John McCain hosted ablogger conference call he tried to make about "government reform" but the conversation was easily dominated by immigration and was highlighted by this McCain line on Mitt Romney: "In the case of Governor Romney, you know, maybe I should wait a couple of weeks and see if it changes, because it's changed in less than a year from his position before. And maybe his solution will be to get out his small-varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his lawn. I don't know."

Townhall's Pro-Romney tag team Dean Barnett and Hugh Hewitt both hit back at McCain characterizing the line as a "meltdown." From Barnett: "John McCain has likely been stunned by the anger provoked by his good natured leap across the aisle into Teddy Kennedy's sweaty embrace. ... But the events of the past five days make it all but impossible that McCain will be the Republican nominee. If the McCain campaign had enough cash on hand to do a poll over the weekend, I can only imagine how brutal the results were."

Many on the right dissented from Barnett/Hewitt's take. Power Line's Paul Mirengoff: "The first sentence represents fair comment given Romney's pattern of flip-flopping, and the second sentence is quite funny. This is the kind of sharp, biting straight-talk that makes McCain stand out and contributes to his popularity." Ankle Biting Pundit's Bull Dog Pundit: "I thought it was actually a pretty good comeback at Romney. Why? Because Romney has the rap of a flip-flopper on this issue (and rightfully so by my reading), as well as many others."

Some did question McCain's choice in target though. AmSpec Blog's James Antle: "I don't understand the McCain camp's insistence on focusing on the candidate behind them in most polls rather than the candidate ahead of them in most polls."

Many bloggers also took note of McCain's opposition to the bill's provision not requiring applicants to pay back taxes:

• Kausfiles: "Parachute Blues: McCain defends immigration bill fast track, then is surprised when told of the removal of the back taxes requirement! ... But I thought he knew "more about immigration than anybody" in the room where the bill was hammered out!."
• Captain's Quarters: "I also asked about the Bush administration's request to remove liability for previous unpaid income taxes, as reported in the Boston Globe this weekend. McCain said that he was unaware of it, and that he would oppose that change."
• Power Line's Paul Mirengoff: "If you are inclined to think that this bill is being pushed unreasonably to avoid the kind of scrutiny it warrants, that struck me as a QED moment."

Other highlights include:

• Ann Althouse: "One thing that I thought during my question-and-answer was: Maybe he'll get mad at me. Frankly, I think he did, but he didn't tell me to go f*ck myself. ... I note that the conversation was all recorded at their end. Unlike with the last conference call he did with us, we were told at the outset that it was going to be recorded and invited to hang up if we didn't consent."
• Power Line's Mirengoff: "Senator McCain sounded good-humored, feisty, friendly, and engaged. The questions were knowlegeable and friendly in tone."
• NY Sun's Ryan Sager quoting McCain attacking Fred Thompson on immigration: "He had a different position not that long ago."
• Outside the Beltway's James Joyner: "His position and mine are identical at a high level, although we likely disagree on some of the nuts and bolts. He argues that we simply must get a handle on the problem, that the status quo is unacceptable, and that a bill that would round up all 12 million illegal aliens is neither politically possible nor feasible."
• Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham quoting McCain on GOP anger: "At townhall meetings, when I start talking about immigration, there are stone faces and anger...After a while, I see people nodding and knowing that the system is broken."

ROMNEY: Apparently, James Dobson Is Just A Man

NRO's Jim Greaghty explains why Team Romney's response to John McCain's varmit/Guatemalan was weak: "On that same conference call, amidst his passionate defense of the immigration reform deal, McCain admitted he had not heard that the bill had removed any requirement that an illegal immigrant pay back taxes. ... Imagine how Team Romney could have used this: Why is John McCain defending a bill when he hasn't read through all of its provisions? How can he urge his fellow senators to vote for it when he's not familiar with everything in it? Why is he urging them to pass a bill when it includes provisions that he specifically opposes, such as amnesty for all back taxes? How can he say this bill isn't an amnesty when it includes an amnesty for back taxes? And so on."

Not on immigration, The Brody File shared reader response to his suggestions that James Dobson may endorse Romney:

• "Yep, if Dr. James Dobson endorse Mitt Romney, he's got my vote. Right now he has my vote anyhow. He has good moral values."
• "James Dobson is just a man. I don't follow man I follow Jesus. ... I think I'll depend on Him for my answers not the big named 'religious' leaders."
• "Romney is a member of the most anti-Christ theology ever concocted. ...You should be publishing articles denouncing any Christian endorsement of the anti-Christ theology. Mormonism preaches another Jesus."

F. THOMPSON: Not A Pathetic Doodyhead

UCLA law Prof. Stephen Bainbridge explains why he is open to a Fred Thompson run: "

Everybody else in the race has been grooming themselves (quite literally in the case of John "Trial Lawyer with a $400 haircut" Edwards) for the job for years. Everybody from Mitt Romney to Barack Obama reminds me of those insufferable jerks/nerds who so earnestly ran the student government in high school and college. As a class, they are "pathetic doodyheads" who started planning their run for President of the United States the day they got elected President of the Ninth Grade Class and the senior football players ran their underwear up the school flagpole. The idea of a guy with a life, who once said that "After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood," and seemed to actually mean it, makes an attractive change from the rest of the crowd.

DEM FIELD: Distinctions With Out A Difference?

MyDD's Chris Bowers cites the following Mark Pennquote as Exhibit A in the Hillary Clinton strategy to blur the differences between her and her opponents: "In reality, when they both got to the Senate, Senator Obama's votes are exactly the same as Senator Clinton's." Bowers comments: "Blurring is very much a problem other candidates are facing right now ... If all of the candidates seem the same on major issues such as Iraq, then why not just choose the most stable, long-term brand? In Democratic circles, that brand is clearly Clinton."

Bowers advises: "One means of separation would be Iraq, specifically Richardson's Iraq vision of no residual forces. The difference between Richardson and other candidates on Iraq really is the difference between continuing our involvement the war in a limited form, and just ending our involvement in the war altogether. ... However, neither Edwards nor Obama have chosen the path of clear distinction from Clinton on Iraq, as they each want some American troops to stay in Iraq for varying reasons."

Also at MyDD, Jerome Armstrong notes that Ron Paul's "thousands of netroots activists" have pushed traffic to his site over any single Dem candidate, and established Paul's YouTube videos as the most subscribed to on the web.

CLINTON: You Go, Girl!

TAPPED's Garance Franke-Ruta draws reader attention to New York Times 5/20 article describing Hillary Clinton's efforts to promote "more women in management" as a "personal cause." GFR notes: "Wal-Mart, readers will recall, is the subject of the largest private civil rights case in U.S. history, the federally-certified class action case involving up to 1.5 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees that alleges they were denied pay and promotions on account of their gender."

TAPPED's Ann Friedman comments: "Though I'm by no means a big Hillary Clinton backer, anecdotes like this make me really want to like her. I identify with her. And (as Garance has also pointed out), I'm guessing many other women in the all-important "single, under 35" bloc feel the same way. Whether that will translate to votes for Clinton, I'm not so sure. But it's noteworthy nonetheless."

Single and under 35, The Huffington Post's Stacy Parker Aab posts about her satisfaction with HRC's Presidential Gulf Coast Recovery Agenda: "I never thought I'd get so excited by a ten points on a page." Single, over 35, and not impressed with HRC, Arianna Huffington makes the case HRC "is doing everything in her power to prove him wrong -- repeatedly trying to rewrite history and belatedly catch up with public opinion against the war." Huffington details Clinton's 5/20 Today appearance, including: "Sure, why answer the question when you can divert attention and blur the differences between you and your opponents?"

GORE: The Gold Standard

Spurred possibly by the imminent release of Al Gore's The Assault On ReasonThe Huffington Post has a flurry of Gore talk:

• Brent Budowsky: "A ticket of Al Gore for President and Barack Obama for Vice President would create an electricity and enthusiasm that would transform American politics and send shock waves of excitement throughout a world yearning for new American leadership. ... With the release of Al Gore's new book about reason and truth in politics, and the July 7 world-wide concert for global warming, the stage is set for a new era in American politics that would be more exciting than any event since the inaugural of JFK."
• Art Brodsky: "By and large, the Democrats have more experience and better records than the Republicans, but it's hard for anyone outside of their immediate families to picture them as president. So, who's left? The man who isn't there, that's who. If nothing else, Al Gore is a yardstick against which all the other candidates should be measured. At this moment, Gore is the gold standard."
• James Heffernan: "Among all possible candidates for the Democratic nomination next year, is either Barack or Hillary the best qualified -- or the most likely to win the general election? My answer is no. As long as Al Gore declines to take a Sherman, as long as he won't lock the door against all possibility of running again, I believe he's the best horse we've got. The best qualified, and the most likely to win."
• James Boyce: "Mention Al Gore to any right wing spokesperson and on cue, they spit out: The guy who claimed he invented the Internet! Al Gore never said that. Seriously. Here's the truth. In March 1999, Vice President Al Gore was doing an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. In the course of that interview, he said: 'During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.'"

OBAMA: In A Land Called Honalee

Following Today's 5/20 package on Rush Limbaugh's "Barack The Magic Negro" song Jack and Jill's Jill Tubman recounts her role in the story: "The meme of "Barack the Magic Negro" all by itself that illustrates the new media landscape where a blog post that I wrote Jan 17 can end up possibly inspiring a newspaper column on Mar 19 that crossed back over to a different set of blogs and then to conservative talk radio (see the video/hear the song). Back to the left-leaning blogs and then into TV news."

Tubman adds: "Watch the Today show segment here. I think they did a good job of describing the story's arc, ending the segment with the question: "Legitimate political satire...or something darker?" ... To see Racist Rush mis-appropriate the term with no reference at all to the original basis of the term was troubling to say the least."

RICHARDSON: Simply Unmatched

CaliticsBrian Leubitz posts video of a blogger interview with Bill Richardson following his 5/20 announcement and comments: "Richardson is still running a distant fourth at this point, but he does well when he talks about Iraq and foreign policy. He begins to lose some street cred when he talks about taxation. But whatever you want to say about him, he has a resume that is simply unmatched. He would be a solid nominee, but seems that he is a bit too comfortable with his DLC status."

IMMIGRATION: Show Them The Enforcement

A common theme emerging from conservatives is that their opposition to the Senate's immigration bill stems from a lack of trust, not xenophobia/racism. AmSpec Blog's James Antle's cites Fareed Zakaria's article calling the bill's opponents "Know Nothing's" and responds: "The trouble with Zakaria's column is that he doesn't acknowledge the obvious: The 1986 Reagan amnesty failed to reduce illegal immigration. So did the six subsequent targeted amnesties. ... These facts, rather than a wave of hysteria, might have something to do with the "transformation" of the Republican Party on this issue." Similar thoughts include:

• The Corner's Jonah Goldberg: "The chief cause of misunderstanding is the issue of trust. The White House thought that that if they had all sorts of conservative mechanisms in the bill that conservatives would be placated. What they didn't understand is that the anti-"amnesty" wing of the Republican party simply doesn't believe any of these enforcement measures will implemented until they in fact are implemented. "Trust but verify" has simply become 'verify.'"
• The Corner's Mark Krikorian: "Ironically, if the president had begun a vigorous enforcement program the day after taking office, he would have accrued enough credibility to have gotten his amnesty by now ... But that was never going to happen because ... the president is opposed - morally and emotionally repelled - by the idea of enforcing the border with Mexico. It's just uncompassionate, in his view, and nothing's going to change that."
• a Goldberg reader: "Approving initial requirements to get a bill passed and then changing those requirements afterward is a well-worn political tactic. This immigration bill may not be a pure amnesty bill right now, but it will be - especially when the new democratic administration takes over the presidency."
• Townhall's Dean Barnett on accusations of xenophobia: "I've read countless emails on the subject, and what really concerns the right isn't the current batch of 12 million illegal immigrants but the next batch of 12 million who will keep flowing in once congress "reforms" immigration but still declines to seal the border."
• Kausfiles: "Remember when the respectable, bipartisan policy types routinely tarred those who favored welfare reform as bigots who scapegoated blacks and the poor? That didn't really work for them in the end, did it?"
• Iowa Voice: "Here's what we've been saying for at LEAST the last two, maybe three, years: Secure the border FIRST, before you do ANYTHING ELSE. How much simpler do we have to make it for you? After the border is secured, you can do whatever the hell you want with the 12-20 million illegals here and I'll bet we couldn't care less. Throw them a f*cking parade if you want, just build the damn wall and secure it with the manpower and the technology to keep people from crossing it."

Immigration legislation sympathizer John Podhoretz asked Corner readers: "What action, short of deportation or imprisonment, wouldn't be amnesty?" He later reports: "After 45 e-mails on my earlier question, I can now say for a certainty that any form of "immigration reform" - meaning not merely stricter enforcement of sanctions but also a system to "regularize" the status of illegals- would be deemed "amnesty" by its opponents."

Townhall's Hugh Hewitt spells out some changes to the bill that could entice him to support it including:

• An amendment to establish a special category of illegal aliens which includes all males between the ages of 18 and 30 from countries with significant jihadist networks, with that list of countries to be determined by the DoD, the CIA and State. No probationary Z visas under Section 601(h) would issue to such illegals.
• Construction of at least half of the double-fencing prior to the issuance of a single probationary visa, and completion of all 800+ miles of the double fencing prior to the issuance of any 4 year Z visa or any Y visa.
• Acceleration of the six-year build-up in the authorized level of Border Patrol agents so that its number of agents reaches 25,000 within 3 years with the funding for their hiring in place. This should be another hard trigger.
• The elimination of social security credits for years worked as an illegal, and the payment --perhaps over a term of years-- of at least 50% of unpaid back taxes.
• The employer penalties for record-keeping violations should be struck from the bill. The burden-shifting to business of enforcing the immigration laws is going to be large in any event, but to impose on businesses the absurd paperwork completion and storage requirements empowers bureaucrats to punish any employer they take a disliking to.

IRAQ: Told You So

Many in the netroots are hoping the APstory claiming Dems will send an Iraq war supplemental "without a timeline for the withdrawal" is just a trial balloon. AMERICAblog's John Aravosis responds: "Well, then let this be our reaction: No." Aravosis advises: "What should the Dems do? Murtha's proposal. Give Bush half the money now, and half the money in July (or whenever) after he briefs the nation on his progress."

TPM Cafe's Greg Sargent points to New York Timesreporting suggesting the decision is not final yet but adds: "If this is [true], a lot of people will be very unhappy indeed..." MyDD's Matt Stoller suggests readers target Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) "who wants a promotion to the Senate." Stoller blogs: "Udall, coming from a very liberal district, voted against the war in 2002. I don't know if he's changing his mind because he wants to run for Senate in 2008, or if he's just shifted in his stance, but his vote against the McGovern amendment is a serious problem."

Not surprised by the AP story at all, Talk Left's Big Tent Democratrecounts the history of the Iraq supplemental and takes his netroots brethren to task for not seeing through the Kabuki theater: "For all the 'pragmatists' at Move On, and in the Netroots, you must NOW recognize the total miscalculation you made in March. And you must learn from your mistake. Forget benchmarks, authorizations and timelines. ... We must ALL press for an end date certain for the funding of this Debacle. We must insist that NO BILL be passed funding the Iraq Debacle after a date certain. We must insist on the Reid-Feingold framework. The rest is not only a waste of time, but, as the House Supplemental efforts that started this mess, harmful."

BLOGGERS VS. BELTWAY: It's All Fun And Games Till Someone Gets Arrested For Solicitation

RedState's Erick Erickson is urging readers to crash 5/22's Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) hosted Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) Capitol Hill Club fundraiser with copies of Calvert's solicitation arrest report and "hand them out to the folks going to the party."

Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher is unimpressed with this latest round of online GOP activism: "I know I've had boatloads of fun mocking wingnut bloggers for being the toenail clippings of the Mighty Wurlitzer, unable do anything but echo the messages that come down to them from on high while liberal blogs organize, raise money, push candidates and issues and create a real force within the Democratic party. But now it seems that GOP honchos are openly mocking them too, for the very same reasons."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Low-Priced Baby Green Salads Taste Good

Andrew Sullivan shares the view of one anti-immigration bill reader:

The proposed immigration "reform" bill does very little for the immigrant and nothing for the communities which are unable to absorb their masses, but is a boon for corporations and liberal grandstanders needing to show their tolerance for diversity. ... it is liberals - champions of government services - who apparently want to ensure that cities like Los Angeles where I live, must forever bankrupt and shut down community hospitals and emergency medical services; endure public schools jammed to the rafters with children of immigrants illiterate in their native language let alone English; and paralyze public transportation and other infrastructure simply by being overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of immigrants pouring across the border every year.

But hey, at least when a Malibu doctor's wife leaves her kids with the normalized nanny, has her hedges trimmed by the legalized gardener and hands the keys of her Range Rover to the documented valet, she can point to her pro-illegal immigration reform bumper sticker and feel smug about it before crunching on her low-priced baby green salad.

LEST WE FORGET: Little Brother

DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas advises readers to "videotape everything they do" explaining: "Every appearance by a top Republican official or candidate should be recorded. Every one of them. All it takes is one "Macaca" incident to transform a race or create one where one didn't exist. As the Montana incident blogged earlier today showed, a video can knock out prospective candidates before they even enter. And this is no longer about finding one big blunder to put on a campaign commercial. It's about using video and (free) technologies like YouTube to build narratives about opponents, using their own words, at their own events. It's never too early to start."