Tuesday night I went to a GOP victory party at the Double Tree Hotel in Ontario, California.
Part way through the festivities, just after FOX News had called Ohio for President Bush, essentially securing him reelection, some speakers came up to address the crowd. One of the speakers was David Dreier, who by that point had sewn up his own embattled reelection to his U.S. House seat.
He was speaking at the podium, addressing the crowd in what John Kobylt of KFI would describe as "happy talk and gas," when a guy at the table next to mine bellowed, "CLOSE THE BORDER!!!"
It was clearly an uncomfortable moment for Dreier, who went into a short spiel about how important immigration is, and how we have to make sure the border is secure. Yada, yada, yada. Then he went back to his usual platitudes and finished speaking. Dreier then left the event; clearly he had other engagements to meet before the night was over.
I noticed one of the security heavies went over to the bellower and had some words with him.
Dreier may have survived "Political Human Sacrifice," but John & Ken to certain to continue applying pressure on Dreier. Hopefully Dreier will be forced to at least somewhat moderate his open-borders policy.
John & Ken have already targeted Dreier in the upcoming Primaries for his '06 bid; should be fun.
I'd like to see Dreier change his policy too, but the fact is that J&K failed and failed miserably. Dreier got at least as many votes in 2004 as he got in 2000. The libertarian candidate got a few thousand more votes, which is ironic since libertarians want a completely open border.
Instead of putting our faith in a proven failure, we need a new approach to bring Dreier over to our side instead of foolishly writing him off as the enemy.
J&K wanted to send a message, Dreier heard them loud and clear: the anti-immigration folks are impotent and marginal, which will only encourage Dreier to sell out to the mexican vote even more.
Posted by: Kaltes at November 6, 2004 06:21 PM (Permalink)J&K failed and failed miserably
Failed miserably?! The stats don't back that up.
Posted by: clark smith at November 8, 2004 06:47 PM (Permalink)"I don't want this to seem like "spin" though."
Too late. Your whole post is an advocacy piece attempting to prove J&K made some kind of significant impact, while simultaneously blaming their failure on "gerrymandering and reflexive party loyalty". I see you have joined the democrats in the political crybabies room.
The fact is, the voters didn't buy J&K's Kool-Aid, unlike you and Levine. You admit as much at the beginning of your post, completely undermining your pathetic later argument that the minor statistical differences between 2004 and 2000 add up to some kind of testament to J&K's power and influence. For this crime, you denigrate the voters. It is you, not they, who have drunk deeply from the Kool-aid. Your assertions to the contrary look strikingly similar to liberal op-ed pieces blaming the Bush win on the supposed homophobic ignorance of the American people.
"Some voters clearly remained conflicted until the end - which is probably why the Libertarian party got twice its usual numbers as a form of "protest" vote against Dreier."
As opposed to merely absorbing the votes of the now-absent NL and AI candidates? LoL! Keep reaching!
"This last election was the closest Dreier has ever had, and the closest of any California Congressman in 2004."
Yet Dreier still won by a large margin. Whether the gerrymandered districts of others resulted in even larger margins is irrelevant.
Besides, you are wrong: District 20 was closer.
"What will be most interesting to see is if this effort produces any sustained change in key Congressional votes now that the election is over (as opposed to mere posturing on election eve by Dreier)."
If Dreier takes a tougher stance on immigration, it will be of his own will and not thanks to the pathetic coercion of ultra-conservatives. Like Schwarzenegger said "Why would I listen to a bunch of losers?" LoL.
"For those who consider illegal immigration to be a priority issue (which admittedly is not everybody), I still maintain that they were misguided in simply assuming that "voting Democrat would be worse"."
You are the misguided one. Matthews was worse. J&K lied and misrepresented her to further their own agenda. She played along. Matthews would have only attacked legal immigration to placate her union masters. Her stance on illegal immigration was worse than Dreier's. This is beyond dispute. Anyone who thinks differently simply bought in to J&K's lies and deception.
Posted by: Kaltes at November 10, 2004 03:35 PM (Permalink)p.s. Levine is a coward for disabling comments. He just couldn't take getting his ignorance thrown back in his face.
His analysis of Arlen Specter is garbage: Specter supported Thomas, who happens to be the most conservative justice on the court.
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