- Jamie Coomarasamy
- 9 Oct 06, 09:32 PM
If the main consequence of the is to drain the energy from the Republicans' socially conservative Republican base and increase the number of what the influential conservative strategist, , has called "embarrassed Republicans", the party may be casting around for other issues to get the voters to the polls.
Could illegal immigration play that role? It was about eighteen months ago that a man called Tim Donnelly predicted it would - as we stood together on Arizona's border with Mexico. He is - or, at least, was a "" one of those private citizens (dubbed "vigilantes" by President Bush, much to their anger), who decided to take border protection into their own hands.
He was convinced that the swelling numbers of illegal immigrants would swell the ranks of Republican voters this November. I remember his parting words. "Immigration", he said in a confident tone, "will be the next abortion." Idle talk - or reality?
Judging from a few recent trips to different states, the issue is resonating far more loudly across the country, than the amount of national media coverage being given to it would suggest. By derailing the president's call for a comprehensive immigration bill - and, instead, pushing through new - House Republicans essentially won the pre-election argument. But will that be enough for them to win the election?
Jamie Coomarasamy is a Washington correspondent for 麻豆官网首页入口 News.
- The Reporters
- 9 Oct 06, 02:22 PM
New York Times: The Mark Foley controversy has diverted attention from another major Washington ethics scandal - the influence peddling involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. ()
LA Times: In the ballot box fight to preserve the toughest abortion ban in the nation, the talk is not of a foetus' right to life, it is of a woman's right to motherhood. ()
Washington Times: A Missouri Republican senator tries to distance himself from President Bush in a TV debate, in which he and his Democratic opponent argue over Iraq and stem-cell research. ()
- Justin Webb
- 9 Oct 06, 01:11 AM
is a busy man - I wonder why? The guy who led the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 1994 and then lost the plot bigtime, is back. I know this because I went to see him the other day and witnessed a politician in demand.
"Hi I'm Newt!" is his cheery greeting. But having put the visitor at ease Newt is unavailable for smalltalk - as we prepare to record his thoughts his mind was on his schedule and his young assistants are darting in and out of the board room with new and ever more complicated travel arrangements for the next month. He answers my questions but his mind is in Texas or Missouri or - most likely - the studios of .
He's charming enough and cogent enough but there's something dessicated about his reasoning: He calls for the Republicans to go back to offering what he calls "big ideas" to solve the America's problems, as if those ideas could be taken from the (think tank) shelf and simply rolled out.
He also compares George Bush to (prompting me to think though not say, "I knew Lady Thatcher, Lady Thatcher was a friend of mine, and Senator you're no...")
Newt's view by the way is that a period in the wilderness sorting out some big ideas and licking wounds and doing what political parties do in these circumstances is NOT what true republicans should be looking for after 7th November.
That trendy view on the right of the party - let the Democrats faff around as bosses in congress for a couple of years while we have a punch-up and emerge the stronger for it - is not Newt's. He's too much of a real politician, a seeker after power with a purpose, to be seduced by his fellow rightists. He wants the Republicans to win and the Democrats to lose. From this big idea all others must flow...
Justin Webb is the 麻豆官网首页入口's chief North America radio correspondent.
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