It was a tough night for the anti-immigrant crowd. The Senate lost Elizabeth Dole. The Pennsylvania Mayor of Hazelton who gained national recognition for his ‘illegal-alien’ lunacy LOST his Congressional Race. And, Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode who has a propensity for calling US Citizens – ‘Anchor Babies’ at a mind boggling pace has lost his re-election bid.
Then when we look at the so called “Americans for Better Immigration” which is part of the NumbersUSA conglomerate, they were UNABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY OPPOSE ANY of the 27 Congressional and Senate candidates that they identified as being “more opposed than supportive of overall immigration reductions”.
Congratulations to:
1. Sam Farr CALIFORNIA-(D) 17th District
2. Maxine Waters CALIFORNIA-(D) 35th District
3. Linda Sanchez CALIFORNIA – (D) 39th District
4. Loretta Sanchez CALIFORNIA-(D) 47th District
5. Bob Filner CALIFORNIA-(D) 51st District
6. Susan A. Davis CALIFORNIA-(D) 53rd District
7. Raul M. Grijalva ARIZONA-(D) 7th District
8. Gabrielle Giffords ARIZONA-(D) 8th District
9. Diana DeGette COLORADO-(D) 1st District
10. Joe Courtney CONNECTICUT-(D) 2nd District
11. Robert Wexler FLORIDA-(D) 19th District
12. Sanford D. Bishop Jr. GEORGIA-(D) 2nd District
13. Pete Visclosky INDIANA-(D) 1st District
14. Dick Durbin ILLINOIS-(D) US Senate
15. Chris Van Hollen MARYLAND-(D) 8th District
16. Bob Etheridge NORTH CAROLINA-(D) 2nd District
17. Brad Miller NORTH CAROLINA-(D) 13th District
18. Jim McDermott WASHINGTON-(D) 7th District
19. Brian Baird WASHINGTON-(D) 3rd District
20. Ron Kind WISCONSIN-(D) 3rd District,
21. David Obey WISCONSIN-(D) 7th District
22. Nick Rahall WEST VIRGINIA-(D) 3rd District
23. Lindsey Graham SOUTH CAROLINA-(R) US Senate
24. Ruben Hinojosa TEXAS-(D) 15th District
25. Sheila Jackson Lee TEXAS-(D) 18th District
26. Gene Green TEXAS-(D) 29th District
27. Earl Blumenauer OREGON-(D) 3rd District
Take THAT Stewart, Stirrup and CLAN.
Your gig is UP.
I may have to eat crow on Virgil Goode. The State Board of Elections website is flip-flopping between the two. Perhaps it’s still too early to call. But what the heck is the hold-up for crying-out-loud. It’s 9am on Wednesday, there’s a serious problem somewhere.
I see Stewart didn’t BOTHER answering some of our questions and the ones he did, he didn’t say anything other than the usual BS that says NOTHING:
http://tooconservative.com/?p=2384
CNN still has Tom Perriello ahead with 100 percent of precincts reporting. There is bound to be a recount, whether or not a Republican election official changed his mind about his integrity or not. Isn’t that a state law if it’s within a certain percentage?
Jackson Miller, time to face the music.
John Stirrup, time to face the music.
As I posted somewhere else, hopefully this is the end of the road for angry rage filled activists. Anger and rage may force temporary change but rarely results in long term change. Maybe Rush and Coulter and their ilk will have to temper their tone and seek outcome instead of getting even.
Rush and Coulter are in their glory. They now have 8 yrs. to whine and complain about anything and everything. Look for Coulter to start coming out with more books and Rush to go on the road and do speaking engagements to the HSM crowds. Their “captive audience” will keep getting smaller and smaller and their message will heard by fewer and fewer people.
Yes, but Rush and Coulter are also coping with the fact that their hate blasts are funneling into an echo chamber. They no longer have any influence over thinking adults.
Yes, I noticed that the Anti-Immigrant Lobby had a list of candidates. If I thought any of them had a chance in hell, I would have donated to their opponents. But if hate was going to be the new brand of the Republican party, we would not have chosen McCain as the nominee.
Many of us are not pleased with the way the campaign was run starting with the Palin travesty, but let’s not forget McCain’s place in history. He stopped the Anti-Immigrant Lobby in its tracks at a time when it was steamrolling Prince William County toward economic disaster. In fact, the victories we’ve had here since McCain took New Hampshire may not have been possible otherwise.
unfortunately it looks like virgil goode won by 155 votes.
It will be recounted Mackie. Provisional ballots will count if they are valid. Military service men and women will have their votes count even if they arrive late (if a court case goes their way). Election officials say it will not be decided for weeks.
Justin, think of it as the opposite of your home team football game. In football, when your team is winning, the crowds come out cheering and yelling for victory. When they are on a losing streak, the crowds thin, other than a few die hards.
Politics is the opposite. When your ideals are down and the other party is in power, you are much stronger and energized than when your party owns the power.
Cuidado! Your team is in power. Don’t become complacent. This is when the enemy is the most dangerous!
Alanna.
As usual, you forgot the word illegal. Funny how you folks can’t seem to remember that.
Moon, here we go again. I’ve heard this on another local blog too. “This is when the enemy is the most dangerous!”
Please, get YOUR own play book.
Cat, that is my playbook. The velvets probably got it from me without asking.
M-H, that was a great analogy and a great point. Politics is the opposite of sports in that way. I thought of the way the Republicans were acting the past month or so with all the lies and slander (with no actual policy ideas to offer). They were ruthless and disgustingly prejudiced, just the way a losing political team can be expected to act. But, it failed.
Obama is right though. It is a new dawn in America and we really don’t have to think of the GOP as the enemy anymore. There were some from their party that horribly abused power these last eight years, and they certainly treated us like the enemy. But let’s motivate ourselves to participate in the political process for a better reason than to defend the political gains we made yesterday. For the first time in eight years we will have a President that believes our tax dollars and government agencies can do more than enrich his friends and persecute political opponents. Unlike Bush, Obama believes that government can do right by the people, and in a democracy it should. Otherwise failed leaders get replaced with new leaders as we saw last night.
Now that we will have a government that listens to us, is our duty as citizens to listen to each other, and do our part in making our government function again. If we do that, we won’t have to defend against an enemy, at least not among our fellow Americans.
[…] is ecstatic (see here) if a bit […]
Hi Alanna, I hope that we can distinguish the anti-immigrant crowd from the anti-illegal immigrant crowd. Is there anti-immigrant crowd out there, you bet. However, I hope that not just people here but people everywhere can distinguish between the two. Just because someone is against illegal immigration does not make them anti-immigrant. All too often I see people lumped into the anti-immigrant crowd here or the word illegal left out all together on the subject.
Take me for example, I’m against illegal immigration but very pro-immigrant. Most of my friends are either first or second generation immigrants from Europe. For some of them it was a very long and hard process to get here and I support them 100%. What I don’t support is someone just walking over a boarder illegally.
A lot of candidates who run on an anti-immigration platform (Gilchrist, Tancredo, that guy from Hazelton) bring little else to the table. Many are “one trick ponies”. With the economy tanking, two wars, out of control budget deficit, national debt growing like weed on steroids and growing SS and Medicare obligations, hate just isn’t enough to get a seat these days.
Hi El Guapo, I would agree with you to a point. When you say “candidates who run on an anti-immigration platform” do you mean against all immigrants or against illegal immigrants? I don’t know if you equate being against illegal immigration as being against any and all immigrants.
Candidates run on different platforms depending on what’s going on. A year ago, maybe even two, immigration was one of the most looked at looked at issues with voters. Hence, you have allot of candidates running on an anti illegal-immigration platform. Fast forward a year or two… the economy when to shit, what then became the most looked at issue, the economy.
what a sec,
alanna dont you have an anchor baby of your own? I call that Bias. Wheres the “illegal” there, are you saying their is no such thing? unbelievable. Illegals will always be unliked here in PWC.
Speak for yourself, “James”. Not all others. The majority has spoken, and even in PWC, your kind is going down!
James, I am giving you a warning. You do not call anyone’s children here ‘anchor babies.’ Furthermore, stop being ignorant. Alanna is an American citizen. How could she have an ‘anchor baby’? Do you know Alanna? Have you ever talked to her? Her children are as American as mine.
I have no control over how you act off this blog but those are the rules here.
Hello, Most of us here would like to have all immigration legal. We do not like all the approaches or tone taken by this county to address problems with illegal immigration.
I will probably attempt to be more accurate when I see signs at the county level that many of those who have had a hand in policy setting (both elected and self-appointed) start being honest. I have a problem when everyone who speaks Spanish is dubbed ‘an illegal.’ I have a problem when Hispanic and ‘illegal’ are used interchangeably. I have a problem when people make remarks like the one James just made.
I couldn’t agree with you more on everything you said Moon. You hit a point I forgot to mention, having “all immigration legal”. While some restrictions and procedures need to be in place (we can’t let just everyone and anyone in that wants in) I think that some people tend to focus their energy in the wrong area.
For example, take me, I’m against illegal immigration and/or illegal labor, I think that they go hand-in-hand. However, instead of people bashing me or calling me anti-immigrant (or worse) people need to focus their energy on changing those policies that make it so hard to get a visa or citizenship.
So, don’t come down on people because they are against illegal immigration (by calling them anti-immigrant and things alike), come down on the policies that encourage it weather that’s loose enforcement or the process of becoming a legal citizen or getting a visa or green card.
Actually, my husband gained legal status through marriage, so you might be able to make the argument that I’m an ‘anchor wife’ but to call the kids ‘anchor babies’ wouldn’t be accurate because they always would have had their citizenship through me and not by birthright.
Slowpoke and the Rest,
Quick question, do you consider organizations that want to curtail legal immigration to be pro-immigrant? Because I do not. The organization – Americans for Better Immigration that made the list of candidates is anti-immigrant. Here’s the link to their site and a quick quote in bold to prove my point.
http://www.betterimmigration.com/candidates/2008/featuredraces.html
Hi Alanna, I don’t think that anyone who wants to curtail legal immigration is pro-immigrant. While I don’t believe in curtailing legal immigration you can’t automatically demonize someone who may. I think you would have to look at why they think legal immigration should be curtailed first, then demonize them if need be.
Besides, if you curtailed legal immigration it would only make illegal immigration worse, I think that is part of the problem. It’s pretty hard to become a citizen or even get a visa, my wife’s cousin has been trying for years to get a visa to visit the U.S. for the first time. She is going to get her visa soon but it’s been a long and hard road. I don’t see why anyone would want to curtail legal immigration.
James,
Its times like this that I wish you had the courage to tell us who you really are and not hide behind these pretend personas. If I could tell you face to face, what I am about to say, it would bring me great pleasure. You are a pathetic person with what I can only imagine is a sad lonely existence. I have always said, don’t say on a blog what you woud not feel comfortable saying to directly to someone. Alanna’s children are wonderful beautiful human beings. There is no such thing as an “anchor” baby and that you would use such terminology only demonstrates that you don’t know the meaning of common human decency. I feel sorry for you “james”.
Alanna, you are one classy lady to not react to James!
Hello,
Excellent points!
you said:
“For example, take me, I’m against illegal immigration and/or illegal labor, I think that they go hand-in-hand. However, instead of people bashing me or calling me anti-immigrant (or worse) people need to focus their energy on changing those policies that make it so hard to get a visa or citizenship.
So, don’t come down on people because they are against illegal immigration (by calling them anti-immigrant and things alike), come down on the policies that encourage it weather that’s loose enforcement or the process of becoming a legal citizen or getting a visa or green card.”
Hello, I don’t think you are one of the anti immigration people. You have analyzed and thought out your arguments, as opposed to those who just spit out sound bites and rhetoric. While I know you are opposed to illegal immigration (and many of us here are) I do not lump you in with the people who have been nasty.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Tom Perriello leads Virgin “Anchor Baby” Goode by more than 600 votes in very close Congressional race destined for recount:
https://www.voterinfo.sbe.virginia.gov/election/DATA/2008/07261AFC-9ED3-410F-B07D-84D014AB2C6B/Unofficial/6_s.shtml