President Bush was in Laredo, Texas this week, promoting the Kennedy-Bush Amnesty/Immigration Acceleration Bill. Quite likely he shook hands with his important contributor local Bank Chairman Dennis Nixon, This individual’s selfish, short sighted and ultimately stupid view of this issue furnishes a valuable insight as to what is partially motivating the Bush Administration to destroy the American nation and the Republican Party.[Laredo banker fears immigration backlash, TMC.net .com, June 6, 2006]

Nixon is afraid of Mexico:

Mexico is not a country that won�t eventually be offended by all of this action,� he said, specifying a U.S. government proposal to fence portions of the country�s southern border.

For a very solid reason:

I�m a company that�s gone from a handful of employees to more than 3,000, but if we don�t address immigration, eventually I�ll lose my customers

His firm, International Bancshares Corp, has enjoyed great growth facilitating financial transactions for Mexicans in America and so Nixon has emerged as one of the country�s most outspoken business leaders on immigration policy. He has appeared on television and radio, testified before members of the U.S. Senate

Nixon deploys a profoundly original argument. He insists racism is what�s really fueling the immigration debate.

�The white milk of our society is turning brown, and some people don�t like it,� he said, explaining that his immigration opponents are �driven by a desire to keep Mexicans and the Hispanic culture out of the country.�

Of couse he has a nobler motive:

�When you live the immigration issue every day like we do, you can�t avoid being concerned about something that could disrupt your business.�

In keeping with the culture into which he wishes to assimilate, Dennis Nixon is not easy to contact. Try here and here.

“Everybody can help, yeah, absolutely, you can all help. You don’t need papers for voting. You don’t need to be a registered voter to help.”

These words on Thursday before the election, appear to have cost the Democratic candidate Francine Busby a congressional seat. She lost with 45 % of the the vote to her opponent’s 49%
It used to be possible for a candidate to say different things to different groups; now in an era of cheap, small recording devices, everyone hears everything a candidate says- with those words to a Latino group, the candidate appeared to be encouraging illegal aliens to vote. Had she not done so, she appeared likely to win.
The GOP candidate, Brian Bilbray was in a weakened position because of his own immigration gaffe:

On Tuesday night, Mr. Bilbray met with a handful of members of the local chapter of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly and faced some probing questions. Todd Garcia VanBoxtel, vice chairman of the group, said he was concerned that mass deportations of illegal immigrants would create an uproar� by separating families and disrupting neighborhoods.
In response, Mr. Bilbray sounded a softer tone than he often does on the campaign trail. “You’re going to have displacement,”he said. But he also predicted the House and Senate dealmakers would find a “moderate, middle ground” in their negotiations, including removing a provision in the House bill that would make illegal immigrants felons. “We’re not going to be punitive to immigrants, and we’re not going to reward illegal immigrants,”� he said. An avid surfer, Mr. Bilbray tempered his remarks with tales of traveling to Mexico’s beaches and growing up near the frontera.
Mr. Bilbray seemed to have walked the tightrope just right. Mr. Bilbray “probably didn’t have enough votes to get an endorsement when he walked in”� to the meeting, Mr. Garcia VanBoxtel later said. But the group ended up supporting the Republican candidate and plans a mailing to 1,000 Hispanic households urging them to vote.

This may have gotten Bilbray 1000 Hispanic votes but this was the sort of thing that lost him the endorsement of the Minutemen, and other strong anti-immigration forces, who gave 4 percent of the vote to William Griffith
Interestingly, Bilbray’s congressional votes were overwhelmingly anti-immigration–exception on H-1b expansion. Had Busby taken a more moderate immigration stand, say even one like that of Senator Feinstein or Senator Byron Dorgan.
She might have won this congressional election. She could have criticized H-1b/L-1 expansion–which would have cost her virtually no Hispanic votes. She could have spoken forcefully about getting to the roots of the lack of economic opportunity in Mexico without paying any political price except possible loss of corporate donations. Had she done so, she could have been more critical of the rich that have profited from mass immigration–and taken the issue into areas that Bilbray simply couldn’t touch.
Busby’s failure was there from the start though, just looking at her statements on immigration.

Implementing a Comprehensive Immigration Policy
# Toughen Penalties for Businesses Who Don’t Play by the Rule and Continually Hire Undocumented Workers # Create a ‘Smart Fence’ That Utilizes Proven, 21st Century Radar Technology to Detect and Prevent Unlawful Border Crossings # Create a Demand-Based Guest Worker Program that Addresses Our Economic Needs # Oppose Amnesty
Francine believes that the problem with our immigration policy is that we don�t have one. On one hand, we have a “Keep Out” sign and on the other hand we have a “Help Wanted” sign. For years, we’ve heard heated rhetoric from politicians in Sacramento and Washington without any concrete results. Is it any wonder that citizens are frustrated and demanding action? We need to implement a comprehensive immigration policy that addresses all aspects or our immigration issues. Unfortunately, current leadership in Washington and Sacramento has been unwilling to address the issue. Francine supports John McCain’s bipartisan immigration reform plan that will strengthen border security, increase penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants and ensure that no jobs that Americans want are going to immigrant workers first. The legislation would also assist states and localities with the increased costs of education and healthcare that have come as a result of federal inaction on illegal immigration. She also supports the creation of a Smart Fence that uses proven 21st Century radar technology to detect and prevent undocumented border crossings.

Now, she was taking her cues from the likes of Republican John McCain!

Busby had sent a letter to McCain on Friday of last week urging him to discuss his tough comprehensive immigration plan while he was in San Diego.

She was actually thinking of the largest, seriously proposed increase in legal immigration in recent years as “tough”. Part of what killed her was the mistaken belief that John McCain’s empty, corporate-sponsored promises could be used to draw in Republicans.
In this case, she has no excuse–this wasn’t a statement she made in the spur of the moment-it was a carefully crafted statement on her website.
Rob Richie summed it up: “The challenge for Democrats is to affirm an agenda that is not only not the Republican agenda but also wins Republicans over to their side”
Failure to follow this advice, cost the Democrats this house seat.

Colorado Gov. “Barrio” Bill Owens (RINO) signed the last of two immigration bills passed by the State legislature on Tuesday.[Owens signs two immigration measures| New State Patrol unit, employer checks mandated, By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News, June 7, 2006]

Truth is, if Owens had vetoed either, he would have faced an increasingly vocal, angry and fickle faction of Republicans aligning with swing-voter Constitutionalists, progressives, patriots and environmentalists fed up with any and all alien-izing antics. Senate President pro tem, African-American Peter Groff (D) sponsored SB 06-225 (”State Patrol Human Smuggling”), which funds up to 24 Colorado State Patrol officers charged with enforcing new laws that make human smuggling and trafficking on State highways a felony. HB 06-1343 (”Illegal Aliens-Public Contracts for Services”), sponsored by European-American Rep. Bill Crane (R-Arvada) requires companies seeking State/County/City/public entity contracts to verify employee immigration status, with financial penalties for scofflaws. Owens earlier approved other bills aimed at illegal aliens — notably SB 06-90, sponsored by Tom Wiens (R-Castle Rock) that prohibits Sanctuary Cities from blocking local police/sheriff cooperation with ICE, and includes possible financial penalties for failure to comply. (All bills are posted at http://www.leg.state.co.us/ )

Since last month’s messy convention, Colorado’s Republican Party is struggling to contain a public power struggle between gubernatorial candidates Congressman Bob Beauprez, a CAFTA supporter newly converted to immigration control, and Marc Holtzman — who positioned himself early on as tough on illegal immigration. Holtzman is poised to go to Court to secure a primary runoff.

In the meantime, Lame Duck Owens appears to be grooming himself for a private sector job aiding and abetting his buddy “W” and the scandalous Senators (SB 2611) in their scheme to increase US-based foreign-born workers and enact their treasonous shamnesty scheme.

Personally, I hope Gov. “B.O.” instead elects to spend more time with his family, whoever that includes. Bill, it chokes me up to say this, but thanks…for the signatures. Terry Graham

“An Economist” writes

A very important special Congressional election be was held in Southern California yesterday between Republican Brian Bilbray and Democrat Francise Busby.

Bilbray has been an immigration activist for many years and is famous for promoting the “Bilbray Bill” to eliminate automatic US citizenship for babies born to illegal aliens (anchor babies). He served in Congress from 1994 to 2000 and then worked as a lobbyist for the Federation for American Immigration Reform .

Francine Busby is a typical, pro-Amnesty Democrat. Knowing that another amnesty is considered poison by most Americans, Busby tried to hide behind John McCain’s skirts.

Indeed, she has a McCain video (where he lies about Amnesty) on her home page (check it out http://www.busbyforcongress.com/). A little lower she boasts that “McCain Bails on Bilbray”.

McCain obviously thinks that supporting illegal aliens is more important than backing a fellow Republican. How many Democrats think they need Republican cover for their very unpopular views?

When the votes were counted, Bilbray beat Busby 49.33 percent to 45.46 percent However, there is more to the story.

William Griffith ran as a Minuteman endorsed Independent and got 3.67 percent of the vote. Busby engaged in a remarkably sleazy effort to promote Griffith as the “real” immigration reformer in the race.

The folks over at the liberal Daily Kos blog were amused , at least before the votes counted. The Daily Kos post-mortem barely mentions immigration even though it was the key issue in the race.

No doubt Bilbray would have done even better if he wasn’t running to replace disgraced former Congressman Duke Cunningham. After a very distinguished career in the Navy (a real ace with five confirmed kills) see Cummingham became the most corrupt Congressmen in US history. In March, Cummingham was sentenced to 8 years and 4 months in prison.

Without the “culture of corruption” baggage, Bilbray would have coasted. Even so, we won and the McCain/Bush Amnesty crowd lost.

Sunk deep into The Wall Street Journal�s 680 word discussion of the California elections [California Reprieve � June 7 2006. Access requires subscription.] is the key if grudging concession discussing the Bilbray victory:

Some conservatives are touting his victory as proof that anti-immigration is now a winner for Republicans, and they may be right this year. (VDARE.com emphasis)

As far as I know this is the first time this fanatical Open Borders enforcer has ever conceded the possibility that being against massive immigration could be an electoral asset. One can almost excuse the silly remark as the article buries itself in California minutia:

The bigger news in California is that voters said no to Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner’s universal preschool scheme�

Of course, The WSJ is absolutely right that narrowly holding the ultra-Republican 50th District is not much of a triumph. Prospects for the Republicans holding the House, on this basis, look poor. But the plain fact is that without mobilizing the anti Kennedy-Bush Amnesty/Immigration Acceleration Bill vote, Bilbray would probably have lost. Their feeble prescription:

Spending is also among the big political problems facing the Republican Congress� the sooner the Republicans mend their spending ways and return to a reform agenda, the better their prospects for hanging on to the majority in November.

is irrelevant for the upcoming elections this Fall. �Marcus Henry�s analysis today is on the money:

Perhaps a few congressmen in very safe districts can go slumming with the open borders lobby and show bravado by insulting their base.
But for most House Republicans that kind of thing is a luxury they cannot afford in 2006. It will lead to disaster.