By J.B. Williams
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
According to Republican polling and strategy firm The Tarrance Group, currently engaged in strategic polling for Rudy Giuliani, 47 house members, 10 senators and 5 governors, - more than 70% of Americans support the current Senate Comprehensive Immigration Reform efforts, referred to by most Americans as "amnesty".
Once again, we learn that it's all in how you frame the question…
When CNN recently asked if we favored or opposed the senate immigration reform bill, 47% said they oppose, 30% favored and 22% remained unsure, proving mostly that CNN viewers just aren't that bright. (Just kidding – but 22% unsure?)
The point is, - the Tarrance Group poll must have asked questions that no other polling firm asked in order to come up with the answers they are reporting to your senate Republicans.
According to The Tarrance Group, "When we walked through the series of measures that are being proposed, we got 77 percent of Republicans, 72 percent of Democrats, and 70 percent of independents supporting it," says CEO Ed Goeas. "There's not a piece of research I've seen that, if you explain each one of those pieces, you don't get a majority saying they approve it."
In other words, when not told that they were discussing the senate bill known as "amnesty", the questions were able to be phrased in such a manner as to solicit the prescribed response, indicating public support. Shocking news, isn't it?
Goeas continues on with his pitch for amnesty by further interpreting his poll results, - "One issue is clearly a demand and desire by voters, and I think by politicians, (think again), to secure our borders and stop illegal immigration," he says. "The second issue is that we truly need to increase legal immigration to meet our country's economic needs. Any economist worth his or her salt will tell you that having an unemployment rate of 4.4 percent is equivalent to 100 percent employment. Everyone else is in transition." (No agenda driven ideology here…)
While many believe that anything short of rounding up 12 - 20 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S. and sending them back home is amnesty, "Amnesty isn't necessarily a reason not to support a solution," Goeas says.
"If you in fact are making them pay a penalty, learn English, have a job, pay taxes, and if they can't show that they've been paying taxes even by a different name, to pay back taxes, to learn English, the overwhelming majority believe that that is not amnesty," concludes Goeas. "It so often is misportrayed as amnesty."
Well there you have it. If you tell people that it's not amnesty, they like it! However, is this a realistic interpretation of true American sentiment on the subject of immigration reform? If so, why are so many Americans working so hard to shut the effort down in congress?
Is it true that the average American is just too stupid to know what amnesty is all about? Or, did talk radio simply wind up a bunch of racist malcontents and send them marching to Washington under the false impression that certain senators were attempting to ram amnesty for illegals through congress? Is Bush right, that average Americans just don't understand such complex issues and the need for comprehensive solutions?
Bush wants you to know "the facts" that drive his quest for amnesty. So, the White House has issued their Immigration Fact Check: Responding to Key Myths for your consideration.
However, after writing on this subject numerous times over the last few years, and more importantly, reading tons of related reader mail and blog comments, in numbers far greater than the 400 used in the Tarrance survey, my interpretation of voter sentiment on the matter is quite different.
• Americans want enforcement first, period!
• Americans want the borders closed and permanently secured.
• They want the problem stopped at the 12-20 million already here before discussing anything else.
It is just that simple. This is what most Americans are saying, in case anyone cares.
Americans do understand that we now have a very complex problem. They also understand that it is a problem which was created and allowed to get out of control by the same people now trying to tell them that yet another "one-time" amnesty is the solution.
They understand that the problem must be fixed and that sooner or later, some give and take is probably necessary in order to deal with the 12-20 million already here. And, they also understand that while this solution is not in their best interest, that politicians on both sides of the political aisle are desperately trying to capitalize politically on the problem. As a result, they are angry!
They are sick and tired of Washington types who were clearly too stupid to enforce their own immigration laws over the years, now telling them that passing more laws is the solution.
Not all, but most Americans will be willing to discuss alternative measures for dealing with those already here in a reasonable fashion, once they are convinced that no more are coming! They have only a few conditions for those here illegally who wish to remain.
• No voting rights, EVER!
• Come out of the shadows, assimilate into American culture, leave your Mexican flag in Mexico
• Pay your fines and back taxes
• No criminal or gang activities or you are headed back home immediately
• Get temporary legal status, while you wait in line with all legal immigrants for permanent status
• No tax-payer funded benefits or assistance of any kind
• No more illegals allowed under any circumstances
These conditions mirror those of Mexican immigration laws by the way…
Most Americans will be willing to deal with decent hard working immigrants already working here illegally. But not until they know with certainty that the problem ends right here and right now.
Yes, the American people understand that their representatives in Washington completely failed to uphold their single most important duty of protecting American sovereignty and security at our borders and now we have a complex problem on our hands as a result. That's why they no longer trust those representatives to do it right… Americans want to keep this solution too easy for politicians to screw up again, - enforce first and then discuss the rest.
Before Washington can hope to regain the trust of the American people, they will have to do much less talking, much more listening to the people and a lot more acting on behalf of those who elected them.
They will have to stop wrangling over potential illegal immigrant votes that we will never allow them to have and start worrying about the legal American voters ready to toss all of them out of office.
Bush's poll numbers are in the toilet, as are John McCain's, who will soon be forced from the Republican race due to his blindly ignorant support for the Kennedy amnesty bill. Congress's poll numbers are even worse and all of it is due to their repeated attempts to ignore the American people and ram amnesty through at any cost.
The American people couldn't possibly be clearer on the subject. Talk to us about amnesty AFTER you stop the problem by enforcing border security. We don't care what you have to do to stop continued illegal migration. Forget a fence that will never stop the problem. Stand our military on every mile of the border if need be, but stop the invasion and stop it now.
Then and only then, come talk to us about those already here. But don't plan on ever benefiting from the illegal immigrant vote. Those who came here illegally and are one way or another allowed to stay will never have a vote.
Congress has a 14% approval rating, the lowest in American history. They must start listening now or start sharpening up their resume'…
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