I Get Emails: Do we Still Vote For The Squishes In 2008 If The Amnesty Bill Goes Through?

Here’s an email I received from RWN reader D. Giles,

“Great interview (with Bernard Goldberg). I’d disagree with his analysis about conservatives sitting out elections. Even us poor rubes can add. Abstaining means one less vote for the Republican candidate. Voting Democrat means a net loss of two votes for the Republican. I didn’t do this last time in no small part because you, John Hawkins, made a good argument for voting for “the team” even if they were squishy. But I now believe that squishy Republicans must either be defeated in the primaries or voted out of office altogether. A Democrat will win one term, but then a real opportunity to replace them exists. Not discounting the danger that they can’t be replaced either.

Thanks for all your work.”

I have always encouraged other conservatives to vote for Republicans in the general election, even if they’re squishy and, for the most part, I still think that’s the way to go (I say for the most part, because I want Lindsey Graham gone, even if it means replacing him with a Democrat).

That being said, nobody who supports this bill, Democrat or Republican, deserves to be reelected. Moreover, these pro-amnesty senators are absolutely daring conservatives to throw them out of office in 2008. What they are essentially saying to conservatives at this point is…

“Hey you. Yeah, I’m talking to you, schmuck. You want to know a little secret? I know this amnesty bill is a disaster that won’t solve our problem with illegal immigration and I know that it’s wildly unpopular, but I’m going to vote for it anyway. Know why? Just to show you voters who’s boss. Just to show you that I’m a big deal and that what you think doesn’t matter — and guess what? I’m going to get away with it, too. Know why? Because you’re so stupid that’ll you’ll have completely forgotten about this in 2008 and you’ll vote for me again, just like a trained seal. Now, get out of here, peon, because I have a Chamber of Commerce lobbyist coming over later and I don’t want you getting in the way of your betters!”

This is really about what these Republican senators like Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Trent Lott, Jon Kyl, etc., seem to think. You can tell that, because they see poll after poll that shows this bill is unpopular, they’re getting thousands of phone calls running 100 to 1 against the bill, and they know what the blogs and talk radio are saying about this bill. Yet, they’re pushing a bill that they have to know won’t work, despite how angry it’s making conservatives.

Now, I am going to work, via the Payback Project, to defeat and politically damage as many of these pro-amnesty Republicans as I can in 2008 during the primary season — assuming the bill passes — but I’m not going to tell people to vote against these Republicans — other than Lindsey Graham — if we can’t dispatch them in the primaries.

Of course, I’m a realist and I understand that I don’t need to say it, because other people will be saying it. Conservative morale and GOP fund raising are in the toilet right now. People are absolutely furious with Bush and these GOP senators and it’s only going to get worse if they push this amnesty bill through and, as expected, give up on victory in Iraq.

The GOP, at least in the Senate, is showing that not only did they learn nothing from the beating that the Party took in 2006, they’re actually far more arrogant and out-of-touch than most of us realized.

So, does that answer the question? It really doesn’t, does it? How about this: If this bill passes and the choice is between a pro-amnesty Republican and a Democrat, I’d encourage you to vote for the Republican — but, if you don’t, at this point, I understand completely.

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