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June 28, 2007BELTWAY BLOGROLL
Bloggers Celebrate Another Immigration Win
I noted a couple of weeks ago how conservative blogs have been shaping the immigration debate. They helped stall action on the bill at the beginning of this month and then again today.
Heather Greenfield, one of my senior writers at Technology Daily, has been covering the story all week. Here's an excerpt from this afternoon's news:
Conservative bloggers, who lashed out at senators supporting the immigration bill and urged readers to call their senators, celebrated the failure of what they see as an amnesty bill for illegal immigrants, which they call "shamnesty."At the blog Little Green Footballs, more than 200 people responded with cheers minutes after news of the bill's failure was reported. "See what can happen when the American public gets it together and lets Congress and the president know how we feel," one reader wrote.
Right Wing News featured a dancing Snoopy dog, and conservative blogger Michelle Malkin thanked senators that opposed the bill, as well as "loud folks" on radio talk shows and blogs.
Calls to senators crippled the Capitol switchboard Thursday hours before the vote, and the Capitol police are investigating e-mail and telephone threats to some Republican senators who supported the measure.
Earlier in the week, Heather wrote an entire story about the role blogs are playing in the debate. Go to the extended entry to read it.
Reprinted from Tuesday's PM Edition of Tech Daily
Blogs Badger And Berate Senators Over Immigration
By Heather Greenfield
Conservative bloggers have unleashed a major campaign against the Senate immigration bill, which the chamber voted 64-35 on Tuesday afternoon to return to the floor for debate. A vote on the bill itself is expected Thursday or Friday.
The bill outlines a path to citizenship for 12 million undocumented foreign workers, and it aims to tighten border security and increase the number of visas for highly skilled workers. Bloggers and radio talk-show hosts on the right have been among the most strident critics of the measure.
Over the weekend, John Hawkins of Right Wing News outlined an action plan, asking readers to contact their own senators, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican National Committee to say they will not support any senator for re-election in 2008 who backs what the critics see as amnesty for illegal immigrants.
"They're going to give tens of thousands of criminals a permanent Z-visa that will allow them to stay in this country for life, they're going to demographically flood the Republican Party out of existence, and they're going to leave the borders wide open for another 9/11 if this bill goes through," Hawkins wrote.
He added that there is no such thing as a "good" Republican who supports the current legislation.
On Tuesday, Erick Erickson of RedState identified a half-dozen senators for his readers to call to oppose the immigration bill. Erickson said the legislation would do little to improve border security, and would make a mess of the temporary-worker program and repeat mistakes of the 1986 immigration law with an amnesty program.
In a separate posting at RedState, Robert Bluey of the Heritage Foundation listed the top 10 defects of the measures.
At Captain's Quarters, Ed Morrisey said an amendment expected to be added Tuesday would remove "the incentive for self-reporting, the only real benefit the Z-visa program offers."
Blogger Michelle Malkin has been tracking the Senate's "shamnesty" debate in detail as it occurs. At one point she offered various phone numbers for readers to call Norm Coleman, R-Minn., to urge him to vote against continuing the debate.
The grassroots lobbying extends beyond the traditional practice of calling lawmakers to also creating online videos against senators who support the bill. Mickey Kaus, a writer at the online magazine Slate, suggested that campaign.
On Monday, the Hot Air video blog owned by Malkin produced a video against Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is helping negotiate the bill. The video ends with gang members thanking Graham for his help in getting into America.
Kaus mentioned another video called "Come Home Lindsey" at the Flektor video-sharing site but said it wasn't mean enough.
The White House, meanwhile, has been lobbying Republicans over the past few days to pass the immigration bill. But House Republicans emerged from a caucus meeting Tuesday and announced support for a resolution asking Senate conservatives to oppose it.
Posted by Danny | 08:16 PM
