Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (11169)	6/28/2007 10:57:39 AM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224750

Dems see future liberal wacko voters in illegals. The following headlines re Reid & GOP demonstrate which group of US voters is actually fighting to keep America as great in the future as it has been in the past: Immigration bill ignites grass-roots fire The conservative group NumbersUSA has seen its numbers skyrocket. Activists pressure wavering senators. By Nicole Gaouette, Times Staff Writer June 24, 2007 Headlines: - Sen. Reid fast-tracks revived immigration bill - GOP challenges Bush on immigration reform ROSSLYN, VA. — When Kim Wade pulled up in front of the Jackson, Miss., offices of Republican Sen. Trent Lott, a crowd was already waiting. They were students, professionals and homemakers, all members of the immigration-restriction advocacy group NumbersUSA. And they were all there to blast Lott for his support of the Senate immigration bill. They delivered petitions bearing nearly 3,000 signatures, part of a multipronged campaign, imploring Lott not to "sell out Mississippi to illegal aliens." The office secretary "could barely receive them because the phones were ringing off the hook" with calls protesting Lott's immigration stance, said Wade, a local talk-radio host. TV, radio and Internet ads condemning Lott had been running for days before the Tuesday visit. By Friday, 1,000 more people had signed the NumbersUSA petition online. Conservative anger at the Senate immigration bill is at such a pitch that even Republican lawmakers are feeling the heat. Groups like NumbersUSA have been channeling that grass-roots fury and, in doing so, have leaped in size and are playing a larger role in the immigration debate than ever before. At NumbersUSA, one of the largest and loudest, membership is up 81% since January and donations are soaring. With the immigration bill possibly set to pass or fail in the Senate this week — a crucial vote could come as early as Tuesday — the nonprofit group plans a fierce campaign against the bill and any senator who supports it. The group will unveil TV ads against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-N.C.). Another ad will target Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). NumbersUSA President Roy Beck expects to contact the group's activist members — who he says now number 419,000 — with dozens of e-mail alerts, many of which he sends at 2 and 3 a.m. "We're in a war zone right now, so we're drawing down the reserves," said Beck, who describes his battle against pro-bill groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as "an amazing David-and-Goliath thing." Throughout the immigration debate, senators who back the bill have decried the influence of talk radio, saying it misrepresents the legislation. These lawmakers vow they won't buckle but admit they're feeling pressure. "Those really pushing for the bill have not been as effective as those pushing against it," Lott said last week, on the same day Wade and his colleagues delivered their petitions. NumbersUSA members in Mississippi said they had sent Lott about 10,000 faxes and letters since he began supporting the bill in early June. Lott said his phone lines were jammed with protests of the bill, most from outside his state. "You have to give them credit: The phone calls, the faxes, the people who show up at town halls and meetings — you have to say NumbersUSA is behind a fair amount of that," said Frank Sharry, director of the National Immigration Forum, a nonprofit group that advocates for immigrants. Sharry acknowledged NumbersUSA's influence on lawmakers, pointing to Georgia's two Republican senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss. The two, who helped write the immigration bill, were immediately in NumbersUSA's crosshairs. Both have withdrawn their support, saying the bill fails to provide adequate border security. NumbersUSA says population growth is damaging the country — creating urban sprawl, snarling commuter roads, straining schools and hospitals, and diminishing natural resources. They say illegal immigration propels much of this growth and should be restricted.