Sen. McConnell(R), Minority leader, blames Republican failure on his fellow citizens, which seldom w

Immigration bill may haunt GOP senators

July 2, 2007

BY ROBERT NOVAK Sun-Times Columnist

I asked one of the few conservative Republican senators who stuck with

President Bush on immigration to assess how Senate Republican leader Mitch

McConnell handled the issue. Asking not to be quoted by name, he replied:

"If this were a war, Sen. McConnell should be relieved of command for

dereliction of duty." Not only did the minority leader end up voting against

an immigration bill that he said was better than the 2006 version that he

supported. He abandoned his post, staying off the floor during final stages

of Senate debate.

Although I never before had seen a Senate party leader completely bail out

of a major legislative fight, relieving McConnell of command seems too

drastic. Until now, he had high marks from colleagues during his six-month

leadership following four dreary years under Bill Frist. McConnell's

non-performance on immigration derived from general Republican malaise going

well beyond a single issue.

It is difficult to exaggerate the pessimism about the immediate political

future voiced by Republicans in Congress when not on the record. With an

unpopular president waging an unpopular war, they see electoral catastrophe

in 2008, with Democratic gains in both House and Senate and Hillary Clinton

in the White House. These lachrymose lawmakers for several months have faced

an increasing hysterical onslaught from constituents demanding the death of

the "amnesty" for immigrants that they hear vilified daily on talk radio.

These callers recently swamped phone lines to Republican congressional

offices (as well as the White House) with threats they never would vote

again for anybody supporting "amnesty." While that intimidated previous

supporters of the immigration bill, its opponents reacted to the xenophobia

of their backers as a ray of light in the bleak political landscape.

"We did it!" exulted freshman Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, one of the

bill's leading Republican opponents, e-mailing financial contributors

(including some who never had given DeMint any money). Sounding like a

right-wing radio talk show host, DeMint declared: "When the U.S. Senate

brought the amnesty bill back up this week, they declared war on the

American people." The message concluded with a request for a donation to

DeMint's 2010 re-election fund. DeMint was not the only triumphant e-mailer.

New Gingrich, eyeing a presidential run, declared "a soaring victory for the

American people" by defeating the "Bush-Kennedy-McCain bill."

DeMint and Gingrich gloated because 12 Republican senators who had supported

the bill succumbed to pressure and voted against it Thursday -- most without

prior explanation, as did McConnell. He is up for re-election in Kentucky in

a difficult 2008 for Republicans, with the state's other GOP senator, Jim

Bunning, beating a tattoo on immigration. Among the switchers were Sen.

Saxby Chambliss, who was booed last month at the Georgia Republican

convention for supporting the bill and faces a re-election fight next year,

and Sen. Richard Burr, under attack in his state of North Carolina.

McConnell was among six switchers who voted no after the 40 senators needed

to kill the bill were recorded. Another late switcher was Sen. Sam

Brownback, seeking the Republican presidential nomination as the candidate

of the right. He first voted for cloture Thursday to keep the immigration

bill alive, and put a press release explaining his vote on his presidential

Web site. When it became clear the bill had failed, he changed his vote and

scrubbed his statement from the Internet.

Unlike McConnell, the second- and third-ranking Senate GOP leaders -- Trent

Lott and Jon Kyl -- stuck with the bill despite intense pressure in their

respective home states of Mississippi and Arizona. So did Sen. Lindsey

Graham, facing threats of Republican primary opposition in South Carolina

next year. So did Sen. John McCain, despite damage to his crumbling

presidential campaign.

"This isn't a day to celebrate," McConnell said in his post-mortem,

contradicting victory cheers by DeMint and Gingrich. Indeed, Republicans

drove another nail into Bush's political coffin and undermined hopes for the

growing Hispanic vote. Contending that the time "wasn't now" for

immigration, McConnell added: "It wasn't the people's will. And they were

heard." He was blaming Republican failure on his fellow citizens, which

seldom works in politics.