Another great submission to the FlashReport from our friend Karen Hanretty:
Monday’s “Great American Boycott” – or “Day without a Gringo,” as
Nor will the boycott/demonstrations have much political impact moving forward, and the reason is pretty simple. There is no political leadership and no consistent message.
Throughout the day on Monday I monitored and participated in print, radio and television coverage of the demonstrations. Not once did I see or hear from any major political leaders. Odd, since the only thing politicians love more than listening to themselves talk is watching themselves talk. It takes a scandal of epic proportions like that of Duke Cunningham’s bribe menu to keep a politician away from the limelight. And there was plenty of limelight to go around Monday.
The usual suspects in the Democratic party like Nancy “too tight” Pelosi or Teddy “I’ll have another” Kennedy, who never miss an opportunity to tell us how George W. Bush is to blame for everything from global warming to gas prices to pending bird flu that is going to kill us all, were conspicuously absent from the scene Monday.
So were the Blowhards in Chief, Messrs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Sure, illegal immigration isn’t really their gig, but normally the signal sent from TV cameras is like a siren song to these two.
There were a few no-name members of the state legislature who attended the march in
[There’s quite a bit more to Karen’s piece – click on the attachment below to read the entire column!]
May 2nd, 2006 at 12:00 am
Re Ms. Hanratty’s theory that “there is no consistent message” involved in the million person set of rally’s yesterday.
Most of us thought the message was clear: opposition to the House republican position that undocumented presence should be made a felony and those who hire or otherwise abet those felons, jailed.
How does a mexican marxist fit into all this? Oh, is it because the mexican marxist disagrees with the House Republicans? So you must be a mexican marxist to disagree with the House bill?
It’s the answer to a trivia question: what does George Bush,
Arnold Schwarznegger and a mexican marist have in common?
May 3rd, 2006 at 12:00 am
There was not a clear message about HR 4437 at Monday’s demonstrations. That was the message of previous marches, and it had a significant impact.
I suppose you could argue that while there was no consistent message, the general theme was amnesty. That’s very different from decrying HR 4437.
May 3rd, 2006 at 12:00 am
Out of nowhere million people
demanding amnesty?
Repubicans have used nativism to fan the embers of bigotry for electoral purposes for decades.
With HR 4437, it just got out of
hand.
May 3rd, 2006 at 12:00 am
A million “people” …. but how many are American citizens?
When was the last time Americans organized a protest in another country?
And there is a bipartisan consensus in this country, at the rank-and-file level,
that immigrants should obey the laws enacted by our elected Congress.
American citizens of Latin background, feel as strongly about this as anyone else.
May 10th, 2006 at 12:00 am
“IMMIGRANTS SHOULD OBEY THE LAWS ENACTED BY OUR ELECTED CONGRESS”..AND SO SHOULD THE REPUBLCAN BUSINESS OWNERS WHO HIRE THEM.