It's dead. A BIG win for conservatives. Reid probably gets a victory because an overwhelming majority of Americans opposed the bill. Michelle Malkin had the best coverage (hour by hour since this morning). She quotes Senator DeMint at length:

"When the U.S. Senate brought the Amnesty bill back up this week, they declared war on the American people. This act created a crisis of confidence in their government. Thankfully, the American people won today," said Senator DeMint. "This is remarkable because it shows that Americans are engaged and they care deeply about their country. They care enough for their country to get mad and to fight for it, and that’s the most important thing of all. Americans made phone calls and sent letters, and convinced the Senate to stop this bill."

"The Senate rejected this bill and the heavy-handed tactics used to ram it through. Americans do not want more of the same – amnesty and broken promises on the border. Americans want legislation to be written in public – not in secret – and they want Congress to engage in an open and fair debate."

"There is a better way forward without this bill. The President has said that the border security measures can be implemented over the next 18 months, and they can be done under current law. Now the Administration needs to prove it and stop holding border security hostage for amnesty."

I'm still on the fence (no pun intended) re: my official position. It was a pique against GWB by a faction of his own base; however, he [the President] isn't a conservative.

The loss of our majority status in 2006 was significant and MANY conservatives believed that some time in the wilderness would benefit our party by helping our leaders return to those conservative principles - limited government and fiscal responsibility - that have been the hallmarks of our party. Maybe it's working.

As a postscript...

My litmus test (whether or not a bill grows BIG government) was always Ted Kennedy and he seemed vehement about passing this bill. Why can't BIG government use the agencies ALREADY in existence to enforce the law?

GWB demonstrated once again that he does what he feels is right AND not what some pollster tells him.

Ramesh Ponnuro over at NRO writes:

Post Mortem

President Bush's humane and generous instincts combined with his moralistic and arrogant ones to produce a political fiasco that could have been a policy fiasco as well.

Labels: immigration