Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

Sen. Martinez's Polls Plummet

by BooMan
Sat Jun 9th, 2007 at 01:52:35 PM EST

Sen. Mel Martinez's reward for trying to push through immigration reform is a precipitious drop on the polls. He's fallen to a 37% approval rating. Martinez doesn't face re-election until 2010, but these numbers must be a concern.

Here's how one constituent described his dissatisfaction.

The issue has cost Martinez, who lives in Orlando, the support of voters like John Gilbert, a retired aerospace engineer from Orange County.
"What we've had is a nonviolent invasion of our country," said Gilbert, a Republican who voted for Martinez when he was elected in 2004. Gilbert said giving legal standing to illegal workers is not good for the country and will strain schools and hospitals. He said Martinez, who came to the U.S. from Cuba as a legal immigrant as a teenager, would not support it if he weren't an immigrant."I can assure you: Those of us who didn't walk ashore or swim ashore oppose it," Gilbert said. "We see people coming in and taking over our nation."

It's probably a good thing for a lot of Republicans that the immigration bill was filibustered. It looks like it did plenty of damage as it is.

Sen. Martinez's Polls Plummet | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Sen. Martinez's Polls Plummet (none / 0)

but that quote has the new code words that we don't like Mexicans or brown people "invasion". The real hurting on the Republicans will come in 2008, to see how much of the Latino vote it lost..not because "immigration" is the sole latino issue... But the question of race is involved and it appears to me that the Republicans were doing the mean things said and wanting mean spirited resolutions.

How wants to be a member of racist party, the gives shelter to the likes of racist like Kirs Kobach??

by americanforliberty on Sat Jun 9th, 2007 at 02:37:11 PM EST

Re: Sen. Martinez's Polls Plummet (none / 0)

maybe these people should work on figuring out why so few Europeans wants to emigrate here these days.

by BooMan on Sat Jun 9th, 2007 at 04:49:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Sen. Martinez's Polls Plummet (none / 0)

Martinez is already spinning the message that the immigration bill's defeat was due to bipartisan dissatisfaction with it and the Democratic leadership's fault in the Senate. I heard him spouting that line this morning on Bloomberg radio and I don't doubt we'll be hearing it on Fox Noise tomorrow. This despite the fact that the Senate Republicans split 20/80 for/against the cloture motion, with the Democrats the reverse. Yeah, that's "biparisan" - in the Republican world. Plus, Reid was supposed to fight this bill through to the bitter end despite the lack of cloture. Too bad Martinez hadn't argued that on any other bills under consideration.

by VizierVic (VizierVic@hotmail.com) on Sat Jun 9th, 2007 at 05:09:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Sen. Martinez's Polls Plummet (none / 0)

"I can assure you: Those of us who didn't walk ashore or swim ashore oppose it," Gilbert said. "We see people coming in and taking over our nation."

What an asshole. My ancestors came over not long after the Mayflower. My family has fought in every US war since the Revolution. And yet I do not belong to the "us" to which Mr. Gilbert refers -- that being paranoid nativist bigots without the sense God gave a fucking chicken.

Taking over? Right. Any day now, the White House will be stormed by fieldhands, restaraunt workers, landscapers, and construction workers, a great brown horde of low-income recent immigrants bent on --- what? Seriously, what the hell are "they" going to do? Force us to eat tamales? Outspend us on church clothes? Put bilingual signs on the doors?

---Cthulhu for President: Why vote for the lesser evil?

by eodell (eodell at naqada dot org) on Sat Jun 9th, 2007 at 10:32:25 PM EST

Re: Sen. Martinez's Polls Plummet (none / 0)

they're are a lot of assholes in this country.

by BooMan on Sat Jun 9th, 2007 at 10:43:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Sen. Martinez's Polls Plummet (none / 1)

Actually I am opposed to illegal immigration and actually it has nothing to do with race as one commenter suggested.

I did some work a long time ago trying to help Hatian refugees remain in this country becuase they were true "refugees"..and I will say in that case a lot of objections from the "other side" were tinged with racism it seemed to me.

But it's the (future) economics of this wave, plus the factc this is the second time the US has done this....and how many more times are we going to do it.

It's all fine and dandy to take in 12 to 20 milion until you hit that bump in the road...which I assure you a the Us is gonna hit...then it will become a big problem.

No, it's time to clean house in the Mexico-US scheme to make life fine for their elites and multinationals while US taxpayers make room for their unemployed economic refugees.

But as for Martinez, the sooner he is gone the better.

by calypso on Sun Jun 10th, 2007 at 12:47:00 AM EST

Re: Sen. Martinez's Polls Plummet (none / 1)

This bill is all about cheap labor. If we wanted to stop illegal immigration, we would do something about Mexico's economy, such as cancel NAFTA. We could also do something about the employers that hire illegals, and that break labor laws because they can't complain.

What you don't hear much about is the increase in H-1Bs. There is no shortage of tech workers. We already have a surplus. H-1Bs are used to drive down wages with an infinite supply of indentured servants.

Land of the watched, because of the cowed.

by hens teeth on Sun Jun 10th, 2007 at 03:18:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Sen. Martinez's Polls Plummet (none / 1)

Yes it is about cheap labor, you're right.

Immigration is no longer about the .."give us your oppressed, huddles masses"...."yearning to be free".

Immigration is soley based on...
what the politicans think they can get for themselves out of it....and...what the corps want.

I saw a quote by Bill Moyers over on another site...about how..."Goverment as been priviatized"...with all the benefits flowing upward to the elites and the politicans.

That about sums it up.

by calypso on Sun Jun 10th, 2007 at 01:48:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Sen. Martinez's Polls Plummet | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Go to: [ Booman Tribune Homepage : Top of page : Top of comments ]

. Home
. About
. Contact
. Advertise
. FAQ
. Search

Username:
Password:

. Make a new account
. Reset password

Gift Cards * New Arrivals

NOTE: Overstock bests Amazon's prices and is "blue."

THE BOOKS WITH "BUZZ":
______________

Senator Edward M. Kennedy tells his extraordinary personal story:

True Compass: A Memoir
by Edward M. Kennedy.

Read Barack Obama's vision for America:

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
by Barack Obama

Boran2 and maryb2004 recommend:

The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime
by Jasper Fforde

Must-have information for all presidents-and citizens-of the twenty-first century?

Physics for Future Presidents: The Science behind the Headlines
Richard A. Muller

rae recommends:

Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire
by Morris Berman.

On BooMan’s shelf:

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
by Doris Kearns Goodwin

This looks interesting:

Adventure Divas
by Holly Morris

Here’s a good one from
Elizabeth Gilbert:

Eat Pray Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert

"Crash" * Best Motion Picture, Academy Awards * Only $11.79 at Overstock * 2006 SAG Winner, Best Ensemble

Check out
Powell's new section:
NEW FAVORITES
Selected new arrivals at 30% off

Recommended by Indianadem and ejmw:
The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Wellstone

From northcountry’s bookshelf:

The New Golden Age:
The Coming Revolution Against
Political Corruption and Economic Chaos by Ravi Batra

A novel about contractors in Iraq from the woman that runs The Spy That Billed Me:

Outsourced: A Novel
from RJ Hillhouse.

Great Deals
----- * ^ * -----

Find mystery novels by Nancy Pickard ("Kansas")

Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power by Phyllis Bennis (interviewed on DN!)

Featured by Keith Olbermann, New (Powell's Sale): Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum (whose other books merit serious consideration)

"Explosive" State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration
by James Risen

The book the CIA doesn't want you to read: Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander
Larry Johnson's review

BT's all-time best seller:

PERMACULTURE:
A Designers' Manual
$79.95 * Sale: $59.95

Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History (Third Edition)

The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
by Timothy Egan

Green Press Initiative
----- * ^ * -----

Journalistas: 100 Years of the Best Writing and Reporting by Women Journalists by Eleanor Mills * NYT review

Bury Me Standing: the Gypsies & Their Journey

1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus

Brokeback Mountain
by Annie Proulx
----- * ^ * -----
Check out Powell's
"At The Movies"

Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World by Noam Chomsky (Power & Terror: Post 9-11 Talks)

The Price of Privilege:

How Parental Pressure and
Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of
Disconnected and Unhappy Kids
by Madeline Levine

Save 35-70% on
name brand clothing,
footwear, and outdoor gear
at SierraTradingPost.com
:

We listened to PEN American Center's "State of Emergency" and found 1940s books by Curzio Malaparte only at Alibris. (Selection (MP3) excerpted from "The Skin.")

Banned Books * Are you a fan of Film Noir, Art House, Documentaries or Hong Kong Action? * Searching for a long-lost children's book or a first printing of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue on vinyl? Find it at Alibris!

:
:

Booman Tribune Homepage
admin@boomantribune.com
powered by Scoop

More blogs about Blogs at Technorati.

Technorati Profile