Everyone is on tenterhooks wondering what the Republicans' national strategy for the November elections will be. Shouldn't they be thinking of that soon? The GOP desperately needs a "wave" election to rack up Senate seats this year, because the next two election cycles are not favorable for Republicans.
Let's see, what would make a good national issue?
Democrats are far savvier than Republicans when it comes to winning elections, and I note that Obama has decided to put off his "executive amnesty" until after the elections. Does that ping any neurons in your tired "Diversity Is a Strength" synapses, Republicans?
Another obvious place to look for a good national issue is the polls. According to months of polling, the No. 1 most important issue to voters is immigration - by a landslide. In Gallup polls in July and then again in August, Republican and Republican-leaning Independent voters chose immigration as the "biggest problem" facing the nation.
Commenting on its July poll, Gallup noted that more than twice as many Republicans as Democrats called immigration the nation's No. 1 problem, suggesting that by "problem" they mean illegal immigration, not the failure to pass "comprehensive immigration reform."
In Gallup's August poll, immigration was again voted a bigger problem among Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents than either the economy or even Obamacare. It was the third "biggest problem" for Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents, after dysfunctional government and unemployment/the economy.
The magnificent Republican Tom Cotton, running for the Senate against amnesty-supporting Democrat Mark Pryor in Arkansas, says he's gotten more questions about immigration than any other issue. He says voters keep asking: "What can we do to stop the border crisis. ... What can we do to stop Obama issuing another unilateral amnesty?"
That sounds like a terrific opening for the GOP to shout: Vote Republican!
But while individual Republicans are talking like Tom Tancredo, the national GOP seems strangely reluctant to make this election a referendum on immigration. If there is a single Democrat running for office this year who isn't forced to take a position on Obama's coming amnesty, Republicans aren't doing their job.
Which they aren't. How about some national ads denouncing Obama's executive amnesty?
Democrat Mickey Kaus suggests that Republicans' insistence on keeping immigration an isolated issue raised only by individual candidates is a warm-up to the big GOP sell-out on amnesty.
If Republicans think they can betray their own state's voters as long as the national media don't call them on it, they should ask themselves: Is The Drudge Report national? Do they think Matt Drudge won't notice? The Daily Caller, Breitbart.com, all of talk radio - any of those "national"?
In for a dime, you're in for a dollar, GOP.
Republicans might also wait to see if Marco Rubio gets re-elected before concluding his "screw-the-voters-on-amnesty" was a good strategy. Or they might notice how newfound amnesty opponent Thom Tillis is doing in Senate polls right now.
In the North Carolina legislature, Tillis was Chuck Schumer on immigration. Thanks to his incessant shilling for the Chamber of Commerce on bringing in "guest workers" - now being supported by taxpayers - Tillis is currently the only Republican trying to replace a Democrat in a red state who has been consistently down in the polls.
In Arkansas, Louisiana, West Virginia, Montana and South Dakota, the Republican Senate candidates are crushing their Democratic opponents in the polls. Luckily, none of those Republicans have Tillis' sorry record on immigration. No wonder Tillis is suddenly so gung-ho for a fence.
Maybe Tillis genuinely does want a secure border first, and then he'll bring in lots of guest workers for his cheapskate corporate buddies. In any event, better to vote for the candidate who says he'll do the right thing than one who promises not to - like Kay Hagan, who voted for the Schumer-Rubio amnesty.
Even if you detest your Republican Senate candidate - I detest at least two of them - don't think of it as a vote for them. Think of it as a vote to give President Mitt Romney or President Ted Cruz a Republican Senate in January 2017. Think of it as a vote to stop Obama's judicial nominees or a vote against Obamacare. Remember, America: The end of the health care waivers is another one of Obama's exciting post-election surprises.
(Romney precedes Cruz in the above paragraph because Cruz is getting nutty on immigration, again. His latest immigration plan is to stop illegal immigration by bringing in all the same people legally.)
Republicans can win a Senate majority, take back the presidency, repeal Obamacare, build the Keystone pipeline, slash oppressive government regulations, end special tax deals and government contracts for the Democrats' big donors, restore an honest IRS and nominate serious people to the federal bench.
But they'll never do any of those things if they can't learn that mass immigration from the Third World is wildly unpopular with voters.
