Did being "too tough" on illegal immigration cost the Republicans the election? John Hawkins doesn't think so.
Since the election, you may have heard pro-amnesty Republicans or liberals saying something like this, "The 2006 election proves that being tough on illegal immigration doesn't work as a political issue. Look at J.D. Hayworth, John Hostettler, Randy Graf and Henry Bonilla. After that debacle, the GOP is surely going to cave on illegal immigration now."
Well, as someone who followed the election very closely and did a better job of calling winners and losers than almost all of the political pundits out there (My final predictions : five Senate seats lost and 22-29 seats in the House lost. Final numbers: six Senate seats lost and 30 House seats), I can tell you that being tough on illegal immigration didn't hurt the GOP in 2006. Now you may be skeptical of that because it doesn't square up with the conventional wisdom that you've been hearing, but let me make a case to you.
Please read it all. John makes a good case.
I posted here in response to a column by Robert Novak who wrote that illegal immigration "hardliners hurt Republicans". John "Debunks" that myth.
Via Mark Levin, "well worth reading".
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