wide-spread radio ads (paid for, apparently, by the RNC) praise Wittman for his stand against illegal immigrants (NO amnesty) and his stand on full funding for "the troops" (NO more game playing with money for the troops). There you have it: the Republican platform for now and 2008. Is the DNC making any counter arguments for Forgit?

But Democrats throughout the state are pitching in.

The local Hampton Roads talk-show host and self-styled Libertarian, Tony Macrini, has as much as said that Rob Wittman is an empty vessel.

The Governors Warner and Kaine have stepped up. Too bad the DNC and DCCC were risk adverse on this one. Phil and Democrats in the 1st District deserved better.

After looking at the slide show I am convinced that Democrats, and moderates everywhere for that matter, should stop accepting the Republican framing of the issue which Republicans term over and over "illegal immigration." This is another of the clever Republican uses of pejorative words to frame an idea they wish to use to inflame voters.

You lose the argument before you start when you accept the term Illegals or illegal immigration. Therefore, always, yes always, call it "undocumented aliens" or simply "undocumented" or "undocumented workers," and so on.  And never mention undocumented workers without adding a jab at the Republican businesses which employ the undocumented, and, if there is an opportunity, remind listeners that the whole problem (if that is what it is) is a result of Republican policies since the 1980's which opened our borders in order to bring in cheap labor for California agribusiness... it is Republican megabusiness interests which continue to frustrate any efforts by the federal government really to change things.  

It's interesting to see candidates tackle this issue, particularly because they don't know where they stand. I've always said nothing is more important than the politics of personal experience, which is why so many candidates that take this issue on are out of touch.

Take Frederick's ad, for example. We see a border fence (worth noting that Frederick was running for re-election as a DELEGATE). Is he proposing that we build a border fence around the state, or that we send Virginia money down to build the fence stronger?

Note that the issue of Immigration was never so strong during the Clinton Administration, simply because of the state of our economy. Yesterday, I witnessed the lay-off of 180+ employees at the last American Standard plant in Tiffin, OH, a plant that had been there since the 1800s. Workers with over 25 years of experience had to go home 2 weeks before Christmas to tell their families of the new roadblock they would have to overcome.

The only people to be held accountable in this issue is not the illegal immigrants, but the employers who give them the incentive of tax-free work to offer once they come over. That AND the fact that there needs to be a massive oversight of the organization itself. The lead officials of the Immigration portion of DHS have never been qualified for the position since the Bush administration took over.

When I was in high school, I had the privilege of working as an admin. assistant for the former INS. During that time, a man by the name of James Ziglar was appointed as the Commissioner. Before that job, he was the Managing Director of American Stock Brokerage firm Paine Webber. The correlation between immigration and stocks? Not too sure, myself. There has been an incredible lack of oversight in this respect.

I hope this doesn't come off as a pompous rant, but it just makes me angry to see dime-a-dozen politicians like Jeff Frederick and Corey Stewart fear mongering people into thinking that the real danger lies in the border to the South, when our real dangers lie within. The mixture of oversight failures and our jobs outsourcing overseas created this "problem" of illegal Immigration. I have no problem in saying that when a Democratic presidency renews our economy, this issue will dissapate.

My advice to our state candidates on Immigration: Attack the employers that are willing to employ illegal aliens, and strip those employers of their business licenses. Immigration is largely a federal issue, but the state will intervene when the federal level fails to create a state policy. Amnesty is a failed policy that has been repeated too many times, and the Bush plan on Immigration is the wrong one.  

L. Scott Lingamfelter has introduced a bill that designates English as the official language of the Commonwealth.  I bet you didn't know that this was an urgent issue needing to be addressed, but thank goodness Del. Lingamfelter is on top of it!  Ha.

State bird, state tree, state flower, state song (don't forget that controversy)... to add to the list of bills introduced, they should consider state language, state pasta, state bush, state fungus, state whatever... They all have the same impact and force. I am sure you have a dogwood in your front yard.

There is already a law on the books that codifies English as the official language of government in the Commonwealth.  Lingamfelter's HB 55 amends the existing section of the Code of Virginia (1-511) to leave any flexibility out.  The current language says English is the official language and, except as required by law, no state agency or local government shall be required to provide or prohibited from providing materials in languages other than English.  Lingamfelter's bill would strike most of this and require that, with some exceptions in part B, English would be the only language allowed.

See http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bi... for the text of HB 55.

when gay marriage was already illegal in Virginia.

There is a little cafe near my work location where I eat lunch. I overheard a conversation today among four 30ish white men. One of them suggested that all the illegal immigrants be placed on a beach with the US army between them and any place to live in the US. He said if they get past the military they can stay, otherwise, ... well you get the picture.

I wanted to get up and go over and say "That's more efficient than gasing them in camps, isn't it?"

Now we know how it is than the Germans stood by and watched people being hauled off to the camps. This is what scapegoating can lead to. The way the Republicans are using this issue is pure evil. In fact, the first sign that mass executions were beginning in Germany was when the disabled were lined up in downtown Berlin and publicly executed. This seems to be very similar this this man's fantasy of dealing with illegal immigrants.

The angst about undocumented immigration is really the economic angst of the middle and lower middle class.

The real problems is economics. The middle class has been screwed for the last 7 years by modern conservative policies of unrestrained free trade, small government, and "personal" responsibility. But that is their language; these have really has been policies of unfair, monopolistic trade, destroying the government, and selfishness and greed.

Why are people broke?

We are broke because we have a private medical insurance system that feel free to raise premiums and deny services as they please.

We are broke because our salaries and wages haven't grown even though we have become more productive. Our weak labor laws and globalization encourages stagnant or depressing wages.

And we are broke because government institutions that helped create the middle class, such as good public schools, affordable higher education, good infrastructure, etc., have been massively defunded and crippled in order to give the richest people the greatest tax cuts.

While I agree that this is a big "non-issue," I think the DNC and Dems are foolish for trying to dismiss this all as a "failed" strategy.  Looking at the ads in their slideshow, several of these "egregious" candidates WON their races.  As a strategy, it may have elevated a "non-issue" but it certainly doesn't seem like it "failed."

Fredrick won.
Lingamfelter won.
Hugo won.
Danny Marshall won.
Greg Ball is still in the NY Assembly and "Save our Southeast" candidates won in Brewster.

It didn't work for FitzSimmonds or O'Brien.  But it did work for most of the candidates whose ads were shown in this slide show.

So, while we Dems may find this tactic despicable, it certaily isn;t a "failed strategy" and is something Democrats need to pay attention to especially since polls are showing that Democrats have the right ideas and the Republicans have the failed legacy.  We ignore the issue at our own peril.

Like the comment above about not using the "illegal immigrant" language, Democrats have got to get better about framing the debate in our terms versus trying to compete on Republican terms.  In Prince William, Corey Stewart took control of this issue and spun it like there was no tomorrow.  Sharon Pandak's response looked too much like "me too" on immigration reform.  We need to learn from the experience and start to frame the conversation in terms that point out the failures of Republican policies on immigration reform rather than trying to keep up with their "anti-illegal" rhetoric.

A link to a study that is relevant to this debate:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/87x...
I don't think immigration as a political issue can be wished away.

I think the Democratic party should basically adopt Bill Richardson's approach to this.
http://www.richardsonforpresid...