I just got home from Prineville.
I rode a motorcycle 7 hours, 322 miles (up over Mt. Hood) to hear Senator Gordon Smith talk for 1 hour today. 4/12/2006
I will say the Junior Senator is much more at ease and in his element when speaking to a group of people from Central Oregon than when he’s speaking to… … …Lars.
Senator Smith didn’t waste any time jumping into the topic du jour. Once the gratuitous back patting stopped he went right to the subject of Illegal Immigration. He opened by saying that there is nothing right now that has Washington’s ear more than Illegal Immigration.
To hear him speak, one would assume he is steadfastly against illegal immigration. He is! The problem is, his solution. I believe he and others think that making the current batch of illegals “Presto – No longer illegal” is the solution. Unfortunately, I was never able to get called on to address this with him. Throughout the entire Town Hall Meeting he used a lot of political “speak”. Phrases like, “I am completely against that and I’ll do everything I can to Blah Blah Blah…” and “I know I’m going to upset half of you and make the other half happy.”
He never touched on sanctions for employers that hire illegals, or criminal prosecution for illegals, deportation or the like.
He did say that he has voted for the fence between Mexico and the U.S., and will again when it comes up. It is his belief that the illegals will just go to Canada and cross the Canadian border into the U.S.
As we only had an hour (actually less Senator Smith was about 15 minutes late), I would say he spent more time on the subject of Illegal Immigration than any other.
Overall, I give him 2 soggy slices on the Milk Toast scale. It really appeared to me to be just “face-time” with his constituency.
I will say, the guy is good. He’d say something and initially I would think, “Hey this guy’s on the team!” Then I’d think about how he said what he said, and it turns out, he didn’t say anything one way or the other! One old guy that looked to be about 90 asked Senator Smith, “Hey, can’t you just answer a question without making a speech out of it?” Probably the highlight of the day.
The bad news is, if you’re in the back of the room with a camcorder, tri-pod, briefcase and printed literature like his grades and other statistics on Immigration reform laid out on a table for people to take it seems he won’t call on you no matter what you do, because you might be someone that knows something.
I videotaped the entire meeting. I will cut the portion dealing with the issue of Illegal Immigration and post it to a Web Site for download and post the URL as soon as the link is up.
I rode a motorcycle 7 hours, 322 miles (up over Mt. Hood) to hear Senator Gordon Smith talk for 1 hour today. 4/12/2006
I will say the Junior Senator is much more at ease and in his element when speaking to a group of people from Central Oregon than when he’s speaking to… … …Lars.
Senator Smith didn’t waste any time jumping into the topic du jour. Once the gratuitous back patting stopped he went right to the subject of Illegal Immigration. He opened by saying that there is nothing right now that has Washington’s ear more than Illegal Immigration.
To hear him speak, one would assume he is steadfastly against illegal immigration. He is! The problem is, his solution. I believe he and others think that making the current batch of illegals “Presto – No longer illegal” is the solution. Unfortunately, I was never able to get called on to address this with him. Throughout the entire Town Hall Meeting he used a lot of political “speak”. Phrases like, “I am completely against that and I’ll do everything I can to Blah Blah Blah…” and “I know I’m going to upset half of you and make the other half happy.”
He never touched on sanctions for employers that hire illegals, or criminal prosecution for illegals, deportation or the like.
He did say that he has voted for the fence between Mexico and the U.S., and will again when it comes up. It is his belief that the illegals will just go to Canada and cross the Canadian border into the U.S.
As we only had an hour (actually less Senator Smith was about 15 minutes late), I would say he spent more time on the subject of Illegal Immigration than any other.
Overall, I give him 2 soggy slices on the Milk Toast scale. It really appeared to me to be just “face-time” with his constituency.
I will say, the guy is good. He’d say something and initially I would think, “Hey this guy’s on the team!” Then I’d think about how he said what he said, and it turns out, he didn’t say anything one way or the other! One old guy that looked to be about 90 asked Senator Smith, “Hey, can’t you just answer a question without making a speech out of it?” Probably the highlight of the day.
The bad news is, if you’re in the back of the room with a camcorder, tri-pod, briefcase and printed literature like his grades and other statistics on Immigration reform laid out on a table for people to take it seems he won’t call on you no matter what you do, because you might be someone that knows something.
I videotaped the entire meeting. I will cut the portion dealing with the issue of Illegal Immigration and post it to a Web Site for download and post the URL as soon as the link is up.
2 comments:
Hi, I enjoyed your article on immigration, I think this is a very important dialogue to have and that Bloggers are making the climate very democratic. Feel free to look at some of my posts on the issue at my blog www.debaterelatepontificate.blogspot.com
Thanks for making the trip.
Who else would have taken the time?
Post a Comment