Thread: Numbers Alert: Virtual Rally on June 6th!

From: Anne Manetas, Deputy Director, NumbersUSA
Date: 01JUN07 4:30 p.m.


Senate Battle Part II: Updates and News on our Virtual Rally



Most of you have been hearing from us throughout the week via Action Alerts and various targeted fax and phone opportunities. I'm sending this end-of-week email in order to provide some feedback we've gotten from you throughout the week and to let you know about an exciting event we have planned for next week.

As you know, Congress returns from recess next week and the Senate is expected to resume consideration and vote on final passage of the Senate immigration disaster, S. 1348, by the end of the week.

Rest assured that your NumbersUSA team and fellow activists nationwide have NOT been on recess this week! We have been busy gearing up for next week and you all have sent over 165,000 faxes to Congress this week alone.


MARK YOUR CALENDARS: PARTICIPATE IN OUR VIRTUAL RALLY ON WEDNESDAY JUNE 6TH


You may remember that about a week ago we mentioned our stepped-up plan to defeat this immigration disaster in the Senate. We have been making plans for a key piece of this effort all week and it will culminate on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 6th with our National Virtual Rally. This will probably be the highest profile event NumbersUSA has undertaken thus far.

This will be a coordinated effort to unleash the full power of our 350,000-plus Action Network on the Senate in opposition to S. 1348. We will launch the effort with a national conference call during which you can call in to a toll-free number (we will provide it to you in an email early next week) and hear Roy, Rosemary, and others discussing the battle in the Senate. Simultaneously, you will be able to watch a video of Roy talking about the effort online by logging on to a special webpage we are creating for that day. We will provide more details on this early next week…it's all still developing right now, but we are very excited about this coordinated, stepped-up effort: our final assault on S. 1348. in this email:
1. Participate in our Virtual Rally on June 6th;
2. Success Stories From This Week;
3. President Bush Admonishes Opponents of Senate Bill
4. Thank You
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SOME SUCCESS STORIES FROM THIS WEEK


It's clear from all the feedback we have received that many of you took Roy's Memorial Day plea to visit the local offices of your two Senators to heart (many of you contacted your Representatives too)! Following are just a few of the highlights. There are too many to retell here, but I encourage anyone with a story to share to send it to our helpdesk at http://www.numbersusa.com/helpform.

California
…………….."Just wanted to let you know that I have an appt. in Sen. Feinstein's Los Angeles office tomorrow afternoon with her District Director…I am taking with me the LA Tri-Counties Area Director, and my 3 teammates from the Hedgecock HTFTTFire April lobbying trip…we are going in business attire, with a professional attitude, and cogent arguments backed up with facts. – Phyllis

…………….Just a few days prior to that visit, Los Angeles activists organized a rally in front of Sen. Feinstein's district office in Los Angeles on May 29th.

……………."I just wanted to give you an update on the Lungren camp. I spent almost 90 minutes on the phone with his immigration aide Kevin Holsclaw going over the three components of this bill. Your information was most useful, plus I was able to get a copy of a CIS report on workplace verification that I brought up with him….I am developing a flyer for his next Townhall meeting this Monday which I will pass out to the audience. I am also getting a few fellow activists to help out -- may be able to draw from the Sacramento Hold Their Feet to the Fire crowd…. Thanks again. – Sue

……………."Yesterday, I had a meeting with Wally Herger, my congressman. I was allocated 15 minutes, and we wound up discussing Senate amnesty and illegal immigration in general for 40 minutes! He made other people wait. He says that he and his House colleagues are being clobbered with angry phone call every day…He says there is NO WAY the Senate bill will ever pass in the House." – Alex in Dunsmuir, CA

Georgia
…………….D.A. King, president of the Dustin Inman Society, led a group of Georgia activists in a rally in front of Sen. Chambliss' district office on Thursday to let Sen. Chambliss know just what Georgians think of his support of the Senate immigration bill. Sen. Chambliss is up for reelection and is expected to face a primary challenger if he votes in favor of the Senate immigration bill. His Democratic challenger, DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, was in attendance at the event. After the rally, King and 30 or so activists met with one of Chambliss' field representatives in his office. The event received wide press coverage in the Atlanta area. You can read more about it here.

North Carolina
…………….A few people are going to Sen. Burr's office today, though I am unable to go due to some deadlines at work. However, I called Burr's Winston-Salem office yesterday, and they clearly have been getting a load of calls - sounded like the office staff were stressed. …Dole's office told me that they had NEVER gotten so many calls, so I have to think Burr's office has experienced even more!

As I said, these are just snapshots of what has been going on nationwide. You are all doing fantastic work. I don't think it has been much of a "recess" for many Senators!

Please don't let up now. The following email from Gordon reminds me that some people can feel very much alone in this fight. If you have submitted your name to our Member Connection and are contacted by other members in your district, we encourage you to reply to them if they contact you. We understand you may not be able to participate in every event.
……………."I tried contacting other local NumberUSA members in my congressional district about getting together for a local office visit to our Senators offices. There's at least 5 others on the list you put out. I sent them emails but I got zero response. Very depressing! Apathy is killing us!"


PRESIDENT BUSH SAYS CALLING SENATE IMMIGRATION BILL AMNESTY IS "EMPTY RHETORIC" TO SCARE AMERICANS


Many of you have probably already seen this week's Washington Post article about President's Bush admonishment of opponents of the Senate immigration disaster. If you haven't read it, I am including it below. The article is telling because it clearly reveals the pressure Pres. Bush is feeling from within his own party and the battle he knows he faces in getting this bill passed.

Bush Chides GOP Critics of Immigration Plan
President Says Opponents 'Haven't Read the Bill' and Are Trying to Frighten Americans
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 30, 2007; A01

GLYNCO, Ga., May 29 -- President Bush lashed out at critics within his own party Tuesday, accusing Republican opponents of distorting the immigration deal he negotiated with leading congressional Democrats and playing on the politics of fear to undermine public support.

In stern tones normally reserved for the liberal opposition, Bush said conservatives fighting the immigration proposal "haven't read the bill" and oppose it in some cases because "it might make somebody else look good." Their "empty political rhetoric," he said, threatens to thwart what he called the last, best chance to fix an immigration system that all sides agree is broken.

"If you want to kill the bill, if you don't want to do what's right for America, you can pick out one little aspect out of it," he told thousands of trainees at a federal center here that prepares Border Patrol officers. "You can use it to frighten people. Or you can show leadership and solve this problem once and for all, so the people who wear the uniform in this crowd can do the job we expect them to do."

The president's rhetoric underscored the bitter crossfire among Republicans over immigration and the enormous challenge Bush faces in trying to rally his party behind what may be the most significant domestic initiative left in his presidency. The White House has been pressing conservatives to fall in line, sending emissaries to meet with lawmakers and activists, but many on Capitol Hill and on the presidential campaign trail have ignored the administration's pleadings and rushed to denounce the deal.

Although the proposal has the support of key Democrats, most notably Sen. Edward M. Kennedy ( Mass.), the White House recognizes that the chances of pushing it through depend on winning enough Republican support. Bush's trip to Georgia opened a campaign intended to undercut the criticism that has consumed conservative talk shows and Web sites and to educate the public about a complicated bill.

But conservatives bristled at his remarks. "I don't think name-calling does any good at this point," said David A. Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union. "What they've done from the very beginning is say, 'This is the way we want it done, and anyone who disagrees with us is outside the mainstream.' . . . It's been badly handled. They'll be lucky, given the attitudes in the country, to come up with anything."

Brian Darling, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said he and his colleagues not only have read the bill but also have posted it on the think tank's Web site. "Most conservatives have very strong feelings that this bill contains amnesty . . . and no yelling and screaming by the administration is going to change our minds," he said.

As for the charge of scare tactics, Darling said: "Honestly, I really think people should be frightened. This bill would be the most dramatic change to immigration law in 40 years, and no one seems to understand what's in the bill. . . . The American people should be frightened by the closed-door process that was used and by the ramifications."

The proposal would require that thousands more Border Patrol agents be hired and hundreds of miles of fencing along the frontier with Mexico be erected. After the government made progress in meeting those goals, in theory as soon as 18 months, the legislation would introduce a guest-worker program, allowing some immigrants into the country temporarily. And it would provide the 12 million illlegal immigrants a chance to earn legal status if they have jobs, pass a criminal background check and pay a fine, and eventually gain even permanent residency if they pay a steeper penalty, learn English and return home first.

The essence of the debate among Republicans centers on whether that constitutes amnesty, as critics maintain. Bush insists it does not because the illegal immigrants would have to pay for their actions first. "This bill is not an amnesty bill," he said in his speech here. "If you want to scare the American people, what you say is 'The bill's an amnesty bill.' It's not an amnesty bill. That's empty political rhetoric trying to frighten our fellow citizens."

Bush's speech at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center was his fullest defense of the immigration deal since it was reached two weeks ago, and his tone was striking. Although he did not single out whom he had in mind as he complained about scare tactics, the criticism he sought to rebut was that coming from his own party.

"I'm sure you've heard some of the talk out there about people defining the bill," he said in front of a huge U.S. flag and "Strengthen Our Borders" banners. "It's clear they haven't read the bill. They're speculating about what the bill says and they're trying to rile up people's emotions. This is a good piece of legislation."

For support, he brought with him two Cabinet secretaries and two senators, highlighting in particular Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), both of whom were born in Cuba and emigrated to the United States. "I want to mention those two men," Bush said, "because to me they represent what the immigration debate is all about -- will we be a welcoming place, a place of law that renews our spirit by giving people a chance to succeed?"

Yet the text and setting were intended to emphasize not the welcoming but the tough elements of the plan, challenging the perception that the government has not done enough to crack down on illegal border crossings and employment of undocumented immigrants. The federal center here trains officers from 83 law enforcement agencies, including the Border Patrol, and Bush toured a mock land border crossing and a mock airport passport-control station.

For the benefit of cameras, he handed fake documents to a uniformed officer, who greeted him with "Welcome to the United States, sir." The trainee then asked him questions and received answers before fingerprinting and photographing the president and finally stamping his documents.

Bush said previously that he knows he needs to get an immigration bill to his desk by August, before the 2008 presidential campaign would make it too hard to get a measure approved.

In recognition of that uphill fight, he used the word "courage" six times to describe what would be required for lawmakers to vote for his plan. And it was a measure of Bush's problems within his own party that the strongest voice of support he received Tuesday came from Kennedy, the arch-liberal and bête noire of American conservatism.

"The president is right that this bill is our best chance to fix our broken system," Kennedy said in a statement. He added: "Despite the clear urgency, there are forces at play that could hinder our efforts: bumper sticker slogans that aim to divide us further, strong feelings on the many sides of this issue, and a tendency to shelve these tough issues for another time."


HANG TIGHT, YOU'RE NOT ALONE!


On behalf of the Roy and the rest of the NumbersUSA staff, I would like to thank all of you who have so tirelessly fought the Senate immigration disaster. We are all gearing up for a tough fight next week, but it is one we believe we can win if we all pull together and give it our best shot. Rest assured that your NumbersUSA team will be working throughout the weekend and coming to you with regular updates next week.

We hope you will be able to join us on our nationwide conference call on Wednesday.

Thank you and have a great weekend,

ANNE
www.numberusa.com

SIS,

Is that the American Eagle or a buzzard circling the Senate Republicans???

Oliver