I mean, besides the fact that it's, like, California.
February 22, 2004
BURLINGAME, Calif. — An uproar over illegal immigration roiled the state Republican convention on Saturday as party leaders struggled to keep the rank and file united behind Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Bush.
Hundreds of GOP loyalists booed the president at a rally where U.S. Senate hopeful Howard Kaloogian and his allies denounced Bush's plan to give temporary legal status to undocumented workers.
"Enough is enough!" the crowd shouted. "Enough is enough!"
A Kaloogian supporter, Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, told the crowd he knew a gynecologist who surveyed patients about the plan and found it rated "right below genital herpes."
Schwarzenegger fared no better than Bush. Even staunch allies of the governor distanced themselves from his effort to strike a deal with Democrats on a bill to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista warned that the move would "empower criminal aliens."
"If we find an illegal, we have an obligation to deport them; it's that simple," said the San Diego County car-alarm tycoon, who bankrolled the recall petition effort that led to Schwarzenegger's victory. "As long as people are here illegally, to give them the ability to further cover their status is to empower Al Qaeda."
And Mike Spence, leader of one of the party's biggest conservative activist groups, the California Republican Assembly, shouted, "Resist the compromise, and let your legislators and the governor know they'll end up with Gray Davis: Out of work and starring on sitcoms," alluding to the ousted governor's cameo next week on the CBS show "Yes, Dear."
Also sparking dissent at the state GOP convention here beside San Francisco Bay was Schwarzenegger's plan to borrow $15 billion to balance the state budget, a measure that appears on the March 2 ballot as Proposition 57.
That's funny you should post this now. Just yesterday reading yesterday someone's comment somewhere that California's gone mad over the gay marriage thing. And I thought to myself that 1) it hasn't really, and 2) they have bigger issues anyway, like immigration.
Posted by Erica at February 22, 2004 10:19 AM