Right-Wing Radio Hosts Hewitt, Boortz Advising Senators On Immigration Bill
Right-Wing Radio Hosts Hewitt, Boortz Advising Senators On Immigration Bill
“Talk radio is running America,” Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) recently told the New York Times. “We have to deal with that problem.”
Since Lott uttered his comment about right-wing talk radio’s disproportionate influence on the Senate immigration debate, he has become a pariah on talk radio and in the conservative blogosphere.
Unfortunately, the radio talkers have become more influential as well, with some even helping to craft legislation:
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the key conservative negotiator behind the compromise bill, told reporters Friday that California-based radio host Hugh Hewitt “had several ideas” that “we are trying to include” in amendments to be offered in an upcoming series of crucial votes.
Hewitt, a conservative who has criticized many aspects of the bill, had Kyl as a guest on Thursday and asked: “Does the bill provide for any separate treatment of aliens, illegal aliens from countries of special concern?”
Kyl replied: “It’s going to, as a result of your lobbying efforts to me.”
Hewitt isn’t the only right-wing talker to directly influence a senator. After Atlanta-based host Neal Boortz “popped” Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) over his “qualified support” of the immigration bill, Boortz was brought in to consult with Chambliss, “even though the senator was not an on-air guest during the debate.” Chambliss now opposes the bill.
Both Hewitt and Boortz hold positions that are well out of the mainstream. On his blog, Hewitt has suggested that former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) would be an ideal Supreme Court justice. Regarding immigrants, Boortz has said, “Give ‘em all a little nuclear waste and let ‘em take it on down there to Mexico.”
Though conservatives may take up 91% of the talk radio airwaves, talk radio is not representative of the American people, who broadly support the key components of the legislation.
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Let’s hope the Hewitt amendments get a thorough hearing before they are used in the john.
June 25th, 2007 at 3:36 pmI can’t get past the guys ridiculous name, Hugh Hewitt???
His parents certainly were NOT comedians.
June 25th, 2007 at 3:36 pmScrew Hughit
June 25th, 2007 at 3:38 pmRalph Hall, A Texas Republican Representative is thinking of crafting his own immigration bill as well. (opposes granting amnesty to illegal workers)
And as for the things creeping around the walls, scratching on the windows, rattling your doors, thats not Jews.
Thats the watchers =)
June 25th, 2007 at 3:44 pmAmnesty now! Amnesty forever! Amnesty to my peoples! Amnesty to my followers!
Que? Amnesty? Si!
June 25th, 2007 at 3:44 pmChant, “Amnesty!”
To hell with sovereignty!
June 25th, 2007 at 3:48 pmI can’t get past the guys ridiculous name, Hugh Hewitt???
His parents certainly were NOT comedians.
Comment by Not Canadian — June 25, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
If they were, they’d've named him “Hew Hewitt.”
June 25th, 2007 at 3:51 pmA frequent guest of Dobbs, Hewitt and other conservative hosts discussing immigration, Sessions said, “I think people have learned more from talk radio than from reading the newspapers.”
I learned that you shouldn’t get addicted to Oxycontin. How you ask?
By NOT listening to talk radio (AKA Mr Haney (Green Acres Politics)
June 25th, 2007 at 3:51 pmReich Wingnut Radio morons are advising the Repukes.
Its official…the inmates are running the asylum.
June 25th, 2007 at 3:53 pmI’m laughing my _ss off………why wouldn’t a successful radio talk host be able to influence legislation? I can’t think of anything more democratic than the voice of the people being heard through radio, internet, whatever. So Michael Moore can have his influence as well as Hollywood losers but somehow conservative radio hosts can’t?
Bite me TP.
June 25th, 2007 at 3:54 pmFTA
June 25th, 2007 at 3:57 pmIn the poll, 75 percent of those who responded favored tougher penalties for employers of undocumented workers, and 82 percent said the federal government should do more to reinforce the border. But only 15 percent of respondents favored fences as the main method to reduce illegal border crossings.
Heres the issue though, who actually believes that there will be stronger enforcement? They didn’t ask that question, and it’s the one point that talk radio and the right blogs agree on when it comes to them being against the bill.
So Michael Moore can have his influence as well as Hollywood losers but somehow conservative radio hosts can’t? Comment by eric
Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) says Rush Limbaugh (r) is irrelevent.
Whaddya think about that eric?
June 25th, 2007 at 3:57 pmWhy would anyone listen to Boortz is beyond me!
June 25th, 2007 at 3:58 pmBoortz with only a High School Diploma, and also a Draft-Evading Chicken-hawk Liar to boot. Sen.Chambliss is scrapping the bottom of the barrel if he has to confer with Boortz.
Boortz right now, is half- worrying himself silly,that The Fairness Doctrine might be revived,and then he’d just be a 62 year loser,out pounding the pavement. Out on the streets with the “Little People” or God forbid a “Brown Skinned Person!”
Dear Thinkprogress.org
Your sham immigration bill, though slightly better than last years, is almost dead on arrival. It is a compromise between the radical elements of both parties, not a compromise on behalf of America. This bill is hated by most groups and is not a plausible solution to much. Please, stop defining a “comprehensive” immigration bill to the tune of “La Raza.”
Signed,
The CompTroller, Version 1
June 25th, 2007 at 4:00 pmSo Michael Moore can have his influence as well as Hollywood losers but somehow conservative radio hosts can’t? Bite me TP. Comment by eric
Oxy-Rush (R) wants to do something about Trent Lott (R) eric.
Whaddya think about that?
June 25th, 2007 at 4:00 pmMr. Lott has his sights set on his wallet. He needs to leave the Senate and go to hell.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:01 pmGood interview on Friday with Ken Silverstein. He’s the first journalist specializing in lobbying, and did a great article where he went undercover to discover just what’s happening.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06222007/watch.html
June 25th, 2007 at 4:01 pmThis may be a first, but I gotta say i agree with Eric in #11. there’s nothing innately insidious in the notion that a legislator would take advice and suggestions from a citizen. that’s representative democracy.
What’s troubling, of course, is that the citizen in question has clearly shown a willingness to say stupid stuff in public.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:02 pmI’m waiting for some Oprah approved legislation.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:04 pmI’m waiting for some Jerry Springer legislation.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:09 pmLet’s take the advice of guys who are wrong almost 100% of the time!
Good idea!!
Idiots.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:16 pmHewitt is a horrid, vicious, nasty little racist. I cannot understand how the bile he and and others spew can be tolerated in decent society. It’s more than just difference of opinion – Hewitt, Beck, Limbaugh would have been wearing hoods and making bombs 40 years ago, they are that kind of racists.
And if, by chance, they are merely canny businessmen expoiting their audience, they are worse than horrible and personally responsible for the violence their rhetoric condones.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:16 pmThe bill is filled with sludge, so it must be defeated.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:17 pmThank you spit take for the non-knee jerk. I’m not questioning his stupidity, just his right to influence. Once in a blue moon, influencers like Streisand and Rosie have also said stupid things, but I’ll defend their right to use what influence they have to change things. It’s the American way.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:19 pmAmericans do NOT broadly support Amnesty for illegals. Nice try TP but not even your far left followers would buy that.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:25 pmSpeaking of stupid utterances, Christie Todd Whitman is getting her ass handed to her in the House. She’s not handling it very well.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:26 pmHeh.
The “touchback” provision is incredibly stupid.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:26 pmWhitman belongs in prison.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:28 pmWelcome to Americorp. You cannot complain about it because you voted for it. (repeatedly)
It’s too bad you don’t like the bed but you chose it freely (and continue to do so with each dollar you spend at McDonalds, WalMart, Olive Garden, etc…) and it’s a bit late to complain about the stench.
I recommend that you go pick up some cheese at Cracker Barrel to go with the whine.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:32 pmBoortz is the same asshole who called an elected official a “ghetto slut”.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:35 pmHow *dare* Hewitt suggest changes to a particular bill or ammendment that Congress is implementing. Why, that almost smacks of free speech? The cad!
Here’s a question… if the Congress would happen to use some ideas from Michael Moores’ “Sicko”, would you complain then?
June 25th, 2007 at 4:40 pmOh, heyzeus, that just gives me goose bumps all over. I hope they have Whitman bent over and are driving the point home…without vasoline. I hate that b!tch. May she burn in hell along with the other criminal republican sell outs, I mean appointees.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:44 pmHewitt, Beck, Limbaugh would have been wearing hoods and making bombs 40 years ago, they are that kind of racists.
Unlike people actually serving in office who did wear the hood. Kleagle Byrd..er..Senator Byrd, how is the arthritis today? Think you could still reach up with a torch to get that cross a’burnin?
June 25th, 2007 at 4:55 pmSo the guv’ment can somehow screen ten million illegal immigrants in just twenty four hours, but it takes six or seven years to screen a legal immigrant for citizenship?
And you trust these fools in D.C. to keep their new Frankenstein from smashing us?
June 25th, 2007 at 5:00 pmYa gotta hand it to Hewitt. The guy’s just one endless suppository of Conservative knowledge.
June 25th, 2007 at 5:09 pmThe real word on the immigration bill – it’s all part of Bush & Clinton’s NWO. Check out Alex Jones at http://www.infowars.com
June 25th, 2007 at 5:16 pmThough conservatives may take up 91% of the talk radio airwaves, talk radio is not representative of the American people [...] -TP
but it sure seems like it sometimes…
June 25th, 2007 at 5:26 pmthese idjits are working overtime to brainwash the
too comfortable masses into submitting to totalitarianism…
…
That he recommends giganticus idiotus Rick Santorum to the Supreme Court bespeaks Hugh Hewitts brainpower. The radio and TV folks (Lou Dobbs included) are not lawmakers. People show their ignorance by their sheepish following of these amoral bigmouths. Right wing talk radio, TV, has become obscene and need to have their thinking eschewed by the American people.
June 25th, 2007 at 5:46 pmWhy do conservatives always point out that Sen. Byrd was in the Klan at one time, because they wish he was still in the Klan.
Byrd renouced his racism unlike Beck, Rush, Hannity, Boortz, Hewitt and Savage. They pretend to be race nuetral whilst spouting all the codes for bigotry and intolerance. Part of their entire Us versus them mantra. Whatever you think of them you can’t call Babs, Rosie or Mike Moore racist!
BTW, Why do all these white, racist talk show host all look generally the same. You know fat, round face Karl Rovish, helmet of hair or balding, you get it. No jews need apply.
June 25th, 2007 at 5:54 pmWe should hope Mr. Hewitt’s comments to the proposed legislation are examined. He is an exceptionally bright guy (Harvard, doncha know?…) and a very talented lawyer. So much so that he regularly invites, and listens to, opposing viewpoints on different issues each day on his radio show. He also commands respect from both sides of the aisle as his respectful and discerning commentary separates the wheat from the chaff in a way that we can all understand.
June 25th, 2007 at 5:55 pmIt is scary to look at hewitt and glenn beck and see the same faces from all the newsreels of the Nazi regime during WWII. And they have the same ideology as those @ssclowns as well.
And even scarier are the inbred low IQers who listen to these guyz!
June 25th, 2007 at 5:56 pmIf our government really wanted to halt illegal immigration, it would spend money on helping lesser-developed nations grow economically so that their citizens wouldn’t have to illegally immigrate in order to survive. Supporting the UN Millennium Development Goals to end poverty would a great step to take, rather than funneling money into inefficient border patrol. According to the Borgen Project, just $19 billion annually would end starvation. Put into perspective, we have a $522 billion military budget.
June 25th, 2007 at 5:56 pmDear Not Canadian:
You only wish you had 1/3 of the mental capacity of Hugh Hewitt. Listen to his show for a few days, and you will agree that he kicks your intellectual arse.
June 25th, 2007 at 5:58 pmElle, that’s just bullshit. The Mexican goverment encourages people to cross (Both legally and illegally), because the cash they send home bolsters it’s (mexico’s) economy. With that corrupt goverment, we could pump in billions, and that would not change, only make a few politicians and drug lords richer.
June 25th, 2007 at 6:10 pmRight wing talk radio, TV, has become obscene and need to have their thinking eschewed by the American people.
Might be nice if you actually..oh I dont know..let the American people decide if they wish to eschew RWTR and TV on their own. Or you could just legislate and decide for us what we will get to listen to and view. Speaking of nazis.
June 25th, 2007 at 6:13 pmByrd renouced his racism
Did that renunciation come before or after he uttered “white ni**er? Lets do the math, shall we?
June 25th, 2007 at 6:20 pmIt makes perfect sense to get advice from people who are consistently wrong about most issues…
June 25th, 2007 at 6:20 pmOops, I posted before reading the comments. Zooey went there first. =]
June 25th, 2007 at 6:23 pmAnd they have the same ideology as those @ssclowns as well. And even scarier are the inbred low IQers who listen to these guyz!
Yet you as a presumably non-inbred high IQer sprinkle your enlightened post with “@ssclowns” while one of your brethren posters mentions Barbara Streisand, Rosie O. and Moore in comparison to those right-wing radio show hosts they dislike.
Yessir, the best and brightest liberals found right here.
June 25th, 2007 at 6:27 pm“While the U.S. military searches for a soldier missing in Iraq, kidnapped by insurgents possibly allied with al Qaeda, his wife back home in Massachusetts may be deported by the U.S. government.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/20/national/main2956093.shtml
June 25th, 2007 at 6:29 pmDang, I just noticed that troll “Man” doesn’t make a lot of sense in his arguments. Do they teach that at troll school?
June 25th, 2007 at 6:46 pm#Mr. Lott has his sights set on his wallet. He needs to leave the Senate and go to hell. Comment by CT V_1
Interesting. The R’s are throwing R’s under the bus. One hemisphere of thought being Profit before Nationality and the other hemisphere being Nationality before Profit.
I saw a poll that was done and some 85% of illegals would pay the fines and become legal citizens.
Dear Not Canadian:
You only wish you had 1/3 of the mental capacity of Hugh Hewitt. Listen to his show for a few days, and you will agree that he kicks your intellectual arse. Comment by JT
I get so tired of these Harvard types. I am not impressed by George or Kerry nor am I impressed with Hewitts brand name degree. Rove, who attended six colleges, probably has a higher IQ than Hewitt. The problem with Karl, although intelligent, is that he is dishonest and one dimensional. Hewitt reminds me of that one dimensionality. Hewitt, as a lawyer, I inherently don’t trust them. I never trusted Libby and I damn sure don’t trust Yoo or Addington.
Yessir, the best and brightest liberals found right here.
Comment by Man
As if the name of a group denotes or causes intelligence. I saw where a three year old girl was admitted to MENSA the other day (above 130 IQ). Her education or political stance? None. Hewitt is no more/or less intelligent than a three year old. And that is truth.
June 25th, 2007 at 6:52 pmembarrassed to say this but eric’s got a point: is it against the law for someone to give advise or counsel to congress? i agree, he’s nut and i wouldn’t listen to his advise, but do i care if someone else does. not really. it just makes it easier for me to know how to vote if i’m a senator, house member.
this really does sound like whining. grow up TP, and have democrats, have some backbone, sheesh. stop whining and do something dammit!
June 25th, 2007 at 6:58 pmHow about we wait for butthead Bush to get lost before we get serious about immigration reform? The country needs a lot of things like citizen privacy, habeas corpus and clean air and water that this presidential imposter has taken away, so why give him ANYTHING that could be described as “his legacy.” I want his legacy to be limited to the stench of hundreds of thousands of rotting corpses resulting from his failed policies in Iraq. Put that in your library and read it upside down, Bush, you ignoramus.
June 25th, 2007 at 7:01 pmComment by Texasjuice — June 25, 2007 @ 5:54 pm
Why do conservatives always point out that Sen. Byrd was in the Klan at one time
Because he was!
Byrd renouced his racism
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Yes, he renounced his hooded, cross-burning, black lynching, Grand Kleagle past. So all is forgiven!
Now Trent Lott, he throws an offhand compliment at Strom Thurmond at a 100th birthday party, and he needs to resign his leadership.
Just imagine a Republican Senator with a Klan past… scratch that–the leftwing media would never allow a Republican with a Klan past to rise to the level of US Senator.
unlike Beck, Rush, Hannity…
Name the racist comments they made? Name one.
They pretend to be race nuetral whilst spouting all the codes for bigotry and intolerance.
What codes are those? I’ll give you a real code word: “Affirmative action.” Now THAT’S a code word.
Whatever you think of them you can’t call Babs, Rosie or Mike Moore racist!
Maybe. But you can certainly call them nutjob, wacko, propagandist, Stalinist, anti-American, elitest, hypocrite, phony, fraud, to name a few.
BTW, Why do all these white, racist talk show host all look generally the same. You know fat, round face Karl Rovish, helmet of hair or balding, you get it. No jews need apply.
Wow, that’s sounds like–GASP!–stereotyping!
And Mark Levin will be shocked to learn he isn’t a Jew.
June 25th, 2007 at 7:53 pm#55,
If murdering HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of innocent people, abandoning the US Constitution, and preaching hate in the name of some god is “American” to you, then I proudly profess to being anti-American.
Fcuk America. All it is now is a country replete with inbreds run by criminals and populated by a bunch of cowards. That’s the indisputable truth.
June 25th, 2007 at 8:06 pmHa, ha, and they say Democrats in congress have no cojones. Chambliss caves to a little buttcrack like Boortz in the first round. Damn, talk about weak.
June 25th, 2007 at 8:26 pm# 56
June 25th, 2007 at 9:03 pmIf you want to talk about the U.S.constitution then lets talk about the fact that our constitution was written by a group of people who believed in an idealogy. Now as much as you hate to believe it part of that ideology included a firm belief in christian values. Your idea of “some god” and our country being populated by a bunch of cowards speaks volumes on your own views. You truly are an ignorant little shit. The only COWARDS in this country are the sniveling little punks such as yourself who could not possibly survive in a country where you have the opportunity to stand up and make anything of yourself that you desire. No, you would do much better in a country where all of your decisions are made for you and the government hands you what it believes you need. People like you are killing our country.
always amazes me when these RW certainty freaks are considered to have a finger on the pulse of the nation— the only people who can get through their screeners are their worshipers.
June 25th, 2007 at 9:08 pmWhat happened to # 56? Nothing to say? I kinda thought that your argument was weak. Huh, no balls?
June 25th, 2007 at 9:08 pmLet me tell you about RW certainty freaks. We are the people with the nuts to stand up and fight so that you idiots have the right to complain the way you are so fond of. Are you really ignorant enough to believe that in a country turned socialist you would have an opinion at all? As far as being a worshiper is concerned, if getting both sides of an issue and forming my own opinion is worship then you really less informed than is prudent. Oh My Gosh! That must mean that I also listen to views other than my own so that I get both sides and formulate my own opinion! You really ought to try that some time instead of listening to some professor who’s 15 minutes of fame actually came 40 years ago and they missed it.
June 25th, 2007 at 9:20 pmWhy do you people always leave when a person starts making sense? No Nuts.
June 25th, 2007 at 9:24 pmSame thing everywhere I go. Oh Well. I’ll just go and try again to find someone with an opinion worth discussing.
June 25th, 2007 at 9:28 pmIncidentally, the last elected President, Bill Clinton, deported more illegal immigrants than any President in American history.
So if you oppose illegal immigration, vote Democratic.
June 26th, 2007 at 7:01 amDemos see a possible engorgement of their voter rolls with the expansion of who illegal aliens can being to this country. Ironic….people who have no LEGAL right to be here can bring more people who should not be here. Without sovereignty, a nation does not exist….a world without borders is the goal of malignant “One Worlders”.
I applaud all LEGAL immigrants and their desire to follow our laws and play by the rules. Welcome!! Good luck and God bless!
June 26th, 2007 at 12:15 pmIncidentally, the last elected President, Bill Clinton, deported more illegal immigrants than any President in American history.
So if you oppose illegal immigration, vote Democratic.
Comment by Perry Logan — June 26, 2007 @ 7:01 am
If Hiterly promises mass deportation of all illegal immigrants, she’s got my vote.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:25 pmIncidentally, the last elected President, Bill Clinton, deported more illegal immigrants than any President in American history.
So if you oppose illegal immigration, vote Democratic.
Comment by Perry Logan — June 26, 2007 @ 7:01 am
If Hiterly promises mass deportations of all illegal immigrants, she’s got my vote.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:25 pm#56, Comment by Fed the Fcuk Up! — June 25, 2007 @ 8:06 pm
murdering HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of innocent people
What does abortion have to do with this issue?
abandoning the US Constitution
I agree–the left has pissed all over the Bill of Rights, rendering it virtually meaningless. Attacking our free speech rights, attacking our gun rights, perverting the notion of equal rights, eviscerating property rights, instituting speech codes, punishing thoughts as “hate” crimes, and all the rest. And they attack it more and more each and every day.
preaching hate in the name of some god
Well, we’re doing our best to fight those Islamofascists who preach hate in the name of their god. And we would very much welcome the left in joining that fight, rather than fighting against it every step of the way.
Fcuk America. All it is now is a country replete with inbreds run by criminals and populated by a bunch of cowards. That’s the indisputable truth.
Well, when you’re right you’re right. But don’t fret–Republicans will win back the Congress again and evict the criminal, race-baiting, constitution-trashing left.
Then you can be proud again.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:36 pmPosted by a person that knows nothing of the guy.
June 26th, 2007 at 1:04 pmI think only certain vocal special interests like this bill. It is bad on all accounts. Dems, Reps, and Independents don’t like this bill as it stands. The provisions for increasing visa holders is just one of the things wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU
June 26th, 2007 at 2:24 pmI think this bill sucks as it currently stands. There can be no talk nor consideration of any portion of this bill until the BORDER BARRICADE is erected. We currently have a group of people who are willing to do anything to get into our country including the setting of fires in our national forests along the border. This is done with the idea the border patrol will be occupied long enough to allow the entry of illegals without interference.If this type of thing were being carried out by Iranians it would be considered an outright act of war. Pull your heads out and lets do somethiing about this. You know, a little revolution is good for a democracy now and then. Jefferson predicted that if our democracy lasted as long as it has that the government would become oppresive. For this reason he was against ratification at the time it was proposed. He felt as if the Constitution still needed some work. Is it not funny that he could so accurately predict the events we are experiencing 200 years ago?
June 26th, 2007 at 10:00 pmBefore My wonderful father passed away, I asked Him what he thought of Rush Lim…..’Know what he said, “He’s a Fascist.” Gee dad I didn’t know he was that bad. Better think about it.?
June 28th, 2007 at 9:34 amI wonder why all of the top right wing radio host have a bet of a racist tint ? TV is not much better.
July 17th, 2007 at 9:50 pm