Join us on radio every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denverand now also on 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs To listen online from anywhere, click 710knus.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- President Bush is powerful. Kennedy and Reid and the Senate Democrats are powerful. Arizona Republican senators McCain and Kyl are powerful. RNC chairman and Florida senator Mel Martinez is powerful. But you know what? We the people are more powerful.
We spoke these past three weeks, and our message of no amnesty for illegal aliens, no sellout of law-abiding Americans to coddle foreign lawbreakers, prevailed decisively in Thursday night's US Senate vote to all but kill the Bush-Kennedy-McCain immigration bill.
How powerful are we the people? Our uproar brought a bipartisan 50-45 defeat of this awful bill, which had been deemed a sure thing only days ago. Supporters fell 15 votes short of the 60 they needed to end debate and move for passage. We pulled Sen. Jon Kyl himself, an author of the deal, over to our side, at least tactically for now. We peeled away freshman Dems like Webb (VA), Tester (MT), and McCaskill (MO) from supporting Teddy.
Here's the roll call, and it makes interesting reading. Only seven GOP senators stuck with the out-of-touch White House on this showdown. Joining McCain and Martinez in supporting amnesty were Chuck Hagel, Arlen Specter, Dick Lugar, George Voinovich, and Lindsay Graham. Few surprises there. Gregg of New Hampshire, warned by Tom Tancredo on Tuesday for his earlier support of the bill, voted nay on Thursday.
** On Backbone Radio this Sunday we'll analyze the big victory, and look at what's next, with conservative columnists Al Knight of the Denver Post and Jay Ambrose of the Rocky Mountain News.
** Congressman Doug Lamborn, freshman Republican from Colorado Springs, will check in for a look at immigration, Iraq, the Army land dispute, and his push for missile defense -- an issue that heated up between Bush and Putin this week.
** Plus Anne Neal of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni on national repercussions of the CU-Ward Churchill mess, and Karl Altau on the newly opened Memorial to the Victims of Communism.
Spin the dial, surf the net, troll through the weekdays -- you just won't find anything else like Backbone Radio. Please be part of our show this weekend by tuning in at 5pm Sunday.
Yours for self-government, JOHN ANDREWS