Live By The Bigotry, Die By The Bigotry

 GOP Voter Base Ethics Explained:

Invade and destroy a country, triggering nearly a million deaths and three million refugees fleeing what once was a thriving nation?  A-OK!

Trash habeas corpus, the Geneva Conventions, democracy and the rule of law in general?  Bring it on!

Let in more Mexicans?  DIRTY COMMIE TRAITOR!

Conservative talk radio’s impact on the immigration debate reached new heights last week, with one host effectively writing an amendment for when the Senate returns to the imperiled bill this week.

National talk show hosts have spent months denouncing the bill as providing amnesty for illegal immigrants. Some top Republicans who support the legislation have defied the broadcast pundits. Others GOP lawmakers have tried to placate them, even to the point of accepting their ideas for amendments.

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.”

People seeking entry the U.S. from countries that the U.S. has designated as state sponsors of terrorism will get a higher level of scrutiny, Kyl said Friday.

What happens to those Republicans who dare to counter the Lords of Loud? Ask Trent Lott:

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., told reporters last week, “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.” Some hosts, he added, do not know what is in the lengthy bill.

The comments incensed conservative talk show hosts who generally had supported Lott over the years.

Lott is “upset that the American people got right into the middle of the conversation over the problem with illegal aliens and it didn’t turn out all that well for the pro-amnesty forces,” Atlanta-based talk show host Neal Boortz wrote on his Web site.

“If Trent Lott and his other buddies up on the Hill aren’t listening to ‘talk,’ then what are they listening to? The answer is either their wallet or their legacy.”

Radio host Rush Limbaugh asked his audience: “What are we going to do about Mississippi Senator Trent Lott?”

Gee, Rush, you tell me. You loved him when he was talking about how America would have been better off if Strom Thurmond’s racist segregationist campaign had beat out Harry Truman for the presidency in 1948. And you loved him despite — or was it because of — his ties to the racist Council of Conservative Citizens. Why don’t you love him now?