The question of what power or powers behind the scamnesty bill and the cloak and dagger nature of the discussions involved with it, have been partially addressed by Sher Zieve's piece at Family Security Matters, in which he wrote:

... Despite the outcry of US citizens against the illegal immigration bill that was patently racist and promoted blanket amnesty for all illegals--including terrorists and criminals--many US senators are now vowing to push a new amnesty bill down the throats of the American public by July. Contrary to the will of US citizens, the National Council of La Raza ("the race")--the racist organization that was heavily (and initially secretly) involved in the provision of input for the drafting of the now-failed amnesty-for-illegals bill--is furious that US senators did not ram the bill through.

Note: La Raza is also at the forefront of the "Reconquista Movement"--the 'reconquering' of the US for Mexico and its 'indigenous people'. La Raza has also been linked to the funding of separatist schools, including the highly controversial and revolutionary Academia Semillas del Pueblo.

La Raza and other racist groups are now having a heavy influence on US lawmakers. And, this time it's not just the usual Democrat suspects. Democrats have a long and rich history of identifying "victim classes" within society. They then appeal to said victims and promise them vast amounts of money if they 1. Vote Democrat and 2. Agree to maintain their victim and sub-standard class status. The DNC has helped to elect and even given leadership positions to members of these groups--as long as said members continue to keep their "communities" suppressed. For multiple decades, this process--which includes the near-absolute vilification of all dissenters--has worked extremely well for Democrats. But, proving once again that power [or the hopes thereof] corrupts, now Republicans have actively joined the "vote-for-me-and-I'll-give-you-whatever-you-want" Democrat throngs.

Operating under the anti-sovereignty position of "foreign invaders are really good for the USA", an increasing number of RINO (Republican in Name Only) politicians have thrown their voter bases under the bus in favor of these new illegal foreign invaders. Or are they only undocumented foreign invaders? The new amnesty bill--still supported by the power hungry Democrats and RINOs--is still being pushed. These "I deserve to be rich and powerful and the hell with the unwashed masses" politicos will not let Amnesty go, folks. The fact that this new illegals' voting bloc will not vote Republican has apparently escaped the reasoning portion of the RINO mind. Instead, former pretender to conservative stances Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said of the recently twice-defeated Senate Amnesty Bill: "We're inside the 10-yard line and we've got four downs, and I like our chances!"

Graham, who is joined by illegal alien support organizations and Democrat leaders, also threatened to bring the 'Invasion and Amnesty USA' bill back to the Senate floor before the 4th of July recess. Showing his anti-USA and globalist stripes, Graham also said at the La Raza Capital Awards: "An American is an idea. No group owns being an American. Nobody owns this!" In other words, if Graham's assertion that being an American is only a philosophical speculation, there is no such thing as American or US citizenship, anyway. Therefore, it follows that there can be no America or USA. At the same racist Awards banquet, Graham added: "We are going to tell the bigots to shut up, and we are going to get this right!" By get this right, Graham meant amnesty and by bigots, he means all those who oppose the invasion. But with Graham's apparent belief that the USA is only an idea and doesn't really exist as a country, invasion isn't possible. How can one invade a non-country?

Although Sher Zieve's piece focuses on the Democrats in general and only one RINO - Lindsey Graham, clearly, he is saying that there is indeed a "power" behind the push for amnesty and that for the most part it rests upon the Democrats' agenda for increasing their hold on yet another voting bloc built on "victimhood," and also the racial agenda of groups like La Raza that are involved in the "Reconquista Movement"--the 'reconquering' of the US for Mexico and its 'indigenous people'.

But lets recall that the Reconquista Movement doesn't represent all of the victimhood votes at play in the Senate amnesty plan. On this, I agree with what a commenter (Jaxhawk) has said at politics.wikia in which he suggests that there is indeed another one, as he reinforces the "victimhood" voting bloc-as-power idea discussed by Sher Zieve:

... they are backing this bill not to defend and protect the Constitution, but are doing an illegal deed for power and money. Historically the Democrats have gained power ever since President Roosevelt began the welfare state with the "CC" corps. and many other government plans to get money into the hands of those who had none. They have counted on lower income and minority groups for their voting base to keep voting for them ever since. Now they have the potential to pack that base of legal voters with new citizens from Mexico, Latin America and Muslim Countries who have sneaked across our porous borders in the last ten years. Democrats are in such a rush to legislate "comprehensive" immigration "reform" that they not only ignore profound problems created by a "nation without borders" policy but also pass up their favorite political tactic by remaining hypocritically silent about the "obscene profits" loving business class who have been growing fat gobbling up "undocumented workers" as if they were high calorie manna from Heaven. PEW research revealed the following statistics:

Their Research Center study of Muslim Americans, a major project whose "methodological approach" the Center calls the "most comprehensive ever used to study" this segment of the American population found these facts.

"Muslim Americans are mostly Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream." However, as regarding any group, all does not "look like America," including, in this case, political attitudes that diverge significantly (and curiously) from the mainstream.

Here are the details: "63% of Muslim Americans describe themselves as Democrats or leaning Democratic (against 51% of the public). 11% describe themselves as Republicans or leaning Republican (against 36% of the public). 19% describe themselves as conservative (against 34% of the public) 71% say they voted for John Kerry (against 48% of the public) and, in the most important statistic of all, 70% "prefer government that is bigger" (against 43% of the public) while 21% "prefer government that is smaller" (against 45% of the public).

This political diversion from the mainstream exists despite the fact that Muslim Americans almost perfectly match the general population in their inclusion in the various levels of household income, are socially conservative, and exceed the general public (71% - 64%) in agreeing that "most people who want to get ahead in the U.S. can make it if they are willing to work hard."

Moreover, while "anti-Bush" sentiments might explain some of the skew to Democrats, it cannot explain the preference for bigger government in general, including favoring "government involvement in protecting morality" (59% against 37% of the public). Therefore, some other factor, most likely cultural, is its driving force (even after one factors out Black American Muslims, who, like all African Americans, are likely to vote for "bigger government" far out of proportion to the general population).

Finally, Pew puts the number of "Muslims 18 years old or older currently living in the United States [at] 1.4 million." Now we can give the answer to the question regarding Democratic motivations with respect to border and immigration issues. It is this: Given that Democrats are aware of how cultural attitudes can affect the attitude toward government even of a group one would guess ought to reflect Middle America, they become expediently ecstatic when, with a Marxist utilitarianism, they think about a growing population of 10-12 million illegal aliens, virtually all of whom, for social, economic, and cultural reasons, have no connection to the Reform Movement that has been growing in Western Advanced Democracies". There in plain words is what lies behind the Democratic border/immigration agenda, especially since the Republican landslide of '94, when Democrats learned that the only way the party can protect itself from the consequences of the popular tide is to discover a cache of new Democratic voters. The Democrat agenda has nothing to do with defending the American people from harm, nothing to do with protecting the American people from economic injury, nothing to do with American tradition that has embraced people from every part of the world, and nothing to do with how Hispanics have enriched American society by virtue of their strong families, devout religious beliefs, and dedication to hard work, education, entrepreneurship, and service. It is all about keeping power in the seat of government by legislating a bill that will ensure a large block of voters who will help them convert our system of government from one based on the Constitution and free enterprise to a Socialist Marxist government, lead by Hillary, Obama or Edwards, that will easily fit into the "One World" of Nation States. Or if you would prefer: A Village under one umbrella of a Government that takes all and doles out what they think we need!

While the perspectives of Voigt, Zieve, and Jaxhawk help to sum up the power issues involved in the Democrats push for the Scamnesty bill, the support for the bill by Republicans like McCain, Graham, Lott, McConnell, and especially President Bush, is for me, puzzling. After all, it is destroying the Republican party's relationship with its base. John Hawkins at Right Wing News has put this in perspective:

Now, let's set right and wrong aside for a moment and talk pure politics.

The GOP had a horrible year at the polls in 2006 and their base, as well as the American public is very down on them. Additionally, George Bush is going to be an albatross around the neck of every Republican candidate in 2008.

So, what is the Republican party about to do? They're about to back a bill that is so unpopular with their own base that it will significantly hurt fund raising, lead to primary challenges for Senators up for reelection, and will probably peel off millions of potential voters who will stay home or vote for third party loser candidates in protest, rather than vote for the GOP.

Now, that's what their biggest supporters think. But, the American people also oppose this bill by a more than 2 to 1 margin and most of the energy and passion is on the side of the people who oppose it. In other words, if this bill becomes a law, it's too early to say for sure how much damage it will cause, but my best guess is that it will probably cost us the presidency, 5 seats in the Senate, and probably 10-15 house seats.

If Jimmy Carter were the Republican President in the White House and Harry Reid was the Senate minority leader for the Republican Party, they couldn't come up with a plan that would do more damage to the Republican Party than the one that is being implemented right now by George Bush and Mitch McConnell.

And to what end? Making illegal immigration a high priority for the Republican base for the next 8 years as conservatives demand that we try to kill the Z visa program before the illegals have an opportunity to become citizens? Getting a tiny bump from Hispanic Americans that won't swing any elections in 2008 and will be gone by 2010? Making business owners who vote Republican anyway because the Democrats would tax and regulate them into the ground happy?

Never has a political party given up so much at such great cost to get so little in return.

So we're left with where do we go from here, and that, my friends, is in your hands and depends to a large degree on how loud an outcry we make in our effort to stop the insane, nation-destroying, culture-erasing, financially-devestating, national security disaster of a immigration bill that Senate Democrats and a handful of RINOs are trying to cram down our throats.

Action Needed (via StickNstein):

If you haven't called your Senator this week and next week is the time....You may not get another opportunity.

Reid has agreed to re introduce the immigration Amnesty bill next week. He's not waiting. Republicans have told him they believe they have the votes to pass Cloture. The agreement to appropriate money up front is a sham.....Do you know where it is going to come from?
IN THE WORDS OF ONE OF OUR BLOGGERS ( Freedom of Philadelphia ) It's horrific and misleading. It's being funded by the cost of the z-visas, which means that money from the visas that could of gone to help offset the costs of health care, education, or crime from the illegal tsunami we've been swamped by!

The cloture vote to end debate will be the "real" vote on the bill because if debate is closed off, the bill is sure to pass. Then, what will happen is that the votes for the bill will be counted, and a few Senators who are afraid that their election prospects will be jeopardized by a "yes" vote, will be allowed to vote against the bill. This enables those Senators to tell their constituents that they voted against the bill, but it will still allow them to collect campaign contributions from lobbyists who have a better understanding of how things work, and know that the bill couldn't have been passed without their support. Put another way, they get to reap the rewards of supporting amnesty while telling the voters in their home states that they opposed the bill.

You need 60 votes for cloture (i.e., to end debate) but a simple majority to pass it. So the fence-sitters will vote yes on the first and no on the second, knowing that even without them the amnesty wing will still have 51 votes to push it through.

THE MESSAGE IS SIMPLE AND DIRECT.......

Tell these liars you know that anyone voting for cloture is effectively voting for passage of the bill, and that you -- and everyone you know -- will be quite aware that claims that a Senator "voted against the bill" are lies if he also voted for cloture.

A VOTE FOR CLOTURE IS A PRO AMNESTY VOTE REGARDLESS OF HOW THEY VOTED ON THE FAKE AMENDMENTS...OR HOW THEY VOTE ON A FINAL" BILL" ......PERIOD

Below is the list of 15 GOP senators that the amnesty pushers want to flip to their side (asterisked senators are up for re-election in 2008) THE LINK WILL TAKE YOU TO THEIR WEB SITES........SEND AN EMAIL BUT THAT IS NOT ENOUGH!

Contact links and info here ...

Related:
Immigration Bill Resurrected - "It's baaaa-aaaaack. ... Why should anyone trust this bill to address those issues when neither Congress nor the executive branch has complied with the earlier legislation?"

Other related:
The Immigration Bill is Back
Lott: You're Stupid

Cross posted from Hyscience