Immigration Fallout
Clint Bolick echoes the concerns of many well-meaning Democrats when he warns that failure to pass an immigration bill this year may have a disastrous impact on GOP hopes of luring Latinos to the party for a generation or more.
Frankly, however, if this occurs, the blame doesn't lie with those who have raised serious and conscientious objections to a bill that is widely unpopular with Americans on both sides of the aisle (witness the small number that wants the bill revived).
Instead, the blame lies with those Republicans who -- in their eagerness to get the bill passed -- slandered their fellow GOP'ers by tarring them with the brush of racism and bigotry. Among them are President Bush, Trent Lott and Lindsay Graham. By doing so, they gave credence to the long-time, ugly, divisive Democratic efforts to paint the Republican Party as the home of racists.
If, instead, the Republicans favoring the bill had taken the opportunity to underline their disagreement with bill opponents, but still defended the good faith of the vast majority, the inevitable smears would have been infinitely less powerful. Because they chose another course, the danger of long-term political problems is much greater than it needed to be.
Frankly, however, if this occurs, the blame doesn't lie with those who have raised serious and conscientious objections to a bill that is widely unpopular with Americans on both sides of the aisle (witness the small number that wants the bill revived).
Instead, the blame lies with those Republicans who -- in their eagerness to get the bill passed -- slandered their fellow GOP'ers by tarring them with the brush of racism and bigotry. Among them are President Bush, Trent Lott and Lindsay Graham. By doing so, they gave credence to the long-time, ugly, divisive Democratic efforts to paint the Republican Party as the home of racists.
If, instead, the Republicans favoring the bill had taken the opportunity to underline their disagreement with bill opponents, but still defended the good faith of the vast majority, the inevitable smears would have been infinitely less powerful. Because they chose another course, the danger of long-term political problems is much greater than it needed to be.
posted by LadybugUSA at 10:07 AM
2 Comments:
Sorry I don't recall where I read it, but someone has already looked into the voting preferences for those who were given amnesty in 1986. The GOP got only a small percentage of those votes. This argument of impending GOP disaster is not borne out by previous amnesty results. And if we are to believe some recent research, one's political bent is geneticlly endowed.
Given the MSM's predilection for publicizing things it deems beneficial to its political persuasion and ignoring or deep-sixing what it thinks harms its views, I don't place much stock in what it chooses to air.
I heard this Bolick character on Laura Ingraham's show this morning. He insisted on referring to the issue as an immigration issue and that too many are against immigration. Of course this is all bollocks, as the Brits would say. It's about, of course, ILLEGAL immigration. Purposely using one term where the other is appropriate muddies the issue.
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