The Dems' Immigration Agenda

Democrats are working hard to secure the Latino vote by charging Republicans with anti-Latino bigotry. As this piece highlights -- with its title "Democrats see advantage in 2008 because of immigration" -- the agenda is to try to use the bill's defeat as a way to secure Hispanic votes by slandering Republicans.

The idea is to mislead Latinos into thinking that anti-Latino animus was the motivating factor behind Republican opposition to the bill. Of course, this overlooks the fact that previous polls have found substantial anti-illegal immigrant sentiment among Hispanic citizens themselves (conveniently, fewer such polls seem to have been conducted during this round of immigration legislation than, say, last year's).

Even today, it's worth pointing out that 72% of Americans generally believe it's important to reduce illegal immigration, even as most Americans favor a welcoming immigration policy.

What does that indicate? That Republicans weren't alone in opposing this piece of legislation, and that, in general, they do welcome legal immigrants. The only problem is that too often, facts aren't enough. The MSM meme has become that the supposed anti-Latino bias shown by Republicans will hurt them in the next election. The problem is that, if this is repeated enough, people come to believe it -- much as public opinion on the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill controversy shifted after a year of relentless MSM pounding on the pro-Hill side.