Immigration-it’s the new Economy, Stupid!
Mary Anna Towler, over at City Newspaper, has an Editorial called “Are we ‘a better country than that’?”, As per her usual, she is right on the mark with this one:
A few months ago, it seemed certain that the next president would be a Democrat - and that the country would return to the values for which it was once known.
Now, I’m not so sure. The Democrats running for president may be more rational than the Republicans, but the Republicans have … immigration.
And if last week’s CNN debate is any indication, the Republicans’ apparent front-runners, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, plan to stoke the growing anti-immigrant fervor.
I had thought that the country couldn’t sink any lower than Lou Dobbs’ hysteria. But there were Romney and Giuliani, trying to outdo one another in their xenophobia.
Giuliani, well, surprise, surprise. I thought he had the one sane voice in this echo chamber of immigrant bashing. It just goes to show you, that with Republicans, no stoop is too low.
It seems as though Huck tried to humble this crew by mentioning the children:
When he was governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee wanted to let children of undocumented immigrants be eligible for state-funded scholarships if they had completed school. The goal, he said, was to help them become productive, tax-paying adults.In the CNN debate, Mitt Romney pounced. “Liberals have great reasons for taking taxpayer money and using it for things they think are the right thing to do,” he huffed. “Mike, that’s not your money.”
Huckabee (certainly no liberal) tried to stand up for American values. “In all due respect,” he said, “we’re a better country than to punish children for what their parents did. We’re a better country.”
But Romney would have none of it. “Are we going to give taxpayer money to children who are here illegally?” he persisted.
This is mean-spirited. It is anti-American. It is dangerous.
Yes, it is, indeed and it works. We saw it in our local elections and the Big Green Fear Machine continues to spew it’s hateful propaganda nationwide, so all may live in fear of these scary illegals who want to take your jobs, bomb your schools, poison your water and rape your daughters (sisters, mothers, sons-take your choice).
Read the whole thing. Then read the letter to the editor praising Cheryl Dinolfo standing up to the Governor and saving us from the immigrant evildoers (I wasn’t able to find this on line, so you’ll have to pick up a hard copy to read it). Minarik has really wrapped his teeth around this one.
We shouldn’t be surprised. This is so Rovian, these guys are masters of creating the boogeyman. CNN polls of Republicans show that immigration is the number one issue of our times with them. Not the war, the economy, or health care but who is picking our cabbage has them all wound-up.
Yeah, another spot-on editorial by Mary-Anna Towler.
I actually question whether this is as good a plan as they seem to think it is: I suspect a majority of America can see this is an issue on which the Republicans plan only to run, not to work towards a solution. Besides which, Mitt Romney just shot every stinkin’ one of them in the foot by not keeping his house in order, once again painting Republicans as people who talk about values but don’t live up to them.
And as far as I can tell, he’s their most likely nominee, unless Huckabee wins Iowa and catches fire elsewhere.
In fact I would go one better and say that the way the field is shaping up, playing the immigration card will do the Republicans more harm than good by reminding loyal Republican voters what a losing team they’re on and depressing the turnout.
And they call you a cock-eyed optimist.