to save the day. It appears he is pushing the Democratic caucus to support the Republican version pushed by Tancredo and the Democrat's own Heath Shuler.
That version is "enforcement only". I am sorry but voting for a bill being pushed by Tancredo is so far out of the realm of Democratic reality.
We have a majority in the House, and there are so many sensible non-hate inspiring versions of an immigration bill we could do if we were not so terrified of the right.
Markos said it just right.
Is Rahm racist, or merely scared?It's got to be one or the other, because Rahm Emanuel is behind efforts to build Democratic support for the Shuler/Tancredo "enforcement-only" bill currently winding its way through the House.
Think about it -- our House leadership is strong-arming Democrats into backing a bill which is the central agenda of the biggest racist xenophobe Tom Tancredo.
..."So we won, didn't we? Not according to Rahm and the either bigoted or scared contingent in the House that is ready to -- once again and demonstrably so -- be on the wrong side of the American public on this issue.
Americans don't want hate-based anti-immigration rhetoric and action, they want comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders and provides a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants in this country.
Yet there's Rahm, with a big chunk of the Democratic caucus, making common cause with racist Tom Tancredo.
The Latino vote is volatile. It swings. And Democrats can't afford to lose 10 percent of their margin over stupidity like this."
This is exactly what I was talking about when I said that even though we appeared to be getting bluer in Congress.....we were acting like we were redder than ever.
There is no excuse for this racist stuff from Rahm.
Here are a couple more write-ups I found about this and the way Rahm is handling it.
Here is one from Fire Dog Lake:
Rahm tells Dems to move right so as not to lose.Two weeks ago he sent a DCCC-connected candidate training a video of himself haranguing congressional candidates to “move right” on immigration or risk defeat at the hands of Republicans. This is similar to the terrible advice he shoved down candidates’ throats last year, although then he was demanding they move to the right on Iraq, dooming the candidacies of Lois Murphy, Francine Busby, Ken Lucas, Tammy Duckworth, Diane Farrell and several others who went along with his demands. Yesterday Markos asked a blaring question at DailyKos: Is Rahm racist, or merely scared?. While walking the picket line at the WGA strike at Fox today Jane and I came up with the idea of inviting Emanuel over to FDL to ask him why he thinks adopting Tom Tancredo’s immigration ideas is a good idea and why he’s unleashed Heath Shuler to do just that.
This is exactly what I meant.
There was also a good post at Down With Tyranny recently:
Training Democrats to be well, good DemocratsStand up, Rahm, come up with a good and fair bill. There is no need for our immigrant population to live in the fear they live in now. It is not necessary, and we do not deserve their vote.
Someone else had a pretty fair view. Doubt they will listen.
Democrats should not be using immigration to divide the country.“We’re not going to divide Americans to win elections. The Republican Party’s ‘Southern Strategy’ used in the 1960s and 1970s lives today. In 2000, they used the racially charged word “quota” to divide African Americans. In 2004, they used gay marriage. And just you wait; in 2006 its going to be immigrants.”
Yes, it looks like we might use the issue to divide if Rahm gets his way.
DU Donor
