When party leaders decide to do the expedient thing to win instead of standing for what should be our values....this is the result. Not enough votes on issues on which Democrats should be standing firm.
Rahm 2008:
Rahm Emanuel told candidates to “move right” on immigration or risk defeat at the hands of Republicans.When he was head of the DCCC he controlled the messaging.
From 2008
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.
From Markos at Daily Kos in 2007:
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.
Daily Kos And Chris Bowers at Open Left was using very strong language on this in 2008:
don't like Rahm Emanuel becoming Obama's chief of staff, but I also don't think it would have mattered if he chose someone else. If Obama wanted Rahm as Chief of Staff, but Rahm had declined or been denied the slot via outside pressure, then you can be sure Obama would have simply sought someone else who was virtually identical to Rahm in terms of demeanor, tactics, and ideology. The options were basically either Rahm or some variation on Rahm. In this case, I view him as simply the vehicle or the weapon, not the person driving or pulling the trigger.
...
"In short, Rahm Emanuel's views on how to win elections are the antithesis of those most commonly found in the progressive grassroots. No public aggression toward Republicans, rolling over to right-wing smear jobs, favoring wealth, conservative Democrats, opposing broad, grassroots activism, and even scapegoating minority groups like immigrants instead of firing up the base. It is bad enough to have someone who governs with one eye always focused on electoral implications, but when that person views elections in a way that is diametrically opposed to everything I, and many other in the netroots, have fought for in the Democratic Party this past decade, I end up with a more pessimistic view of the Obama administration than I had a couple days ago.
Open LeftI don't know about the House plans on immigration reform, but the Washington Post today gives a clue about the Senate version.
Senate Democrats' plan highlights nation's shift to the right on immigrationAs protesters in 80 U.S. cities demanded an overhaul Saturday of the nation's immigration laws, fueled in part by anger over a measure enacted two weeks ago in Arizona, a new proposal by Senate Democrats shows how far the debate has shifted to the right since Congress took up the issue in 2007, advocates on both sides said.
I would disagree. I think it shows just how far our party leaders have shifted, and they control the message. Unfortunately.
The Democrats' legislative "framework" includes a slew of new immigration enforcement measures aimed at U.S. borders and workplaces. It would further expand the 20,000-member Border Patrol; triple fines against U.S. employers that hire illegal immigrants; and, most controversially, require all American workers -- citizens and non-citizens alike -- to get new Social Security cards linked to their fingerprints to ease work eligibility checks.
The plan's emphasis on "securing the border first" before taking steps to allow many of an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States to pay fines and apply for legal status was plainly a gesture to Republicans. Even so, no Republican is supporting it, not even Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who has been working with Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) in bipartisan talks over the issue for months.
We kept moving to the right on the health care "reform", even though the Republicans never planned to be anything but partisan.
We are moving to the right on education "reform", putting Bush's plans of privatizing public education into fast forward.
Rahm warned his candidates as DCCC chairman to "go right" on immigration. Just like he warned them to not talk about Iraq on the campaign trail.
We are seeing the results of the "go right" message now.
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