Pinboard Links

Flap’s Links and Comments for May 6th on 07:41

These are my links for May 6th from 07:41 to 07:50:

  • Republicans and Immigration – The Stupid Party – The standard line among the high-immigration right (earnestly, if insincerely, seconded by their fellow-travelers on the left) is that Republican opposition to open immigration is driving otherwise-conservative immigrant (and/or Hispanic) voters into the arms of the Democratic party. Some new research suggests it’s actually the other way around. Far from Republican anti-immigration views pushing immigrants further toward the Democrats, it’s immigrant anti-Republican views that push Republicans further toward restriction.

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    Read it all.

    Clueless and Stupid are indeed the words to use about the GOP and illegal immigration.

  • Charge of the Latino Brigade – Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result: A few days ago I wondered whether President Obama, faced with knowledge that his immigrant legalization plan now has no chance of passing, would

    a) recognize that [his] political strategy for winning Latino votes has hit a dead end; or b) organize another White House conference!

    We now know the answer. … I’m searching for the right metaphor for the absurd political strategy Obama is pursuing. Is it performance art? Camusian heroism? Pickett’s Charge? The Charge of the Light Brigade? He’s asking Latino leaders and voters to join him for one more futile straightahead push, knowing that it’s futile and knowing they know it’s futile. And he expects them to reward him for it. …

    True, it’s not Obama’s fault that amnesty is dead. The way to get amnesty (as Lawrence O’Donnell once pointed out to me) has been clear for years: gain support for legalizing the current wave of illegal immigrants by demonstrating that you can and will prevent the next wave of illegal immigrants. The reason Latino leaders won’t take this deal is equally obvious: they don’t want to prevent the next wave of illegal immigrants–at least of Latino illegal immigrants. If they did, they’d have their amnesty by now.

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    Race-based politics at its worst – color me cynical that there will ever be another immigration bill.

    There might be E-Verify but not soon.