Well, Mr. Hoyt, what exactly do you stand for on the immigration issue? Do you favor absolute amnesty? Do you favor any preconditions to granting citizenship? If so, what preconditions do you favor? Do you support, or oppose efforts to increase border security? And why? Do you favor Open Borders? Permitting anyone to cross our borders without restriction?

Ghostman

I know I’m late, but if I may :
Open borders make sure that there is actually a balance of wealth. Today, wealth is unbalanced and that’s why there is so much immigration.
Mexicans don’t look at the borders and say “hey it’s easy to cross, let’s go!”.
Rather, they compare the perspectives in both countries and make a choice.

email:
There is a long tradition in the Democratic Party that goes against racism with every fiber of our being. Ignoring that, I’m told that Rahm Emanuel is actually pressuring others in the Party to take a racist position.

We must fight very hard against this. It is a worse threat than the Republicans, because it brings their worst ant-American racism into our own Party. How dare he?

I’m asking for your leadership in opposing him.

I sent this email:

To: Rahm Emanuel

I am writing as a former resident of your district who now lives in California to express my shock and displeasure at your recent turn to a racist approach on immigration issues.
You do not have the power to turn the Democratic Party toward racism at this time. Your move in this direction is the worst thing I have heard of in a long time. Our democracy hangs by a thread. We need our traditions of honesty and fairness to fight against the fascist forces that the Republicans have introduced and which are gradually gaining hold in America. We see this very clearly.
It is no secret that it is obvious.
Nowhere is this more evident than in issues on the border; there are reports of massive commercially run prisons for immigrants where people are kept with children and families, and where they die for lack of medical care and poor treatment. What are you doing to elimate these prisons?
We need leadership now to fight against this horror in the name of the long established principles of the Democratic Party.
You have no right to insist that other Democratic Congressmen follow your lead in voting for racist solutions. There is no basis for it in our traditions, and we will fight fiercely to oppose any such move.
You are the one who is trying to destroy the Democratic Party. You are not a leader of it. If you believe in racist solutions, I call on you to resign from the Democratic Party and join the Republicans. We don’t need or want you in our Democratic Party with this message.

To this day Kos does not understand (or at least admit) that he was wrong to side with Duckworth (and by extension with Rahm) in that race. Now he has the gall to complain about Rahm’s power in the Party when he had a chance to help check that power.

I’m just someone who writes occasional comments and diaries on other people’s blogs. I really wish other prominent bloggers would explain to Kos that he made a huge mistake by not siding with the netroots and local grassroots in that fight. Otherwise, the next time Rahm or someone of his ilk finds a sufficiently attractive candidate (on paper) — Duckworth was a wounded Iraq war vet — Kos is likely to make the same mistake again.

If he did for Cegelis 2 years ago what he’s doing for Donna Edwards now, the DCCC wouldn’t have wasted $4 million in that district to the detriment of races like Dan Seals in IL-10 (which we now have to fight again), and we might well have won by drawing a clear contrast with the Republican in IL-6. Instead, on Rahm’s advice, Duckworth refused to take a stand against the war (even though she could have been the poster child for war opposition) leaving the race to be run on issues like illegal immigration. She also had no field organization to speak of, leaving the next candidates nothing to build on.

Josh Hoyt @ 64

Storefront on a busy street in a working class heavily immigrant neighborhood. I have been there once or twice with groups of people.

Hmmmm, well Josh, you’ve either were blindfolded or have never been to the Irving Park address. The Portage Park/Irving Park neighborhood is as are many Chicago neighborhoods diversified. But the home prices to live in that neck of the woods, is gonna cost you a pretty penny.
Chicago Tribune Real Estate section
And here’s the Congressional Illinois 5th District demographics
http://projects.washingtonpost…..istrict-5/

Mods could you please fix the chicago tribune real estate link @139?
Anyone interested in real estate prices in Rahm’s neighborhood, type in portage park or Old Irving Park at this link:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/…..ealestate/

Peterr @ 62

Josh, what is the neighborhood like around Emanuel’s Chicago district office? Is it up on the fourth floor of a manicured corporate-style office complex, a storefront in a workingclass Hispanic area, or something else?

Storefront on a busy street in a working class heavily immigrant neighborhood. I have been there once or twice with groups of people.

Hmmmm, well Josh, you’ve either were blindfolded or have never been to the Irving Park address. The Portage Park/Irving Park neighborhood is as are many Chicago neighborhoods diversified. But the home prices to live in that neck of the woods, is gonna cost you a pretty penny.
Chicago Tribune Real Estate section
http://chicagotribune.2.homesc…..xt=portage park&geo_area_text_lookup_id=51255&filter_min_price=&filter_max_price=&filter_
min_bed=&filter_min_bath=&filter_property_type=&search_by_type=resale_mls,resale_class,
resale,new_const,new_class,new_mls&reporting_search_name=Channel Quick Search
And here’s the Congressional Illinois 5th District demographics
http://projects.washingtonpost…..istrict-5/

At the risk of causing you some slight embarrassment, you and Lahoma represent all that is best in our Nation’s people and what was once the Democratic Party. I only wish that young people all over this country might have the experience of teachers such as yourself.

Well, I also wish that you might gain considerable influence in certain political circles.

here i am

Hi Naomi, I think you’re about an hour early…