You're Doing It WrongToday’s NYT lead editorial is not happy with the Democrats’ immigration strategy:

The natural allies of immigrants have been cowed into mumbling or silent avoidance. The Democrats’ chief strategist, Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, went so far as to declare immigration the latest “third rail of American politics.” This profile in squeamishness was on full display at the Democratic presidential debate last week in Las Vegas, when Wolf Blitzer pressed the candidates for yes-or-no answers on driver’s licenses and Mrs. Clinton, to her great discredit, said no.

…But the wilderness of anger into which Mr. Tancredo helped lead America is not where the country has to be on this vitally important issue, nor where it truly is.

(…)

The National Immigration Forum has compiled nearly two dozen polls from 2007 alone that show Americans consistently favoring a combination of tough enforcement and earned legalization over just enforcement. Elections confirm this. Straight-talking moderates like Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico thrive in the immigration crucible along the southern border. Those who obsess about immigration as single-issue hard-liners, like the Arizonans J. D. Hayworth and Randy Graf, have disappeared, booted by voters. Voters in Virginia this month rejected similar candidates and handed control of the State Senate to Democrats.

It may not be “amnesty” that gets Americans worked up as much as inaction. They seem to sense the weakness and futility in the enforcement-only strategy, the idea of tightening the screws on an informal apartheid system until it is so frightening and hopeless that millions of poor people pack up and leave.

Not only is immigration reform the morally right and compassionate thing to do; not only is it the practical and sensible thing to do; it’s also the politically smart thing to do. The American people are ready for it, and the Hispanic population is growing. The demonization of immigrants may play well with the Republican base, but it’s more and more of a loser outside of it. The anti-immigration ship is sinking, but Rahm and Shuler want to jump on it – and take the rest of the party with them.

Consider also Athenae’s great post about the "embarrassment squick" of watching Democrats talk big and act small, again and again (it’s brilliant – go read it, I’ll wait). On issue after issue, the Democrats pull their punches or refuse to fight at all.

Part of it is the Democratic leadership’s fanciful belief in a pro-war, pro-warrantless-wiretapping, pro-torture, pro-corporation, and anti-immigration political "middle," and part of it is their reluctance to pick fights that they can’t win. How many times has Harry Reid thrown up his hands and refused to bring a bill to a vote because he didn’t have 60 votes? How many times has the leadership watered down a bill to attract enough Republicans and Bush Dogs to pass? Where my articles of impeachment at?

The reason that the American public is disgusted with congressional Democrats isn’t that they see them failing to stop Dubya’s rampage against the Constitution and human decency, it’s that they don’t see them even trying. It’s very simple: The Democrats should very loudly go after the war and all the rest with everything they’ve got, and force the Republicans to bury themselves under mountains of bad votes. Yes, the Republicans may defeat everything the Democrats throw at them, but come election time they’ll have to explain why they voted to prolong the war, and to give unprecedented power to the worst president in history. Any Bush Dogs want to stab the leadership in the back, tell them they’re on their own in the primaries.

Yeah, I’m sure there will be a lot of hurt feelings and resentment, but I really don’t care. People are dying for nothing, our Constitution is getting shredded, our economy is tanking and our global reputation is in the toilet. A few ruffled feathers in Congress and disapproving clucks from Broderella are a small price to pay to get our country back.

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