The Washingon Post's Greg Sargent [Send him mail] is angry at those Republicans who want to defend America from invasion, and deport illegal aliens.
Morning Plum: GOP moves from ‘self deport’ to ‘throw them all out’On Friday, House Republicans passed measures to address the border crisis that gutted protections for immigrants brought to this country illegally as children. This made it official: The border crisis has pushed the true GOP position on immigration out into the open, confirming Republicans have become the party of maximum deportations. Even the Wall Street Journal editorial board has now echoed this idea, castigating “Deportation Republicans.”To understand the possible long term implications of this, note that two Republicans who have explicitly used this debate to raise their profiles — Ted Cruz and Rick Perry — also may well run for president next year.
On CNN’s State of the Union yesterday, Perry claimed the big story here is that Obama has failed to secure the border, repeating wildly inflated claims about illegal immigrants being responsible for thousands of homicides, and asserting that “some of them are from countries that have substantial terrorist ties.” And he appeared to link Obama’s coming executive action to ease deportations to suggestions of a border in chaos, claiming: “American citizens expect Washington to respect the Constitution and secure the border.” Meanwhile, Ted Cruz’s role in pressuring House Republicans to vote to deport all the DREAMers has already been documented.[More]
Let's pause for a moment and contemplate Ted Cruz and Rick Perry as the threatening anti-immigrant figures.
It shows that Republicans are feeling the heat from actual voters, and can no longer engage in the bipartisan rhetoric that Sam Francis characterized this way:
“in America, we have a two-party system...There is the stupid party. And there is the evil party. I am proud to be a member of the stupid party...Periodically, the two parties get together and do something that is both stupid and evil. This is called – “bipartisanship.”
Sargent doesn't know what's wrong with this "bipartisanship"—see his reference above to "Even the Wall Street Journal editorial board " as if the WSJ editorial board wasn't always opposed to deportation, because it's good for businesses to have labor as cheap as possible.
But Republican voters know what's wrong with it, and polarization on this issue might bring victory to the Republicans, which is the real reason Sargent is angry. A later post, titled More GOP demagoguery on border crisis, attacks Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton for appealing to the voters on this issue—because his attitude illegal immigrants is different from his Democratic opponents.
Demagoguery is a charge always hurled at conservatives, and it means appealing to electoral interests that wonks don't like. Demagogue has two definitions in Merriam-Webster online:
1: a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power
2: a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times
Sargent, a big Obamacare defender, is OK with the first, if Obama does it, opposed to the second, if Republicans do it.
None of the journalists worrying about the GOP's "move to the right" on immigration have the best interests of either the GOP or America at heart.
