Terms like “take your medicine” and “eat your vegetables” refer to doing something good or necessary for your health even though it is unpleasant. Greg Sargent discovered that, at best, this is how Republican strategists feel about passing some kind of immigration reform. Sargent talked to some strategists in order to run a theory by them. His theory was that the GOP would be better off passing immigration reform this year than next year because, if they wait until next year, the debate within the party about “amnesty” would spill into their primary battles, pull the contenders to the right on the issue, and do severe damage to their chances with the Latino community. Much better, the theory goes, to get that debate done and over with before the presidential race begins in earnest. Sargent’s theory received significant endorsement:
“You could see a scenario where some of the candidates want to do something solutions-oriented on immigration, but then one candidate somehow wins Iowa on a “no amnesty’ pledge,” Patrick Hynes, a New Hampshire-based political strategist who was an adviser on both the McCain and Romney campaigns, tells me. “Then the other canddiates would have to morphe their positions to the right, thereby buttonholing themselves when the inevitable debate comes up again in the next primary states.”
“As we saw in 2012, just by virtue of having this debate, we alienate the fastest growing portion of the electorate,” Hynes continued. “That could result in us starting the next general election on our heels.”
This question concerns the timing of when to act, not whether to act at all. Many Republicans say the party needs to do something on reform, to repair relations with Latinos – just not this year. But as Matt Lewis observes about the need for GOP action now: “There really is no good time to eat your vegetables.”
I don’t think these strategists are thinking clearly. As long as the GOP treats the interests of the Latino community as some “bitter pill” or vile vegetable, they aren’t going to have much appeal to that community. It shouldn’t be so unpleasant to do what’s right. Doing what’s right shouldn’t leave a bad taste in your mouth.
If the Republicans in both houses of Congress have any brains left (which is questionable, at this point), they’ll swallow their bitter medicine AFTER their primary season THIS year.
This way, the issue will be settled, and the immigration policy enacted and in place, before the 2016 primary season.
But I think they’re terrified of that 27% of their rabid base, so that 27% rabid tail will continue to wag this dog of a party.
You have the right data but the wrong context.
The 27% represent the hardcore racist right in relation to the general voting population, however they represent 27/47 or 57% of Republicans and an even higher portion of the primary voters.
it’s not a minority of the minority, tail wagging the dog – this is who these people are. The majority of their party are racists, racist sympathizers, or accomplices to racists. It’s not an aberration – it’s a defining characteristic of their identity.
I’m not certain you’re interpreting the analogy correctly. In this context, I don’t think acting in Latino interests per se are the mushy-tasting vegetables — it’s the confrontation of the racist portion of the base that’s so bitter.
As you’ve said yourself many times, this has become something of a zero-sum game for the GOP — in fact, it’s more like a negative-sum game at this point — because acting in the interests of Latinos is not consistent with getting the xenophobes to the polls in enthusiastic numbers. That’s a reality that they simply have to confront at some point or become further marginalized. A whole lot of them know that. But it’s going to a bitter, ugly, intra-party fight with an uncertain outcome that none of them is looking forward to.
So when an analyst says “eat your vegetables”, he could be fully interested in doing what’s right, and yet have a bitter taste for the ugly feud that’s coming. That makes perfect sense to me. And if they succeed in exorcising these people from the party, they might have some more appeal to Latinos, at least eventually.
You give them way too much benefit of the doubt…
My point is that they don’t see it as merely painful but as distasteful.
I don’t think Al Gore Sr. thought the Voting Rights Act was distasteful. Just painful.
See the difference?
I listened to a few Republican House members come out to speak to the press after they had their big pow-wow. Hearing these guys talk about the idea that “we shouldn’t do immigration reform this year” made me FURIOUS. Why do reporters not make them answer the question “What about the people who are being made to suffer under current immigration laws today, and tomorrow, and next month? You want to leave them swinging from a tree branch because…why?”
CIR is constantly talked about as an electoral issue. Its human impact is real, and the press’ willingness to allow politicians to avoid grappling with that fact is vile.
If we are to talk about electoral imperatives, I’ll point out the sheer stupidity of a frequent defense by GOP Congressmembers, repeated yesterday: “We can’t trust President Obama to enforce any law we make.” What these dummies are saying to immigrant populations is that “We want to make laws that hurt people in your community, and we don’t think Obama will do that.” It emphasizes not just their knuckle-dragging position here, but that they believe the President is on their side.
Please proceed, Republicans.
I’m not sure that the particular quote upon which you were focusing demonstrates distaste any more than pain.
I mean, I’m sure there are Republicans all along the spectrum: those who are blatantly racist and don’t want to do anything to help Latinos, those who are more politely racist who recognize that they have to do it even though they don’t really want to help Latinos, those who recognize that this is the right thing to do even though it’s gonna be an ugly fight, and maybe even a few who relish this and can’t wait to have a party without these racist assholes (though I think most of the latter have been chased out). Anyway, I have no idea in what proportions they are distributed among these categories.
It’s not that the Republicans can find the ‘right time’ to do this.
Their is no right time for Republicans to do this because their voters don’t want to do anything for immigrants. Quite the opposite; they want to line the borders with alligators, laser-kill robots and a lot of barbed wire. Talk radio right now is totally trashing the GOP leadership on a daily basis on immigration,
If they ever try to pass anything in the House, just wait. There will be one insane proposal after another to ‘secure the border’ and deport undesirables – there will be nothing else. And they won’t be able to pass anything without help from the Democrats, there’s a fun one.
There is no way to strategize it.
Like Boehner did on the debt limit, you need to let them have their way, and then you have to let it blow up. And more than once. Then maybe you can change it. But I don’t see any sign that the aging, angry, disillusioned GOP base is the kind of voting block that will ever changes its stripes. The kinds of attitudes the base has about religion and race and sex are baked-in and lifelong, and will be taken to the grave rather than changed.
I keep seeing this speculation bubble to the surface in the media that the GOP (has to, wants to, needs to, is looking at ways to, is considering, is discussing internally, is working on a compromise) on immigration reform. And I can see no other way to look at this than it is simply a continuous changing of the window dressing in order give the appearance that they are for it, and all that is lacking is to find a way to properly wrap and put a bow on a package.
The truth of the matter is, there are only two ways this is going to happen. Either enough GOP House members side with all the Democrats to get something passed in the House. Or the GOP civil war plays out where the Tea Party crazies are purged through a few disastrous election cycles.
I think it is safe to say that depending on anyone in the GOP caucus to demonstrate the courage necessary to sign on to immigration reform under the current political circumstances is simply a delusion. Which leaves us with the second option, and that seems to be nothing more than a pipe dream, given the strong hold due to the gerrymandering that took place after 2010.
Border states are going to continue to ramp up the anti-immigration laws. Non-border states with GOP majorities are going to continue their own self styled anti-immigrant crusade through the implementation of their own xenophobically and racially based legislation, like voter suppression and the empowerment of local law enforcement to chase down suspected “illegals” in their community.
Should some short political window open for real immigration reform, similar to the one that opened for passage of the ACA, we would no doubt see the same kind of visceral response among the far right like we continue to see concerning the ACA. And this time they would have much more visible targets to assault, namely real people, rather than simply a policy which they view as overtly tyrannical.
I have absolutely zero confidence that any Republican will “do what’s right”. If they do, they might as well go ahead and change their party affiliation to Democrat and their employment status to “UNEMPLOYED”. For all their talk about dictators and mindless followers of the President among Democrats and Democratic leadership, right now the GOP functions more in the political style of Worker’s Party of Korea than a party organized around historic traditional U.S. party principles. Like the WPK, ideological purity is simply the only thing that matters on their side.