The New Post Election Selection Trauma Symptom

[Corlyss_D]

Democrats are still smarting over their loss to George W. Bush last year. They continue to believe Mr. Bush won largely because he succeeded in using social wedge issues to woo voters who should have voted for John Kerry on economic grounds. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean recently told an audience in Burlington, Vermont that Republicans raised the issue of gay marriage "simply to scapegoat a group of Americans for the purpose of winning elections and dividing us." Just warming up, Mr. Dean also warned his listeners: "In 2006, we see right now the next group Republicans are aiming at: immigrants."

Bill Press, the former chair of the California Democratic Party and now a radio talk show host, is even more explicit. "If you're a Latino, put on your body armor. You are Ground Zero for Republican political attacks in 2006. Starting now." Mr. Press claims that "the tom-toms of hate are already beating. Listen to right-wing talkers Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and others."

Well, I do listen to those hosts and A) they are not Republican Party leaders and B) while they express concern over a chaotic border situation, they are far more critical of the federal government's inability to control immigration than they are of those crossing the border.

George W. Bush is vulnerable on the issue largely because his proposal to create a guest-worker program to regularize the flow of people across the border is seen as lacking a strong enforcement component. He has been savaged by many border state residents for not paying enough attention to the issue. That's why Democratic Governors Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Janet Napolitano of Arizona have seized a political opportunity by declaring largely meaningless "states of emergency" on their borders. In California, Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has urged Governor Schwarzenegger to do the same thing.

With the exception of some overheated GOP Congressmen such as Tom Tancredo of Colorado, would Messrs. Dean and Press please explain which GOP politicians are exploiting the immigration issue? By my reading, the ones coming closest to shameless political stunts that have little practical meaning are the aforementioned Democrats.

-- John Fund