And say, isn’t that the same language that was deemed racist for criticizing lawbreaking foreigners?
Hey, even John McCain has been taking a stricter line about law and borders recently, so maybe he is on to something.
On the other hand, it’s hardly news that politicians lie all the time about their positions to get elected, then do whatever they damn well please in office. Look at Obama – he campaigned as a moderate, but has run the country like he was Lenin’s long-lost nephew.
(That’s why it might be better to yank politicians’ leashes more often: Should Elections Be Held More Frequently?)
Anyway, the Dems are plotting out loud about how to lie more effectively to destroy the country and advantage themselves in the process. Nobody is listening, right? It’ll work out fine, sure.
Dems’ tough new immigration pitch, Politico, June 10, 2010Long pilloried for being soft on illegal immigration, top Democratic officials have concluded there’s only one way they can hope to pass a comprehensive immigration bill:
Talk more like Republicans.
They’re seizing on the work of top Democratic Party operatives who, after a legislative defeat in 2007, launched a multiyear polling project to craft an enforcement-first, law-and-order, limited-compassion pitch that now defines the party’s approach to the issue.
The 12 million people who unlawfully reside the country? Call them ”illegal immigrants,” not ”undocumented workers,” the pollsters say.
Strip out the empathy, too. Democrats used to offer immigrants ”an earned path to citizenship” so hardworking people trying to support their families could ”come out of the shadows.” To voters, that sounded like a gift, the operatives concluded.
Now, Democrats emphasize that it’s ”unacceptable” to allow 12 million people to live in America illegally and that the government must ”require” them to register and ”get right with the law.” That means three things: ”Obey our laws, learn our language and pay our taxes” – or face deportation.
”We lost control of the message in the 2007 debate,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, a pro-immigrant rights group that worked with Center for American Progress founder John Podesta on the messaging overhaul.
”We were on the inside fighting off amendments, and the other side was jacking up their opponents and getting Rush and Hannity and O’Reilly on fire about this. We needed to do a much better job on communications.”
President Barack Obama uses the buzzwords. So does the congressional leadership. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), author of the Democratic immigration plan, scolds advocates who refer to illegal immigrants as ”undocumented workers.”
The revamped message may not face the real-world test anytime soon. The appetite to take on immigration before the November elections has faded as the political environment for incumbents grows increasingly hostile. Supporters of comprehensive reform plan to continue to exert pressure, but privately they say legislative action will need to wait until next year.
