Posted on 12/07/2007 3:44:23 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean yesterday said Republicans are targeting immigrants and told the Republican presidential candidates that the tone of their debates on the issue has become "outrageous."
"Stop scapegoating immigrants and stop using immigration as a wedge issue," Mr. Dean, a 2004 presidential hopeful, said in a conference call with reporters meant to set the stage for this weekend's Republican presidential debate on Spanish-language network Univision.
Mr. Dean said that in the most recent debate, Republicans used "outrageous phrases like 'illegal aliens.' " He urged the candidates to "have some morality and some humanity."
In a sign of political trouble for Republicans, he was joined by Luis Cortes Jr., founder of Esperanza USA, a coalition of Christian Hispanic leaders and churches that was helpful to President Bush in his elections but now appears ready to aid Democrats in 2008.
Mr. Cortes said the Republican rhetoric is going in the wrong direction and that "as that rhetoric gets stronger, so do the civil rights abuses."
Still, the Republican candidates' enforcement-first approach appears to closely mirror what the public wants. An outcry from voters derailed this year's Senate immigration bill, with many senators saying the message they received is that voters want enforcement of existing laws before any new worker program is established and before Congress decides what to do with the current illegal alien population.
Even as Mr. Dean criticizes Republicans, many Democrats in Congress have adopted the same enforcement-only approach Republicans advocate.
Rep. Heath Shuler, North Carolina Democrat, and Sen. Mark Pryor, Arkansas Democrat, have introduced enforcement-only bills that have gained bipartisan support this year, and 36 Democrats voted for House Republicans' enforcement-only bill in 2005.
Asked repeatedly by reporters about the split in his party, Mr. Dean sought to marginalize the enforcement-supporting Democrats, calling them....
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Howard is vote-pandering, plain and simple.
Dean is still living in LaLa Land, and out of touch with the majority of the real people in America.
I’d like that knuckle-dragging, fist-waving, screaming, short-bus riding lunatic to come to my house to see what it’s like to live next door to the problem. I’ll bet Mad Howie lives in a gated all-White and all-rich community where he never has to associate with the people he proclaims to defend. Let’s see how much he likes getting audiologically raped at full-tilt bass at 4 in the morning.
Build the damn fence, imprison their employers benefitting from illegal slave labor, and DEPORT THEM !
STFU Howie!
You left out the keyword “Illegal”
How exactly does Democrat Howard Dean "set the stage" for a Republican debate?
Howard Dean must hate this country.
I guess this is all about the debate in Spanish for the Republicans. Dean is pandering to Calderone of Mexico. He is hoping for Hispanic votes.
I’m sorry, Howard WHO?
I hope Dean keeps this up. There are a lot more people in favor of enforcement than there are for pandering.
Very Telling that you are terrified of this issue.
The GOP should be downright gleeful with this latest spew from Howard. Keep talking Howie, lol.
I have to wonder if Vermont is like Iran,,,substitute the words illegal aliens for the word ‘homosexual’
Remember that nutjob in Iran saying there were no homosexuals in Iran (and we all know that’s because they are either denied or killed).
Maybe Dena figures there are no illegals in Vermont? They are all ‘legal’ dontchya know?
That's funny, I thought Bush used it as a sledgehammer issue own his own party, not a wedge between parties....
RE: illegal aliens ~ Dr.Dean = Dumb SOB.
My Youtube debate question for the dems would be
“Is there anyone you that you yourself consider to be an illegal alien?”
They really have tried to take a bite out of the English language.
I've already got the naughty language warning for the week.
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