Posted on 01/22/2010 9:47:45 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, a Democratic strategist and founder of the left-wing blog “The Daily Kos,” told reporters Thursday that “comprehensive immigration reform” legislation sponsored by Rep. Luiz Gutierrez (D-Ill.) -- which would provide a “pathway to citizenship” for illegal aliens -- has a good shot at passage this year.
But Moulitsas said that “teabaggers” and Republicans who “hate brown people” would try to push back against it.
“I think the votes want to be there in the Senate -- I think the House is fairly solid -- I think the votes want to be there,” he said of an immigration bill’s chances, “but you have this growing ‘teabagger’ movement that is going to be pushing very hard from the other side.”
Moulitsas said the issue was going to expose a rift within the Republican Party.
“It’s going to be (a) battle of wills --I think --between Republicans who realize the danger in losing the Latino vote for a generation or longer and the danger that poses in places like Arizona, New Mexico and Florida -- places that are battleground states that could be torn away from them because of demographic shifts -- and those Republicans who demand ideological purity and hate brown people and really kowtow to the Tom Tancredos of this country.”
Tancredo, a former presidential candidate and Republican member of the House of Representatives from Colorado, was a founder of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus in 1999, and a firm opponent of illegal immigration. Tancredo also opposed the immigration plans pushed by the Bush administration in 2006 and 2007.
Moulitsas made his comments at the liberal think-tank, the Center for American Progress (CAP), which held a panel discussion with the blogger and some of its staff called: “Next Up, Comprehensive Immigration Reform.”
Anther panelist, Andrea Nill, who writes on immigration issues for the CAP, added to the insinuations of racism, explaining that there is a network of opponents to immigration in America.
“The groups that are going to be driving it are part of this network: we call it the ‘nativist lobby,” she said.
One group she named was the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a group that describes itself on its Web site as “an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization” and a “think tank devoted exclusively to research and policy analysis of the economic, social, demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States.
But Jessica Vaughan, policy director for CIS, told CNSNews.com she would “absolutely reject the label of nativist” and said it was an example of “people who disagree with us calling us names instead of coming up with a fact-based response. That’s what happens when people aren’t getting their way.”
Vaughn added: “We’re not a lobbying organization -- we’re a research institute. Our work speaks for itself.”
“We’re animated by a pro-immigrant, low-immigration vision for immigration policy in America,” Vaughn said. “(A)nother way of putting that would be ‘fewer immigrants, but a warmer welcome.’”
Vaughn said much of her group’s work has been oriented to looking at how to make the application process better for immigrants.
“Reporting objective facts on the size and composition of our immigration flow and on the policy issues that have to do with immigration law enforcement is not necessarily anti-immigrant and I think that any reader can discern that themselves by reading what we actually say, not what they think we mean,” Vaughan told CNSNews.com.
She said that the Gutierrez bill -- the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act -- is so far to the left that it does not register on the political spectrum.
“I don’t think it even falls on the spectrum of bills that Americans would consider to be reasonable immigration reform,” she said.
“It is a massive expansion of immigration--an amnesty for just about everyone, a decimation of immigration law enforcement, and creation of unnecessary temporary worker programs -- did I miss anything?
“The reality is that this is not something that most Americans would support,” she added.
Moulitsas and Nill, meanwhile, both said that while they liked the House bill, and it was a good starting point, the heavy legislative lifting would be left to the Senate, where Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) will begin drafting a version of the bill that could better attract bipartisan support.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated that she will not push for the House to pass any immigration reform measure before the Senate does so, because she had already completed a number of legislative “heavy lifts” on health care and cap-and-trade bills that have proven politically unpopular.
YO! Markos! Who got tea-bagged Tuesday BEEYOTCH!!! You wanna call me a “tea-bagger”? I will NOT let up. You can BEG for mercy but it won’t help. You wanna diss me? I’m up for that! I’ll be tea-baggin’ you ‘til you CRY from it!
Get off this “Tea-Bag = Gay” stuff. They consider it an insult. Send it back.
Looks like he just sat on something hard...Considering the backgound on the set there, I am not surprised...
Again, I refer to my post #23...This time, well, I’m not going there...
Close the doors, close the doors. Last call for immigration, legal or otherwise. We’re full up.
But I love (Scott) Brown people.;D
Gay.
Yeah, I’m a self-hating person that wants Katie to bar the door. What of it, ya brownie?
We should always call the other side SCUMBAGGERS...
Left wing outlet for left wing consumption.
DailyKoS, as with the founder of the lametard idiocy outlet, can all take a turn on Kissmyarsesideways lane.
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