Other than Bill Kristol’s flailing, incoherent idiocy, I agree with all the commentators on this one: the Republicans (and 5 Democrats) who voted down the DREAM Act yesterday made a huge mistake, both morally and politically, and deserve to pay a major price for it in 2012 and well beyond. So much for the “Party of Lincoln.” So much, for that matter, for the the Party of Ronald Reagan, who signed a law which “legalized 2.8 million undocumented workers.” Reagan also said proudly that people “from any corner of the world, can come to live in the United States and become an American.” And, Reagan added:
“It makes one wonder about the illegal alien fuss. Are great numbers of our unemployed really victims of the illegal alien invasion or are those illegal tourists actually doing work our own people won’t do?” Reagan asked. “One thing is certain in this hungry world; no regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in the fields for lack of harvesters.”
Or how about the Party of George W. Bush, who said:
Latinos come to the US to seek the same dreams that have inspired millions of others: they want a better life for their children. Family values do not stop at the Rio Grande. Latinos enrich our country with faith in God, a strong ethic of work, community & responsibility. We can all learn from the strength, solidarity, & values of Latinos. Immigration is not a problem to be solved, it is the sign of a successful nation. New Americans are to be welcomed as neighbors and not to be feared as strangers.
What happened to the party of Lincoln, Reagan, and even George W. Bush when it comes to immigration, when it comes to Latinos who come to America “seek[ing] the same dreams that have inspired millions of others?” Sadly, that party is toast, with the once proud GOP now taken over by a bunch of xenophobes, yahoos, ignoramuses and demagogues like Sarah Palin, Mitch McConnell, John BONer, Eric Can’tor, and John McCain. It’s utterly pathetic, and Republicans richly deserve to pay the political consequences for their anti-Latino intolerance.
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