Immigration reform was supposed to be the big "wedge issue" for the Republicans for the elections of 2006 and 2008, but something strange happened on the way to the election. DemFromCT at The Next Hurrah has the analysis, based on a Wall Street Journal article (sub req.).
The short description of this issue is that it was supposed to be one that would generate Republican voter interest and turnout while forcing Democrats to take positions that Democratic voters did not particularly like. But what it really did was to energize the Hispanic voters in a way never seen before, as the rather shocking numbers who turned out for marches has demonstrated. LULAC is now using this to push for voters registration of the normally poorly registered Hispanic voters.
Think about it. There was a well planned and controlled march with half a million marchers in Dallas, TX. Dallas has a population of only slightly over 1.2 million people. This happened because of the Immigration Bill passed by the House Republicans.
The problem is that the Republicans crafted a Bill with enough really nasty provisions in it that Democrats wouldn't vote for it. Then the Democrats in the House craftily forced the Republican attempts to amend those harsh provisions to fail. That left the House Republicans with the choice of passing the bad Bill they had crafted and explaining to their voters why they were soft on Immigration, or passing it. So that when the entire Republican House did finally pass the Bill on essentially a party-line vote, it included the provisions making felons of anyone who assisted an illegal immigrant in any way, including providing medical care, food or water.
Now the Republicans are trying to whine that the Democrats wouldn't let them amend it to soften those provisions. Well, Hell, they should have voted it down and tried again. Instead they passed it with those provisions sitting on top where everyone could see them. It was their Bill, after all. They are the majority party after all. They are responsible for what passes the House. I hear they even dragged Bush into whining on his Saturday morning radio program. So let them whine.
As of April, Immigration appears to be a net loser for the Republicans and a real winner for the Democrats. This is especially thanks to crafty political maneuvering by Nancy Pelosi and a unified House Democratic Party. The politization of the Hispanics is merely a bonus for the Democrats. It will be a lot harder for an Hispanic voter to vote Republican now. [I do wonder if this will effect the South Florida Cuban Republican turn-out, though.]
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