Sunday somewhere between 350,000 and half a million people marched in Dallas in opposition to the punitive Immigration Bill which recently passed the House in Washington, D.C. (Dallas Morning News) Atlanta, GA had about 30,000 turn out, Fort Worth had between 10,000 and 15,000, Salt Lake City had about 20,000, and San Diego had about 50,000 people turn out. There were other demonstrations in Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Oregon. (From Associate Press through Yahoo News.)
The Iraq war, the repeated incompetence in all forms of governance, and the blatant corruption of the Republicans have all demonstrated their unfitness to run the government. But these things struck different people in different ways. There was not any single group of large size that felt damaged. Until the House Republicans passed a ridiculously punitive Immigration Bill. That mobilized the Hispanics in America.
Partly it has been the hubris of the Republicans (especially those in the House leadership) inside the beltway. Partly it has been the timing, following Katrina, the failure of Social Security Privatization, etc. But the result has been to mobilize the sleeping giant of the Hispanics.
Everyone who has looked at the potential voters has been aware that there were a lot of Hispanic potential voters, but they were so diverse that no single issue could mobilize them politically. Until now.
This is going to be interesting.
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