Howard Fineman on the disconnects between conservative Congressman and the neo-con Bush administration.
My favorite part is a little shot across Darth Rove's bow:
Immigration:
Here’s where Karl Rove’s desire to expand the GOP base by reaching out to Hispanics runs headlong into practical concerns and an anti-immigration strain in the history of the party. The divisions were exposed in, of all places, the bill to bring all of the government’s vast intelligence-gathering powers under a new National Intelligence Director. Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin (a state Rove targeted but lost) used the measure to try to insist that, by federal law, illegal immigrants be barred from getting a driver’s license. That may sound perfectly sensible in the Upper Midwest, but it is a far more contentious question in states such as California and Florida, where you can argue — as many Latino leaders do — that a driver’s license is as much a necessity as food and water to immigrants eager to play a useful part in society as they argue over their legal status in this country. Many “movement” conservatives — the kind Rove called on to build Bush’s political base over the years — agree with Sensenbrenner. And beyond the specific issue of driver’s licenses is a deep tradition of skepticism about open-door immigration policies, which Republicans worked to restrict in the 1920s and 1950s. Some conservatives consider it the number one issue.
So Karl's desire to throw away the xenophobia traditionally associated with a the right-wing of the Republican party and thus court Hispanic voters is going to run smack into, well, the xenophobia of the right-wing of the Republican party.
Sensenbrenner in Wisconsin isn't too worried about the Hispanic vote I'm guessing. Rove's long term strategy to flip California and tightly secure Florida with whatever issue will win there requires it.
No comments:
Post a Comment