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You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / Anti-Brownian Motion

Anti-Brownian Motion

by $8 blue check mistermix|  November 18, 20108:00 am| 82 Comments

This post is in: Republican Stupidity

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Because they want Harry Reid to get 90% of the Latino vote the next time he runs, House Republicans are making repeal of birthright citizenship one of their top priorities, and they’re putting big-mouth bigot Steve King in charge. I see this as nothing more than a preview of coming attractions. In addition to protecting us from the scourge of anchor babies, they’ll make sure ACORN is outlawed once and for all, and they’ll give states the right to opt out of socialist programs like Medicaid.

The notion that the Republicans will have a difficult time because they have no positive agenda is just wishful thinking. They have a positive agenda. It’s not a constructive one, but they have a whole list of distractions that will occupy their time, and ours.

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82Comments

  1. 1.

    cmorenc

    November 18, 2010 at 8:06 am

    The idea is that the Republicans will run themselves into a difficult time precisely because they will focus so much on pet ideological projects that they won’t produce any tangible results toward ending the economic difficulties the bulk of the American public find themselves in, nor will they wind up materially changing the ways of Washington that the public was so revulsed about.

    Like the Dems following 2008, the GOOPers will indeed find plenty to do, it just won’t be what the less partisan portion of the public wanted them to focus on doing.

  2. 2.

    arguingwithsignposts

    November 18, 2010 at 8:09 am

    I’m not getting this:

    As one of its first acts, the new Congress will consider denying citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants who are born in the United States.

    The new *Congress* isn’t going to consider anything. The new House might, but I seriously doubt this gets past the batter’s box in the Senate.

  3. 3.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    November 18, 2010 at 8:13 am

    It is oddly comforting to know that the GOP is just as bad at politics as the Democrats even if it just assures that this country will run from stupid to cowardly for the foreseeable future.

  4. 4.

    Xenos

    November 18, 2010 at 8:13 am

    My fantasy is that once the Republicans start filibustering the next defense allotment, or lard up the next defense bill with ridiculous nonsense and graft, that Obama just tells them to forget about it. And then orders all the troops home forthwith, and apologizes to the troops for the American people being unworthy of their sacrifices.

  5. 5.

    JWL

    November 18, 2010 at 8:25 am

    To think: how simple it would have been to expose and vanquish these obnoxious motherfuckers, had Obama known the meaning of a fight.

  6. 6.

    Linda Featheringill

    November 18, 2010 at 8:30 am

    An estimated 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the United States in 2008 were the children of undocumented immigrants, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center done last year.
    http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/11/18/103946/birthright-citizenship-will-be.html#ixzz15diOTCDL

    So approximately 8% of the children born in the US have undocumented parents.

    US population increases about 2.8 million/year including immigration
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States

    And therefore these children make up about 12% of the population increase.

    [Are my numbers right?]

  7. 7.

    beltane

    November 18, 2010 at 8:30 am

    Did no one tell these clowns that people only love far-right governments when they do things like build the Autobahn and make the trains run on time?

    A third-rate circus with no bread will grate on everyone but David Broder’s nerves after a while. These are the lessons they should have learned in tyrant school.

  8. 8.

    Ash Can

    November 18, 2010 at 8:33 am

    @cmorenc: I think so too. The Republicans these days are equal-opportunity irritants. After they end up pissing everyone off except other white RW wackos, it’ll make for an interesting election in 2012. In the meantime, though, it’ll be a 2-year freak show. It never fails to gobsmack me when I read about polls in the aftermath of this last election, with so many people voting for the Republican candidate because the Dems hadn’t fixed the economy yet. As if there were a snowball’s chance in hell that the Republicans would fix it. Aren’t all those folks going to be surprised.

  9. 9.

    Dennis SGMM

    November 18, 2010 at 8:33 am

    It is likewise wishful thinking to believe that Republican over reach will hurt them at the polls.

    The doomed-to-failure attempt to repeal birthright citizenship will become “Democrats thwart our efforts to protect you from brown-skinned hordes!”

    The myriads of fruitless investigative hearings will be spun as “Where there’s smoke there’s fire.”

    Etc.

  10. 10.

    Dennis G.

    November 18, 2010 at 8:36 am

    Oh for fucks sake.

    These are just massive dickheads and King has his head permanently stuck up his ass.

    Their movement to create a workforce without rights never ends. We used to call what they were after ‘slavery’, now they call it ending ‘birthright citizenship”.

    Total and complete assholes.

  11. 11.

    cleek

    November 18, 2010 at 8:36 am

    @arguingwithsignposts:
    yup.

    even libs are falling for the GOP’s “We Own Congress” pitch

  12. 12.

    superdestroyer

    November 18, 2010 at 8:49 am

    The more conservative party will never be able to appeal to Hispanics as long as the more liberal party supports racial set asides.

    Thus, for the Republicans to continue to exist, the Republicans need to limit the number of future poor, Hispanics voters. Getting rid of birthright citizenship and adopting the citizenship model used by most of the first world helps the Republicans.

    Maybe the Republicans would care about Hispanic voters if those Hispanic voters were not so liberal.

  13. 13.

    El Cid

    November 18, 2010 at 8:49 am

    Local level elected Republicans are doing what they can to help out with denying rights to those not born in the USA.

    Texas State Representative Leo Berman {R} furthered his campaign against President Obama Tuesday, a man that he has before characterized as “God’s punishment on us,” by introducing a bill that would require future presidential and vice-presidential candidates to produce “the original birth certificate indicating that the person is a natural-born United States citizen” to the Texas secretary of state.

    By “original,” of course, he means the one being written in Heaven, after it was taken out of paradise when that woman got Adam thrown out.

  14. 14.

    David

    November 18, 2010 at 8:50 am

    So, what happens to these stateless people?

  15. 15.

    Punchy

    November 18, 2010 at 8:53 am

    Because they want Harry Reid to get 90% of the Latino vote the next time he runs

    Comment FAIL. You’re assuming that Republicans will let the Latinos vote. Which is an assumption I dont think you can make for the 2012 elections. Becuase Republicans own Congress, the WH, and the USSC. Or something close enough.

  16. 16.

    Left Coast Tom

    November 18, 2010 at 8:53 am

    @Dennis SGMM:

    It is likewise wishful thinking to believe that Republican over reach will hurt them at the polls.

    It happened in California in 1995-96.

  17. 17.

    Sly

    November 18, 2010 at 8:55 am

    @superdestroyer:

    Maybe the Republicans would care about Hispanic voters if those Hispanic voters were not so liberal.

    Maybe Hispanic voters would be less liberal if conservative ideology spoke more to their interests.

  18. 18.

    Chyron HR

    November 18, 2010 at 9:00 am

    @superdestroyer:

    adopting the model used by most of the first world helps the Republicans.

    Republicans want to do things the way that faggy elitist Europeans do? Does this mean we can have sociaIised medicine now?

  19. 19.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 18, 2010 at 9:02 am

    @superdestroyer: As a nation of immigrants, adopting the citizenship standards of the rest of the world does not really make much sense.

  20. 20.

    Valdivia

    November 18, 2010 at 9:02 am

    Aside from the wrongness of this–Have these people even thought through the legal logistical nightmare this would be? So if I’m an immigrant whose waiting for a decision from HS is a baby born to me not a citizen? And what about children of people here on student visas? Or H visas? Are hospitals now to check both parents for legality or is one enough?

  21. 21.

    Scott

    November 18, 2010 at 9:06 am

    @Sly:

    Maybe Hispanic voters would be less liberal if conservative ideology spoke more to their interests.

    Maybe Hispanic voters would be less liberal if conservatives weren’t so damn racist.

  22. 22.

    Tom65

    November 18, 2010 at 9:09 am

    @beltane:

    A third-rate circus with no bread will grate on everyone but David Broder’s nerves after a while.

    Yup. Eventually, even the Teatards will figure out that this is all bullshit.

  23. 23.

    Sly

    November 18, 2010 at 9:09 am

    @David:

    So, what happens to these stateless people?

    We’d essentially create a Western Hemisphere Palestine (half of all Palestinians are categorized as stateless) from the ground up. Presumably the UN would create a new mandate for the UN Refugee Agency to help settle them somewhere but, as with their work on behalf of every other stateless group, they’d immediately run into problems. It is, however, generally more difficult to deport stateless persons in the US when compared to OECD countries.

    Know that movie with Tom Hanks about the guy who gets stuck in an airport because his home government fell and he lost his citizenship? Kind of like that. Just with infants. Lots and lots of infants.

  24. 24.

    James E. Powell

    November 18, 2010 at 9:09 am

    @arguingwithsignposts</a

    Get used to the corporate press/media referring to the congress as if the Democrats were not even there. Remember how they spun 59 votes into a minority.

  25. 25.

    Scuffletuffle

    November 18, 2010 at 9:10 am

    When can we get these congressional parasites out of their sockalist gummint sponsored healthcare and into HSAs? Or off the sockalist public pension system and into private retirement savings accounts. Why won’t they put their money where their dicks are?

  26. 26.

    NonyNony

    November 18, 2010 at 9:10 am

    @Scott:

    This. Hispanics as a population on average are pretty culturally conservative. If it weren’t for the racism, a good-sized chunk of them would be solid Republican votes. George W knew this. The rest of his party seems to have decided that if they need to have brown people on their side to win elections it just isn’t worth it.

  27. 27.

    Cacti

    November 18, 2010 at 9:10 am

    @Sly:

    Maybe Hispanic voters would be less liberal if conservative ideology spoke more to their interests.

    I’d say it has a lot less to do with Hispanic voters being liberal than it does with them not voting for the party that doesn’t even think of them as human beings.

  28. 28.

    Sly

    November 18, 2010 at 9:10 am

    @Scott:

    Maybe Hispanic voters would be less liberal if conservatives weren’t so damn racist.

    I was trying to be polite, I guess.

  29. 29.

    Napoleon

    November 18, 2010 at 9:11 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    As a nation of immigrants, adopting the citizenship standards of the rest of the world does not really make much sense.

    Not to mention the open secret (in my book at least) to a good part of this countries success is it “skimming off” much of the cream of other societies, whether it be because they are highly educated or so highly motivated to work that they are willing to travel to someplace that they are not familiar with. The Republican plan amounts to America shotting itself in the foot.

  30. 30.

    MeDrewNotYou

    November 18, 2010 at 9:12 am

    @David: Dennis has your answer just above.

    Their movement to create a workforce without rights never ends. We used to call what they were after ‘slavery’, now they call it ending ‘birthright citizenship”.

    They don’t call it slavery, but that is, for all intents and purposes, what it is. Does anyone really think the plutocrats care about kicking out all that cheap exploitable labor?

  31. 31.

    Faux News

    November 18, 2010 at 9:16 am

    Well since Booby Jindal the republican governor from LA is an anchor baby can we make sure his parents are the first to be deported?

  32. 32.

    sloan

    November 18, 2010 at 9:18 am

    Remember empathy? Remember when Sonia “Wise Latina” Sotomayor was raked over the coals for putting herself in another’s shoes before judging them?

    Republicans threw a fit when they it was suggested that a judge may look at something from a point of view other than their own. They hate it. Refuse to do it. It’s their blind spot.

    They’re so fucking pigheaded that they can’t fathom the backlash, even though this anti-brown shit always comes back to haunt them. Dems don’t even have to grow a pair (though I wish they would) when the white right is making these kinds of unforced errors.

  33. 33.

    Culture of Truth

    November 18, 2010 at 9:20 am

    Best. Congress. Ever!!

  34. 34.

    Scott

    November 18, 2010 at 9:22 am

    Any chance Republicans could be persuaded to push for making this retroactive? I know they think they could disenfranchise all brown people at once, but it might be fun for the BIA to start ordering all white man out of the country…

  35. 35.

    joe from Lowell

    November 18, 2010 at 9:22 am

    @Dennis SGMM:

    It is likewise wishful thinking to believe that Republican over reach will hurt them at the polls.

    It already has. The Democrats held the Senate seats in Nevada and Colorado on the strength of Latino votes.

    The doomed-to-failure attempt to repeal birthright citizenship will become “Democrats thwart our efforts to protect you from brown-skinned hordes!

    That was their big line in the 2006 Congressional elections. For a while, I was convinced it would be a winner for them, too. I was wrong, and they were wrong.

    Have you ever looked at any polling on immigration? The public wanted the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill to pass by a wide margin. They support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants by a wide margin. They oppose mass deportations by a wide margin.

  36. 36.

    Cynicor

    November 18, 2010 at 9:23 am

    Why has no Democrat just said: “In 2008, the American people said “enough” and voted for Congress to pursue a liberal agenda through Jan 5, 2011. Not through Nov 2, 2010. Don’t cheat us of our full two years.”

    You don’t have to answer, it’s rhetorical.

  37. 37.

    Culture of Truth

    November 18, 2010 at 9:24 am

    Look on the bright side. To deport 11 million people will require nationwide high-speed rail.

  38. 38.

    joe from Lowell

    November 18, 2010 at 9:26 am

    @superdestroyer:

    The more conservative party will never be able to appeal to Hispanics as long as the more liberal party supports racial set asides.
    Thus, for the Republicans to continue to exist, the Republicans need to limit the number of future poor, Hispanics voters. Getting rid of birthright citizenship and adopting the citizenship model used by most of the first world helps the Republicans.
    Maybe the Republicans would care about Hispanic voters if those Hispanic voters were not so liberal.

    Could someone please point out the part of this comment in which superdestroyer acknowledges that public policy should be influenced by anything other than partisan electoral considerations?

    Because I must have missed it.

  39. 39.

    arguingwithsignposts

    November 18, 2010 at 9:29 am

    @Culture of Truth:

    Look on the bright side. To deport 11 million people will require nationwide high-speed rail.

    You know who else used rail to enforce immigration policies?

  40. 40.

    daveNYC

    November 18, 2010 at 9:29 am

    I’m going back to Iowa for Thanksgiving. I think I’ll go out to the western part of the state and punch everyone there in the junk.

  41. 41.

    Violet

    November 18, 2010 at 9:30 am

    If birthright citizenship doesn’t count, then I guess that means Marco Rubio isn’t a citizen, since both his parents weren’t citizens. There’s always a silver lining.

  42. 42.

    rikyrah

    November 18, 2010 at 9:31 am

    this is who they are. I hope all the GOP Latinos are taking notice of this.

    I’m clear on this; clear as a bell. they don’t fool me with this bullshyt on the 14th Amendment. this birthright citizenship is nothing but a smokescreen.

    conservatives have been after the 14th amendment since it was used as the backbone of the Brown v Board decision. now, they think they finally have an ‘ in’.

  43. 43.

    arguingwithsignposts

    November 18, 2010 at 9:32 am

    @rikyrah:

    I hope all the GOP Latinos are taking notice of this.

    both of them.

  44. 44.

    Chyron HR

    November 18, 2010 at 9:34 am

    @Cynicor:

    Hey, the Republicans let Obama have the last eight months of Bush’s second term, and Dubya didn’t even come into office until September 12, 2001. Fair is fair.

  45. 45.

    Napoleon

    November 18, 2010 at 9:35 am

    @Scott:

    That reminds me of a story. Either in the 80s or 90s there was a Rep Senator from I think Colo named something like Jim Nighthorse Campbell who was a Native American. In some hearing involving immigration someone says something like “this nations immigration policy is bad” to which he quipped “it has been bad for 450 years”.

  46. 46.

    artem1s

    November 18, 2010 at 9:38 am

    maybe someone covered this yesterday, I was away from the blog…

    The President’s veto of the Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010 was sustained by 235 votes of the 435-member House. Democrats voted overwhelmingly in favor of sustaining the veto of this bill that has huge anti-consumer consequences. Just five Republicans joined them.

    so the GOP is still trying to hose everyone who isn’t mega-wealthy. It’s not just brown people.

    I’m all for denying birth-right citizenship if they make it retroactive to 1650 or so. Ever try to find evidence that all your ancestors came and stayed here legally? Why should any of us get grandfathered in?

    The issue isn’t just are all those babies who aren’t going to have a country, it’s the ongoing effort to make it legal to harass and card anyone the cops thinks ‘looks’ like an illegal. Every Latina who gets rushed to a hospital for emergency labor will have to prove her citizenship BEFORE she’s allowed to push. It’s going to cause nightmares for reproductive health care workers all around.

  47. 47.

    lou

    November 18, 2010 at 9:42 am

    Doesn’t the 14th Amendment have to be amended to change this? That’s is a pretty difficult obstacle.

    ‘Pubs might want to talk to Japan on how that’s worked out for them. Koreans in Japan are second-class citizens because Japan won’t let them become full ones.

  48. 48.

    Napoleon

    November 18, 2010 at 9:43 am

    @artem1s:

    I’m all for denying birth-right citizenship if they make it retroactive to 1650 or so.

    The biggest problem with that idea is that, as I understand it, until fairly recently (80-100 years?) there was no law that said you couldn’t simply show up and live in the US. There was no such thing as visas or green cards or anything like that.

  49. 49.

    joe from Lowell

    November 18, 2010 at 9:44 am

    @Chyron HR: Ha ha ha ha!

    Nicely done.

  50. 50.

    chopper

    November 18, 2010 at 9:44 am

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    that and birthright citizenship been consistently considered part of the constitution, so i don’t see how congress is going to up and change that with a bill.

    also too, i don’t see how this issue really resonates with anyone other than the GOP base. i can’t imagine independents going ga-ga over demagoguery on this issue rather than something related to, i dunno, jobs or the economy.

    it would die in the senate and nobody other than the GOP would really care. even if somehow it made it through the senate obama would veto it and it wouldn’t hurt him.

  51. 51.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 18, 2010 at 9:45 am

    @Napoleon: Why are you sweating the details? The Republicans don’t.

  52. 52.

    Linda Featheringill

    November 18, 2010 at 9:45 am

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    You know who else used rail to enforce immigration policies?

    I didn’t even see that one coming! [chuckle]

    What is that rule about if comments go on long enough . . .?

    Anyway, you win that award for this thread.

    [still chuckling]

  53. 53.

    Scott

    November 18, 2010 at 9:46 am

    The issue isn’t just are all those babies who aren’t going to have a country, it’s the ongoing effort to make it legal to harass and card anyone the cops thinks ‘looks’ like an illegal.

    I think there’s the problem that without the 14th, the government could potentially revoke the citizenship of individuals or groups. Having trouble getting non-whites to vote for your party? Revoke their citizenship rights. Got a pesky black guy in the White House? Declare him a non-citizen and deport him to Kenya.

  54. 54.

    cleek

    November 18, 2010 at 9:52 am

    @Scott:
    bye bye Malkin!

  55. 55.

    artem1s

    November 18, 2010 at 9:59 am

    @Napoleon:

    yes, exactly, that was my point. most of the privileged asshats who want to keep out ‘those other people’ get to stay in denial that their ancestors were just as undesirable to the established population when they were streaming into our ports. or you know, the natives who are the ones with the longest ‘birthright’ citizenship.

  56. 56.

    Shalimar

    November 18, 2010 at 10:03 am

    @superdestroyer: Hispanic families tend to be more conservative than the average American family. Maybe Hispanics would vote Republican if the Republican base weren’t so bigoted.

  57. 57.

    Davis X. Machina

    November 18, 2010 at 10:05 am

    @Scott:

    In the context of Reconstruction, that’s exactly what the 14th was designed to prevent…

    This is the worst form of symbolic politics. It can’t be done with a mere bill, it can’t get through the Senate, and it can’t get past the requisite 3/4 of the states. I’d call it a stunt, but it’s not serious enough or well thought out enough to rise to the level of a stunt.

    It’s the parliamentary equivalent of making farty noises.

  58. 58.

    Linda Featheringill

    November 18, 2010 at 10:06 am

    @Scott:

    [#53]

    I think there’s the problem that without the 14th, the government could potentially revoke the citizenship of individuals or groups. Having trouble getting non-whites to vote for your party? Revoke their citizenship rights. Got a pesky black guy in the White House? Declare him a non-citizen and deport him to Kenya.

    You’re quite right. This is the issue.

  59. 59.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    November 18, 2010 at 10:06 am

    @NonyNony:

    George W knew this. The rest of his party seems to have decided that if they need to have brown people on their side to win elections it just isn’t worth it are serious ass racists.

    Fixed.

  60. 60.

    New Yorker

    November 18, 2010 at 10:09 am

    Does this mean we can strip Michelle Malkin of her citizenship and kick her out? Her parents are brown-skinned, job-stealing, dirka-dirka talking people….

  61. 61.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    November 18, 2010 at 10:09 am

    @Left Coast Tom:

    And it would appear to have just happened again…

  62. 62.

    Davis X. Machina

    November 18, 2010 at 10:09 am

    @Napoleon:

    Ben ‘Nighthorse’ Campbell, may the party-switching bastard rot in hell. Ran as a D, and immediately upon election switched parties, without presenting himself to the electorate again.

    When you hear slighting references to Ken “Nighthorse” Salazar, they weren’t meant as complements.

  63. 63.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    November 18, 2010 at 10:14 am

    @Scott:

    I think there’s the problem that without the 14th, the government could potentially revoke the citizenship of individuals or groups.

    I think we have a winner…

    While all the Republican elves are busy busy busy building this new, improved Frankenstein’s monster, I have to wonder, do any of them ever stop to think, ‘Gee… will this thing ever turn on us someday?’

  64. 64.

    Davis X. Machina

    November 18, 2010 at 10:16 am

    @The Republic of Stupidity:

    They don’t ever plan on being out of power again. And quite frankly, except for occasional fits of rational behavior — 2006 was an anomaly and 2008 a miracle — the American people would seem to concur.

  65. 65.

    Trevor B

    November 18, 2010 at 10:18 am

    @Napoleon: Nighthorse Campbell kicked major ass, I grew up with him as my rep, then senator, he kind of stabbed me in the back when he switched parties though

  66. 66.

    Pug

    November 18, 2010 at 10:39 am

    So, I’m wondering if your family emigrated illegally to Texas or California in about 1880 and you’ve had six generations born in America, do they all have to leave?

    I guess I better start checking on my grandmother’s papers from Italy. If she was a WOP (without papers), that means my father, my brother and his kids, me and my children are all illegal aliens.

    Guess I can think of worse things than being deported to Italy. I just might turn myself in. Hell, Nana came from the Italian Alps. Couldn’t be that bad.

  67. 67.

    Socraticsilence

    November 18, 2010 at 10:40 am

    You know from a real politik standpoint I could kind of understand this for the GOP (obviously not from a moral or philosophical POV) — if it was freaking doable, but considering its a something that would require a constitutional amendment to alter, and considering the ease by which it could be demonized (forget Hispanics for a second and look at the actual reasons for the 14th Amendment… okay back? Yeah tell me this wouldn’t get boiled down to “GOP wants to repeal Amendment that made freed slaves Americans” ) this seems like an quixoitic endeavor (even with a 2/3rds majority in the house and Senate- which they lack- it would take a decade or more for this to get passed and it would be voted down in any state with at least 1/3rd Latino + AA voters- and that’s assuming-falsely- that literally every white voter in said states would pass this).

  68. 68.

    gene108

    November 18, 2010 at 10:43 am

    I say get out of the way and let Republicans do what they want. When they out-law the minimum wage and John Doe gets paid $1.00/hr at McDonald’s, but can’t vote because he can’t pass a literacy test – thanks to the repeal of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – I think some folks might think twice about backing the Republicans.

  69. 69.

    Socraticsilence

    November 18, 2010 at 10:44 am

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    You know for people who hold the Constitution like its a fetish object they don’t seem to get just how hard this would be to change– even if every GOP house member voted for this it would go down- they need at least 1/3th of the Democratic Congress to back it as well- seriously take all 45 votes from the “oust Pelosi” campaign + all GOP votes (and not all GOP voters would back this– Latino GOP members would break ranks on this) and then they need to find like 15 voters from the progressive caucus.

  70. 70.

    Socraticsilence

    November 18, 2010 at 10:48 am

    @superdestroyer:

    You do know that much like African-American Voters, Hispanic Voters tend to be both religious and socially conservative right? That they vote against the GOP because the GOP is openly hostile to the point of barely suppressed hatred?

  71. 71.

    Ash Can

    November 18, 2010 at 10:51 am

    @Socraticsilence: There’s nothing wrong with 95% of the political discourse that takes place in this country that a decent high-school-level textbook on the U.S. government couldn’t fix.

  72. 72.

    Socraticsilence

    November 18, 2010 at 10:51 am

    @Left Coast Tom:

    Exactly– I sometimes think that people forget California was a purple state through the mid-90s- then Gov. Pete comes in starts hating and boom- the only major GOP official elected in the last decade and a half is a Governor who would be considered a moderate Dem in most states.

  73. 73.

    Socraticsilence

    November 18, 2010 at 10:51 am

    @Left Coast Tom:

    Exactly– I sometimes think that people forget California was a purple state through the mid-90s- then Gov. Pete comes in starts hating and boom- the only major GOP official elected in the last decade and a half is a Governor who would be considered a moderate Dem in most states.

  74. 74.

    gene108

    November 18, 2010 at 11:01 am

    @chopper: The GOP modis operandi is to keep their base whipped up into a wing-nutty froth at all times, which is why they won in the 2010 elections and pulled out the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections.

    As long as this gets repeated on the right-wing media wurlitzer and right-wingers are talking about it as a serious issue the noise served its purpose. Most non-Fox News viewing- internet blog reading – folks no nothing about the New Black Panther Party and could care less to be bothered about it in their busy lives, but the wing-nut base thinks the NBPP is the worst threat to democracy evah and will make sure to vote Republican in the next election to keep the NBPP from gaining seats in Congress.

    Democrats on the other hand have yet to realize the importance of mobilizing the base and getting them to be enthusiastic…who knows they might learn something in the next couple of years…

  75. 75.

    Socraticsilence

    November 18, 2010 at 11:02 am

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage:

    Seriously, what does it say about you when you’re so sociopathic you make the Bush Family look like the tolerant ones (and note that this issue basically shows why Jeb’s canidacy for the Presidency is dead even if his name was Jeb Smith– he’s married to “one of them” by his own free will)– I mean good god they make Karl Rove look if not like a good human being, at least like someone with enough command of basic math to realize that permanently alienating the fastest growing major segment of the population is bad thing. (Note: The smart thing for the GOP to do would be to nominate Rubio for VP- but make him the anti-Palin- you know the person who the base would assume had 0 power).

  76. 76.

    jcricket

    November 18, 2010 at 11:04 am

    I have really begun to think that “As goes California, so goes the nation” is really true.

    For example, California Republicans tried the “hatin on the illegals” thing in the mid 90s. It animated racist voters enough to win on the issue. The initiative was ruled unconstititional shortly thereafter, but the damage was done. California stopped being a swing state and became solidly Democratic thereafter (i.e. latinos started voting solidly for the Dems). Republicans learned nothing from this and have continued to be a minority party (1/3rd the vote, basically).

    So in the short-term this kind of xenophobia, or homophobia or outright racism works to animate the base. But the base is dwindling, this kind of talk turns off every growing group (minorities, non-christians, etc) and when “everyone else” comes out to vote, Republicans lose. The only hope Republicans have is either turning off the social conservatism (unlikely), or continued depressed Democratic turnout – which is sadly quite possible, either due to lack of enthusiasm for the Democratic party or voter suppression efforts.

  77. 77.

    Suck It Up!

    November 18, 2010 at 11:10 am

    @Cynicor:

    “In 2008, the American people said “enough” and voted for Congress to pursue a liberal agenda through Jan 5, 2011.

    because they didn’t vote for a liberal agenda. they voted for a Democratic agenda.

  78. 78.

    BDeevDad

    November 18, 2010 at 11:33 am

    This just continues the Conservative electoral strategy of denying minorities the right to vote.

  79. 79.

    John Bird

    November 18, 2010 at 11:43 am

    They’re not making repealing the 14th Amendment one of their “top priorities” any more than a flag-burning amendment is ever a “top priority”. It’s not a realistic goal and they know that. It’s trading policy for politics.

  80. 80.

    ruemara

    November 18, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    @John Bird:

    I think you misunderestimate the quality and level of crazy bigots that have been voted in this 2010 election. I fully expect votes to go down that wouldn’t be out of place in the 1900 Congress.

  81. 81.

    Carol

    November 18, 2010 at 12:48 pm

    @Socraticsilence: And can you imagine a Presidential candidate trying to defend this? Okay, California is gone, but you have a place like Florida and much of the East Coast, and Texas is starting to tip and is at the point that the only reason it isn’t turned blue is that Hispanics are still underregistered.

    The Republicans just care about how something sounds not whether or not it actually works or can even be done.

  82. 82.

    Calouste

    November 18, 2010 at 3:42 pm

    @El Cid:

    would require future presidential and vice-presidential candidates to produce “the original birth certificate indicating that the person is a natural-born United States citizen”

    That would have been a funny one for John McCain. IIRC he was born in a hospital in Panama proper (not in the Canal Zone) so his original originalest birth certificate would be Panamanian. Probably swapped for an American one within a first week at the local embassy, but still.

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