Sunday
Why Rahm Emanuel is wrong
Salem Oregon Statesman Journal
Ideas have consequences. Anti-immigrant hysteria has the effect of increasing crime. The criminal element, be they simple muggers, employers who write rubber checks, or slumlords looking to tenants to scared to complain, are exploiting this atmosphere to predate upon a vulnerable population. Shame on Emanuel for encouraging it.
I am so proud of the way Gerry Connolly has pushed back against this hysteria and insisted upon the rule of law. Well done Connolly, and I hope Emanuel notices Connolly's landslide victory.
Citing a close special election in Massachusetts in which the issue of illegal immigration attracted a considerable amount of attention, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and champion of Democratic prospects for maintaining their House majority in 2008, said, "for the American people, and therefore all of us, [immigration has] emerged as the third rail of American politics," Emanuel said. "And anyone who doesn't realize that isn't with the American people." ...
...Fast forward to the Congressional race in which Democrat Niki Tsongas beat Republican Jim Ogonowski by a margin of 51-45% in the special election to replace Martin Meehan. The Washington Post story called it “a shocker” that the race was closer than expected, and that the Republican’s use of immigration as a wedge issue made it so tight. The challenger painted Tsongas as soft on illegal immigration, especially for her comments the week before the election that immigrants in Massachusetts illegally should be eligible for drivers’ licenses (a practical policy but a political loser – just ask Gray Davis and Elliot Spitzer). What is buried in the story is that Tsongas received the same percentage of the vote that now-Governor Deval Patrick, a fellow Democrat, won just last year in his rout of his opponent.
Ideas have consequences. Anti-immigrant hysteria has the effect of increasing crime. The criminal element, be they simple muggers, employers who write rubber checks, or slumlords looking to tenants to scared to complain, are exploiting this atmosphere to predate upon a vulnerable population. Shame on Emanuel for encouraging it.
I am so proud of the way Gerry Connolly has pushed back against this hysteria and insisted upon the rule of law. Well done Connolly, and I hope Emanuel notices Connolly's landslide victory.
Labels: 2007, fairfax county, Gerry Connolly, immigration, Prince William County, rahm emanuel, VA, Virginia
// posted by Alice @ 10/28/2007 11:55:00 AM 
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