Question on the origin of the immigration debate

[Tyrone Slothrop]

I've just recently started following this story, and I have a big question about it: who decided that this was the hot-button topic of this year?

In the face of the war, NSA spying measures, peak oil, terrorterrorterror, et al., how did immigration reform come to dominate the news all of a sudden?

My first thought was, of course, that this a WH manufactured distraction/wedge issue for this election cycle; however, the debate seems particularly to be dividing Republicans. This makes it seem unlikely that it was a Rovian tactic -- unless he wildly miscalculated the opinions of the Republican majorities in Congress. Again, that prospect seems unlikely; Rove knows what lurks in the hearts of the Republican reps.

So, who decided that this was THE big issue right now? Was it just Lou Dobbs??? Or....???

[babylonsister]

1. I think that's a question we'd all like answered. I think it started as

a repug distraction that snowballed out of their control. Again, their powers of peering into the future are lacking.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

4. That's the best thing I could come up with too

[mdmc]

11. yup

:kick:

[bryant69]

2. That's an interesting question

I don't think it was Rove either - Bush's position on the issue is too nuanced - as witnessed, he's going to end up pissing off more people than placating them. He can't run to the middle at this point - his base won't let him, and we won't take him.

So where did it start? I don't know - Congress?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Tyrone Slothrop]

6. I thought so too

I was discussing this with a few of my friends, and our biggest question was "Why is this such a big deal all of a sudden?"

It seems to have all the hallmarks of the gay marriage issue from '04 -- except that Republicans are not marching in their typical rank and file. Was it simply miscalculated that all the Republicans would lockstep behind whatever Bush proposed?

Edited to add "not"

[benburch]

3. I think it started here;

http://interwaryears.8m.net.nyud.net:8090/Hitler.jpg

[leveymg]

5. Last Hurrah has a good article on that

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2006/04/immigration_rep.html
April 13, 2006
Immigration: Republican Wedge Issue
by DemFromCT

How big is your fence? Mine's bigger. Such is the state of immigration reform for the Republican party. Normally when introducing a wedge issue into the political arena, you'd like to have some control ove rthe debate, and be on the popular side of the issue. It may not be the right, the best or the practical solution (see 2002 WoT/Homeland Security attacks on Democrats), or even a problem at all (see gay marriage amendments, Congressional Schiavo charade), but it should help your side by peaking at or near election time.

Immigration was supposed to be that Republican wedge issue, but it's turning out to be a much more complex picture than intended.

Nebraska may seem an unlikely place for a debate about border security, but illegal immigration has become a key issue in the Senate race here. Republican candidates are addressing the subject in television spots and stump speeches, and criticizing Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson's plan to build fences along the U.S.-Mexico border as incremental and unworkable.

While the fight over illegal immigration roils Washington, the issue is spilling out into local, state and federal races across the country. But the response isn't monolithic. Even as a number of House Republicans are expected to face a backlash from Hispanic and other voters for their tough approach, some candidates are adopting hard-line positions in a bid to portray incumbents as weak on illegal immigration. For now, the issue is percolating largely in Republican primaries but is expected to affect campaigns across the board as the November midterm elections approach.

"It's coming up everywhere and at the very least, there won't be a debate where this is not a big question," said Jennifer Duffy, of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. In past campaigns, immigration has been an issue in border states like Arizona and places with a high percentage of Hispanics. But political observers say recent mass demonstrations by immigrants, an influx of foreign-born workers into the heartland and the political divide in Washington have caused voters to focus more on it than in the past.

SNIP

[WhiteTara]

7. Lou Dobbs has been yammering about this

for over a year. Almost on a daily basis

[Tyrone Slothrop]

10. Does that have anything to do with it though?

I can't imagine the WH taking its cues from Lou Dobbs -- especially on something that's so contentious within their own party.

[porphyrian]

8. Whoever was trying to distract us from something important. - n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. The same type of people who brought you the "Yellow Peril".

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken

[Igel]

12. Activists made it a Big Deal.

Repubs were mostly playing to their base with a House bill in February. Some wanted it to become a wedge issue. But the bills in the House and Senate had been introduced long before, and discussion of them and their provisions can be found last fall, in the peripheral blogosphere and press.

Activists, IMHO, spread an extreme interpretation of some of the provisions in the House bill, which got the Catholic Church and various immigrants' rights activists involved and up in arms. This lead to the first "black day" in April, because the Senate bill was coming up for a vote fairly soon. I don't know squat about the Senate bill's provisions.

The House bill per se created little frenzy in the media; some articles here and there, the issue was peripheral to most people's field of vision. The Senate bill was creating no big frenzy until the April demonstrations took place, and then, either in solidarity with or opposition to the demonstrators the press mounted a great bloviation; the May 1 demonstrations consolidated it all as a Truly Big Deal.

Many reporters and editors now consider the Immigration Debate of '06 to be a Very Serious and Burning Issue, and since they're up to speed and consider themselves to be experts on the issue, we can look forward to a Furtherance of Bloviation, saying many words while saying very little new.