Today Steve Benen at The Carpetbagger exposes McCain's incredible pander/lie/flip-flop on the Dream Act, the bill that gives undocumented young people a chance to earn U.S. citizenship by going to college or enlisting in the military.
If The Carpetbagger is not on your daily blogging list, it should be. Steve Benen is doing great stuff -- brilliant in quality as well as quantity (about a post an hour).
Here's how Benen put the "straight-talker's" position:
When the National Review asked McCain about the Dream Act, McCain said, "I would have voted against it. I have said a thousand times, I have heard the message from the American people."
The man is just shamelessly dishonest. McCain co-sponsored the Dream Act, then refused to vote for it, then promised to oppose it, then promised to support it. And just to add a little irony to the whole situation, McCain then concluded, "I do ask for your trust."
If you follow the issue of immigrants' rights at all, then you probably read this front-page New York Times article on the subject of state efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants a couple of days ago. The upshot of the story is pretty familiar: sick of the Feds' failure to solve the problem of illegal immigrants, state and local officials take matters into their own hands with get-tough enforcement measures that disrupt immigrant communities and send them packing back to where they came from.
You know: good riddance and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Sadly, this article is only the most recent example of a national media narrative that reports ad nauseam on anti-immigrant policies but fails to take into account the budding progressive movement to implement more inclusive and economically sensible initiatives.
I know that Markos is convinced that immigration as a wedge issue was a big loser for Republicans, and I agree. Clearly they have gotten little or no traction from it electorally, and their dash headlong into the arms of xenophobes increasingly cements their status as a permanent minority party, particularly as the Hispanic population grows and becomes a political force.
However, that's a reality of politics that's going to play out over the next decade or so. Right now, the anti-immigrant forces have shown sufficient perceived power to send Republicans (and more than a few Democrats) cowering. And the policies that have been implemented since the last attempt at comprehensive immigration reform are incredibly damaging and catastrophic. The consequences of waiting for the politics to become more favorable are grave.
With the launch of the A Dream Deferred blog, the world can no longer feign blindness to the suffering of migrants. While most bloggers in what we have dubbed the pro-migrant sanctuarysphere struggle to get hundreds of online viewers, this month tens of thousands have already collided head on with the migrant voice. These "voiceless others" that nativists have beat on for centuries now have a megaphone and they are speaking out loud and clear:
At what point did we as a nation decide to pick and choose who to grant opportunity? At the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) Summit this year, I was deeply moved by one story of an undocumented youth --- a story that shines a harsh light on our nation.
This year, the presidential election will not hinge on the emotionally divisive issue of immigration.
That's good news for everyone who believes that a moral society takes care of its most vulnerable members, forcing no one into the shadows. If the nativist wing of the Republican Party had seen its electoral goals realized, we would have witnessed a Republican primary dominated by a tragic debate about how best to expel the 12 million undocumented immigrants living in America, whether by deporting as many as possible, or by making legal conditions so inhospitable that they leave of their own volition. That debate would have trickled out into the general election, with Republican strategists trying to 'wedge' independent and Democratic-leaning voters with toxic appeals to national chauvinism and racial prejudice masquerading as distinctions of legitimate policy differences. Like the debate over what kinds of prisoner interrogation techniques legally constitute torture, these are the kinds of public discussions we engage in at the cost of our collective soul.
Each year approximately 2.8 million students graduate from US High Schools. Some will go on to college, join the military, or take other paths in life, hopefully all becoming productive members of society.
But for approximately 65,000 of them, these opportunities will never be available. Not because they lack motivation, or achievement, but because of the undocumented status passed on to them by their parents.
Lacking legal status and social security numbers, these students, raised and schooled in the US, cannot apply to college, get jobs other than those at the bottom of the economic ladder, or otherwise follow their dreams.
They grew up on American soil, worked hard and succeeded in spite of all odds, and want nothing more than to be recognized as individuals and not just the holders of a status they had no part in acquiring.
In Washington, politicians have debated the fate of these kids for more than seven years, holding lives and futures in their hands while vying for political advantage.
For these kids, and thousands more who have already managed through sheer force of will to complete their higher education, but now face a life of uncertainty and alienation, the DREAM Act is the only answer.
A radio interview from this week's "This American Life" brings us back to the forgotten Dream Act, which failed in 2007. Listen to it. The 20 minute interview with Martha, who lives in immigration limbo, is worth more than 20 encylopedias.
she's exactly the kind of kid everyone roots for. She grew up in a poor, mostly immigrant neighborhood in East Los Angeles, where most people didn't graduate from high school, and nobody talked about college. But Martha got into UCLA. She couldn't believe it: UCLA.
The interview was originally aired in 2007, but was revived this week. Just as the logic behind the Dream Act was compelling, so too is Martha's voice.
So why post this diary now? It doesn't have anything to do with the Obama-Clinton race that has absorbed our attention. But maybe it's a reminder that politics should also be about people like Martha.
In a "glowing" statement, perhaps meant to glorify the horrific deaths of the soldiers slain in Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney offered, "I think it's a reminder of the extent to which we are blessed with families who've sacrificed as they have." The man who, in his youth sought five deferments in order to avoid service during the Vietnam War, went on to state, "A lot of men and women sign up because sometimes they will see developments."
When Republicans in Congress killed the DREAM ACT, they proved that anti-immigrant hysteria has less to do with law and order than it does with old fashioned racism, of the kind that the right wing has used so successfully to divide and conquer the working class in this country for years.
In an editorial in yesterday’s Fort Worth Star Telegram, the most reprehensible of Texas’ two GOP senators, John Cornyn is denounced for voting against the DREAM ACT, a measure that is more popular in Texas than in many other red states.
I have voted mostly Democrat my entire life, but now I am finding I don't understand alot of the things Democrats espouse anymore. I have always felt the Republicans were out of touch with real people, but over the last year I have realized over and over again that most Democrats come from some kind of fairy tale position I just don't get either. As I continue to listen to both sides I have become disheartened that there is any chance to save this country before it is too late. Neither the Democrats or the Republicans seem to understand the plight of the ordinary average everyday citizen. I feel often Democrats just don't see the world clearly, and Republicans see the world only in terms of what they can take from it. I don’t agree that everything can be "owned". Common sense needs to play a part in dictating how we handle our daily lives, property, and resources. Why can’t we put aside all these extreme views, and find a common sense middle ground?
Steve Novick is a committed progressive taking on Gordon Smith for the U.S. Senate. You can find out more about the fighter with the hard left hook at his website and help support his campaign at ActBlue.
Question: When it comes to the innocent children of undocumented immigrants, who is less caring, less thoughtful, and more willing to pander to the extreme right than Orrin Hatch, Sam Brownback and Trent Lott?
Answer: Oregon Senator Gordon Smith.
On Wednesday, Gordon Smith filibustered the DREAM Act, designed to give a limited group of children of undocumented immigrants a chance to go to college, serve in the military and perhaps earn legal status.
The picture on the left is from the website of the Student Immigrant
Movement (SIM), an migrant youth organization here in Massachusetts. SIM is a big part of why Massachusetts is relatively pro-migrant compared to everywhere else in the U.S. It is students like these that I keep in mind as I write this post. Their undying hope is inspiring.
This entry comes from someone that was on the front lines of recent DREAM activism. I did everything in my power to move the DREAM Act forward.
A special greeting to Dodd supporters: Welcome to the NFL.
Chris Dodd has been hailed as a tremendous leader and everyone else trembling chihuahuas coasting in his wake.
Well, Chris Dodd showed a different kind of leadership today. While he was banging out emails on telecom immunity, he skipped two very close votes on important subjects.
And he referenced a rightwing frame in jabbing John Edwards.
The Senate just voted on the DREAM Act. The vote was on a procedural motion, so 60 votes were needed to proceed to vote on the DREAM Act itself. It was not really all that close. 54 voted in favor, 44 against. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, as you may recall, would provide a path to citizenship for immigrant students with the grades and ability to go to college and those who serve two years in the United States military. The bill was initially conceived as a way to help young immigrants who grew up in the United States and play by the rules, and not penalize them for their parents' undocumented status. All major Democratic presidential candidates support the act.
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) has apparently called the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency --- better known as ICE, for the chill they leave in destroyed immigrant communities across the United States --- to raid a press conference today called by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) in support of the DREAM Act for immigrant students.
The picture on the left is from the website of the 
