Over at the Bee, Dan Morain has a great comparison piece between today’s California Democratic Party and the Republicans. One of them understand the importance of a unified community, the other is grasping at nativism (and not very well) to rile up an angry base.
Democratic strategist Richie Ross who marched with Chavez and for decades has been chief strategist for the farmworkers union, stood off to the side, soaking it in.
“This is about power,” Ross said later.
On Monday, Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a first-term Republican from San Bernardino County, stood on the north steps of the Capitol with seven other Republican Assembly members. Before being elected, Donnelly had been part of the Minutemen, the group that claims to combat illegal immigration by patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border.
Donnelly announced that he was pushing Arizona-style legislation to make illegal immigration a crime under California law. As an added attraction, Donnelly brought a special guest, Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, who last year authored the anti-illegal immigration law. …
Republican strategist Marty Wilson watched it all. “Very counterproductive to the expansion of the Republican base,” Wilson told me.(SacBee)
With redistricting coming up, and a strange process at that, it’s hard to forecast partisan breakdown. However, one thing is clear, with the increasing diversity of the state, attacking minorities is not really a politically sensible thing to do. Even much of the GOP, like Wilson, and the entire Bush crew, recognize. But they’ve long ago lost control of their party to the nativist extremists.
In California, where Latinos account for roughly 38% of the population, and will soon account for a higher percentage than non-Latino Caucasians, it just seems like a really, really bad idea. But you know, Russell Pearce was there, so yay!
I know the Republicans aren’t looking to really get a majority, but if they don’t watch it with this stuff, they’ll soon find it hard to get even 1/3 of the Legislature.
I’m wondering when the GOP will look at these nativists and wonder if tere votes are worth the potential more they can lose. Really, if the GOP changed its stance on Latinos it could do well with that group. Maybe the whole party leadership primary thing that is developing out of the jungle primary system is leading to that.
To the GOP, purity is the goal. Purity is far more important than winning elections. And there are no shades of gray. There is right and there is wrong. To them, being wrong will winning is a badge of honor.
Democrats understand coalitions and the strength in diversity. They understand that one group might have to work to accomodate another — but we have a melting pot and that’s how it ought to work.
“Even much of the GOP, like Wilson, and the entire Bush crew, recognize. But they’ve long ago lost control of their party to the nativist extremists.”
Perhaps Marty Wilson recognizes the point, but from Morain’s column it’s clear Marty Wilson was happy to pander to the nativists on behalf of Pete Wilson (whom I’ve long called “Pete Weasel”, with apologies to weasels). It seems like Marty Wilson is simply rueing the whirlwind while having sowed the wind.
It was Gov. Pete ‘White Power’ Wilson who used anti-Latino sentiment to get himself re-elected
Republicans were toxic among the Latino community after him
Arnold seemed to bring back some diversity to the GOP
But, he was a RINO rejected by his own party
The Tea Party seems intent on racial purity
They’ll sink the GOP !!
Good riddance
Unfortunately, with ‘business’ or ‘moderate’ Democrats like Bill Clinton , Al Gore, Joe Lieberman and Barack Obama there’s not a lot of alternatives
The GOP is going Far right while Democrats are becoming more ‘business friendly’
Any ELECTABLE Progressives on the horizon ?
Living in the highly gerrymandered AD 59, I cringed when Mountjoy was my assemblyman…now I just feel bad for our area.
Donnelly was elected because the crowded Republican primary field pushed the most crazy lunatic to the top. While Tea Party nativists coalesced themselves around a single candidate, the more sane Republican voters spread their votes thinly over the other candidates. Without a strong showing from the Democratic side of the general election, Donnelly won with ease in our district.
I’m crossing my fingers that the redistricting commission will save my city by redistricting lunatics out of electability. I’m truly hoping that our district wakes up, though…
As long as the Federal Government wants to play games with real money and real people’s lives, then as long as the Democrats and Green Party look after the minority community as a whole (which they haven’t done…), they will just bolster their numbers though Latinos as whole trend moderate to conservative. That is changing slightly though as it seems Gen Y Latinos are quite a bit more Progressive than their older Gen X and Baby Boomer counterparts who in some cases were apart of the immigration wave under Regan and took their Catholic ideas with them.
But the Catholic Church has been discredited. I’m not sure if Latinos have gotten that memo yet.
In any case, Dems do right by them, they’ll get their support. Keep playing the Business Friendly margins, all bets are off.
Don’t want to make their message work for the majority and then they object to Majority rule, How stupid, Eventually Democrats will get 2/3rds by population and then the 2/3rds junk will be voted out…
Republicans can either change their pitch or get lost as this will happen and on their present course to oblivion, Their ain’t a thing they can do about It.