Lou Dobbs Vs. Tim Rutten

I had this in the sidebar before I saw Lou Dobbs' response, calling him a "little liberal lily" and a "hack liberal."

Kaus notes that Rutten's claim that immigration was not an important issue and thus did not warrant 35 minutes of debate time was belied by the very poll Rutten cited in making this remarkable claim.

Lou Dobbs responds here.

Tim Rutten is a hack liberal indeed, and his partisanship is showing. Immigration is indeed a critical issue this coming election cycle -- and Tim Rutten wants the issue to go away because it has the potential to kill his beloved Democratic Party.

Immigration was, until recently, an issue likely to cause only Republicans political heartburn. With the party’s Big Business factions battling its increasingly vocal secure-the-borders grass-roots advocates, immigration looked like an internal GOP squabble that had little electoral upside.

That now seems like ancient history.

Immigration is emerging as an issue that is resonating with independent voters — the very ones who carried Democrats to landslide victories in 2006, winning control of the House and Senate. And it’s presenting Democratic candidates with the challenge of how to discuss an issue they’re not used to being defensive about.

Immigration is now viewed as an issue that affects key domestic areas long considered Democratic turf: health care, crime and education.

...

Forty percent of respondents to a newly conducted, Democrat-sponsored Democracy Corps poll said the main reason the country is going in the wrong direction is that “our borders have been left unprotected and illegal immigration is growing.” Immigration was easily voters’ top priority, beating out concerns over the Iraq war, health care and the economy.

Republican pollster Rob Autry said the immigration issue polled near the top of the list among independent voters in last month’s surprisingly competitive special election in a solidly Democratic Massachusetts district, where he polled for Republican Jim Ogonowski’s campaign.

For Democrats, the issue is just as much a double-edged sword as it is for Republicans, prompting the party to increasingly voice its own internal debate.

The well-educated, white-collar professional elements of the party generally favor less restrictive immigration policies. And most Hispanic voters, one of the fastest-growing voting blocs, are strongly opposed to greater enforcement of illegal immigration.

But blue-collar workers, union members and African-Americans — all key parts of the Democratic coalition — have traditionally been more hostile to unfettered immigration, given that greater (and cheaper) job competition leads to depressed wages and a tighter job market.

Tim Rutten is a liar. He doesn't object to the immigration debate because it's unimportant to the public. Rather, he objects to the debate because it's critically important to the public, but he thinks it shouldn't be. Once again the media continues mistaking itself for "The Deciders," those who choose on our behalf which issues shall concern us and, of course, what we shall think about the issues they've carefully selected on our behalf.

Bob Schieffer Too: CBSNews' Bob Schieffer whines that we're talking about issues that may cut against Democrats, rather than chatting endlessly about media-approved topics that may cut against Republicans.

Awwww. It's so sad when The Deciders are forced to cover the news reactively rather than getting to decide the news proactively.

posted by Ace at 12:51 PM

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