‘Does chutzpah translate into Spanish?’

April 17, 2006

Just to follow up on a post from Saturday, the [tag]RNC[/tag] has put together a [tag]Spanish[/tag]-language radio [tag]ad[/tag], for broadcast in four western cities with large Hispanic populations, which blames Democrats for an anti-immigration provision sponsored by a Republican, approved by Republicans, and inspired by a Republican presidential administration. The RNC’s ad, to put it mildly, is wildly misleading.

Let’s take a moment to consider the Republican response here. The 60-second spot — in Spanish — blames [tag]Democrats[/tag] for legislation that passed the Republican-controlled House that would make illegal [tag]immigrants[/tag] subject to felony charges. “Reid’s Democrat allies voted to treat millions of hardworking immigrants as [tag]felons[/tag],” the ad says, “while President [tag]Bush[/tag] and [tag]Republican[/tag] leaders work for legislation that will protect our borders and honor our immigrants.”

Is any of this even remotely true? Not for anyone who takes facts seriously. Rep. James [tag]Sensenbrenner[/tag], the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, crafted the legislation that would make undocumented immigrants felons. He later said he got the idea from the Bush administration. When his measure came up for a vote in the House, Republicans voted for it; Dems voted against it. Who “voted to treat millions of hardworking immigrants as felons”? That would be congressional Republicans.

But, the RNC says, I’m leaving out part of the story. Republican leaders eventually backpedaled on the provision that they had already embraced. Realizing that the felony provision was a political and legislative disaster, they wanted to vote on a similar immigration bill without the provision that would have made undocumented immigrants felons. When that came up for a vote, Dems voted to prevent the Republicans from flip-flopping.

As far as the RNC is concerned, this is proof that Dems “voted to treat millions of hardworking immigrants as felons.” The RNC is still lying, for at least three reasons.

One, it was a Republican bill in the first place. It takes a special kind of stupid for the RNC to blame Dems for a Republican idea that Republicans voted for overwhelmingly.

Two, Dems didn’t vote to treat immigrants as felons; they voted to keep a bad bill in tact for all the world to see. The RNC and Ken [tag]Mehlman[/tag] may be ashamed of the Republican bill now — as they should be — but the House GOP still voted for the provision before they voted against it.

And three, as Ron Brownstein explained, there are some pesky facts that keep getting in the way of RNC talking points.

After the panel approved the bill, the administration asked Sensenbrenner to change the proposed penalty from a felony to a misdemeanor. Sensenbrenner agreed and said on the House floor that he concluded the felony designation was unworkable because it would require a grand jury indictment, a jury trial and a public defender for the illegal immigrant.

But Sensenbrenner’s amendment to change the crime to a misdemeanor failed when most Democrats and some conservatives voted against it. That’s the vote Hastert and Frist cited to blame Democrats for the provision that would brand illegal immigrants as felons.

Hastert and Frist are right that political posturing contributed to the Democratic vote: They had little interest in helping Republicans sand off the sharpest edge in the GOP bill.

But Democratic opposition rested on a deeper objection that Hastert and Frist ignore. If House Democrats supported the Sensenbrenner amendment, they would have been voting to make unlawful presence a misdemeanor. But almost all Democrats believe it should not be a crime. The House Democrats’ bill retains unlawful presence as a civil, not criminal, violation.

In other words, if the Dems voted for the reduced penalties, they still would have been supporting a measure to make undocumented immigrants in this country criminals, which they do not believe should be federal law.

Any way you slice it, the RNC ad is a demonstrable lie. DNC lawyers should be on the phone with every station on which the RNC bought time, explaining that the ad is intentionally deceptive and has no place on the air.

One can hope that someone in the democratic party has the sense to counter this.

Might be too much to hope, though.

Thanks for the concise explanation of the timeline and rationales, CB.

  • It doesn’t surprise me. The networks refuse to air commercials with a more liberal bent politically, based on their assertins that there are “untruths” in such ads. And then, they do this. Why isnt’ the DNC all over this? Where is the backbone of this party?

  • There were some very interesting — and meritorious — comments to the Saturday post on this RNC mendacity. Yes, the Rethugs still wanted to make the mere presence in this country a crime, albeit only a mesdemeanor rather than as a felony. That is repugnant enough.

    As another commenter noted Saturday, though, having Sensenbrenner try to make this “newly criminalized behavior” a mere misdemeanor rather than a felony makes it a two-fer for the boonbats. First, of course, is that this would now make these folks criminals, rather than leaving the current law in tact, which treats their presence as a civil matter. Second, ONLY persons accused of felonies are entitled, under federal law, to the asssitance of counsel and other Consitutional due process protections at public expense. How nice….

    Rethugs are Lying.Fucking.Dangerous.Bastards. As many here at TCR know, this is my favorite description of Rethug behavior and values. As much as I like it, it is not very politically correct nor viable in the CCCP.

    Therefore, my new “frame” and campaign slogan, now and for the future, is:

    “Republicans Lie and Cheat…. Had Enough? Vote Democratic!”

    Feel free to use it!! 🙂

  • ‘ DNC lawyers should be on the phone with every station on which the RNC bought time, explaining that the ad is intentionally deceptive and has no place on the air.’

    If they don’t do this, heads should roll in the DNC. Lots of them. Maybe all of them.

  • Dems need an ad to run. If the RNC runs an ad, people will see it. By the time the Dem lawyers are done, the ads will already have run and the message will be out.

    I didn’t see people yelling about Swift Boat making any difference in that campaign.

  • Markets, both consumer and political, reward chutzpah… often more than they reward truth…

    Also, this is kind of a complicated issue, not readily amenable to the kind of argument and counter argument to which regular voters respond, or even really understand.

    The Republicans were first off the mark on this. Lies or not, any response from the Democrats could just confuse people and neutralize the whole topic. If so, that’s too bad… it could have been a strong marketing topic for Democrats.

    We’ll see.

  • If I were the DNC I’d run a full-page ad in all major newspapers showing that the GOP is LYING in Spanish ads on Spanish-speaking radio and taking Dem positions to try to score points with Spanish-speaking people. The ad would be simple, just two transcripts– their Spanish script and its English translation. The headline could be something simple like: Is the GOP LYING IN SPANISH?

    Then step back and watch the GOP devour itself.

    Even by GOP standards this tactic is so underhanded that even proud Republicans should be disgusted. You know the Dittoheads would FLIP if they knew.

  • Cheaper option– leak the GOP’s Spanish and English transcripts to all the anti-immigrants freaks like Limbaugh, Savage, LGF, Powerline, etc.

    Let their own outrage fuel and start the fire.

  • Isn’t HR4427 called a “Sensenbrenner” bill? And if it’s not every pundit, on every show, every day until it’s been repeated a thousand times:

    “Oh! The Sensenbrenner Immigration Bill! No, no, the Democratic Party will never agree to make undocumented persons, up to 11-million strong, criminals, and felons, at that, by congressional fiat. Terrible, just terrible legislation.

    Our Latino voters and friends are more than smart enough to know who is in charge and trying to do this horrible thing: Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the Whitehouse.”

    IF WE DON’T GET OUT IN FRONT ON THIS ISSUE NOW, WE WILL ONCE AGAIN LOSE MILLIONS OF VOTES TO THE REPUBLICAN GUARD.

    Why don’t we have a “war room” to instantly respond to GOP lies? THEY DO.

  • The Spanish-language radio stations were the ones who got the people out for the mass demonstrations (which liberal bloggers knew nothing about until the last minute). Why shouldn’t they take the RNC’s money, so they can lampoon the GOP some more? These people aren’t stupid.

  • This country was built by honest hardworking immigrants who had a sense of Patriotism! People like my Great Grandfather and Grandfather who went to work and PAID TAXES to support the future growth of this great country. There is no relation to what is happening at this time with the ILLEGAL immigrants who work for so little pay and do not support our country because they are all working under the table jobs! Taking those very jobs away from UNITED STATES CITIZENS who need those very jobs to support there Families!!! The minimum wage is set for a reason so that we can all sustain a certain living standard. These ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS broke the law when they entered this GREAT COUNTRY of ours when they SNUCK across the boarder. No question about it! When this bill was passed it was passed by the majority both republicans and democrats. As for the felony designation requiring a grand jury indictment, a jury trial and a public defender for the illegal immigrant. These ILLEGAL immigrants deserve no public defender which our tax dollars pay for! They are illegal. They broke the law. They should be treated as Felons and jailed until they can be deported back to the country that they don’t have the heart to fight for! The middle east right now is a mess but they are fighting for what is theirs!!! If our government didn’t have to waste their time trying to figure out what to do with these ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS they could use those very resources to help our very own UNITED STATES CITIZENS in all of our very own problems. You want what we have so bad go home and fight to make your country a part of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!

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