Can’t take credit for that one. But I digress.
What does the Yankee government suing Arizona over SB 1070 mean in terms of practical politics?
IMHO, the Feds crossed a Rubicon because that river was crossed a long time ago. I infer from Obama/Holder deciding to sue that the political calculus has already been made inside the heads of Obama, Rahm and Axelrod that the House is lost. (If they had a chance to keep it, I highly doubt they’d be suing, being on the 30% side of a 70/30 issue.) Now the Senate is trickier, because I don’t think the GOP can flip it, as they’re running some real turkeys in some real crucial states they’d need to flip, and in some states where they have to defend red retirees. PA: Pat Toomey, free trader, fart in church. OH: Rob Portman, free trader, fart in church. IN: Dan Coats, old open borders establishmentarian, free trader, Ellsworth’s a blue dog with a good immigration/trade record. MO: Roy Blunt, too many links to Abramoff, and there’s no denying a Carnahan in Missouri, even if it is this lesbo. CA: Carly H-1Borina, the worst of all worlds. FL: Marco Rubio, who shot himself in the foot when he came out against 1070. (As an aside, that’s why I think the NRA has semi-endorsed Harry Reid in Nevada, because they, like me, are assuming the GOP can’t flip the Senate, so they’d rather have Majority Leader Reid than Majority Leader Durbin or Schumer).
Plain words, Obama is focused on saving his own skin in 2012.
