Washington, D.C.
Rush:
The Democrats defeating Obama’s gun control bill in the Senate was an earthquake for Obama. He was livid about that. I think he probably still is. The Democrats were supposed to pass Obama’s gun control bill. It was supposed to die in the House where the Republicans run the show. The whole purpose of that bill was written so that the Republicans would never vote for it. That’s the truth of the matter. That gun control bill was never intended to become law. That was a campaign issue.
The plan was the Democrats pass it. It sails through the Senate. Then it goes to the House where those mean Republicans, who want people to have as many guns as possible, assault rifles and whatever to shoot anybody they want, that’s what the Republicans want, they were supposed to kill it. And then Obama, who wants to win the House for the Democrats in 2014, would have a campaign issue, claiming the Republicans don’t care about kids; Republicans don’t care about people. They’re perfectly fine if people get shot. They love it. The more guns the better. That was gonna be the campaign tactic, but it blew up because the Democrats voted it down, and Obama was ticked.
So I think, to avoid the same thing happening on this Gang of Eight immigration bill in the Senate, the worst thing in the world would be if this thing died in the Senate. This is another one. It’s supposed to sail through the Senate, and it’s the Republicans who are supposed to stop it, so that Obama and the Democrats campaigning in 2014 can say the Republicans hate Hispanics and all that attending BS: Republicans hate Hispanics, Republicans are racists, Republicans don’t like new citizens, whatever. But because the gun control bill lost in the Senate, I think Politico was sending a story out warning these Democrats, like Baucus and other Democrats: You guys had better get your minds right after the gun control bill and not make the same mistake.
There’s one big difference between the gun issue and the immigration issue: While there is enough of a cultural divide among white people on the gun issue that this tactic had a small chance of working, there isn’t quite so much of an acidic divide on immigration. If the Gang Bangers of Eight bill passes the Senate, dies in the House and Obama/OFA/Dems run these “Republicans hate Hispanics” ads, that will only increase the percentage of white people that vote Republican.
Of course, I think it’s all a moot discussion, because House districts are so well gerrymandered that save an extremely unusual circumstance, Democrats have no hope of winning the House any time this decade. Obama’s base shows up big time in 2014? Yeah, so what? They’re clumped up in solid blue gerrymanders. Obama’s base showing up might affect some Senate races, because they’re contested as statewide elections, but one extra Democrat voter voting in a blue gerrymander makes zero difference in the ultimate composition of the House. Obama’s base showed up big time last year to re-elect Obama, and various Senate Democrats in many states, but it barely made a dent in Republican control of the House, for that reason. I keep pointing to Ohio and Florida as examples: Obama won both states, incumbent Democrat Senators won re-election in both states, but Republicans won 12 of 16 House seats in Ohio and 17 of 27 in Florida, because of good gerrymandering by those states’ Republican-run state legislatures in 2011.