We noted here the other day that Bernie Sanders doesn’t hold to the orthodox Democratic Party line on immigration, suggesting instead that expanded immigration is a “right-wing Koch brothers” idea.
The blowback from the left is rolling in. First up, the Puffington Host:
“Those are the talking points that Republicans use to drive a wedge between Latinos and the African-American vote, saying, ‘They’re coming to take your jobs.’ That at its core does not resonate and does not set him apart from the Republican Party,” said Greisa Martinez, advocacy coordinator for United We Dream, a group led by undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
And Newsweek joins the pile on:
Bernie Sanders on Immigrants: Silly, Tribal and Economically Illiterate
“That’s a Koch brothers proposal.”
Oh, well if the Koch brothers want something, ipso facto it must be stopped. I assume Sanders must also oppose gay marriage, ending the war on drugs, ending the wars overseas, NSA reform, criminal justice reform and other nefarious Koch proposals.
“That’s a right-wing proposal.”
I’m surprised he was able to get this line out with a straight face, but it does highlight an inconvenient fact for moderate liberals like Klein: The far left really agrees with the far right about keeping out foreigners.
The right has traditionally feared immigrants using welfare, and the left fears the same thing— conservatives because they want less welfare, and leftists because they want more. The right thinks immigrants will take your taxes, and the left that they’ll take your welfare. (They’re both wrong, for what it’s worth, but it still drives their politics.) . .
Bernie wants to scapegoat immigrants for the failures of wage controls and the welfare state so that people won’t see through his lame socialist agenda. But no warmed over nationalist socialism can replace the creative power of free people. (Emphasis added.)
Pass the popcorn.
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