Actually, no. The first step, yes. But what's even more at issue is amnesty. Amnesty will insure a Democrat victory come 2010, and seal their control over the country. Without amnesty, they are in far worse a position electorally. Amnesty is the key. With amnesty, there will be no repeal of healthcare.
Don't misunderstand. I agree they'll use every tactic they can. What I'm saying is, without amnesty, the electoral balance is different than in the past. It will be far harder to get such charges to stick this time around. But amnesty trumps everything.
The electoral impact of the amnesty issue is quite different from what you portray.
Those of Hispanic origin who are citizens and eligible to vote have one of the lowest rates of voter registration and even lower rate of voter turnout of any demographic group.
Amnesty currently exists and happens every day. The amnesty you refer to just expands the existing amnesty. Many who receive amnesty, and who have always been legal immigrants, choose to not become citizens.
For those who do choose to become naturalized citizens the path is long and slow. And then, especially among the Hispanics, the rate of naturalized who actually vote is extremely low.
Surveys repeatedly show that Hispanic citizens who do not vote are more conservative than those who do vote. In other words, the Democrat machine (at least in our IL) gets more of its voters to the polls than do the Republicans.
But the immigration issue does have a big impact on election day.
ALL PTA MOMS VOTE (or they wouldn’t be defined at PTA moms). Above all else, they want to be nice and not mean spirited. Anti (illegal) immigrant candidates (Oberweiss of our IL) come accross as mean spirited. I knocked door-to-door for Obie both for statewide office (several times) and for congressman (after working for Lauzen in the primary).
Repeatedly Republican voters would give Obie’s mean spirited image on immigration as the reason they were not voting for him. These Republicans live beside illegals. They go to church with illegals. Their kids play with illegals and anchor babies. They see making illegals the scapegoat to be mean spirited.
In short, the illegal immigration issue is a loser for Republicans.
Of course, whether an issue is a political loser or not is totally separate from whether it is the right moral position or not. Here, I’m just referring to your mis-representation of the political aspect of the issue.