Posted on 11/04/2018 4:59:57 PM PST by Kaslin
Have you noticed a certain silence among not only Democratic candidates but their supporters in the streets and their enablers on cable news and in newspapers? Oh, they’re all still making plenty of noise, but there’s one thing you’re not hearing. The calls to “Abolish ICE!” which dominated the majority of the summer months have been replaced by the sound of crickets. So stark is the contrast over only a ten or so week period that even NBC News was forced to take note of it.
With just days to go before the midterm elections, the “Abolish ICE” issue has all but vanished from the radar.
The topic, which had initially been forecast by some politicos as a hot new issue for Democrats, and a possible litmus test for candidates seeking support from the progressive wing of the party for 2020, is largely gone from rallies and speeches. That’s due to what experts say is its failure to resonate with mainstream Democratic voters, a misplacing of blame for the nation’s immigration crisis and a successful counter-attack from Republicans, including President Donald Trump.
The biggest factor in the Democrats’ abandonment of the issue, Democratic strategists said, was that it deflected blame from those who they believe are responsible for creating a wave of new, harsh and divisive immigration policies.
Those are about the best excuses NBC News could hope to come up with, I suppose. The call to abolish our primary immigration enforcement agency “didnt’ resonate” with mainstream Democratic voters. And it “shifted the blame” away from the real culprit. (That, of course, would be Donald J. Trump.) If those explanations don’t make any sense to you, give yourself a cookie. You’ve cracked the code.
The real reason is that they knew they were tanking their chances at winning an election. After hammering away at the message for most of the summer with the full support of most of the mainstream media, the end of August brought some bad news. Polling showed that they hadn’t moved the needle a bit. Less than a quarter of voters (including a similar percentage of Democrats) were willing to consider abolishing the agency. They were losing the battle for hearts and minds badly.
As recently as that period in the final week of August, the New York Times was running an opinion piece literally titled, “The Power of Abolish Ice.” In it, they praised Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for her “bravery” in endorsing this policy and credited her stand on the subject for not only propelling her into the lead but pushing the party further to the left. How enlightening, eh?
But no matter how much they claimed it was an important moral stand to take, once the numbers sank in the Democrats folded their hands and walked. Almost as if it was a coordinated effort, you stopped hearing virtually anything about it on CNN or MSNBC. The Washington Post suddenly didn’t seem so interested in covering the subject. And now they’ve all fallen silent. That’s some real dedication to principles for you.
But here’s something to keep in mind: just because they’ve stopped talking about it doesn’t mean it’s forgotten. It’s just gone into the category of “things we don’t talk about until we get elected.” You can bet that if the Democrats take the House they’ll be trying to significantly defund ICE at a minimum when budget negotiation time comes around. They may not be able to “abolish” ICE, but they can certainly try to hogtie it.
[ Youre not hearing anything about Abolish ICE this week, are you? ]
Very true. They’re trying to lull the LIV Democrats to sleep.
Or Independent voters, for that matter. Doesn't take a pro political strategist to have predicted that the issue would only find resonance with the rabid commie base.
Not much fake bomb chatter either.
Like Rush says, dems have to lie to win.
Thank God President Trump talks of ‘Abolish ICE’ at every rally.
He fights like no other.
You are also not hearing the “Medicare For All” meme from the Rats.
Me thinks it didn’t Poll well with the Rat Focus Groups.
We're lucky -- if the Trump-hater who mass-murdered Jews in Philadelphia had been an illegal, the illegals who want ICE abolished along with their allies the high gun cofiscation crew would be picketing people in restaurants right now, all across the country. The #MeToo heroine Linda Sarsour and all her Demagogic Party endorsers would be the only ones not there, because they hate the Jews.
[Like Rush says, Dems have to lie to win.]
Yes they do. Good comment.
Well there is a way to refresh the memories of the dimwits who forgot that their fave politician was demanding that ICE dissolve along with our borders.
Do you have a list of the guilty parties? This is from two August CNN articles... are there more?????? Did they miss anyone?
1. Andrew Gillum (FL)
2. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (NY)
3. Mark Poco (WI)
4. Elizabeth Warren (MA)
5. Kristen Gillibrand (NY)
6. Bill de Blasio (NY)
7. Pramila Jayapal (WA)
8. Earl Blumenauer (OR)
9. Jim McGovern (MA)
10. Nydia Velázquez (NY)
11. Raul Grijalva (AZ)
12. Adriano Espaillat (NY)
13. Cynthia Nixon (NY)
14. Randy Bryce (WI)
15. Jim McGovern (WI)
16. Bernie Sanders (VT)
True. Good note.
Thank you for posting that list!
The Dems are smart enough not to harp on their weaknesses.
Thanks for the heads-up.
We need to make that anti-ICE list of Democrats go viral.
Absolutely!!!
Too bad for them none of them worked! They're pathetic losers and liars.
Beyond this election what will interest me is whether Trump ever gets anything on illegal immigration. Republicans use it for political purposes, but it’s a bit like Obamacare. Once the dog catches the car (have all branches of government), will they do anything other than let it go? The Chamber of Commerce and all those businesses out there love cheap labor. The employer of the guy that killed Molly Tibbets was a classic example. Trump will have to drag the establishment kicking and screaming to shutdown the illegals.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.