Pages

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Greg Sargent Falls in Love With Jeb's Speech

Careful Mr. Sargent, or you might just float out of here. He seems to find Jeb's words very uplifting.

"This morning on ABC News, Jeb Bush unleashed what may be his most full-throated response yet to the rise of Donald Trump. The quote that will drive the headlines is that Bush said Trump wants to “insult his way to the presidency.”

"But that’s not the most important part of Bush’s remarkable monologue. The more significant part of it was the challenge it represents to GOP primary voters."

"To recap, Trump had mocked Bush for speaking in Spanish, claiming that he “should really set the example by speaking English while in the United States.” Apparently it’s self-evidently ludicrous for a Republican presidential candidate to try to appeal to Latino voters by speaking their language. Bush’s response is worth quoting at length:"

“Donald Trump is trying to insult his way to the presidency. It’s not gonna work. People want an uplifting, hopeful message. People come to this country to pursue their dreams. Sometimes they start without speaking English. But they learn English. And they add vitality to our country.

“To say you can only speak English is kind of ridiculous, if you think about it….This is a diverse country. We should celebrate that diversity and embrace a set of shared values. Mr. Trump doesn’t believe in those shared values. He wants to tear us down. He doesn’t believe in tolerance. He doesn’t believe in the things that have created the greatness of this country.”

"What this shows, I think, is that Jeb Bush’s claim last year that illegal immigration is an “act of love” continues to be a seminal moment that perfectly captured the split among Republicans over the issue. In those comments, Bush essentially challenged fellow Republicans to see illegal immigrants as more than mere lawbreakers, arguing that their plight is a morally complex one and that they have something positive to contribute to American life. This laid bare the fundamental divide among Republicans, between those who see illegal immigrants in the same terms as Bush does and are thus willing to accept some sort of compromise around legalization, and those who cannot accept legalization under any conditions (or until some undefined state of border security perfection is attained first). It’s worth noting that Trump has also mocked these “act of love” comments."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/09/03/morning-plum-can-republican-voters-rise-above-trumpism/

What I hear in Sargent here is a man who fails to get that it's not about personalities, it's about parties. 

Unlike Krugman who totally gets it.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/13/opinion/it-takes-a-party.html?_r=0

The GOP is opposed to immigration-even legal for Latinos-and a President Jeb wouldn't be able to end this either.

His policies would reflect that as even if he believes'in his heart' in a more humane line he won't step on his party's toes-we saw this movie with W. 

In other words though he may be subjectively less harsh on immigration he's objectively every bit of harsh. In fact he's worse to the extent that he can fool the Sargents of the world.

And remember-Jeb too says no reform of any kind is even worth discussing until the border is secure-so he's not actually advocating anything different.

Sargent himself does admit that 'In some ways Jeb has been disappointing on immigratoin'-you think? He says the standard GOP line of no reform until the border is secure. He agrees with Trump that 'anchor babies' are a real problem. But now this little speech has Sargent singing 'His truth goes marching on.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XibRxX6Ang

"Yet Bush is pressing on. Either he thinks he can win this argument with Trump even among some of those who are drawn to Trump’s siren song, or he is betting that more GOP primary voters (nationally, or in the states that make up his path to the nomination) will agree with him than with his nemesis. Or possibly Bush thinks he just has to wait for Trump-ism to burn out. Whatever the explanation, right now Bush seems to be issuing a challenge to Republican voters to rise above Trumpism, and it appears that Bush himself views what he’s doing in those terms."

I find Sargent irritating here because once again he's wanting to believe that it's not totally about parties-that Jeb could be someone a little better than the rest and this is false. This logic elected his brother.
And on other issues he's way worse than Trump-Medicare. abortion. taxes. Give up the idea that Jeb is some great White Hope. 
The entire party is poison on immigration and just about every other issue. Why can't pundits like Sargent just face it. 
In a way we shouldn't think of the election as a race between say Hillary and Jeb but the Democratic Party and the Republican party. If you do this, you won't be mislead. 


No comments:

Post a Comment