1/Short thread on Bernie and immigration.
Bottom line - he is incredibly full of shit about where he's been and who he is, and has to be called out on it. Level of misrepresentation is so great here it feels Trumpian.
Bottom line - he is incredibly full of shit about where he's been and who he is, and has to be called out on it. Level of misrepresentation is so great here it feels Trumpian.
2/I was deeply involved in the attempt to pass immigration reform in 2007. Bernie played a critical role in killing the McCain/Kennedy Senate bill which came very close to passing.
If it had passed, 11m would have gained citizenship, no Trump, no kids in cages.
If it had passed, 11m would have gained citizenship, no Trump, no kids in cages.
3/During that 2007 fight for immigration reform Bernie was comfortable being seen with people we know today as among America's most significant bigots.
Here he is making common cause with Lou Dobbs. It is a bit shocking.
Here he is making common cause with Lou Dobbs. It is a bit shocking.
4/Let's be clear that Lou Dobbs was Lou Dobbs back then. Bernie knew who Dobbs was. Dobbs was so corrosive to the discourse around immigration that NDN led a national campaign to get @CNN to "Drop Dobbs." ndn.org/blog/2009/09/d…
@CNN 5/Our campaign worked, and less than two months later @CNN did indeed "Drop Dobbs." nytimes.com/2009/11/12/bus…
@CNN 6/But Bernie's slumming it w/bigots and racists didn't end in 2007. Here is Steve King in 2015:
“I admire Bernie’s passion and I notice that his immigration position is closer to mine than it is some of the presidential candidates on the Republican side"
time.com/4170591/bernie…
“I admire Bernie’s passion and I notice that his immigration position is closer to mine than it is some of the presidential candidates on the Republican side"
time.com/4170591/bernie…
@CNN 7/Here is Steve King again in 2015 praising Bernie:
"Bernie Sanders is closer 2 my position on immigration than a wing of GOP"
"Bernie Sanders is closer 2 my position on immigration than a wing of GOP"
@CNN 8/Bernie may be the only left-of-center politician IN AMERICA on friendly terms w/Lou Dobbs and Steve King.
Rather than presenting himself as a champion of immigrant voters, he should be APOLOGIZING to them for helping kill CIR and ushering in this age of Trump.
Rather than presenting himself as a champion of immigrant voters, he should be APOLOGIZING to them for helping kill CIR and ushering in this age of Trump.
@CNN 9/The Bernie we are seeing in 2020 isn't who Bernie has been.
He's weaving a fiction, leaving behind his Communist, pro-gun, anti-immigrant past, and offering make believe "plans" which will never come to pass.
At its core there's something deeply dishonest abt his campaign.
He's weaving a fiction, leaving behind his Communist, pro-gun, anti-immigrant past, and offering make believe "plans" which will never come to pass.
At its core there's something deeply dishonest abt his campaign.
@CNN 9/Don't we think Trump will make sure every Hispanic knows that Lou Dobbs and Steve King loved Bernie; that every young person knows he was backed by the NRA; that every voter knows he was a Communist?
See how Trump hits Biden here for a preview: thehill.com/homenews/campa…
See how Trump hits Biden here for a preview: thehill.com/homenews/campa…
@CNN 10/Don't we think Trump will make sure every Hispanic knows that Lou Dobbs and Steve King loved Bernie; that every young person knows he was backed by the NRA; that every voter knows he was a Communist?
See how Trump hit Biden in NV for a preview: thehill.com/homenews/campa…
See how Trump hit Biden in NV for a preview: thehill.com/homenews/campa…
@CNN 11/Try to address some of the pushback I got on this thread below. Feedback, comments welcome.
My main point here - like his acknowledgement of his bad votes on guns, Bernie should own up to his sordid anti-immigrant past. Be straight up, no gaslighting.
My main point here - like his acknowledgement of his bad votes on guns, Bernie should own up to his sordid anti-immigrant past. Be straight up, no gaslighting.
@CNN 12/This 2016 piece from Dolores Huerta adds some bits to the story, and reminds us of Bernie's support of the border vigilantes, the Minutemen.
@CNN 13/Received this from a former high level House staffer:
"I am perpetually frustrated by the fact that no one has written about how Sanders was terrible on immigration his entire career and not only never lifted a finger on immigration but was often an obstacle or fly in...(1)
"I am perpetually frustrated by the fact that no one has written about how Sanders was terrible on immigration his entire career and not only never lifted a finger on immigration but was often an obstacle or fly in...(1)
@CNN 14/"ointment on it. I still remember the 1st affirmative thing I ever saw him do on immigration was in 2015 or '16 when he co-signed a letter w/Grijalva on Dreamers. I remember thinking that he'd never done anything before on immigration until he decided to run for President. (2)
@CNN 15/"I’m going to go find that letter because literally I don’t think he had ever signed on to even a colleague letter on immigration his whole career." (3)
@CNN 16/Notes from two top Senator Harry Reid staffers at the time about Bernie working against us on immigration.
From a Dem Party prospective, Bernie was an outlier/extremist on guns and immigration, two issues so central to our current discourse.
From a Dem Party prospective, Bernie was an outlier/extremist on guns and immigration, two issues so central to our current discourse.
