How can you tell it’s an election year and Democrats are scared? Their most senior members are working overtime to rile up their base — regardless of the collateral damage it may do to American society.
Recently, we had an example close to home, when Long Island Rep. Steve Israel went on CNN with the accusation that “the Republican base does have elements that are animated by racism.”
That’s no accident. Just a few days earlier, Israel’s boss, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, played the race game herself. “I think race has something to do with the fact that they are not bringing up an immigration bill,” she said of her GOP colleagues.
Right. The Republican reluctance to put forward an immigration bill has nothing to do with the fact that GOPers have good reason to distrust President Obama on the topic. Especially considering that he helped blow up the bipartisan immigration deal during the Bush years and has made clear that no matter what Congress passes, he will only enforce the parts of the law he agrees with.
No, the Democrats tell us Republicans are animated by race. Or the opportunity to deprive their fellow Americans of health care. Or about another old reliable in the Democratic arsenal, the “war on women.”
There’s a reason behind this demagoguery. Because of the sluggishness of the economy under Obama (Democratic strategists just warned candidates not to use the word “recovery”) and the unpopularity of ObamaCare, Democrats know they may lose the Senate.
The only chance they have to hang on is if they can get their base to turn out in higher numbers than they did in the last mid-term elections in 2010. And we know how that turned out, with Republicans re-taking the House.
We understand the Democrats’ plight: Jobs growth is anemic. US foreign policy is in flames from Ukraine to the Middle East.
But it’s a sign of their lack of confidence in their own policies that instead of arguing for the superiority of their agenda on the merits, they have chosen to base their campaign on appeals designed to inflame.
Of course, this is nothing new. Back in 2012, Vice President Joe Biden told a black audience that the GOP wanted “y’all back in chains.”
That was disgraceful. But expect to hear much more of it in 2014.