O’Malley slams Clinton and Sanders for ‘poll-tested triangulation’ on immigration.WaPo
LAS VEGAS — Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley intensified his attacks against the two other Democratic presidential candidates here Sunday, accusing both opponents of having a cautious and outdated approach to immigration issues.
In an effort to gain traction against his better-funded and higher-polling rivals, O’Malley told a meeting of immigration activists in the early caucus state of Nevada that Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders each represent “the failed thinking of the past” and have governed with a strategy of “poll-tested triangulation.”
O’Malley singled out Clinton’s opposition to granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in New York when she was a senator representing that state and running for president the first time.
“In 2007, when new American immigrants in New York had the opportunity for New York to do as Maryland had done and pass driver’s licenses for new American immigrants … Secretary Clinton had her campaign call up the then-governor of New York and begged him to pull the bill because it was getting in the way of her politics and her campaign,” O’Malley said.
Later, in a question-and-answer session, he again referred to Clinton’s 2007 driver's license position by calling out “the triangulation and cautious approach of Secretary Clinton.”
O’Malley’s comments came during an appearance at the Fair Immigration Reform Movement presidential candidates’ forum in Las Vegas. Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, is scheduled to appear at the forum on Monday. Clinton is not planning to attend.
O’Malley also attacked Sanders directly over immigration issues by highlighting one of the senator’s 2007 comments to Lou Dobbs, then a CNN anchor and now a Fox Business Network personality who is a lightning rod for many immigrants.
“When comprehensive immigration reform was up for a vote in the Congress, Senator Sanders went on Lou Dobbs’s show — are you familiar with Lou Dobbs? — and said that immigrants take our jobs and depress our wages,” O’Malley said. “Not only are those statements flat-out wrong, they actually harm the consensus.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/11/08/omalley-slams-clinton-and-sanders-for-poll-tested-triangulation-on-immigration/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Bernie has been consistent and O'Malley appears to be ABSENT on blaming the crappy GUEST WORKER PROGRAMS like H-1B and H-2B, who many Americans have been victim of, including techies like myself who is employed as I speak here because of their USING guest workers (aka "INDENTURED SERVANTS"
that the program creates with these programs, to let elites get away with hiring cheap labor that can't organize, vote, or have freedom to function in a normal capitalistic "free market" fashion to look for better paying jobs when they are locked in to the job they are conscripted for! He's NOT blaming those being employed by these programs enabled by many immigration bills, which O'Malley FALSELY alleges in his statements.
These guest worker programs not only hurt American workers, but hurt those foreign nationals (who are NOT immigrants by their rules, but temporary workers, and as such that sort of CRAP doesn't belong in any *immigration* bill, when it isn't about "immigration" . Go to these articles to see in effect that by ignoring these guest worker provisions that corporatist Dems and Republicans have put in to these bills, that these potentially would be immigrants are also hurt by these programs as well, in the corporatist global race to the bottom.
H-1B worker talks about being crapped on by this program...
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Silicon-Valleys-Body-Shop-Secret-280567322.html
H-2B workers are documented as crapped on and had to take us to court to get their rights and other damages back too.
http://www.thenation.com/article/these-workers-came-overseas-help-rebuild-after-hurricane-katrina-and-were-treated-prison/
The Think Progress article here ALSO mischaracterizes Bernie's comments too. Read it as shown here...
Article quoting Bernie...
Then the next paragraph...
This is WRONG!!!
"Process" != "immigrants coming to the U.S."
That is putting words in to Bernie's mouth that he never said. The quote for Bernie he is blaming a *process* for the problem, which if you read the context of his quotes on these subjects pretty much always refers to these guest worker PROGRAMS, like the article I earlier referenced more accurately quoted him in full context on. He's never blamed immigrants for the problems. First of all guest worker programs are only providing TEMPORARY residence for people that come in to this country as CONSCRIPTED "guest workers" during this time, and aren't actually IMMIGRATING here, becoming citizens who have the rights to vote, organize or become a part of unions, move to different companies the way other workers do when working conditions or salaries aren't what they want, etc. Now many of those workers or undocumented workers WANT to become citizens, but these guest worker programs the way they are set up aren't providing those paths to citizenship that we want for IMMIGRANTS. And many of those who come here or who want to come here as CITIZENS have the naturalization process being held up for years and in some cases decades to become citizens here arguably because our government wants them to be temporary guest workers instead, which the system can abuse to fatten the wallets of those who want to bring them over here either illegally (and pay the government not to prosecute them for illegal employment), or as those hiring guest workers, where they aren't put in to legal jeopardy and just get themselves cheap labor without rights that they can exploit like undocumented workers.
As I noted with my article above, when Bernie talks about these bills, he almost always frames his comments with his support for the DREAM act and encouraging REAL immigration, not guest worker "indentured servant" PROGRAMS that hurt everyone but the wealthy that exploit them and who pay corporatist politicians to put them in place.
He likely voted for the 2013 bill because perhaps he felt that on balance, there was more to be gained by supporting something that does a lot more for immigration than the BAGGAGE that it carried with the H-1B and other guest worker program expansion riders in it.
Of all the candidates running, Bernie best represents me, when many like me have been screwed by these programs in terms of being unemployed more and having to work primarily in contract jobs recently when I got paid more almost 20 years ago than I do now in the tech field, and those that don't like being forced to come in under guest worker programs rather than providing means to really come here and immigrate here instead. O'Malley seems to try and take a middle ground here, but unless he takes a strong stance toward fixing the real SYSTEM that encourages people to just become temporary workers here, and not growing our immigrant population of those who work here with the rights of citizens here, and stands in the way of the crappy "free trade" bills that also help with that corrupt infrastructure, he still isn't helping fix the system where it should be. Hillary is even worse when she is quoted on a number of occasions (at least back in the 2008 election) as saying she strongly supports guest worker programs like H-1B being expanded.
I see Sanders as being the only candidate with the passion to remove the false "bottom" that corporations race to here whether through free trade bills or through guest worker program outsourcing, not O'Malley, Clinton, or the Republicans. That hurts workers around the world globally, not just here.
In my book, if you want to really stop the flow of undocumented workers, guest workers, etc. where they are abused, etc. in the process instead of provided citizenship, one of the best places to start would be to take away the ag subsidies we give to big ag companies that DON'T F'ING NEED THEM like individual farmers had needed them on occasion in the past, that has allowed these companies to "dump" exports at lower prices (funded by us taxpayers), that have put many farmer in other countries out of business and forced them to work at either outsourced manufacturing operations in other countries, or coming up here for work if those get shut down when the work is moved to places like Asia where the "bottom" is better to race to.
I think many of those that come here that are more looking for ways to make enough money for themselves and their families still in other countries to survive, would rather stay at home close to their families if they were able to still be successful at professions like farming in their local communities there. Now there are some that want to really move up here and become citizens and become a part of the country here. I and Bernie and many of us WANT that too, but only if the playing field for all of our jobs is level, and they are allowed to become citizens here.
As for O'Malley's gun control issues versus Bernie's, that is another topic, but I think O'Malley has a mixed record there too, with his more harsh crackdown on violence as mayor of Baltimore leading to more incidences of police violence and excessive prosecution of minorities there that lead more recently to the riots there.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/as-mayor-of-baltimore-omalleys-policing-strategy-sowed-mistrust/2015/04/25/af81178a-ea9d-11e4-9767-6276fc9b0ada_story.html
Now, it is probably unfair to blame him for all of that, and he's got a good record in other areas of gun regulation too, but to criticize Sanders as having a mixed record there in a state where there isn't as much population for gun regulation not being as needed as much is a little disingenuous. Howard Dean has had similar records as Bernie did in terms of gun regulation in the state of Vermont, and he noted that if he were to take national leadership as president, that he would ensure that he pursue regulation as needed more in other states that wasn't as needed in Vermont. Even the NRA hasn't liked Bernie's gun regulation efforts in Vermont when giving him a D- score on it, so he's got to be doing something right!
