Tim Kaine Proves Rush Limbaugh’s Point - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Tim Kaine Proves Rush Limbaugh’s Point
by

So.

Here’s the Washington Post the other day on Tim Kaine:

Kaine escalates attack on Trump, associating him with ‘Ku Klux Klan values’

Said Hillary’s VP candidate in this Post report:

“Yesterday, Hillary Clinton gave a speech in Reno, Nevada, calling out Donald Trump on a lot of things on this equality idea, calling him out on the fact that he has supporters like David Duke, connected with the Ku Klux Klan, who are going around and saying Donald Trump is their candidate because Donald Trump is pushing their values,” said Kaine (D-Va.). “Ku Klux Klan values, David Duke values, Donald Trump values are not American values. They’re not our values.”

And yesterday, on a seemingly unrelated topic, Rush Limbaugh repeated something he has said many times before on the subject of illegal immigration and amnesty. As a matter of fact, Rush said it again to help correct a misimpression I had mistakenly left when I cited Rush’s views on CNN over the weekend when talking to host Jim Sciutto on the subject of Donald Trump and immigration. Here’s the link to Rush’s thoughts and I want to quote some of them directly:

RUSH: Last night Jeff Lord is on with Jim Sciutto, and they are discussing one of my ideas, and I want to play the bite because Jeff gets only one thing a little wrong here that I want to correct, but you will hear what it is.

LORD: Rush Limbaugh had a great suggestion about this to test the willingness of my friend Basil and others. Let them come and give them a path to citizenship, but they can’t vote for 25 years or so. That would be an interesting proposition to see what the reaction is.

SCIUTTO: People come in the country but not have the right to vote?

LORD: Yeah, for 25 years or so. So if they come illegally, they don’t get the right to vote in America for 25 years.

Let it be said, I goofed. Or, as Rush was gracious enough to say, I misspoke. Rush was talking about amnesty, not citizenship. As a regular listener I should have caught my own mistake. Rush elaborated as follows yesterday:

RUSH: I didn’t say grant ‘em citizenship. You can’t grant ‘em citizenship and take away the vote. I said amnesty. I’ve said all along, and nobody has taken me — look, can we all agree that if I came out for the amnesty, it would do a lot to push it over the finish line? I might lose my radio show, but I could push it over the finish line. Right? With one proviso. There are a lot of people that would love to have me supporting it, right? And I’ve offered to.

I’ve told Chuck Schumer, and I’ve told Karl Rove, I’ve told any number, look, I’ll be on your team, I’ll come out and I’ll promote amnesty as a way of solving the problem with one proviso: Those granted amnesty are not granted citizenship for 10 or 15 years, meaning they can’t register to vote 10 or 15 years. And let’s just see, let’s just see what kind of support there is because the whole reason the Democrat Party wants this is they see 11 million new voters. They see a brand-new permanent underclass.

So I wanted to correct this. He didn’t make a mistake; he just misspoke. I would never suggest we grant people citizenship and deny them the right to vote for six months, much less 25 years. It’s amnesty that I was talking about. We just want to forgive them, right? Okay, they’re here. We’re gonna admit that we’re not gonna send them back. That’s amnesty. We’re gonna forgive their crime.

Here’s another thing we could do. We could increase their tax rate as a penalty. Ha-ha-ha. How do you think that would fly? Can’t vote for let’s say 15 years and have to pay the full Medicare tax. Nah, let’s not complicate this. Don’t add their tax rate. Just leave it alone. And I guarantee you I wouldn’t have any takers. You might have some patient Democrats, “You say 10, 15 years, okay, all right, I’ll go for that.” I’m sure some would want to take it, but it would expose what this is all about.

Now. What is it that Senator Tim Kaine — Hillary’s VP nominee — has said that illustrates exactly Rush Limbaugh’s point?

This.

What was the reason for the Ku Klux Klan in the first place? As readers of this column know, we frequently cite Columbia University historian Eric Foner, who says the Klan was created as “a military force serving the interests of the Democratic Party.” We also cite University of North Carolina historian Allen Trelease’s description of the Klan as the “terrorist arm of the Democratic Party.”

There is no need at this point to recount the Klan’s reign of terror. The real question is — why? Why in the world would the Democrats ever even think of employing a bunch of hooded racists in the service of their political party?

The answer can be found in this part of Rush’s monologue from yesterday, bold print supplied by me:

I’ve told Chuck Schumer, and I’ve told Karl Rove, I’ve told any number, look, I’ll be on your team, I’ll come out and I’ll promote amnesty as a way of solving the problem with one proviso: Those granted amnesty are not granted citizenship for 10 or 15 years, meaning they can’t register to vote 10 or 15 years. And let’s just see, let’s just see what kind of support there is because the whole reason the Democrat Party wants this is they see 11 million new voters.”

In other words? In other words the Democrats cheering on the Klan in the day wanted to appeal to people — specifically white people — for votes. All those anti-Lincoln Republican white voters in the Old Confederacy were in essence seen by Democrats of the day as their successors today see illegals: a massive cohort of people who would vote by race. Correspondingly the Dems of the day wanted to forcibly keep black Americans — newly freed slaves — from voting. Which is to say, the Democratic Party — well on record supporting slavery — judging others by skin color — was now going to keep right on with the racist formula that built the Democrats’ party in the first place. Using racism to pass their agenda of the day.

The other week Michelle Obama made some waves when she said of her time in the White House that every day “I wake up in a house that was built by slaves.” What no one wants to admit on the left is that every day Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Democrats wake up in a political party built by slaves — not to mention built by segregationists, lynchers, and the Klan. All of which were thoroughly dedicated to building a political party based on judging others by race. Sadly, they succeeded. As mentioned here often enough, the political formula they use is simple: racism plus progressivism equals political power.

The political power gained through exploiting racism is used for progressive ends. The color — the race — of the moment, as Americans have learned the hard way, can change. But from the creation of the Federal Reserve to the New Deal and progressive goals as diverse as Social Security and the creation of the federal school lunch program to today’s fights over health care and taxes, the political equation always has Democrats getting elected on race card playing platforms to gain the power to enact the progressive agenda of the moment. Gaining power by getting the votes of those who were appealed to on the basis of race.

Which returns us to the connection between Tim Kaine unwittingly illustrating Rush Limbaugh’s point. Senator Kaine’s condemnation of the Ku Klux Klan deliberately ignores the hard historical fact that the reasoning behind the Klan in the first place was to do exactly what Tim Kaine was doing in that speech — divide people by race and pass the Democrats’ agenda as a result. The reasoning behind today’s push for amnesty and illegal immigration, as Rush put it exactly, is “because the whole reason the Democrat Party wants this is they see 11 million new voters.” Just exactly as the Klan of history saw millions of white voters who, with a help from the “terrorist arm” of the Democrats suppressing the black vote, could pass the Democrats agenda of the day.

Nothing has changed with the Democrats when it comes to using race as a political tool. This is why the need to call Donald Trump… or Mitt Romney or John McCain or George W. Bush or George H. W. Bush or Ronald Reagan or Richard Nixon or Barry Goldwater or whomever is the GOP nominee of the moment a racist. In fact, Kaine’s attempt to smear Trump with the Klan is not, as GOP Chairman Reince Priebus has said, about “new lows.” In fact, it is about a very old low. How old?

Here is this from the authoritative Lee Edwards biography of Barry Goldwater (Goldwater: The Man Who Made a Revolution) on Lyndon Johnson’s Democrats in 1964:

There was the Ku Klux Klan commercial that, although it never aired, was preliminarily cleared for regional showing. It showed Klansmen, played by actors, marching in hooded robes. A burning cross was superimposed over the images as was a picture of the Klan wizard. Robert Cleal of the Alabama KKK was quoted as saying: “The majority of the people of Alabama hate niggerism, Catholicism, Judaism…” The announcer then quoted Cleal’s endorsement: “I like Barry Goldwater. He needs our help.”

And what do we see here in 2016? Exactly. The party that created the Klan in the first place to play the race card to keep fueling its racial politics is once again — today — accusing the GOP candidate of the moment of being supported by… the Klan. Just as it wanted to do with that Klan ad in 1964 — a full 52 years ago.

Let’s cut to the chase. Rush Limbaugh has it exactly right. The whole purpose of amnesty is not about compassion, it is about playing the race card — getting the votes of illegal immigrants by appealing to them by race. Just as the Klan long ago came to life to get votes from whites. Just as Al Sharpton and company use race to get votes from blacks. Past, present, and future, this is the Democratic agenda first, last, and, politically speaking, for eternity.

Which suggests that Donald Trump would be well advised to call out Hillary Clinton with Rush Limbaugh’s idea. Here’s the trade: amnesty for illegals, but no citizenship — no right to vote — for 10, 15, or 25 years.

Do the Democrats really have compassion for illegals? Or are they playing the race card just so they can get their votes for political power by playing the race card — forever?

Call it the Rush Limbaugh challenge. And perhaps Donald Trump should consider making it to Hillary Clinton.

Jeffrey Lord
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Jeffrey Lord, a contributing editor to The American Spectator, is a former aide to Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. An author and former CNN commentator, he writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com. His new book, Swamp Wars: Donald Trump and The New American Populism vs. The Old Order, is now out from Bombardier Books.
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