SB1070 Update: The “modern equivalent of the know-nothing party of the last century.”

by David Safier

Quiz: Who said anti-immigrant legislation is the “modern equivalent of the know-nothing party of the last century"?

Answer: Jack Kemp, talking about the 1994 California move

to cut off state-funded education and health programs for the children of illegal immigrants.

Good news for Rs, bad news for Ds: CA Guv-at-the-time Pete Wilson was reelected based on his support for the anti-immigrant measure.

Bad news for Rs, good news for Ds: Since Wilson's reelection,

the only other member of his [Republican] party to win a major statewide election is the pro-immigration Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was elected governor in a recall vote in 2003.

Let's not draw too many direct parallels between California circa 1994 and Arizona today. As Mark Twain so aptly put it, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

That being said, in the long run, Republicans are likely to lose in Arizona from SB1070. With at least 80% of Hispanics opposing SB1070 — and that doesn't include Native Americans who don't seem to take kindly to the bill either — demographic trends are on the Democrats' side. And as we speak, Ds are working furiously to register Hispanics in hopes they will help fuel Democratic victories in 2010. (That's legal Hispanics, for any idiots out there who think illegal immigrants vote.)

What will happen in the short run? No one knows, though recent national primaries and the landslide win for Prop 100 are increasing Democrats' hopes.

Here's hoping that AZ Republicans' calculated, fear-inducing xenophobia will hurt them sooner as well as later.

And since I think it's to Democrats' political advantage to be aggressive rather than passive, here's hoping D candidates will show some courage and come out strongly against SB1070.