When Dems are on wrong side of issue its a "quandary" or "thorny"

Washington Post:

Until Tuesday night, the Democratic presidential candidates had largely ignored the subject of illegal immigration. The topic, Democratic strategists concluded, was fraught with too much potential for alienating general election voters.

But after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) struggled to answer a question during Tuesday's debate about whether she supports a proposal to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, the topic burst into the forefront of the primary campaign and exposed a quandary for Democratic candidates, who broadly embrace immigrant-friendly policies.

While voters are in line with Democratic positions on issues such as Iraq and health care, immigration remains a thornier subject. Polls suggest that most Americans want to allow illegal immigrants to stay in the country and create ways for them to obtain citizenship, but party strategists say the voters who care most about this issue are those angry about illegal immigration and want to hear a tougher message.

"The reality is that this is an issue where people support what Democrats have to say on a policy level, but Democrats do not reflect the emotional tone and intensity of the electorate," said Mark Mellman, a Democratic strategist.

Immigration, chief Clinton strategist Mark Penn said, is emerging as "a new wedge issue" for Republicans, who will attempt to use it to paint Democrats as weak on border security.

When asked about New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer's proposal to provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, Clinton initially refused to answer, but her campaign put out a statement the next day saying she does support such as move.

The moment was more than just a stumble for the Democratic front-runner. It also illustrated the fine line Democrats, who depend heavily on the Hispanic vote and soft-pedal the idea of harsh penalties for people who enter the country illegally, will have to walk on the issue.

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Quandary, thorny are words you use when you know your position is going to cause you to lose votes. It is a perfect explanation for the modern Democrat party that has no principles beyond finding away to get elected. Calling it a wedge issue for Republicans is ridiculous. The Republicans have a position on enforcing the rule of law and for months Democrats have been saying that position would cause the Republicans to lose Hispanic votes. Now Democrats are concerned about losing the non Hispanic vote. Imagine that.

The story also has the false assumption that Iraq and health care are issues that Democrats and the voters are aligned on. The situation in Iraq is proving the Democrats were wrong on strategy and tactics and eventually the voters are going to catch on to that gross error of judgment and swing back to a desire to win. Health care is another issue where the polling is misleading and once you cut through the demagoguery the public sides with the Republicans on SCHIP issues. Since much of the media is acting like an auxiliary of the Democrats on those issues it is not surprising that the Washington Post would miss the facts.

E.J. Dionne gets into the specifics of the "quandary."

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The issue is especially problematic because efforts to appease voters upset about immigration -- including a share of the African-American community -- threaten to undercut the Democrats' large and growing advantage among Latino voters. For Republicans, the issue is both a way of changing the political subject from Iraq, the economy and the failures of the Bush presidency, and a means for sowing discord in the Democratic coalition.

One poll finding this week that shook Democrats came in a survey conducted by Democracy Corps, a consortium organized by party consultants Stan Greenberg, Al Quinlan and James Carville. It asked voters to pick two from a list of seven problems that explained "why the country is going in the wrong direction."

The survey found that among independent voters, 40 percent -- by far the largest group -- picked this option: "Our borders have been left unprotected and illegal immigration is growing."

By contrast, a lack of action on health care was named by only 24 percent of independents as a core problem, and Iraq by 23 percent.

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Dionne is still laboring under the delusion that Iraq is an issue that will favor Democrats in 2008 despite substantial evidence that they have been dead wrong on the subject all year. He is also wrong about why Republicans stress the issue. The fact is the Republicans have the same concerns those independent voters have and the issue is not a "quandary" for them. They were not willing to sell their soul for Hispanic "voters" who may are may not vote against the rule of law. In the Australian election they are already noticing that al Qaeda has lost in Iraq.