Look, I’m an immigrant who loved Obama but I accept he earned the “deporter in chief” nickname.
I also know Castro didn’t denounce Obama’s crackdown on the border nor led the charge against doubling the border patrol. On the contrary, he defended Obama’s border crackdown all over Capital Hill from 2014-2017. Castro toured a few detention centers last year and 2 of those were at Beto’s side.
That’s Julián Castro’s recent immigration record.
Many Texas Democratic activists are all too aware Beto, not Castro, stood up on the House Floor in September 2013 and argued against doubling border patrol and funding 700 miles of fencing. Beto has called for taking down the El Paso wall and other fencing. They’re also aware he’s been the leader on protests locally against Trump’s inhumane policies.
www.dallasnews.com/…
Castro campaigned for Beto in 2018 by lauding his history of fighting to decriminalize asslyum seekers. Oh, hypocrisy thy name is Julián.
“He offered no complaints about Beto O'Rourke's immigration policies last year when he backed his U.S. Senate bid. But on Wednesday night, Julián Castro went after him hard --accusing his fellow Texan of ignorance and callousness because he refuses to join the call to decriminalize border crossing.”
Look I get it, there’s a long history of candidates changing their policies and beliefs to please an audience. Castro was making a play for the progressive base of the party as all his winking to Warren afterwards made clear. Politics ain’t bean bag and you have to be cold and calculating SOB sometimes. I get that.
I’m even fine with Biden failing to call out Castro’s hypocrisy on the national stage and instead choosing to leak their warning shot, ‘come after Biden on this topic, Julián, and we’ll hoist you with your petard.’
I’m fine with everyone piling on Beto for looking ill-prepared when he knows the immigration laws cold. Beto rallied 500 supporters in Austin on Friday night, a far larger crowd than Castro produced close by. But, I heard Beto was privately torched afterwards by some activists.
This IS all Beto’s fault.
He blew his moment to expose Castro as a hypocrite when he should’ve been well-prepared for this shiv in his back.
Beto failed. I said it that night.
If it was just about my candidate failing at one debate, I’d be fine. Folks here tend to forget, Obama was panned in early 2007 debates and he scared us flopping against Romney in first debate.
Most forget Ted Cruz was hailed the winner of their 2 debates yet Beto kept gaining on him.
But, Beto didn’t just fail himself and his supporters on Wednesday night. The damage, as I feared, was far worse.
Several Texas Democratic activists were privately furious Beto failed those who worked so hard and tirelessly to make Texas a viable, battleground in 2020.
Love or hate him, Beto became the face of the modern Texas Democratic Party in 2018. On Wednesday, he failed to make a strong case against Castro’s proposal to decriminalize ALL border crossings.
As a leading voice in immigration, Beto could have provided a loud counter-voice to the pounding Cornyn and the RNC already started to unleash on TX Dems.
Beto remains very popular with Texas Independents. If he made a strong national case why Castro was wrong, he’d have provided some cover for TX Dems.
Instead, his own more popular immigration proposals were drowned out to the point the TX GOP are claiming Beto caved and now supported Castro’s decriminalization.
Yes, I know the GOP lie all the time and their spin is wrong. Local newspapers like Dallas Morning News correctly pointed out the key differences but the video is so damning, the TX GOP are likely to get away with it.
Is the sky falling on Texas Democratic Party so soon? Of course not.
As David Plouffe tweeted, “Overreaction to any performance, good or bad, in early debates when there will be so many in total and so many closer to actual primaries and caucuses is foolhardy. It will be important to watch adjustments going forward. The entire story of the debates, not chapters, will matter”
But, Beto’s failure will have consequences beyond hurting his campaign and fundraising. This will hurt local efforts.
Texans here know I’m not from their state yet I’ve been passionately advocating for more than a year to invest in Texas because it was more purple than outsiders understood.
Castro has never run a state-wide race in Texas, let alone come close to flipping the state. He’s never run in a battleground district. Yet one by one the presidential candidates followed Castro down the decriminalization path. Some of their supporters are promoting Castro in the VP slot will guarantee Texas flip blue in 2020.
Sorry, folks, Texas just became a shit ton harder to flip, and there’s folks on the ground who have worked their asses off for years who are very upset about this. I can’t say I blame them.
I’d like your suggestions on how Texan activists working the suburbs there can respond/counter/massage the “decriminalization” nuclear bomb these debates forced them to address.