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DREAM Act Vote Blog Roundup: Democracy for Some

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Updates [9:15 AM EST]: The links to Think Progress below were updated, and here are a couple we missed:

Here’s a sampling of what progressive blogs have been saying about Saturday’s DREAM vote.

Huffington Post:

Mike Lux: Celebration and Mourning on the Same Day:

Even with the bitter defeat of the DREAM Act, progressives need to take a moment here at the end of this tough year and celebrate the end of DADT. As MLK liked to remind us, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it curves toward justice.

Joshua Hoyt: Democracy for Some:

Today our Democracy was expanded when the U.S. Senate voted to allow gay men and women to serve proudly and openly in defense of our nation. But today Illinois Senator Mark Kirk joined a Republican filibuster and, with a minority of 41 votes, also blocked the DREAM Act from coming to a vote in the Senate. This effectively killed the hopes of thousands of undocumented immigrant children to earn their legal status by going to college or joining the U.S. military to defend our nation.

Harry Reid Questions ‘Mental Capacity’ Of His GOP Colleagues:

During an interview with the New York Times, Reid did a little forecasting about the legislative limits of the next Congress…”For his part, Mr. Reid predicted, “We’ll get some things done,” naming comprehensive immigration legislation as one possibility. If Republicans’ vulnerability among Hispanic voters does not persuade them to compromise, he noted, “they have real problems with their mental capacity.”

Killing the DREAM Act: Still No Room in the Inn:

As the media prattles on about the so-called “War on Christmas” — an ideological battle over terminology, at best — people’s lives hang in the balance. Actions speak louder than words. One way Christians can protect the place of Christmas in our society — indeed, the credibility of Christianity more generally — is by acting in harmony with its core principles: grace, welcome and hospitality.

Crooks & Liars:

John Amato: Sen.Tester, the DREAM Act is not Amnesty.

Sen. Jon Tester, the Democratic senator from Montana who was elected in 2006 with significant help from progressives, was one of the Democrats who voted against the DREAM Act today, and it’s very disappointing to see the lame rationale he provided yesterday via email.

Fox’s Uma Pemmaraju Asks Rep. Steve King if He’s Running in the GOP 2012 Presidential Primary

Kristol Claims DREAM Act Was Political Ploy by Reid and Obama to Make Republicans Appear Anti-Hispanic

Another Sunday, another week where Bloody Bill Kristol proves that he’s wrong about everything once again. This Sunday, he claimed that President Obama and Harry Reid were trying to get the DREAM Act passed just to make Republicans appear anti-Hispanic. Sorry Bill, but I think they’ve been doing a pretty good job of that all on their own.

Daily Kos:

Kos: Montanans speak out on Sen. Jon Tester’s DREAM betrayal:

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee sent an email into Montana asking its list members in the state what they thought of Sen. Jon Tester’s betrayal on the DREAM Act. PCCC wondered how taking a baseball bat to innocent kids who wanted to join the military or go to college would play with his progressive constituents.

Kos: Jon Tester and the DREAM Act

Not only will I do absolutely nothing to help his reelection bid, but I will take every opportunity I get to remind people that he is so morally bankrupt that he’ll try to score political points off the backs of innocent kids who want to go to college or serve their country in the military….To me, he is the Blanche Lincoln of 2012 — the Democrat I will most be happy to see go down in defeat. And he will. Nothing guarantees a Republican victory more than trying to pretend to be one of them.

Kos: Kay Hagan betrays key constituency

Sen. Kay Hagan is already running for reelection in North Carolina for what she clearly sees as a tough hold in 2014. She will be a freshman senator running for reelection for the first time — the most vulnerable point for any elected official. If the economy and political climate haven’t improved by then — and there’s no guarantee that they will — Hagan’s road to reelection will be a tough slog. And she won’t have Obama’s coattails among African Americans to pad her numbers.

Daily Kos Open Thread and Diary Rescue:  Seneca Doane gives a thumbs-up to President Obama in DADT/DREAM: Persuasion and force as paths to victory. (BentLiberal)

In the Bah, Humbug! Category: HSNews (Hispanically Speaking News) asserts in DREAMers: Unused and Unmatched Ambition – Watch out for Act Two that yesterday’s defeat is by no means the end of the story. (ybruti)

Daily Kos: Midday Open Thread:

Not a link, just an observation. The repeal of DADT was exhilarating, but the failure to pass the DREAM Act was a significant disappointment. On the bright side,  major Latino television stations interrupted their traditional coverage to cover the vote. Hopefully, they will have learned that Republicans for the most part don’t like them, and Democrats (for the most part) do. That said, one has to wonder: what the heck were the Democrats who voted against it thinking?

AMERICABlog:

Joe Sudbay: Saturday Morning Open Thread

Just to give a sense of how important this vote is to the Latino community (the fastest growing voting demographic), Markos reports that Telemundo and Univision will provide live coverage of the vote. The GOPers – and Jon Tester – are on the verge of severing all ties to the Latino community for decades. Opposition to DREAM is particularly heinous. These kids didn’t do anything “wrong.” They’ve grown up in the U.S. They are Americans. Last July, at Netroots Nation, Dan Choi talked to Yahaira Carrillo and several other DREAM Activists. He said, “We might not have our documents, but we have our dreams.” This was just a day after Dan had been discharged. It was so powerful then — and it’s even more powerful on the day when both DREAM and DADT get votes in the Senate.

John Aravosis: DREAM Yearbook

Meet some of the DREAM students who the Republicans are spending so much time railing against.

[Dream Student Yearbook]

Think Progress:

Andrea Nill: As DREAM Act Fails, Graham Tells Undocumented Youth They Wasted Their Time

Today, the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. Fourty-one mostly Republican senators voted against a bill which would have provided young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. by their parents a path to legalization by pursuing a college education or serving in the military. 55 voted in the affirmative.

Sunday Show Guests Assail Republicans For Blocking The DREAM Act

Today on the Sunday political talk shows, guests from a wide array of the ideological spectrum assailed the GOP for blocking the measure:
NBC’s ANDREA MITCHELL: The dumbest thing that the Republicans did was the DREAM Act. … that is going to turn out to be a real setback for Republicans because these are people who wanted to serve in the military and get educated and contribute to the society.

Firedoglake: Dear Senators Hagan, McCaskill, Pryor, Conrad, and Baucus: Our DREAM Is In Your Hands

This week, hundreds of DREAMers visited the Senate, trying to make sure that it becomes impossible for senators to ignore the human side of the immigration debate.

Watch their Pledge of Allegiance. I did this pledge every day as a student at Ralston Intermediate and Loara High Schools in Orange County, CA:

Obama Administration Set New Deportation Record to Appease GOP

In an effort to win GOP favor on immigration legislation in Congress, the Obama Administration stepped up ICE deportations of undocumented workers to record levels. More than 800,000 immigrants were moved out of the United States in just two years by President Obama to appease Republicans, according to the Washington Post.