• Immigration

    Kill the Gang of 8 Immigration Bill

    [youtube]http://youtu.be/eb-bgaebzO8[/youtube]

    A deeply flawed bill that will assure electoral disaster for the Republican Party in 2014 and beyond.

    The Republicans eager to back the bill are doing so out of political panic. “I think Republicans realize the implications for the future of the Republican party in America if we don’t get this issue behind us,” John McCain says. This is silly. Are we supposed to believe that Republican Senate candidates running in states such as Arkansas, North Carolina, Iowa, Virginia, and Montana will be hurt if the party doesn’t embrace Chuck Schumer’s immigration bill?

    If Republicans take the Senate and hold the House in 2014, they will be in a much better position to pass a sensible immigration bill. At the presidential level in 2016, it would be better if Republicans won more Hispanic voters than they have in the past—but it’s most important that the party perform better among working-class and younger voters concerned about economic opportunity and upward mobility. Passing this unworkable, ramshackle bill is counterproductive or irrelevant to that task.

    House Republicans may wish to pass incremental changes to the system to show that they have their own solutions, even though such legislation is very unlikely to be taken up by the Senate. Or they might not even bother, since Senate Democrats say such legislation would be dead on arrival. In any case, House Republicans should make sure not to allow a conference with the Senate bill.

    House Republicans can’t find any true common ground with that legislation. Passing any version of the Gang of Eight’s bill would be worse public policy than passing nothing. House Republicans can do the country a service by putting a stake through its heart.

    House Republicans should just kill it and move on to more substantive policy debate on entitlements and energy policy.

  • Illegal Immigration,  Immigration,  John McCain

    Video: John McCain and the JERK Factor

    You remember the FLAP with John McCain getting testy with Arizona constituents over questioning him on his Senate Gang of 8 immigration amnesty?

    During the town hall, Senator McCain called a voter a JERK.

    The above video is McCain at a subsequent being asked about the jerk comment.

    One day after a confrontation at a town hall meeting in Sun Lakes, Senator John McCain held another town hall in Phoenix.
    On Tuesday, an audience member of the town hall meeting fired off a string of heated questions about border security.
    After attempting to answer some of the questions, Sen. McCain eventually quipped, “Occasionally I get a jerk like that guy.”
    3TV asked McCain whether he regretted calling the man a jerk.
    “Of course not. I call people jerks all the time, and they call me jerks. It’s supposed to be fun, loosen up,” Sen. McCain responded. “I’ve done town halls for years. They are vigorous and a little combative. That’s what it is supposed to be about. Loosen up.”

    Um OK.

    If an idiot politician, like McCain called me a jerk, I would be sure NEVER to vote for him again.

    Arizona voters should remember this little altercation and be sure to vote McCain out of office in 2016.

    And, let this be a lesson to the other Arizona Senator Jeff Flake about associating with McCain and his immigration amnesty machinations.

  • Immigration,  John McCain

    Video: John McCain Gets Testy With Arizona Voter Questioning Immigration Amnesty

    GOP Arizona Senator John McCain was NOT too popular at an Arizona town hall discussion of immigration reform yesterday.

    Also Tuesday, McCain hosted two town hall meetings in Arizona, during which he defended his immigration plan to upset residents concerned about border security. A bipartisan group of senators — including Arizona Republicans McCain and Jeff Flake — want assurances on border security as Congress weighs what could be the biggest changes to immigration law in nearly 30 years. Arizona is the only state with both of its senators working on immigration reform in Congress, a sign of the state’s widely debated border security issues.

    During a heated town hall gathering in the Phoenix suburb of Sun Lakes, McCain said the border near Yuma is largely secure, but said smugglers are using the border near Tucson to pump drugs into Phoenix. He said immigration reform should be contingent on better border security that must rely largely on technology able to detect border crossings.

    He said a tamper-proof Social Security card would help combat identity fraud, and noted any path to citizenship must require immigrants to learn English, cover back taxes and pay fines for breaking immigration laws.

    “There are 11 million people living here illegally,” McCain said. “We are not going to get enough buses to deport them.”

    Some audience members shouted out their disapproval.

    These Arizona voters have every right to be disappointed in pro-amnesty McCain. He attempted an immigration amnesty in 2006 with Ted Kennedy and now after winning re-election by misleading Arizona Republicans (remember build the danged fence TV commercial?) McCain is at it again.

    America cannot go down this road toward granting a broad-scale amnesty without first assuring border security and McCain should be called out for the shameful manipulation of immigration facts.

    But, we know, we cannot trust John McCain on immigration reform.

    Conservative political pressure should be placed on Senators Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake to reject President Obama’s immigration amnesty plan.

  • Immigration

    GOP Should NOT Let John McCain Set Immigration Amnesty Policy

    Arizona Senator John McCain teamed up with Senator Ted Kennedy back in 2006 with the last attempt at comprehensive immigration reform. Conservatives beat back this plan for immigration amnesty.

    As I wrote previously, there is NO hurry for the GOP to rush to accommodate President Obama’s call for a comprehensive reform plan. No reason at all – unless you suddenly think that all of the Hispanic voters who have NEVER supported the Republican Party will precipitously decide to switch from the Obama Democrats.

    Of course, any such thought is folly.

    In fact, I suspect that the GOP would lose more working class white voters in the South and Midwest by pushing a plan which will grant an amnesty to over ten million illegal aliens – who would vote 70-30 Democratic.

    John McCain failed before, sold out the GOP and with along with his pal, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham -nesty should NOT be the chief negotiators or spokesmen for any immigration reform.

    During Saturday’s panel on immigration at the National Review Summit, Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies made the point that a Republican-backed “comprehensiive” bill would not only fail to win Hispanic support for the GOP, but would actually hurt the party. If any such bill becomes law, Obama and the Democrats would take credit for its passage, while the people who oppose amnesty — especially blue-collar white voters — would blame Republicans.

  • Illegal Immigration,  Immigration

    The GOP Rush to Immigration Reform

    [youtube]http://youtu.be/jTtgx21VNls[/youtube]

    Sen. Rubio Discusses His Immigration Principles on “The Mark Levin Show “

    All of  potential 2016 GOP Presidential candidates are rushing out their plan to provide comprehensive immigration reform.

    Senator Marco Rubio has one and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has a post today in the Wall Street Journal and is working on a book to be released in March.

    Why?

    Cynically, you could say in order to capture the growing Hispanic vote from the Democrats (Obama) who won over 70 per cent last November. You could also say in order to co-opt President Obama and his fellow Democrats who wish to “legalize” which equals citizenship and voting and permanently capture millions of Asian and Hispanic votes in future elections.

    But, there really is NO rush for Republicans.

    Let’s face it, the GOP brand does not do well at the polls with African-Americans, Asians or Hispanics. This is not a recent demographic fact. Even President Reagan did not do that great with these groups. Neither did the senior Bush. W did some what better, but was a disaster for the GOP brand.

    A thorough review of immigration policy is fine.

    Increasing skill-based immigration for certain workers, while increasing educationally opportunities for native born Americans is OK.

    Implementing an employer based E-Verify enforcement of work documents is necessary, but will take some time.

    Mexican border security needs to be further tightened, especially with regards to Mexican and Central American drug cartels.

    But, the rest is just political pandering which will NOT benefit conservatives, nor the GOP in 2016 or anytime before.

    Time for the discussion, but not the time to make a major immigration policy change. The GOP controlled House should exert its check on the Obama Administration and immigration amnesty prone GOP Senators.