0 degrees of separation from right the crazies
by digby
If there is a lamer rationale for failing to do something you say you want to do but really don’t, I can’t think of one more obvious that this GOP nonsense about immigration. Greg Sargent exposes their fundamental dishonesty in this post in which he highlights comments from RWNJ Representative Steve King:
King is absolutely right in suggesting that his posture on this issue is perfectly at home in today’s GOP. While most House Republicans don’t share King’s outsized views of immigrants (remember the cantaloupe-calved drug-hauling DREAMers?), for all practical purposes, the position of many Republicans right now is that the only acceptable policy response to the immigration crisis is maximum deportations from the interior.
The 2012 Republican Party platform endorsed self-deportation, as did the 2012 GOP presidential nominee. This year House Republicans rolled out principles that include legal status for the 11 million. That was a significant philosophical step forward. But nothing has moved since 2012 in practical terms. House Republicans have not proposed or voted on any measures that would accomplish any sort of legal status for the 11 million — even though GOP leaders themselves have said the 11 million must be addressed.
Republicans continue to excuse this by claiming they can’t trust the president to enforce the law. A number of Republican Senators recently spelled out clearly in a letter to the president that their unhappiness with Obama’s enforcement is rooted in his de-prioritization of removals of low-level offenders from the interior, which redirected resources to removals from the border, which have gone up. Thus, when these Senators call on Obama to enforce the law, what they really mean is they want him to re-prioritize deportations from the interior, no matter who gets removed. House Republicans passed Steve King’s 2013 measure to block Obama from using prosecutorial discretion to defer the deportation of DREAMers.
House Republicans don’t say openly that they want maximum deportations from the interior. Instead, they like to say they can’t act on reform because his unilateral changes to Obummercare show his contempt for the law, meaning he can’t be trusted on any immigration reform.
Their base wants massive deportation but the politicians are afraid to admit it — after all, their true masters of the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups want legalization. It’s a conundrum. So they’ve come up with this ridiculous excuse that they can’t trust the president to carry out the law even if they pass it so why bother.
BTW, nobody’s buying it:
“Why are you blocking immigration reform?” I asked @SpeakerBoehner “Me?” He said. “Yes, you” I told him @ThisIsFusion pic.twitter.com/s90DFjgJUm
— JORGE RAMOS (@jorgeramosnews) May 22, 2014