Who needs Inspector Clouseau?

The announcement of the House GOP leadership of immigration principles is guaranteed to warm the hearts of Democrats seeking hope for the immediate future. Things are looking bleak for them, with the unpopularity of Obama and Obamacare, with the difficulty of contesting elections in the sixth year of an incumbent president’s second term, with the number of Senate seats to defend in territory friendly to Republicans, and so on.

How might Republicans snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? Republican leadership in the House seem to have discovered a “pathway” that promises hope for Democrats: demoralize the heart of your party by seizing on an issue about which they care intensely, on terrain favorable to Democratic success, and get on the wrong side of it.

Senator Jeff Sessions is quoted on point here: “It is no surprise then that Senator Schumer and former Speaker Pelosi are so encouraged by these developments” (among other salient comments).

Some House GOP members even seem to understand what is happening. Roll Call quotes Republican Rep. John Fleming: “My sense is that the consensus here is that we should not move forward and that leaders will abide by that. On a political basis, this is a suicide mission for Republicans. Why would we want to change the topic for a very toxic problem Democrats have with Obamacare?”

The House GOP leadership has delivered stupidity at the level of genius. Who needs Inspector Clouseau when you have John Boehner et al.?

UPDATE: Tammy Bruce poses a hypothesis that suggests Boehner might know what he is doing. I doubt it despite its undeniable explanatory power.

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