Immigration
June 9, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, in discussing a possible amendment by Marco Rubio to his immigration reform legislation, I asserted that the amendment he reportedly is contemplating wouldn’t address what he says is the underlying problem with the legislation’s efforts to secure the border — lack of reason to trust that, in practice, the government will act effectively to secure the border. Let’s examine this assertion. Reportedly, Rubio is working on a proposal under
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June 9, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Mickey Kaus has produced an excellent, easy-to-use “pocket guide” to the reasons why the Schumer-Rubio immigration reform bill (S.744) is fraudulent. Kaus catalogues the provisions of the bill that promise tough future enforcement, etc. but don’t do what they pretend to do: “Multiple triggers” — Legalization is immediate. DHS just has to write border “plan.” The most any “triggers” can possibly do is delay green cards and citizenship. “90% effectiveness”
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June 8, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post reports that “as the full Senate engages in intensive deliberations over a landmark immigration bill this week, proponents are scrambling to maintain crucial bipartisan support in the face of Republican demands to strengthen border security.” To me, though, the Senate goings-on look more like dancing than scrambling. Marco Rubio understands that, in the words of the Post’s Democratic sources, his “effectiveness as a conservative supporter of the
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June 7, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Debate began this morning in the Senate on the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill. Jeff Sessions kicked off opposition to the bill with a speech that focused, among other things, on the bill’s genesis. As everyone knows, the bill began with a “deal” that was reached by the Gang of Eight. But who had input into that deal, and who didn’t? What interests were represented, and what interests were not?
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June 5, 2013 — John Hinderaker
A friend who is deeply connected in Washington and involved in the immigration battle writes: Regarding reports that Rubio is working with Sen. Cornyn on this border security amendment, a usually good source tells me: It’s a trap. They are going to Toomey-Manchin this thing: Announce a big compromise right before the vote, give no one any time to read it, and scare GOP moderates into voting for it. Same
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May 30, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The mainstream media, on behalf of the left, treats Ted Cruz as if he were a knee-jerk, obstructionist right-winger, devoid of subtlety and nuanced thinking — a nastier version of Sarah Palin, as the MSM portrayed her. But that’s not the Ted Cruz I see. Sure, he is capable of serving up red meat, as any ambitious modern politician must, at times, do. But on the issues, he generally comes
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May 29, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
For some reason, the MSM wants to create suspense over the fate of the Schumer-Rubio amnesty bill in the Senate. Much was made, for example, of Sen. Menendez’s statement on Univision that supporters didn’t yet have the 60 votes. But Harry Reid knows that the votes are there. “I think we have 60 votes,” the Majority Leader says. “Remember, we start out at 55 Democrats. I think the most I’ll
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May 28, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Tonight AM 1280 the Patriot, the station on which we formerly had our local radio show, sponsored an event called “Taking Back the Tundra,” featuring Hugh Hewitt. In addition to Hugh, the event featured a reunion of the original Northern Alliance Radio Network: Scott and I, Mitch Berg, Ed Morrissey, Chad Doughty, Brian Ward, King Baniain and James Lileks all participated. The event, like most Patriot programs, was attended by
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May 28, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Byron York reports that Marco Rubio’s support for “comprehensive immigration reform” is seriously harming his standing with Iowa Republicans. Byron bases this conclusion on responses he received from leading Iowa Republicans to an email that asked a few general questions about the GOP field, without mentioning immigration. The responses were “all about immigration, and nearly all negative.” GOP State Central Committee member Jamie Johnson said: Over the last three months,
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May 28, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In his chronically disingenuous media appearances on behalf of amnesty, Marco Rubio always insists that he wants to improve the Schumer-Rubio bill. Rubio has to say this to retain credibility among conservatives who doubt the government’s ability and willingness to enforce all but the most airtight border security measures — a doubt that Rubio purports to share. Thus, Rubio pledges that he is open to, and even desirous of, sensible
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May 25, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The Daily Caller reports that Marco Rubio has a history of opposing enforcement of immigration laws. As Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Rubio blocked efforts to deal with illegal immigration at the state or local Miami level. According to the Daily Caller, the record shows that Rubio used his power as Speaker to block legislation to tighten enforcement even after such legislation had sailed through committee. He even
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May 24, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In a post below, I noted that during his appearance tonight on Sean Hannity’s program, Marco Rubio failed to defend his immigration bill, even though the format of the show was highly favorable to the Senator from Florida. Here is what happened. Hannity asked a central question that has become even more pressing in view of recent Obama administration scandals, particularly the one involving the IRS. That question, in essence,
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May 24, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Tonight, Sean Hannity had Marco Rubio on his show for an hour to advocate the Schumer-Rubio amnesty bill. The program was an embarrassment at two levels. First, as I feared, the format was heavily skewed in favor of Rubio and his position. Second, even with this skewing, Rubio’s main arguments were pathetic. As to the format, Rubio spent roughly the first half of the program answering questions from Hannity. Some
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May 24, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
I have written before about the lack of expression of opposition to the Schumer-Rubio amnesty legislation on leading Fox News programs such as Sean Hannity’s. While amnesty opponents receive little or no air time, Marco Rubio appears fairly regularly with Hannity to field mostly softball questions. Now comes word that Rubio will appear tonight on a “special edition” of Hannity to field questions from an audience of experts on immigration.
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May 23, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
With so many scandals in the picture or looming, it’s easy to miss the fact that President Obama may soon become one of the most successful presidents in American history. I’m defining success as fulfilling Obama’s mission of substantially transforming America. The Obama administration scandals matter because, to one degree or another, they involve scandalous conduct. But step back for moment. In 20 years, very few people will remember any
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May 22, 2013 — John Hinderaker
One of my favorite adages goes like this: Any damn fool can learn from his own experience, what you want to do is learn from other people’s experience. Actually, you could say that the ability to learn from other people’s experiences is the only thing that makes human progress possible. The Europeans have had a lot of bad experiences. A few of them we have learned from; most, sadly, we
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May 21, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
John Yoo identifies the common thread in the major Obama administration scandals: Add up all the recent scandals and the message is clear: the Obama administration is showing that it cannot be trusted with the basic functions of government: law enforcement (surveillance of reporters), taxation (IRS scandals), and national security (Benghazi). How, then, can we trust the administration when it comes to immigration — an area in which it already
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