With the House Republicans claiming they want immigration reform yet not allowing anything except slow as molasses piecemeal reform, California Republicans warn that what's happened to the GOP in California may be a harbinger of what's to come for the national party.
Most national GOPers in the House are trying to have it both ways-they want it but somehow the Senate bill was objectionable-it's a 'Democratic bill' or it was done with no debate-apparently they missed the Gang of Eight. They even criticize the quite significant level of heightened border security in the Senate bill-to levels way beyond what's needed as 'throwing money at border security.'
"Representative Matt Salmon, a Republican who represents Mesa and other suburbs east of Phoenix, spent a lot of time in recent days talking to groups with different opinions on immigration, like border sheriffs and evangelical leaders. He also fielded phone calls at his district office, mostly from people telling him, “We don’t like this Senate bill at all, we don’t support it,” he said.
"The divide boils down to simple math for California Republicans, who know they can’t win elections here for long without the support of Hispanic voters."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/california-immigration-reform-95656.html#ixzz2cSDg3bMH
Most national GOPers in the House are trying to have it both ways-they want it but somehow the Senate bill was objectionable-it's a 'Democratic bill' or it was done with no debate-apparently they missed the Gang of Eight. They even criticize the quite significant level of heightened border security in the Senate bill-to levels way beyond what's needed as 'throwing money at border security.'
"Representative Matt Salmon, a Republican who represents Mesa and other suburbs east of Phoenix, spent a lot of time in recent days talking to groups with different opinions on immigration, like border sheriffs and evangelical leaders. He also fielded phone calls at his district office, mostly from people telling him, “We don’t like this Senate bill at all, we don’t support it,” he said.
The immigration legislation as it stands “has many problems,” Mr. Salmon said, “starting by the fact that it’s willy-nilly throwing money at border security and there isn’t even a clear objective on what constitutes a secure border.”
This is why a cynic might think GOPers like Congressman Salmon just don't want a bill no matter what he may claim. After all, how exactly are you supposed to increase border security without spending more money? Don't get me wrong I don't think we actually need more border security-the fact is our border is secure.
Yes, that's the radical left wing rag the Economist pointing out that billions more on fences and drones in the name of border security will do more harm than good. However, it's conservatives like Salmon who will never admit it's secure enough. When the Gang of Eight in the Senate adds in all this heightened border security to meet these complaints and these very same conservatives then carp that it's somehow 'throwing money at border security' it makes one become a little cynical as to their motives.
You have to credit Arizona Senator John McCain and all the work he is doing for this bill he helped craft. It's an uphill climb. Yet he's at least one in the party willing to see the forest for the trees.
He faced some skeptical crowds at some recent town hall meetings in Tuscon, Arizona:
"He faced questions there about the increasing emphasis on border security and a perceived lack of accountability among Border Patrol agents, who have been involved in at least 15 deadly shootings since 2010. But elsewhere, “what’s waiting for him is quite the opposite,” Representative Paul Gosar, a Republican whose district includes most of the rural western part of Arizona, said in an interview.
“We’ve said all along that we want immigration reform, but American voters, American taxpayers, are done with this bill that passed in the Senate because it’s a bill that came together with no debate,” said Mr. Gosar, who early this month hosted two meetings in Kingman, a Republican stronghold near the Nevada border, where increased security is central to the immigration debate. “What’s so scary about having a conversation with America?”
It's scary when one side of the debate constantly misrepresents the basic facts of the debate. There has been plenty of discussion in the Senate in crafting the bipartisan bill.
At one time it was claimed that the GOP was going to do a lot of soul searching after their abysmal showing in the 2012 election. At a minimum we were assured that they understood the importance of immigration reform. While some like McCain and Lindsay Graham get it-and in the House Paul Ryan has said many things that suggests he may get it-though insisting on a piecemeal approach seems calculated to slow walk it-many conservatives now claim they don't need Hispanics at all-they just have to increase the White vote. Many conservatives have shown the folly in this-from Karl Rove, to the Wall Street Journal, to the Cato Institute, still this is something that those dead set against reform have latched onto.
So what might be the result if the GOP kills immigration this time-the Republican specifically who would pull the trigger this time would be House Speaker John Boehner? Californian Republicans have some ideas on this-it may look very like the state of California looks now where no Republican holds statewide office:
"Republicans in Washington are taking a piecemeal approach to immigration reform — a strategy that could give the party’s most polarizing figures a months-long platform to pop off about illegal immigrants."
"California Republicans have a much different line: Shut up and get it done."
"The divide boils down to simple math for California Republicans, who know they can’t win elections here for long without the support of Hispanic voters."
"Eleven of the 15 districts held by Republicans are a quarter or more Hispanic — and some of them are prime targets for Democrats who need 17 seats to take back the House in 2014."
"But Republican leaders in Washington also face a much different picture nationwide: More than 100 House GOP districts have close to no Hispanic voters."
"So, while some Republicans in Washington might argue there’s no need to tackle immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship, California Republicans believe they must — or face extinction."
"Already the California Republican Party is on the rocks: Democrats hold every statewide office and an unbreakable supermajority in both chambers of the state Legislature. It’s a situation top players in the state party say is the direct result of missing the demographic tidal wave before it hit — a lesson the national party should remember as they debate immigration reform."
“Republicans in California ignored demographic changes,” state Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte said in an interview. “As a result, we’re a significant minority.”
"Republicans on a national level should take notice, because players in the California GOP argue that they’re merely experiencing what states like Colorado, Nevada and Texas will experience in a few years: a drastically weakened party that’s routinely rejected by booming minority populations."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/california-immigration-reform-95656.html#ixzz2cSDg3bMH
In some ways what the GOP is up against is what happens often in markets that aren't so efficient. It's in the best interests of the party for it to pass. However, on an individual level it's in the interests of many House Republicans for it to fail. While ultimately it would be to the benefit of all Republicans for it to pass, for too many individual members it's not really in their interest-so it's rational irrationality in action.
For more on rational irrationality see
So is immigration reform going to pass? I've said yes many times in the past. I will still say so-I think that ultimately Boehner sees the forest for the trees-though he certainly cant admit it-that would be not rational for him at all individually to admit.
No comments:
Post a Comment