Jeb Bush is Now to the Right of Mitt Romney on Immigration

 Remember when Mitt ran on 'self-deporting' Latinos? Well, that seems like kinder, gentler times now. Many still give Jeb a pass.

"Maybe the most significant storyline over the last 72 hours has been the discussion that Donald Trump started when he unveiled his immigration plan — ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States. The GOP field is divided: Trump, Paul, Santorum, Graham, Christie, Carson and Jindal are in favor of ending birthright citizenship; Bush and Rubio are opposed; Kasich has flip-flopped (used to support it and now opposes it); and Scott Walker appeared to support but also appeared to walk it back."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/08/19/donald-trump-is-setting-the-gop-agenda-on-immigration-what-could-go-wrong/

I'm sorry but this is wrong. Not one of the other 16 candidates is untarnished. Walker actually did say he was opposed to birthright citizenship too though later his PR person kind of walked it back.

But once it's said it can't be unsaid. Rubio pretty much came out for repealing the 14th as well. Again, you can't be literal-minded about this. He didn't say 'I want to repeal the 14th amendment'-even Trump didn't say that.

He's saying 'My lawyers are going to look into it but I don't think the anchor babies are citizens.'-he's claiming that somehow 'anchor babies'-a very ugly term that the rest of the field has taken up-aren't covered and that what has been taken as constitutional law for 130 years is wrong-his lawyers are going to find a loophole.

Rubio isn't saying 'Down with the 14th amendment' he's' saying 'I agree that people shouldn't be allowed to just come to the country illegally for the purpose of having babies' but this means the same thing.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/2016-elections/marco-rubio-once-benefitted-from-birthright-citizenship-now-he-s-open-to-restricting-it-20150818

So finally there's Jeb. I mean his family has a history of support for immigration. His wife is a Mexican immigrant. Surely he is the Great White Hope of the GOP. Yet he is speaking of anchor babies-though his wife is an immigrant and they had children together,

Speaking on Bill Bennett’s conservative radio show “Morning in America” Wednesday, Bush went as far as using the derogatory term “anchor baby” to describe his support for tighter enforcement on children born in the U.S. to immigrant parents.

“If there’s abuse, people are bringing — pregnant women are coming in to have babies simply because they can do it, then there ought to be greater enforcement,” Bush said in the interview, which was written about by POLITICO. “That’s [the] legitimate side of this. Better enforcement so that you don’t have these, you know, ‘anchor babies,’ as they’re described, coming into the country.”

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-shoves-jeb-bush-the-right-anchor-babies

After saying, this MSNBC still tries to give him a pass:

"Bush notably broke from Trump’s position, stopping short of calling for a constitutional amendment to end the birthright citizenship automatically granted to anyone born in the United States. But it’s strong language for Bush, who is fluent in Spanish and married to a Mexican woman. He has stood apart from other candidates in the GOP field for adopting a more welcoming tone toward undocumented immigrants and supporting a legal status for those with firm roots in the United States. He notably said in the past that immigrants who come to the United States illegally do so as an “act of love” toward their families — a position that has consistently been skewered by Trump in recent weeks. During a town hall speech in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Trump said the comment makes Bush “un-electable.”

I agree that Jeb may well now be unelectable. I agree with The Donald though I'm not sure if it's the 'act of love' comments or the 'anchor babies' comment that makes it so.

This has been my position all along. Voters for whom immigration reform is important should vote for the Democrat. Full stop. Not 'Unless it's Jeb'-no. Jeb and his family may in their hearts wish they could get immigration reform but they have never had the balls to stand up to their own party to do it.

Just like the Wall Street Journal has wanted reform but couldn't bring itself to admit that on this issue the Democrats are right. So the Bushes and the WSJ may be for immigration reform but they always choose partisan advantage.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-wall-st-journals-war-with.html

So the entire party is Trumpist on immigration. Let's be clear-the party was already Trumpist before Trump. Rand Paul has written bills in the Senate to abolish the 14th amendment as well.

None dare call Trumpism what it is: National Socialism.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/19/trump-in-a-box/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Opinion&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body