Jeb Bush: Anchor Babies Are Asian

Well, we had thought he meant Latinos when he used the slur but if it's Asians then that's ok. I guess this is his argument. 

"Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush attempted to clarify his remarks about "anchor babies" during a stop near the U.S. border with Mexico on Monday, saying Asian immigrants are really more of the problem."

"When asked if he thought his repeated use of the term "anchor babies" – a derogatory term for children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrant parents – Bush said: "What I was talking about was the specific case of fraud being committed where there's organized efforts, and frankly, it's more related to Asian people coming into our country and having children in that organized effort."

"Bush prefaced his answer with "as I said in Spanish," and went on to rail against political correctness, saying "we need to chill out."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jeb-bush-anchor-babies-asian-immigrants

Again, we have Trump to thank for this. Greg Sargent talked about how this has changed everything for the GOP immigration discussion. Yes-if there were no Trump there'd be no discussion, just the usual vague talk from Jeb and company that immigration reform would be nice but first we have to secure the border.

"Fiorina says that “perhaps” undocumented immigrants should have a path to legal status — provided it precludes any chance at citizenship. Okay, if you’re not willing to support legal status, then what should be done instead? Walker, for his part, has declined to endorse mass deportations, but doesn’t think we should even talk about legalization until the border is secured."

"If Trump’s GOP rivals are going to be pressed on whether they agree with his positions on immigration, the focus should be more on his vow to deport the 11 million than on his call for ending birthright citizenship. If they don’t support mass deportation, what do they support? And no, claiming you might support legal status once some undefined ideal of border security is attained isn’t a real answer."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/08/24/morning-plum-how-donald-trump-has-unmasked-his-gop-rivals/

Meanwhile. Reince Priebus is trying to be brave and make lemonade out of a lemon.

"Since jumping into the GOP 2016 race, Donald Trump has caused the Republican establishment nothing but headaches, spewing nasty rhetoric, proposing outlandish policies and inspiring other presidential candidates to do the same."

"Despite all this, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said over the weekend that Trump was a “net positive” for the Republican Party."

“I think it brings a lot of interest to the Republican field,” Priebus said.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/donald-trump-reince-priebus

Actually he isn't wrong-it really has brought interest to the GOP. Now is it the way he wants it? Not so much.

But it is a real net positive overall. It's not even true to say that Trump has pulled the other candidates to teh Right. More he's shown us how far the Right they always have been. None of his ideas including the end of birthright citizenship are new to the GOP and all have been advocated in recent years.

At this point Romney's talk of self-deport seems like a kinder, gentler time.