Posted on 11/07/2012 12:35:45 PM PST by Bratch
I think Chuck Todd has this right, and not just because of last nights poor showing for Republicans among Hispanics. In looking at the daunting issues facing the lame-duck 112th Congress and the incoming 113th, comprehensive immigration reform might be a comparative slam-dunk:
After Tuesday nights re-election victory for President Barack Obama, MSNBCs Chuck Todd predicted that one of the presidents agenda items one promise he never managed to fulfill in his first term would breeze into law. Immigration reform, he said, will get 80 to 90 votes in the Senate. Since the election night results showed Republicans unable to attract Latino voters, he said, Republicans will run, not walk, in trying to support that now.
The question isnt whether Republicans will rush to back some version of comprehensive immigration reform. There have always been enough Republican votes in the Senate to pass a reform plan. A Republican President came close to passing a version of it in 2007 but got demagogued by Democrats and halted by conservatives in the Senate who thought it gave too much away. Had Obama chosen to propose immigration reform in 2009, ahead of ObamaCare and particularly if he had allowed Republicans more of a bipartisan role in shaping a stimulus package both sides wanted in one form or another, Obama could easily have passed immigration on his terms three years ago.
Now, immigration reform looks like low-hanging fruit compared to the crises that face our political class now. The lame-duck Congress has to undo sequestration and deal with Taxmageddon. The next Congress has to figure out how to deal with massive deficits and unfunded entitlement liabilities that will crush the American economy within a decade without serious reform. On those issues, there is substantial philosophical and ideological hostility. In comparison, there are only a few issues keeping immigration reform from being passed, nearly none of which are ideological, and most of which are either technical or matters of prioritization.
Id expect this to get taken up in early 2013 and pass by the summer, with substantial compromise on both sides. It may be the only real bipartisanship we see next year.
We should’ve dealt with illegal immigration back in the 1980s, and didn’t.
Yes, this is absolutely correct. What we’re seeing is 19th Century Tammany Hall tactics at work: let the immigrants in, give them free stuff, then make sure they know who gave them the free stuff when elections roll around.
Quite frankly, this is exactly what doomed the GOP with Blacks after the GOP was instrumental in passing the 1960s Civil Rights Acts. The GOP couldn’t win in a CRA vs CRA + free stuff scenario.
Didn’t McCain author the original immigration reform bill? How did that work out for him?
McCain DID spearhead immigration reform...
Is that you idiot POS obama? Go to Hell! I am hispanic and hate your ass.
They also hate Jews and blacks.
Eventually they'll figure out the Jews and blacks are Democrats ~ that hasn't happened yet but it will.
“If amnesty passes, this country is finished forever.”
Last night confirmed that the USA is dead and decomposing.
I bet he is right.
The GOP will now try to outbid the DNC- good luck with that .
The dnc will be at free cars next election.
a 3rd is a no go.
We have no 3rd party base to help a 3rd party president
We spend 100% of our time trying to convert the GOP and never built a 3rd party.
I agree.
Its done.
The Former USA.
The DNC won they day the NEA was formed.
I agree.
Its done.
The Former USA.
The DNC won they day the NEA was formed.
Republicans cant give in on illegal immigration. However, Republicans do need to reach more of the Latino vote. Not all Latinos are for illegals.
Last night, I was at my sons baseball practice and the majority of the kids on his team are Latino. All of them working-class Latinos. When the election was called for Obama, every one of those Lationo parents was disappointed and griping about the expectation of higher taxes.
My wife was at my other sons practice. Same situation. Most kids on that team are Latino. When she got home she said all those parents had the same reaction when hearing the news.
We are past the point of no return now, the invaders and their allies among us now outnumber us. It was so sad last night to watch the pictures of all the white people at Obama’s victory speech.
I have never seen anyone so happy to have voted to allow strangers from a foreign land invade the country our forefathers built from literally nothing to give to us, their posterity, only to have them throw it all away for a socialist pipe dream.
All immigration should of been stopped decades ago. The barbarians are now inside the gates, and we gave them and THEIR posterity voting rights to take everything from us and give it to THIER children and childrens, children. Nothing so sad and pathetic has ever happened in all of human history to my knowledge.
Who couldn’t see this coming? The Stupid Party will pander to our new masters, instead of getting rid of them. Those of us who want illegal immigration stopped have no one representing us. Instead of learning from their mistakes, the Republican Party is committing suicide.
You miss the aim of the exercise. The “angry old white men” will be extinct.
Why even report on it?
“We are truly screwed, here. The point of no return has been passed.”
Yep. Can the last one to leave please turn the CFL off?
Great. Obama signaled that is one of his priorities next year.
Well said and sadly true...
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