Posted on 03/27/2014 5:16:52 AM PDT by sickoflibs
"It’s not a question of 'if' we fix our broken immigration laws," Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan said on Wednesday, but "a question of 'when.'" And the answer to "when" is: No time terribly soon, if his other troubles are a guide.
Ryan made the comments at a breakfast hosted by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington, Politico reports. "[W]e understand the value of immigration," he then told the assembled audience. Republicans "have ideas on how to make this go forward and make it work so that we do have the rule of law so that we do have reform, so that we’re not in the same position 15 years down the road."
What those ideas are have been a closely-held secret for some time. Earlier this year, House Republicans gathered to agree on a set of principles that would guide their immigration push. It seemed like the party was ready to introduce actual policy proposals (although not those passed by the Senate in 2013). Then the far-right caucus started pulling the emergency brake. First, any reforms were pushed until after primaries; then they appeared to be tabled completely. What Ryan offered, then, was exactly what had been delivered for well over 15 years: somedays.
Of course, Ryan's had a bad week. After he made comments that conflated the inner city with "generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work," Ryan quickly had to step away from allegations that his comments were racially motivated. Among those leveling the charge were California Rep. Barbara Lee, who represents Oakland. "My colleague Congressman Ryan's comments about 'inner city' poverty are a thinly veiled racial attack and cannot be tolerated," she said in an email earlier this month. Last night, Ryan appeared on Fox News to explain to Bill O'Reilly that Lee was wrong. "She knows that I don’t have a racist bone in my body," Ryan said. Not a great lead-in to his immigration comments, to be sure.
Not exactly helping the case was one-time Republican guru Karl Rove. Shortly after Ryan's remarks, Rove tweeted a link to a story from the libertarian site Reason.com arguing that "Hispanics Don't Hate Republicans." The argument was that a poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute put a negative spin on what was actually good news.
"[L]ess than half of Hispanic respondents had a negative reaction to the Republican Party," Emily Ekins wrote at the site. "Even one of the responses PRRI coded as negative — that Republicans are 'rich' — isn’t necessarily a bad thing since Hispanics lead the way in faith in the American Dream and the bootstrapping work ethic it entails." Hispanic voters immediately thinking "rich" when someone says "Republican" is good news, according to Ekins. Lower in the piece, she listed the reactions Hispanic voters offered. 15 percent said "Rich/Corporate," which is a liiiiittle different than "rich." (Ekins added a parenthetical to that entry: "(is this necessarily bad?)")
Number two on the list? "Anti-immigrant/Racist/Intolerant." The Republicans have ideas on that, I hear.
Lemme guess, Paul Ryan 2016.
This imbecile’s defeat should be inevitable.
Hey Paulie ... the immigration LAWS ain’t broken.
How many inadvertent mistakes did he include in this bill?
Don’t worry they will be correct just like they were for the vets.
Inevitable=Paul Ryan Rino looser.
Freegards
LEX
Paul Ryan ?
Didn’t he used to be somebody ???
There.....fixed it.
Hey look! More lesser evil! Boy it’s a good thing we are OK with lesser evil! Now everyone get out there November and vote for the GOP because a dem giving you Amnesty is worse than a Republican giving you amnesty.
Yup! it is!
I think all of us support immigration reform. It depends on how you define “reform.”
1. I favor taking control of the borders.
2, I favor immediate deportation of an alien who is arrested for criminal acts.
3. I favor that children of illegals receive no special favoritism.
4. I favor illegals receive no welfare benefits - housing, food stamps, medical, etc.
5. I favor employers who hire illegals be arrested in accordance with current law.
6. I favor legislation and favorable constitutional interpretation which denies automatic citizenship to children born to couples citizens of another country.
This is immigration reform I favor.
We definitely need “reform” - to make it tougher to get into this country
sorry paul, you ain’t going to get Hispanic votes or favorable press for selling out your soul to a liberal agenda.
All you are doing is helping create a large band new voting block for Democrats.
Your a fool.
This fraud was coached to hide his real views about immigration when Romney picked him for his VP candidate in 2012. I wouldn’t trust anything this guy says. Even his vaulted “Budget Roadmap” that was touted a few years back would have taken about 40 years to balance the budget.
I have nothing but contempt for this amnesty pusher.
Reform, yes, but maybe not the reform the left is thinking of. Item number one MUST be border security. Build the WALL first, then we’ll talk.
Ryan's scam medicare reform plan was quite popular here in early 2011 and a short revival with the establishment freepers here in early 2013, a few got mad at me even then.
I was the first and probably only one here to diss it in 2011.
His proposal to do nothing to medicare (except maybe spend more on it) for 10 whole years, then 10 years later something magical happens and we don't need it anymore for a select group of Americans, his 'you have to wait 10 years to see what's in it', plan, was very disingenuous , and it didn't fool anyone anyway.
Crap like this just helped Dems convince younger voters to vote against THEM.
Paul Ryan is betrayal personified
He blatantly backstabbed veterans
Now he betrays all but inside-the-beltway establishment liberal republicans
He really needs to be retired
Several years ago, Glenn Beck, in the middle of an interview, blurted out to Dead-to-Me, “Please don’t be a scumbag!”
Too bad Dead-to-Me wasn’t able to oblige.
I can’t stand seeing that guy anymore. He is open borders wacko same as his mentor Jack Kemp...... Plus Ryan is a serf of the large donors who are pro-Amnesty such as Sheldon Adelson and the Koch Bros.
I like how Ryan goes on about balancing the budget but will open the illegal immigration floodgates which will make America a permanent liberal racist Democrat ruled nation. Which means a wildly spendthrift nation that implodes
His ‘You have to pass my wait 10 years to see what's in it medicare reform plan, now’ was a joke from the start : see 16
Tell us how they poll with the group you are trying to butter up Paul.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.