Posted on 06/27/2012 4:05:36 PM PDT by mdittmar
If Republicans Want to Reform Broken System, They Should Work with Democrats, Not Criticize from the Sidelines
Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding comprehensive immigration reform. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:
Monday’s United State Supreme Court decision to strike most of the unconstitutional Arizona immigration law reaffirmed something most of us already knew: the onus is on Congress to repair a broken system.
No one denies the system is broken.
But in the 48 hours since the Supreme Court’s ruling, Republicans have engaged in revisionist history to explain why it’s taken so long to fix it.
Here are the facts:
When Democrats brought a comprehensive immigration reform bill to the floor in 2007, Republicans filibustered the legislation – even though Republican President Bush supported it.
And they twice filibustered the DREAM Act – which would allow children brought to the country by their parents to go to college, serve in the military and work toward citizenship.
Democrats have been ready to pass comprehensive immigration reform for years.
It’s Republicans who are divided on this issue.
And every time Democrats offer to work together on comprehensive immigration reform – even bringing to the floor bipartisan ideas originally proposed by Republicans – the other side finds an excuse not to support change.
Yet Republicans blame Democrats for inaction.
Well, they can’t have it both ways – they can’t blame Democrats for not passing a bipartisan immigration bill when they were the ones who blocked the bill.
Moving forward, Congress has two things in its favor.
Thanks to President Obama’s decisive action, the specter of deportation no longer hangs over the heads of 800,000 young people brought to the country as children.
And the Supreme Court offered yet another affirmation that a long-term fix for our broken immigration system must come from Congress and not from the states.
Now is not the time to retreat to our corners. It’s the time to work together on a reasonable solution, one that:
If my Republican colleagues truly care about changing the status quo, they should step forward now and work with Democrats, not criticize from the sidelines.
Unfortunately, Republicans who once favored a permanent resolution for America’s broken immigration system are deserting efforts to find common ground.
And the only decisive Republican voice on this issue today seems to be Mitt Romney – who has called the unconstitutional Arizona law the “model” for reform.
Mitt Romney has also promised to veto the DREAM Act.
Democrats believe the kind of institutionalized racism in the Arizona law is hardly the “model” for reform in a country that stands for liberty and justice for all.
And we believe upstanding young people who have never known any home but the United States of America should go to college, fight for their country and contribute to society – not face deportation.
But at least we know where Mitt Romney stands on these issues, even if we disagree with him.
As long as Republicans remain unwilling to vote for comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform, we remain at an impasse.
But I want my Republican colleagues to know this: as soon as they are willing to join us to craft a common-sense, legislative solution that is tough, fair and practical, we are ready to join them.
Join “Mr Cleanface” in the legislation. He’ll make you a deal you can’t refuse.
“Will you walk into my parlor?”
You people are all cynics. Harry has a plan to legalize all 20 million people that are here illegally and he is going to get them all “Green” jobs but the racist elephants are holding things up.
I’d only vote for it if it contains an amendment throwing that creepy old bastard Reid off of this planet. What a creepy freak! Stuff it Harry! We don’t need “reform”. We need the lazy, freeloading bastards we’ve got working for the government to enforce the laws we’ve got on the books now!
This e-mail story is worth repeating, I think:
Nancy Pelosi called Harry Reid into her office one day and said, “Harry, I have a plan to win back Middle America in 2012!”
“Great Nancy, but how?” asked Dingy Harry.
“We’ll get some cheesy clothes and shoes, like they wear in those flyover states, then we’ll stop at the dog pound and pick up a Labrador retriever.
“Then, we’ll go to a nice old country bar in Montana and show them how much admiration and respect we have for the hard working people living there.”
So they did, and found just the place they were looking for in Bozeman, Montana. With the dog in tow, they walked inside and stepped up to the bar.
The Bartender took a step back and said, “Hey! Aren’t you Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi?”
“Yes we are!” said Damascus Nan. “And what a lovely town you have here! We were passing through and Harry suggested we stop and take in some local color.”
They ordered a round of bourbon for the whole bar, and started chatting up a storm with anyone who would listen.
A few minutes later, a grizzled old rancher came in, walked up to the Labrador, lifted up its tail, looked underneath, shrugged his shoulders and walked out.
A few moments later, in came another old rancher. He walked up to the dog, lifted up its tail, looked underneath, scratched his head and left the bar.
For the next hour, another dozen ranchers came in, lifted the dog’s tail, and left shaking their heads.
Finally, Dingy Harry asked, “Why did all those old ranchers come in and look under the dog’s tail?”
“You know, I’m from a western ranching state, we use working dogs and I’m familiar with your ways.”
“Can we work together to figure this out? Is it some sort of custom?”
“Lord no,” said the bartender. “Someone’s out there running around town, claiming there’s a Labrador Retriever in here with two assholes.”
“Institutionalized racism” = state and corporate sponsored quotas, preferences, “affirmative action”
Hasn’t Harry ever heard that you catch more flys with honey than with vinegar?
Ok Harry, the border wall gets built first. When it is 100% complete(and that includes Canada) we will talk about every tie on your agenda.
End it right now.
That's funny...'cause that was the OTHER quote running through my mind. :)
Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly,'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I've a many curious things to shew when you are there."
Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again." ~~Mary Howitt
Frankly, I’d like an immigration reform law that we ram down the Dhimms throats, sorta like they did Obamacare.
It would eliminate birthright citizeenship, take funds from sanctuary cities and sother such nonsensicaol liberal resistance, erect a physical barrier along the border with our “friends” to the south, deport within 10 days any illegal caught, and forever deny them the right to return to the United States or obtain citizenship, end family reunification programs, crack down on employers who hire illegals, including Hollywooders that don’t want to pay for Americans, gradually phase out welfare so as to remove an attractant, and ensure that employers cannot hire an American engineer before allowing them to import one from Asia. The fact that they want to hire engineers at coolie wages is somewhat offensive.
LEGAL immigration should be severely limited for at least 25 years,
This won’t solve all the problems, but it’s a small and reasonble start. It could be bipartisan, too, if the Dims were willing to busdge.
Oh, we do want immigration reform. What we *don’t* want is Democrats giving huge rewards for illegally immigrating and calling it “reform.”
The problem is not that there is no law. There are laws, it is just that no one enforces them. All these illogical “...therefore we need immigration reform...” statements completely fall apart. If they don’t enforce the laws we have now, why would new laws be enforced?
ALTERNATE HEADLINE: Reid Seeks GOP Help In Registering Thousands More Democrat Voters
Umm, hey Harry. Dumbass. I think your boy Bammy and the rest of you Democrats just gave them all "legal status".
“Just as soon as the Dems start upholding the promises they made with the last amnesty in the 1980’s, the GOP can THEN, POSSIBLY, THINK ABOUT cooperating with the Dishonest Party.”
2nd
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