Rubio 2013: I can’t imagine a Republican president undoing an Obama executive order on amnesty

Hot Air ^ | April 14, 2015 | Allahpundit

[2ndDivisionVet]

Is this anecdote from Byron York new or did I miss it when he first published it? Either way, can’t wait until Rubio gets asked whether he still believes this at his first presidential campaign townhall.

Oh, by the way: What he says here is 100 percent correct.

“Here’s my big worry,” Rubio told me during an interview while the bill was making its way through the Senate. “I fear that if this thing fails, the president will basically say to anyone in the U.S. who has been here more than three years, who has not committed a serious crime…he’ll say, ‘We’ll do for you what we did for the DREAM kids.’ And the problem with that will be you will have 10 million people legalized in the United States by executive order, so that when there is a new president, if it is a conservative, a Republican, one of the first decisions they will have to make is whether to yank that status from those people and deport them. I cannot imagine a scenario where a future president is going to take away the status they’re going to get. I believe it’s what [Obama] will do. Maybe not all 10 million, but he’ll do it for six million.”

Could any prediction have been more spot-on? The Gang of Eight bill did indeed fail, and all the rest came to pass, pretty much exactly as Rubio said.

Precisely right. I’ve made the same point repeatedly since O issued his order last fall. No Republican president is going to introduce himself and his party to Latino constituents on day one by summarily torpedoing O’s amnesty order. And Obama knows that. He wouldn’t have gambled on something as dubious and momentous as a massive power grab on immigration if he thought a conservative successor would feel comfortable tossing it out in two years. It will bind the next president, not by force of law but by force of politics. Rubio’s smart enough to have realized that more than a year before O’s order was even issued. What’s remarkable about what he said to York isn’t the insight but the fact that an aspiring Republican presidential candidate would be willing to say it out loud. Which makes me wonder: How are he and the rest of the field going to shake out when asked about rescinding O’s amnesty? Rand Paul’s already introduced a bill in the Senate to repeal Obama’s order, which presumably means President Paul would cancel it. Ted Cruz has said he’ll undo all of Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders if elected, so he’s in on the repeal game too. But then, this call is easy for Paul and Cruz given that their chances depend on consolidating the conservative vote. Candidates who are more towards the middle, like Bush, Walker, and especially Rubio, who’s under pressure to show he’ll hold special appeal to Latino voters in the general election, have to worry more about “electability.” What do they say when asked if they’ll cancel O’s order? Will Rubio promise to do so, having already admitted to York that it’s politically impossible?

While you mull that question, here’s another one: Given the baggage he still carries over amnesty on the right, what is this guy doing boasting on launch day that he’s done more for immigration reform than Hillary Clinton ever has?

“Well, I don’t know about the [other Republican presidential candidates], but I’ve done more on immigration than Hillary Clinton ever did. I mean I helped pass an immigration bill out of a Senate dominated by Democrats,” Rubio said. “She’s given speeches on it, but she’s never done anything on it.”…

Rubio went on to say that the GOP’s problem with minority voters is that it has been portrayed as a party that doesn’t care about people trying to make it in America. “I don’t think people go to the ballot box and say I’m a Latino therefore I’m voting Democrat,” he said. “I think they bring with them their hopes and dreams about the future and they vote for whoever they think best understands it.”

I know, I know — arguably there’s no point in him downplaying his immigration record since he’s going to get clubbed with it anyway. But … why not at least wait until after the primaries to start talking up his big bipartisan amnesty initiative? He’ll have months to do that during the general election campaign, with the full blessing of conservatives in the name of beating Hillary, after he’s won the nomination. Trumpeting his lame achievement with the Gang of Eight right now means reminding primary voters that on this issue, in terms of who’s done more to move the ball on legalizing illegals, he’s to the left of Hillary Clinton. I guess he’s given up on tea-party votes as completely as Jeb has, huh?

Exit question: Remember the time Rubio replied to liberal threats of executive amnesty by urging righties to suck it up and give the left what it wants? Now that’s leadership.

[Amendment10]

Senator Rubio is evidently not up to speed with the reality that the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution the specific power to regulate immigration, the president’s power to grant amnesty limited to those who break constitutionally defensible federal laws imo.

This makes Sen. Rubio another good example of why the ill-conceived 17th Amendment should have never been ratified, state lawmakers foolishly giving up their voices in Congress by doing so.

The 17th Amendment needs to disappear.

[2ndDivisionVet]

This one?

12 Reasons Why Conservatives Should Reject Scott Walker
http://www.redstate.com/diary/freedomrepublican/2015/03/09/12-reasons-why-conservatives-should-reject-scott-walker/

[2ndDivisionVet]

Ouch!

[conservativejoy]

Sheesh! That could likely be said about every big donor out there. Everybody knows if you have money, you’ve got the attorneys to find the loopholes. If Cruz didn’t pay His taxes, that would be a problem, but I don’t see this as getting much traction.

Wonder if they’ll ever get around to scrutinizing Hillary’s Foundation donors?

[conservativejoy]

That’s it. Sorry, I got the number wrong in the title.

[manc]

Bush and Paul are the ones I would never ever vote for and then it would be Rubio.
Then again if Christie thinks he might have a chance then add him to the ones I would never vote for too.

[American Constitutionalist]

Not Ted Cruz’s taxes that they are harping on, but his big money donor Mercer that they are crying foul for not paying his taxes..

[TigersEye]

In his interview with Hannity I could have sworn he said that would be one of the first things he would do.

[conservativejoy]

My take on that is ,Big Whoop! The guy has been investigated for years. If there was anything there he would have been nailed. This is just more targeting of Conservatives. Likely he was targeted by the IRS at the behest of Lois Lerner.

[American Constitutionalist]

Yup, agreed....

Should respond as the liberals do, that’s old news...

[skeeter]

Just confirms my opinion of yesterday’s announcement by Rubio - *insert bronx cheer*

[X-spurt]

What fix?

Watching him on Hannity, Rubio has no fire in the belly and you can see in his eyes he knows he’s not going to get close to the nomination. Probably trolling for VP slot.

Speaking to all the “me too” no chance runners, all I can say is there must be good money in running for POTUS, which can easily be converted to personal $.

[AFreeBird]

Kale is that stuff that looks like a weed, right?

[conservativegranny]

Great find. Indeed every repub should read that article and check everyone of those 12 points out for themselves. Indeed Walker has some issues that should give conservatives pause.

[conservativejoy]

Thanks. I hope it will make a few people think before getting on the Walker bandwagon. My gut is seldom wrong and something seemed “off” with Walker from the beginning.

[SharpRightTurn]

Rubio: “I cannot imagine a scenario where a future president is going to take away the [legalized] status they’re going to get [under Obummer’s executive amnesty].”

Fail.

[TomGuy]

can’t wait until Rubio gets asked

Rubio is still dancing all around the issue. He is for it. He is against it. Depends on which audience he is pandering to.

Marco Rubio: 'I've done more immigration than Hillary Clinton ever did'

Tuesday, April 14, 2015 8:15:39 AM · by Citizen Zed · 18 replies
Politico ^ | 4-14-2015 | KENDALL BREITMAN


“Well, I don’t know about others, but I’ve done more immigration than Hillary Clinton ever did,” Rubio said in an interview with NPR News released Tuesday. “I mean, I helped pass an immigration bill in a Senate dominated by Democrats. And that’s more than she’s ever done. She’s given speeches on it, but shes never done anything on it,” the Florida senator said. “We still need to do immigration reform … and I think the American people are willing to do that and not until they know that future immigration is under control,” Rubio told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Monday....

[stephenjohnbanker]

Rubio isn’t very intelligent. Moreover, he thinks he’s slick. He will be gone soon, unless Jeb or a rich Establishment Republican/group throws money at him.

[Dagnabitt]

Rubio - A New Generation of Betrayal