Right now, the circus called the House Republican leadership is working overtime to prove to any remaining skeptics that they are tone deaf to public sentiment, smart politics and protection of the Constitution.
Speaker Boehner is going the extra mile to demonstrate he is not serious about confronting or restraining Obama's planned unconstitutional amnesty. It is widely reported that Obama will soon extend his "deferred action" program to an additional 5-10 million illegal aliens – the adult parents and relatives of the children to whom he has already awarded indefinite "deferrals" on deportation.
Not only did Boehner not include Obama's June 2012 "Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals" edict (DACA) in the list of complaints in his much-ballyhooed lawsuit, he does not want to add language blocking the next amnesty to the billion-dollar appropriations bill the Democrats want to pass so desperately. Isn't that a rather ominous green light for Obama to do it again on a larger scale?
Let's follow the little bouncing ball and see where it leads.
At the end of the week, the House GOP leadership was working furiously to resist or sidetrack a proposal by a large block of House Republican conservatives to add to the "emergency border funding bill" a provision to explicitly prohibit Obama from using administrative edicts to further expand the "deferred action" program.
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But, of course, actually blocking Obama from doing something unconstitutional is too controversial for the GOP leadership. So, they want to sidetrack that language by keeping it out of the appropriations bill and allow it only as a stand-alone bill. Everyone knows that would be a purely symbolic gesture without legal effect because the Senate would simply ignore it. The only effective way to force the Senate to deal with the real issue – the invasion across our southwest border – is to include it in the appropriations language of a bill Obama desperately wants. But no, that is too confrontational for our esteemed "leaders."
By now you may be asking, why are Republicans afraid to require a roll call vote on a small proposal that advances us toward genuine border security? The explanation turns out to be the "elephant in the room" – fear of a backlash from the "Hispanic vote" if they try to curtail the DACA program. Now, that tells you all you need to know not only about the amount of calcium in the spine of Republican leaders but the extent of protein deficiency in their brains.
Someone needs to call the bluff of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, but it won't happen in this Congress or under Speaker Boehner. No, it won't happen even if Republicans control the Senate in 2015 because they will then be worried about the 2016 election.
When you think about it, the alleged fear of a backlash from Hispanic voters cannot be the real reason simply because it has no basis in fact or political reality in 2014. More likely the paralyzing factor is a fear of offending the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
A little-discussed July 16 Pew Center poll of 1,805 adults revealed a striking change in the attitudes of Hispanics toward the border crisis since February of this year. The survey found that Hispanics were about evenly split (49-47 percent) on the question of whether to follow current law (and be generously accommodating to the children apprehended trying to enter the country illegally) or speed up the deportation process. But earlier Pew surveys had found a 7 to 10 point difference between all Hispanics – which includes non-citizens and illegal aliens – and Hispanic citizens on immigration issues. So, it is clear from such polls that among Hispanic citizens and voters, a majority think we should speed up the deportations.
The Republican Party leadership – but not the grass roots – is living in fear of a manufactured myth, the myth of monolithic Hispanic support for open borders and lax immigration enforcement – a myth promoted by the leftist National Council of La Raza and Democrat-oriented groups. Actual survey data for Hispanic voters going back to 2008 shows much more diversity of opinion and a clear opening for sensible alternatives to open borders.
If Republicans leaders and candidates ever started talking common sense to Hispanic audiences instead of empowering the extremists, it would be revolutionary.
Media wishing to interview Tom Tancredo, please contact [email protected].
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