February 15, 2013 6:46 AM

GOP: When you get to the bottom line, it's all and only about political power

As bipartisan momentum builds for comprehensive immigration reform in the aftermath of the GOP’s poor showing among Latinos in the 2012 election, conservative Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) warned Republicans that “immigration is exactly the wrong subject to use to attract Hispanic support.”…. Urging the GOP to tout America’s acceptance of legal immigrants, Smith wrote, in a Politico op-ed published on Wednesday, that conservatives should focus messaging “better financial security — more take-home pay, more job opportunities and a stronger economy,” and avoid falling into the trap of addressing the broken immigration system by allowing unauthorized immigrants to earn citizenship. Doing so, Smith says, would only strengthen Democrats, who would continue “giving benefits to illegal immigrants” and undermine the GOP politically….

There was a time when I was naive enough to hope that Republicans formulated policy initiatives based on what they thought was best for the country. It may have been wrong-headed and misguided…but surely they were at least doing what they thought best for the country. Right??

All it took was Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, admitting that it’s never really been about what’s best for America. It’s never been “Country First.” In reality, most, if not all policy is about what will provide the GOP with the best position, the best opportunity for seizing and maintaining power. The reality, as Smith elucidated with such clarity, is that Republicans believe that providing a path to citizenships will harm future electoral prospects for Republicans.

Why would any self-respecting Republican support making citizen of people who will likely turn around and vote for Democrats?

Country First. Or not.

Does anyone really think Republicans are going to outbid Democrats on giving benefits to illegal immigrants?

And fifth, you have to be a little suspicious when liberal Democrats tell Republicans they have to support amnesty to win elections. Do Republicans really think they have the best interests of the GOP at heart?

Immigration is the field Democrats want to lure Republicans to play on. Why? Because Democrats know they’ll win.

Democrats have done the math and realize that legalization inevitably would give them millions of votes, meaning more victories in congressional and presidential elections.

“[W]ould give them millions of votes.” Think about that for a moment. It’s not about doing the right thing, the decent thing, the humane thing. No, it’s about denying citizenship to millions in order that the GOP can maintain the best position they can achieve in order to ensure success in future elections.

I’m not going to pretend that Democrats are as pure as the driven snow, but they’re not the ones trying to cheat and game the system to their advantage. It’s not as if this is the first instance where Republicans have revealed their true intentions to openly cheat. The sad truth is the Republicans are less about democracy than they are about doing what ever it takes to subvert the democratic process. Republicans understand in their heart of hearts that they can’t win on policy. They’ve been repeatedly and roundly rejected by African-Americans and Hispanics, and their obsession with the deficit and cutting taxes for the wealthy makes them no friend of the middle class. In order to have any chance at seizing and maintaining political power their only real chance at success is to lie, cheat, and steal: pass restrictive Voter ID laws aimed at suppressing poor and minority votes, make it more difficult and onerous to vote, deny citizenship to those who they know are unlikely to vote Republican.

It’s as reprehensible as it despicable, but that seems to be what the GOP is about these days. Just ask Lamar Smith.

If you have to lie, cheat, and steal in order to win, your ideas suck.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on February 15, 2013 6:46 AM.

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