Obama can kill the GOP with Amnesty

[JFK-Democrat]

I think Obama should propose an insane amnesty legislation that if the GOP balk at we run against them with it in 2016 and if they agree we instantly create 10 million New Democratic voters. And if the GOP try to peel of Hispanic votes by pandering they will open up their right flank to the libertarians. No wonder Karl Rove looked like a crazy man on TV a couple nights ago, I think they know they have been checkmated!

[rob in cal]

     Remember everybody, amnesty is just the sexy side show to the overall immigration issue.  With or without amnesty about 1 million legal immigrants who when they or their children become citizens will be likely Democratic leaning voters enter this country every year.  Romney wasn't against this, and seemed to suggest that he wanted even more immigrants than that, as long as it was legal. Amnesty is just the emotional ice on the cake. Democrats, you're winning on this and the GOP is barely even fighting you. 
     

[Antonio the Sixth]

     Remember everybody, amnesty is just the sexy side show to the overall immigration issue.  With or without amnesty about 1 million legal immigrants who when they or their children become citizens will be likely Democratic leaning voters enter this country every year.  Romney wasn't against this, and seemed to suggest that he wanted even more immigrants than that, as long as it was legal. Amnesty is just the emotional ice on the cake. Democrats, you're winning on this and the GOP is barely even fighting you.

And by "fighting" you mean... closing the borders of a country that was built by immigrants?

Immigration policy is the only issue on which the US is smarter than Europe.

[opebo]

Beautiful idea!

[traininthedistance]

Immigration policy is the only issue on which the US is smarter than Europe.

We have much stronger free speech protections, too, and that's a good thing.  (C.f. the insane libel laws in Britain, or the overly-restrictive hate speech laws in Germany.)  There's probably one or two other things I can't think of, too.

Tis a pretty short list, though.

[GMantis]

     Remember everybody, amnesty is just the sexy side show to the overall immigration issue.  With or without amnesty about 1 million legal immigrants who when they or their children become citizens will be likely Democratic leaning voters enter this country every year.  Romney wasn't against this, and seemed to suggest that he wanted even more immigrants than that, as long as it was legal. Amnesty is just the emotional ice on the cake. Democrats, you're winning on this and the GOP is barely even fighting you.

And by "fighting" you mean... closing the borders of a country that was built by immigrants?

Immigration policy is the only issue on which the US is smarter than Europe.

If a loose immigration policy is appropriate for the US because they are a nation of immigrants (which is an exaggeration, but never mind), how is it appropriate for Europe, where no nation was built by immigrants?

[traininthedistance]

Immigration policy is the only issue on which the US is smarter than Europe.

We have much stronger free speech protections, too, and that's a good thing.  (C.f. the insane libel laws in Britain, or the overly-restrictive hate speech laws in Germany.)  There's probably one or two other things I can't think of, too.

Tis a pretty short list, though.

Oh, I forgot:  our Fed has a dual mandate to work on unemployment instead of just fighting inflation, but the ECB is not balanced in this manner.  And there's a whole constellation of governance issues regarding Europe as a monetary union but not quite as strong a political union which are deeply, deeply problematic in many ways.

So that's another thing we do better than Europe- and it's a pretty huge thing if you ask me.

[Mehmentum]

I feel like Europe is often overrated in many ways.  Not to say there are some areas where we could definitely learn a two or thing from them. 

[Wisconsin+17]

Apparently liberals haven't got the memo. Where are the immigrants going to come from?

[wan]

I think Obama should propose an insane amnesty legislation that if the GOP balk at we run against them with it in 2016 and if they agree we instantly create 10 million New Democratic voters. And if the GOP try to peel of Hispanic votes by pandering they will open up their right flank to the libertarians. No wonder Karl Rove looked like a crazy man on TV a couple nights ago, I think they know they have been checkmated!

Karl R

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The votes for amnesty don't even exist in the Democratic caucus. Obama would look like a jackass advocating for full amnesty, something every political observer thinks to be a dead-in-the-water concept.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Admitting Puerto Rico as a state is a better idea.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I can definately say that if Mike McIntyre wants to hang on again in 2014, he likely won't be voting for Amnesty. Not after he ran on being tough on illegals and claiming that Rouzer was for open borders.

Kay Hagan will also be very reluctant to embrace anything extreme on this issue. NC did shift back to the Republicans and we have a bevy of strong challengers interested in being Senator. I also highly doubt any of them will be talking smack about her religion this time either.

Don't forget that when Comprehensive Immigration Reform was voted down in 2007 it had only 46 Ayes and eight or nine of those seats have since been shifted to people more hostile to the issue then their predecessors. That includes Donnelly replacing Lugar by the way. Of course Joe has a history of "being there when he was needed" so I wouldn't call that a firm loss though.

The one thing I can tell you about this issue is that it trumps party and ideological labels. The most stringent Representative from Missouri on this issue isn't Todd Akin (he is number 2), it is Jo Ann Emerson, who some view as a moderate. This won't be easy for either party.

[The Mikado]

     Remember everybody, amnesty is just the sexy side show to the overall immigration issue.  With or without amnesty about 1 million legal immigrants who when they or their children become citizens will be likely Democratic leaning voters enter this country every year.  Romney wasn't against this, and seemed to suggest that he wanted even more immigrants than that, as long as it was legal. Amnesty is just the emotional ice on the cake. Democrats, you're winning on this and the GOP is barely even fighting you.

And by "fighting" you mean... closing the borders of a country that was built by immigrants?

Immigration policy is the only issue on which the US is smarter than Europe.

If a loose immigration policy is appropriate for the US because they are a nation of immigrants (which is an exaggeration, but never mind), how is it appropriate for Europe, where no nation was built by immigrants?

The Bulgars certainly didn't originate in Bulgaria, nor the Albanians in Albania, nor the Magyars in Hungary, nor the Turks in Turkey. 

[Badger]

Apparently liberals haven't got the memo. Where are the immigrants going to come from?

I'm a moderate and have no idea what you're talking about.

Please, explain "the memo".

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Tradition and history is a great thing and our immigration policies should reflect our values true, but also the realistic needs and capacity of the nation's various systems, but to say the rules are different for us because of our history sounds to me like an excessive application of American exceptionalism.

If the GOP doesn't, someone will express these concerns regarding immigration policy. There are legitimate concerns out there, both regarding how we conduct the policy and the real term impacts of that policy on the economy, on infrastructure, and resources that motivate these concerns. Some people just seem to think this is all about race and nativism and no assumption could be more stupid or ignorant of this issue. That is primarily a red herring to get votes. 

As for the idea of treating this with a partisan lense of who gets the most voters and basing policy of importing new voting blocs, I find tht to both to be disturbing and very destructive especially for, a group of people the Democratic party claims to be most concern about, the working poor. The politics should chase the policy, rather than have the policies chasing after the politics.

[opebo]

Apparently liberals haven't got the memo. Where are the immigrants going to come from?

I'm a moderate and have no idea what you're talking about.

Please, explain "the memo".

I'm guessing he thinks that nobody wants to go to the US anymore.

[Badger]

Apparently liberals haven't got the memo. Where are the immigrants going to come from?

I'm a moderate and have no idea what you're talking about.

Please, explain "the memo".

I'm guessing he thinks that nobody wants to go to the US anymore.

No one could be that stupid, Opebo.

Ben, please explain the real meaning of "the memo".

Opebo wasn't right, of course.......

Was he?

[bgwah]

Apparently liberals haven't got the memo. Where are the immigrants going to come from?

I'm a moderate and have no idea what you're talking about.

Please, explain "the memo".

I'm guessing he thinks that nobody wants to go to the US anymore.

No one could be that stupid, Opebo.

Ben, please explain the real meaning of "the memo".

Opebo wasn't right, of course.......

Was he?

I doubt we'll see as much illegal immigration again.

[nhmagic]

Yeah and prepare for a senate bloodbath in 2014.  There are a lot of red state and purple state senate seats up for grabs in primarily white areas. 

If this isn't done by 2016, republicans need to propose:

Securing the border - with more specifics of course
Pathway to citizenship developed by a presidentially appointed panel - including a rigorous curriculum developed by conservatives for them to understand American history and the Constitution, mandatory fluency in English, applicable to every illegal aged 60 and under without a learning disability, and a 10 year waiting period.  In the meantime, they may receive work, residency permits and drivers licenses.  If they refuse this pathway, they get deported. 

[Wisconsin+17]

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Mexico's TFR is 2.27 children. If we assume that only those above 2.1 would ever leave Mexico, that means roughly 8 percent of those born would leave Mexico. Presently that number is around 16.4 percent.

[Lief 🗽]

Securing the border - with more specifics of course
Pathway to citizenship developed by a presidentially appointed panel - including a rigorous curriculum developed by conservatives for them to understand American history and the Constitution, mandatory fluency in English, applicable to every illegal aged 60 and under without a learning disability, and a 10 year waiting period.  In the meantime, they may receive work, residency permits and drivers licenses.  If they refuse this pathway, they get deported. 

lol, have fun winning literally 0% of the Hispanic vote.

[opebo]

Yeah and prepare for a senate bloodbath in 2014.  There are a lot of red state and purple state senate seats up for grabs in primarily white areas. 

Guy, not every white person is foaming at the mouth about this issue.  Basically only border state loonies are.

If you look at the map of senate races in 2014:



There isn't a single state where one can imagine this issue being likely to effect the outcome.

Securing the border - with more specifics of course
Pathway to citizenship developed by a presidentially appointed panel - including a rigorous curriculum developed by conservatives for them to understand American history and the Constitution, mandatory fluency in English, applicable to every illegal aged 60 and under without a learning disability, and a 10 year waiting period.  In the meantime, they may receive work, residency permits and drivers licenses.  If they refuse this pathway, they get deported. 

lol, have fun winning literally 0% of the Hispanic vote.

They just don't understand that the cat is already out of the bag here - even if they go even more hardline and cut off immigration, the Hispanics already here are out-breeding them.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Not now of course, because it isn't on the radar.

If that changes, I see five to six states where it could be an issue potentially, especially if whatever package is formed ends up being unpopular and/or if the Senator broke campaign promises to vote for it.

[GMantis]

     Remember everybody, amnesty is just the sexy side show to the overall immigration issue.  With or without amnesty about 1 million legal immigrants who when they or their children become citizens will be likely Democratic leaning voters enter this country every year.  Romney wasn't against this, and seemed to suggest that he wanted even more immigrants than that, as long as it was legal. Amnesty is just the emotional ice on the cake. Democrats, you're winning on this and the GOP is barely even fighting you.

And by "fighting" you mean... closing the borders of a country that was built by immigrants?

Immigration policy is the only issue on which the US is smarter than Europe.

If a loose immigration policy is appropriate for the US because they are a nation of immigrants (which is an exaggeration, but never mind), how is it appropriate for Europe, where no nation was built by immigrants?

The Bulgars certainly didn't originate in Bulgaria, nor the Albanians in Albania, nor the Magyars in Hungary, nor the Turks in Turkey. 

And the English in England for that matter. But you do know the difference between conquest and immigration? The first settlers in America also weren't immigrants.