FINALLY ADDRESSING THE IMMIGRATION ISSUE
You immigration hardliners should prepare to get pretty hot under the collar with me, because it’s time to address and fix this illegal immigration problem and you’re risking being “Sister Souljah’ed.”
At the core of the matter is what to do with the approximately 12 million illegal immigrants and their families who are already here in the country?
Those of you who say to round up (in the dead of night?) and deport each and every one of them – including women and children - are in denial. It’s simply not going to happen. Period.
There will be no Trail of Tears, Part II. And once you accept that reality, THEN we can move forward and deal with the problem of what TO do with those folks and under what conditions.
Let the hate-mail begin! Send your hyper-ventilated, outraged email responses to: chuck@citizenoutreach.com
LAME DUCK STRATEGERY
What should Republicans do about “sequestration” in the “lame duck” session of Congress coming up?
Punt. Push to extend the status quo for two years.
Why?
Because every day from here on out, President Obama – a lame duck himself now – gets a little weaker.
And in 2014, as experienced and successful battlefield political strategist Grover Norquist pointed out this week:
“Republicans will have a shot at winning the Senate (because) 20 Democrats stand for re-election -- all of whom won in the landslide year of 2008 -- and only 13 Republican senators - who survived the 2008 blue tsunami - are technically vulnerable.”
So in this case, the best move is to kick the can. Wouldn’t have recommended that if Mitt Romney hadn’t lost. But under the circumstances, the best we can do now is live to fight another day.
ABOUT THAT MOVE-TO-THE-MIDDLE ADVICE
Have you ever noticed that when Republicans get spanked in an election, the media and moderate Republicans tell them the party needs to move to the mushy middle, but when Republicans win an election those same oracles never seem to advise the party to double-down on being conservative?
Now consider this:
When Republicans lost the House in 2006 after a decade of spending taxpayer money like drunken Kennedys, the know-it-alls in the media and moderate Republicans declared that the GOP had to move to the center or risk becoming a permanent minority. Remember that? It was in all the papers.
Instead, thanks enormously to the rise of the tea party movement, Republicans in the House moved decidedly back to the right, especially on economic issues. Result: Republicans won a huge majority in the House in 2010; a majority they retained in 2012.
In fact, Republicans retained that majority this week despite losing the popular vote nationally. And not just any majority. As Aaron Blake of Politico notes, “Republicans are set to have their second-biggest House majority in 60 years and their third-biggest since the Great Depression.”
So tell me again why Republicans need to move to the center to win?
DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS
* I'm sure CIA chief David Patreus resigning over an extramarital affair just days after Obama’s re-election was just a coincidence and had nothing to do with the Benghazi fuster-cluck. Well, pretty sure. Actually, no…I don’t believe in coincidences. The scandal and cover-up just went deeper.
* Don’t get too worked up over House Speaker John Boehner’s remark this week that “revenue increases” were on the table. By revenue increases, he’s talking about more tax revenue being generated by an improving economy, not tax hikes.
In fact, Boehner has declared that raising taxes on the rich is off the table and non-negotiable. President Barack Obama, on the other hand, says no deal without screwing the job-creating wealthy. We’ll have to wait to see who blinks.
* At least one tech-savvy GOP grassroots activist is quite displeased with the highly-hyped get-out-the-vote grassroots operation of Team Romney. Click here to read his criticisms.
* Nevada Sen. Dean Heller didn’t win because he moved back to the middle. He won because Shelley Berkley was an extremely flawed Democrat candidate whose campaign skills outside of her safe congressional district were extremely over-rated and over-hyped.
* Republican Wes Duncan’s upset victory over presumed Democrat SpeakerMarcus Conklin isn’t so surprising considering how redistricting changed the district from a Democrat district to a GOP-friendly district. However, consider the money factor.
The RJ reports that Conklin spent a staggering $711,000 to save his bacon. Duncan, on the other hand, spent a relatively-speaking puny $123,000. A 7-1 disadvantage. Yes, money is absolutely important in elections, but is not necessarily determinative. Just ask Marcus Conklin.
* For her entire legislative career thus far, Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury has represented a Democrat-majority district and has voted in decidedly moderate manner. It’ll be interesting to see how she votes in the 2013 session now that she has been re-districted into a decidedly “safe” Republican district. If she continues to vote the moderate line, don’t be surprised if she draws a GOP primary opponent in 2014.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“(Ronald Reagan) was in some ways a small ‘l’ libertarian, without being libertine. For Reagan, the issue was about personal rights, individual dignity and privacy. He opposed a peacetime military draft; he said libertarianism was the fundamental basis for conservatism; and at one point, he described himself as a ‘libertarian-conservative.’” – Reagan biographer Craig Shirley
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