Comments on: The GOP’s present stance on an immigration bill…

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 16:45:49 +0000

http://noisyroom.net/blog/2014/01/19/hear-hear-trevor-loudon-at-the-2014-sc-tea-party-in-myrtle-beach-warning-of-the-enemies-within/

Speaking of the Tea Party, there’s something going on in S C.

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 15:30:39 +0000

The Democrats can easily bribe a Republican whose reason for existence is bringing home the bacon.

By: Armchair pessimist

Armchair pessimist — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 15:28:46 +0000

Short term: inoculate the GOP against whatever loon candidates the Tea Party base might stick them with. “Hey, MSM, don’t judge us by those whacko birds”
Long term: Replace the base. Both ambitions are as naive as they are sneaky.

By: betsybounds

betsybounds — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:28:22 +0000

Well that might be a simple enough explanation on its own, southpaw (although I am not entirely persuaded), but it doesn't explain the following he has among House Republicans at this point.

By: southpaw

southpaw — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 13:55:52 +0000

it seems their are a lot of theories about why the Republlicans would push an issue that’s way down the list of importance in opinion polls to the top. One I heard that I heard from a regular on a Fox’s “Journal Editorial Report” last year, when Boener first started kicking the idea around was: “it’s just who he is”. The idiocy factor IS a possibility. He has shown on numerous occasions a willingness to reach across the aisle for no good reason, to blunder repeatedly and not learn from the mistake, fall into traps that anyone could see, and then after making a fool out of himself, go and pout about not be appreciated for doing his best without a majority.
In his heart, I think he’s a guy who wants to appear to be doing the right things, but he’s unable to figure out what those are himself. He’s not ideologically rooted in anything, he’s just an instinctive operator, who gets elected in his own district by bringing home the pork. Look it up- he is for all intents and purposes a democrat when it comes to delivering the goodies to his district – lots of government contracts and programs – more than the average district by far. He’s not opposed to wasteful govt spending, he’s a major contributor in his own district.
But as a politician on the national stage, he’s clueless, gullible, stubborn, out of touch, and a Dunce. That’s a simple enough explanation.

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 13:29:23 +0000

They need to appear to have better ideas.

They won’t win a war with better ideas. And if they aren’t fighting a war to win it, they have higher priority things to worry about than better ideas.

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 13:14:28 +0000

When Sarah Palin campaigned as vice President, people should have already realized that there were Republicans that needed purging given the amount of internal sabotage that went on during the McCain campaign and staff regulations.

If people were waiting for GOP politicians to betray them, they were waiting a bit too long to change their mind.

For a review of why the Left considered it more important to crush the 501 Tea Party orgs than to crush Eric’s ROTC campus movement:

501(c)(3) organizations are either a public charity, private foundation or private operating foundation with open membership whereas 501(c)(4) organizations are civic leagues or associations operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare or local associations of employees with limited membership.

When it comes to lobbying and political activity, 501(c)(3) organizations can appeal directly to legislative bodies and representatives and may support issue-based legislation. However, they must notify the IRS of their intent to lobby by filing form5768, which formally informs the federal government that one has elected to use the expenditure test to have the organization’s lobbying activity measured. Under this test, lobbying capacity is typically limited to spending less than 5 to 20% of the organizational budget on lobbying activities, depending on the size of your organization.

501(c)(4) organizations can engage in unlimited lobbying so long as it pertains to the organization’s mission. 501(c)(3) organizations are not permitted to engage in political activity, endorse or oppose political candidates, or donate money or time to political campaigns, but 501(c)(4) organizations can do all of the above.

By: betsybounds

betsybounds — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 12:49:07 +0000

Tonawanda: I think you are correct. I think it is by no means idle foolishness to consider the possiblity that the Left has infiltrated the Republican leadership. They do that kind of thing all the time, both openly (running conservative “Democrats” as candidates in conservative districts) and by subterfuge (running effectively fake candidates in order to split their own opposition). If it were true, it would be the simplest possible explanation for what we are seeing.

And, as I said earlier, I think that if you and I are both wrong and Boehner and the others have some kind of convoluted strategy at the bottom of this (as the saying goes, it’s “too clever by half”), then the Republicans are about to outsmart themselves.

By: Waverip

Waverip — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 09:39:41 +0000

Anyone who lives farther than 200 miles from the Mexican border should have little or no say in immigration policy. Most of the points made from within the beltway are theoretical and specious.

Come on down and learn for yourself why nothing should preempt a secure border!

By: expat

expat — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 08:46:49 +0000

I’m sort of leaning toward JJ’s opinion here. I think they will try to set things up so that border closing precedes legalization. We already have Obama saying that he is not dead set on a path to citizenship. Maybe they will try to get even more concessions before any bill is finalized.

It’s all a puzzle.