“It makes no sense”
Another pundit agrees that the current House Republican stance on immigration makes no sense.
That makes it pretty much unanimous, doesn’t it? I haven’t seen a single pundit, whether RINO/establishment or conservative/Tea-Party, say it makes sense, except when turning themselves into pretzels trying to guess at what might be going on in Boehner’s Byzantine or simpleton mind. I’ve tried to figure that out myself (today’s earlier post, for example), but it doesn’t change the fact that the deal appears to make no sense at all.
It’s not a whole lot that can unite the warring wings of the Republican Party. But dislike of what Boehner is doing seems to have accomplished the difficult feat.
Maybe that’s his real goal. Nope, probably not.
[ADDENDUM: This would make a certain amount of sense, if it were true. I wouldn’t bet on it.]
Boe would have to be playing the role of a dark anti hero for that, and replacing himself with a white angel savior. But who is the savior then?
But…but I already explained it:
Boehner doesn’t care about immigration, but he needs money. He can’t turn to the base (Tea Party), so he is going to the one constituency that has money: the Chamber of Commerce. And the Chamber of Commerce cares about immigration.
Boehner will risk inflaming the base (and he’s probably aware of the risk) because he needs money and there’s nowhere else to go.
In further support of this, some anecdotal evidence:
Not only have I seen many commenters on various sites claim that they will NOT donate to the GOP, but I think in these tough economic times even establishment types are getting tired of the GOP’s outstretched hand.
My parents are “moderate” types like this. They don’t pick up the phone when “Washington D.C.” is on the caller ID for fear of another sales pitch.
(whoops, hit the “submit” button too fast)
I haven’t seen any demographic breakdown, or even gross numbers on the national GOP’s fundraising. But if I had to bet, I’d say that small-dollar donations from individuals has significantly dried up.
I’d love to see that data on that.
Matt_SE: “I’d love to see that data on that.”
Here’s some data on interest groups contributions you might find interesting.
First figure to DEMS
Second figure to REPUBS
1 Finance/Insur/RealEst $109,239,247 35.4% 57.8% $38,703,133
2 Other $74,437,453 47.5% 39.8% $35,326,122
3 Ideology/Single-Issue $61,536,721 38.6% 43.2% $23,733,277
4 Misc Business $58,232,798 37.5% 57.1% $21,815,783
5 Lawyers & Lobbyists $43,306,579 63.6% 34.1% $27,564,051
6 Health $42,638,482 41.4% 55.3% $17,669,415
7 Communic/Electronics $30,584,395 55.7% 38.3% $17,048,008
8 Labor $28,910,777 60.5% 8.2% $17,480,049
9 Energy/Nat Resource $26,645,036 22.2% 75.1% $5,914,575
10 Agribusiness $20,102,479 25.3% 72.0% $5,095,120
11 Construction $18,812,534 26.0% 65.2% $4,884,585
12 Transportation $18,104,449 27.3% 71.2% $4,946,014
13 Defense $10,056,494 40.5% 59.4%
Four groups (the usual suspects) give predominately to democrats – Lawyers, Lobbyists, Labor, & Communications/electronics
There’s more at:
http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/
There is too much paranoia among conservatives about the amnesty situation.
The Republicans have said over and over that if the Feds would enforce the laws, then there wouldn’t be 11 million illegals in the country. The enforcement problem is two fold. The border is the more difficult to solve, but it can be closed, if there is a will. The second part of the problem is the visa holders who come here legally and stay here illegally. Most countries are able to track and enforce their laws pertaining to temporary visas. FedEx or USP could be given the job of setting up a tracking system and the job would be done, if the Feds would actually deport those who overstayed their welcome.
I see no problem with tying any program that provides illegals with green cards after they have jumped through all the hoops, if we are actually controlling illegal immigration and reducing it to a trickle. Controlling the southern border would also help control the smuggling of illegal drugs and stop possible terrorists. Many good things could come out of actually enforcing the law. But there must be some way of ensuring that the administration will actually do it. I don’t think the dems will not be interested. But it can’t hurt to run something up the flagpole.
Thanks for the info, J.J.
You can more easily get info for interest groups at odd times in the year than small donor info. I suspect that there is no reporting requirement for small donors in non-election years…maybe, maybe not.
At least I found some context:
In the 2012 election cycle, Obama got over $56 million from individuals donating under $200. Note: There’s allegations that the Obama campaign deliberately disabled the security features that would disallow overseas donors. So his figures might be inflated by Chinese money.
Michelle Bachmann (who almost assuredly DID NOT benefit from illegal Chinese contributions!) raked in $9.5 million of her $15 million total for 2012 through small donations.
Though nice for context, neither of these examples provide data for my hypothesis about declining GOP small dollar donations.
It’s not a good idea to be put on the GOP list anyways. The IRS won’t even need NSA data base mirroring access to be able to find you then.
Networking is the first pattern recognition used to filter out results. Being part of a network that can be data mined is the first hurdle. Private networks that have to be cracked by the NSA overwatch programs is a layer deeper and more difficult to find out, but something the FBI is used to cracking given their search for child molestors, kiddie porn, and terrorists.
Don’t worry, Ymarsakar. We were all added to the NSA database years ago.
A bit more evidence, from Ace of Spades today:
“Four Republican-leaning groups with close ties to the party’s leadership in Congress – Crossroads and its “super PAC” affiliate; the Congressional Leadership Fund; and Young Guns Action – raised a combined $7.7 million in 2013. By contrast, four conservative organizations that have battled Republican candidates deemed too moderate or too yielding on spending issues – FreedomWorks, the Club for Growth Action Fund, the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Tea Party Patriots – raised a total of $20 million in 2013, according to Federal Election Commission reports filed on Friday.”
No, the NSA doesn’t have a database at the moment.
The reason the Regime didn’t nationalize Facebook is because FB’s server information was already being mirrored to a NSA branch server. But the NSA doesn’t have the server space or manpower to collate or analyse the incoming information, so they were forced to build extra stuff to store it.
The data is not in a readily usable format, without Google’s search technology. I’m sure they have already prototyped custom search engines for NSA databases, but the IRS targeting of Tea Parties were utilized using old school methods and tech. They are much easier to manage than using foreign intelligence gathering methods and the turf war that comes from that.
People will be surprised, once again, at what the Left does with new goodies and powers in a few years. Just as they were years ago.
Follow the money… Big business and Chamber of Commerce have it, establishment GOP want it. They need campaign cash to re-elect incumbents and beat back Tea Party insurgents. Boehner is rumored to be retiring. Cantor needs to recruit and re-elect establishment-types who will make him Speaker. Paul Ryan needs sugar daddies donors for 2016. Cui bono. It’s all about the money. And it is the only thing that makes sense in 2014.
There are some interesting stories about local police using SWAT no knock raids (they call it a One Knock raid, same thing) for houses where they think the occupants have “too many guns”, as tracked through their online and social media personas.
But that doesn’t need the NSA technology and access, since most people are foolish enough to actually put their intel profiles and vulnerabilities on social media such as FB or twitter or myspace. Anyone can access it and collate it, not just police or government goons. The private stuff will be harder to access. But the public or semi public posts, easily collated with a bit of patience.
Ponnuru: “A better idea would have four parts: We’d increase enforcement of immigration laws at the border and in the workplace. We’d put people who were brought here illegally while they were minors but have otherwise obeyed the law on a path to full citizenship. We’d signal that amnesty for other illegal immigrants might be possible in the future once we’re sure that enforcement is working. And we’d reform our legal immigration policies to let in more high-wage workers.”
That’s pretty close to what I have heard Rand Paul talk about. I don’t think the dems will go for it because it stresses enforcement. It’s a plan that I would support.
It makes sense if, like me, you accept the fact that this is something like 5 or 6 people who are so “inside” the confines of the liberal media-political-echo chamber that they think they are doing some necessary thing for the R cause. When everything you hear either blasts at you or seduces you about what all the “right” people think and d, and what all the “right” demographics says, and what all the “good and decent caring and sharing people” say, and when you actually believe the laughter and derision of MSNBC host types as if they are really “plugged in” to the hip and new world…..
Then you are the Speaker of the House and a few other pretend movers and shakers who come up with a great idea in the closet of their heads and are (once again) shocked when it is not accepted right away, even criticized and shunned.
Fire them.
They are already fired. These “ideas”, have you noticed, never go anywhere. It’s almost comical. It’s somewhat sad. Could someone please grab these six and send them on a Spring Break Road trip. Get them out of the house, out on the road, out of Washington.
No one listens to them. The old guard MSM can’t even maintain traction for these stories for more than about two weeks.
This one is already officially over.