Start the Exaggerations!
Lo, once again, the political cycle completes,
Republicans rise rampant, Democrats sink in defeat.
But Obama’s executive action
Has irked the GOP to distraction,
Predicting armed uprisings and anarchy in the streets!
Year: 2014
114th Congress Has a Bunch of Losers
27
Number of incoming House members who have electoral losses on their records — more than 40 percent of the new class — and many of them lost contests for the same seat they will represent in the 114th Congress, Nathan Gonzales writes.
Obama: Pass a Bill Already
Pass a bill. You don’t need me to call a vote to pass a bill. Pass a bill.
— President Obama, quoted by the New York Times, urging Republicans to vote on the bipartisan immigration reform bill that overwhelmingly passed the Senate.
Graham Calls Shame on GOP
Shame on us as Republicans for having a body that cannot generate a solution to an issue that’s national security, that’s cultural, that’s economic. I’m close to the people in the House, but I’m disappointed in my party. Are we still the party of self-deportation?
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), quoted by The Hill.
Most Americans Say Political, Economic Systems Are Not Fair
56%
Of Americans think the country’s economic and political systems are stacked against them, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds. “Most striking is how widely shared this sense of alienation now is. Among those saying the system is stacked against them are 58% of Democrats; 51% of Republicans; 55% of whites; 60% of blacks; 53% of Hispanics; as well as decent majorities of every age and professional cluster, including blue-collar workers, white-collar workers and retirees.”
Bachmann Warns Against ‘Illiterate’ Immigrants
The social cost will be profound on the U.S. taxpayer — millions of unskilled, illiterate, foreign nationals coming into the United States who can’t speak the English language. Even though the president says they won’t be able to vote, we all know that many, in all likelihood, will vote… It’s a wink and a nod, we all know it’s going to happen.
— Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), telling the Washington Post that the immigrants given new protections by President Obama could become “illiterate” Democratic voters.
Three-Quarters of Americans Don’t Expect Much Change from the Midterms
76%
Of Americans say the midterm election won’t substantially change the nation’s direction, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.Also interesting: Americans are split almost evenly between positive (41%) and negative (39%) reactions to Republicans controlling both the House and Senate next year.
Republicans Warn That Immigration Order Will Foment Anarchy and Violence among Their Base – Obama Tells Them, ‘Pass a Bill’
Last night Pres. Obama unveiled his executive order to defer the deportations of 4.4 million undocumented residents, allow spouses of green-card holders to apply for legal status, make it easier for foreign entrepreneurs to get visas and more.
Today, predictably, Republicans are in full lather trying to shift public attention away from the fact that they have no alternative plan for immigration reform — and, worse, that for a year and a half House Republicans have been sitting on the immigration bill — Senate bill S. 744, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill — that passed the Senate with bipartisan votes in June 2013.
Instead of proposing an alternative to the president’s order, the GOP strategy is to focus public attention on the process — Obama’s executive action — by claiming, falsely, that the order is illegal. In fact, presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush also signed executive orders deferring deportations, and Republican presidents Eisenhower, Ford and George W. Bush also made unilateral changes to immigration procedures through executive orders.
The Republican leadership is making a calculation that by ginning up rage at the president over the order, they can avoid having to take a substantive position on immigration, even if the derangement they foment drives their racist base to violence and anarchy, as Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn and others have predicted.
Obama Unveils Executive Order on Immigration Reform
Here are highlights of Pres. Obama’s executive order on immigration reform from the Washington Post:
GOP Senator: Facts about Legality of President’s Executive Order Don’t Matter to Republicans
In an interview with Susan Page at USAToday, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., warned that the Republicans’ base might be provoked into violence, if Pres. Obama signs an executive order on immigration, as planned:
The country’s going to go nuts, because they’re going to see it as a move outside the authority of the president, and it’s going to be a very serious situation,” Coburn said on Capital Download. “You’re going to see — hopefully not — but you could see instances of anarchy. … You could see violence.”
Coburn appeared on on MSNBC’s right-wing gabfest, “Morning Joe,” to clarify his remarks. In doing so, however, he committed a classic Kinsey gaffe — meaning he inadvertently told the truth:
I just… you know .. Joe, I just think, ah, the President oughta walk into this a lot more slowly, especially after an election. This idea, the rule of law, is really concerning a lot of people where I come from. And whether it’s factual or perceptual, it really doesn’t matter. And the glue that holds our country together is this common belief in the rule of law. [Emphasis added.]
A Republican senator admitted on their show that facts were irrelevant to his party’s base. What was the reaction from Scarborough, his cohost Mika Brzezinski and Jeremy Peters, the New York Times reporter whose turn it was next to ask Coburn a question?
