Posted on 06/27/2013 1:59:34 PM PDT by beaversmom
Former Rep. Tom Tancredo can see it coming: Even if the House passes a perfectly conservative bill to reform the nation's immigration system, the Senate Gang of Eight will water it down in a conference committee and leave Republicans little choice but to get rolled and vote for a bill they don't like.
His advice to his former colleagues: Don't bring up a bill at all.
"Where is this national push? Are people rioting in the streets for immigration reform? It's so odd in a way that it has achieved this level of attention and involvement," Tancredo said in an interview Wednesday. "I would be hesitant to bring up any bill simply because of what would happen in a conference committee."
House Speaker Boehner said Thursday that any bill to hit the House floor would need support from a majority of the Republican Conference, both before and after a conference committee. But Tancredo, who made his name in Washington as an anti-illegal immigration crusader, said he didn't trust Boehner to appoint the right members to the bicameral panel tasked with reconciling the two bills.
"A bill comes from the Senate. It's lousy. The Republicans go 'Oh, this is terrible, so we'll write our own bill.' And it'll be a much better bill. It goes to conference and [Boehner] appoints squishy Republicans to the conference committee. The bill comes back looking just like the Senate bill, or something pretty close. A whole bunch of Republicans can drop off at that point, going, 'Oh, this is terrible.' But they'll have enough squishes to join with Dems to pass it," Tancredo said.
And Tancredo isn't buying the often-made argument that passing immigration reform would be good politics for the GOP. Just look, he says, at the messenger.
"The purpose is political, of course, everybody knows that. It is to increase the number of Democrats that will be available to that party to turn into voters. The idea that this is somehow going to help Republicans is crazy," he said. "I'd love to be at this table, right, when you have [Sen. Chuck] Schumer and [Sen. Bob] Menendez saying, 'You know what you guys, we've got this great bill, and it's going to help you win a presidential election.'"
"Who believes this shit? Who in the world falls for this? So the question is, why are you doing this? You can't be that stupid. I don't believe [Sen. Marco] Rubio is naive. So if you're not naive, what is it? Duplicitous? For what purpose? Maybe you feel you have a niche that you're going to try to get in for a presidential campaign," he added. "The idea that they're doing anything that would benefit Republicans in the long run is ludicrous. Hispanics vote for Democrats for exactly the same reason that other people vote for Democrats: They want ObamaPhones! They want big government! It's got nothing to do with immigration!"
Tancredo is making his second bid to win the governor's mansion in Colorado, the state he represented in Congress for five terms. But he's keeping his eye on the immigration fight in Washington; Tancredo said he had spoken several times with Rep. Steve King, a longtime ally who is leading the House opposition to an immigration reform bill.
During the interview, in which he laid out his case against Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, Tancredo said he would maintain his focus on immigration while talking up the importance of education. And while Democrats will attempt to pillory him as an anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic zealot, Tancredo says he's ready to push back.
"The first thing you have to do is to disabuse people of the notion that your position on immigration has anything to do with race or ethnicity. It doesn't, it never has. They can search every word I have ever uttered on this subject, and there are a lot. Anything I've ever written, and there's tons," he said. "I don't have a Paula Deen moment out there."
headstamp 2 “Where is this national push?”
“From the OBL corporatists clamoring for cheap labor and the Democrat constituency lobby trying to finally drive a stake through the heart of the middle class.”
“You never let a serious crisis go to waste.
And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” - Rahm Emanuel
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers.
We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964)
:)
As I read all of these articles, watch all the shows and listen to all the talk radio, there are some realities that most American’s refuse to accept or acknowledge, especially with this immigration bill.
The decisions are being made by people who will not be effected by any of it. Not one of them will ever have to compete with any of these newly minted citizens for a job, that is until they start running for office.
68 Senators showed that they could care less what the Border Patrol, the guys getting dirty doing the work, have to say.
Just take a look at those sellouts Rubio and Ryan, not going to bother bringing that sissy Graham in this. I don’t know their whole histories. Don’t care to, especially now as they turned their back on the people that have put them where they are. But, I’d be willing to bet that neither has ever seen the reality, on the street or in the desert, of these insane policies. Sure, they see financial spreadsheets, good for them. But, have them put on a vest, gun and get in car and work in the areas that are the most affected by this crap. Send them the check when an illegal goes to the ER and gets FREE medical care.
People dismiss guys like Arpaio. He and his deputies see it all, firsthand. 9 of LAPD’s, 10 most wanted are hispanic. Duuuuuuhhhhhhh!!!!!! Have Rubio and Ryan put on some raid gear, pick up rifle and go served the warrants on these guys and let them see what its really like. Not some super secure, tour thru a shitty neighborhood.
They all suck.
They all suck.
LOL!!! Amen!
Come on, they need to pass an amnesty bill so that all the 11 million illegals (more like 50 million+ **not sarc**) here can come out the shadows. **sarc**
You know, these same 11 million illegals who are in the shadows raping every social program out there.
Very well said.
May everyone who votes for this, become a victim of a home invasion at the hands of their illegal “friends.”
Yeah, those phantoms always know how to snag up the freebies, that’s for sure!
Exactly!
BTT!
Better yet, have their loved ones splattered by an illegal alien drunk driver.
That’ll work, too.
Who is Tancredo?
/s
Tancredo has good ideas, but the people of CO nor the people of the USA give a hoot about what he says. They are determined to go down the abyss.
Tancredo is exactly right.
This man cares about America
No bill must come out of the House. call Congress.
It is my admonition to conservatives that they pass nothing in the House ,including immigration or debt ceiling unless and until obama approves the keystone pipeline and ditched this unconstitutional war on coal. But Tancredo is right on “boo hoo” Boehner’s tricks. It’s all set up. No bills at all on immigration. Don’t send anything to conference. Tell your Congressman you are on to this obfuscation.
Yeah. Like King Tut.
No, Colorado got rolled by a political machine manufactured with George Soros's money and a bunch of NGO zealots' time and energy.
Colorado is a conservative state, but for a long time the Denver media kept delivering the state 'Rat operators to statewide office (Gary Hart, for instance, and various New Mobe mobmeisters in the 70's).
Once Tancredo and other conservatives got organized, Soros went to work and ran his plan to "flip" Colorado from Republican back to Democrat again. Tancredo is trying to rectify that situation, but he'll be fighting Team Obama vote fraud to do it.
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