Posted on 03/26/2015 5:06:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Wall Street Journal’s Reid Epstein is up with a report that, if true — and it is well sourced — will prove very troubling for Scott Walker on the campaign trail. Epstein writes that Walker “told a private dinner of New Hampshire Republicans this month that he backed the idea of allowing undocumented immigrants to stay in the country and to eventually become eligible for citizenship.” That conflicts with statements the governor made as recently as three weeks ago that, in a reversal of his previously held position, he no longer supports comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship.
The report comes as Walker is working to position himself as the strongest conservative alternative to Jeb Bush, whose vulnerabilities with the Republican base include his support for comprehensive immigration reform, though not a path to citizenship, as well as to Florida senator Marco Rubio, who led the fight for the Gang of Eight bill in the Senate, but has since said he favors a border security-first approach to reform. Viewed in that light, the revelation about his remarks in New Hampshire may threaten to jeopardize his standing with the party’s rank-and-file-voters, among whom he has engendered tremendous goodwill since standing down public-sector unions and surviving a recall election in Wisconsin.
Walker spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski denied the Journal’s account. “We strongly dispute this account,” she said in a statement. “Governor Walker has been very clear that he does not support amnesty and believes that border security must be established and the rule of law must be followed. His position has not changed, he does not support citizenship for illegal immigrants, and this story line is false.”
After reports of his past support for a path to citizenship emerged in early February, Walker said that his view had changed. “I’m flat out saying it. Candidates can say that,” Walker told Fox News’s Chris Wallace, adding that “we need to secure the border” before ultimately moving toward a system of “legal immigration that works.”
Walker signed resolutions as Milwaukee County executive in 2001 and again in 2006 in support of comprehensive immigration reform, but said the Obama presidency and, in particular, the president’s lawlessness, had changed his view. That shift followed reporting, including here at National Review, on the Milwaukee County resolutions, which was at the time hotly contested by the Walker campaign, which said that the governor’s support for a path to citizenship was distinct from any support for amnesty.
Epstein says three separate sources present at a dinner in New Hampshire, where Walker allegedly made the remarks, confirmed his account. They also said Walker mocked Mitt Romney’s statement during the 2012 campaign that illegal immigrants should “self-deport.”
Because they have relatives and close friends of mexican origin. GWB suffered from this and apparently so does Walker.
The weird thing is if they came here legally the ones that come through the system legally ought to feel insulted their friend/relative wants to grant amnesty to folks who ignored the system and came here illegally.
I think many are making too much of some of the past comments of Walker and not really thinking it through - who out there, in politics, has called for a mass deportation?
I love what Cruz says. I just don’t like what Cruz does and that is hardly anything. Sometimes Walker says somethings that we might not agree with, but what he does is absolutely incredible and the most conservative of all candidates. Crus is probably the best speaker of the group but not the most accomplished with regards to getting things done like Walker. That is the difference. Both are fine but we need a doer this time. The policy guy is fine when we are a strong America but when the crap hits the fan as it has, we need a hard worker and that is Walker.
No, I don’t like Walker because he is not a Conservative. His support for the Chamber of Amnesty will end up hurting my paycheck, my ability to put food on the table for my family. Ted Cruz is a Conservative. He will remove the illegal invaders threatening my job security.
Well, in all honesty, I still don’t think it matters who gets elected. It’s going to take far more than a person to fix what has happened over the last 100 years.
Rand Paul's immigration speech...The Republican Party must embrace more legal immigration.[Posted on 03/19/2013 7:04:07 AM PDT by Perdogg]
Unfortunately, like many of the major debates in Washington, immigration has become a stalemate-where both sides are imprisoned by their own rhetoric or attachment to sacred cows that prevent the possibility of a balanced solution.
Immigration Reform will not occur until Conservative Republicans, like myself, become part of the solution. I am here today to begin that conversation.
Let's start that conversation by acknowledging we aren't going to deport 12 million illegal immigrants.
If you wish to work, if you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you...
This is where prudence, compassion and thrift all point us toward the same goal: bringing these workers out of the shadows and into being taxpaying members of society.
Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers.12 million more people assimilating into society. 12 million more people being productive contributors.
Rand Paul calls on conservatives to embrace immigration reformLatinos, should be a natural constituency for the party, Paul argued, but "Republicans have pushed them away with harsh rhetoric over immigration." ...he would create a bipartisan panel to determine how many visas should be granted for workers already in the United States and those who might follow... [and the buried lead] "Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers...[Posted on 04/21/2013 1:52:42 PM PDT by SoConPubbie]
[but he's not in favor of amnesty, snicker, definition of is is]
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