The Daily Caller
by Mickey Kaus
January 28, 2013

Sometimes a political con is just too transparent to fly: Remember the idea that Mitt Romney had defused the venerable Medicare issue in Florida because Obama had squeezed some money out of the program (money that Romney would inevitably have to squeeze himself)? Right. I suspect the con at the heart of what seems to be the immigration proposal from the Senate “Gang of 8“–seven veteran amnesty supporters plus Marco Rubio–will prove equally unworkable

(excerpted)
http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/28/the-ru.../#ixzz2Jwi5EGXZ

I don't know, I like Rubio very much - he should be the fresh new face poster boy for the Republican Party and who better to bring up that nasty immigration issue than Rubio. His story of how his parents came here and how hard they worked for the American dream, how much they LOVE America is so inspiring.

I'm tired of inspiration. What I want is ethics and an adherence to the Constitution.

In my view nothing should be done about immigration reform and pathways to citizenship unless and until the border is secured.

Mr. Kaus pretty much sums up this mess, and his use of the word "Con" in the title is accurate. Whether one loves Marco or hates him, he is just a mere bit player in this entire charade. There hasn't been any level of serious border security enforcement in the US since the middle of the last century. And there is not enough political will left in this country to counter the will of the monied and powerful interests that simply wish to have open borders to suit their (diverse) whims and wants. We will not get enforcement of border security and our existing laws ever again, nor will we have a regime in Washington that will do anything but further smooth the way for more mass immigration from the 3rd world by using every means available (Constitutional or not!) at their disposal. We will be minting new "citizens" by the millions each year from now on.

The tide has long since rolled out on any chances that Republicans are going to successfully garner votes from any members of this segment of our society whether or not they were born here or elsewhere. (Not that one should assume that "Republicans" as a party are any longer worthy of votes from anyone.) Our society has been fully corrupted to the point where there are far too many lost souls that have completely wandered away from embracing the role of an honest and upright citizen that was required for this Constitutional Republic to operate successfully. They are gone, and they will not return in great enough numbers to make a difference.

We've passed the tipping point in terms of a reasonable person having any realistic expectation that any elections of substance are going to make a hill of beans difference. The elections of 2014, 2016, and beyond are not going to make a damn difference. The "Republican" brand is a rapidly dying trademark that has devolved to represent quisling traitors that have been willing to sell off their political souls for the promises of relevancy, admiration, and personal enrichment. (Sure there are more than a small handful of politicians using the Republican label still out there that are stark exceptions to this fact. I can think of at least 3-5 women and men in each house of Congress that are far from encompassed in that blistering condemnation. And I'm sure that there are countless numbers of them at the state and local levels.)

You may disagree but I have no reasonable expectation that any of these people are ever going to garner sufficient support at any level to be able to rise to positions of power and influence in the time remaining to be able to make a difference. Sure a new Constitution-based 3rd party would be a welcome presence on the national level, and perhaps over time they could rally the tens of millions of patriotic citizens that remain firmly planted in almost ever corner of this country. But time is running short, and their elective success is contingent on fair and open elections. Many of us no longer believe that we have that construct available at this point in time. But let's suppose that we still do (just for argument's sake), that still leaves the gaping void of collecting enough dollars and influence to get these candidates to the ballots. Does anyone really see that happening any time soon?

N.B. Yes, it is Monday morning and I have firmly crashed from my Super Bowl-sized helping of "bread and circuses" high. So you must forgive my glum and cloudy forecast! As is always my hope, I terribly want to be proven wrong on all of this!

I understand that, and I agree - thing is there are already laws out there to enforce the border, no one does anything about them. I don't understand that the American people seem to be okay with illegals coming to this country - only half of us or less are really upset about this issue.

I did hear Rubio talking about this issue on tv and of course, in was to go along with increased border security (haha). "but it gives them a path to citizenship" and I told my honey "they have a path to citizenship already! The same path every other legal immigrant takes" but I have come to the conclusion someone has to give or we may not win any more elections (boy I'm gonna hear it about that aren't I? :) )

FP123 - I fashioned by response to Palinista before you posted (I'm at work so didn't get posted till after yours) but you're so right. This poor Country is so far gone on legal immigration, we may never get it back and that's why I said we're going to have to give. I hate to say it, I was one of the biggest advocates for border security but it's never going to happen and we have to start winning elections while we wait for the country to get back on the right path.

Quote: ozarkian wrote in post #5

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I understand that, and I agree - thing is there are already laws out there to enforce the border, no one does anything about them. I don't understand that the American people seem to be okay with illegals coming to this country - only half of us or less are really upset about this issue.

I did hear Rubio talking about this issue on tv and of course, in was to go along with increased border security (haha). "but it gives them a path to citizenship" and I told my honey "they have a path to citizenship already! The same path every other legal immigrant takes" but I have come to the conclusion someone has to give or we may not win any more elections (boy I'm gonna hear it about that aren't I? :) )

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Quote: ozarkian wrote in post #5

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I understand that, and I agree - thing is there are already laws out there to enforce the border, no one does anything about them. I don't understand that the American people seem to be okay with illegals coming to this country - only half of us or less are really upset about this issue.

I did hear Rubio talking about this issue on tv and of course, in was to go along with increased border security (haha). "but it gives them a path to citizenship" and I told my honey "they have a path to citizenship already! The same path every other legal immigrant takes" but I have come to the conclusion someone has to give or we may not win any more elections (boy I'm gonna hear it about that aren't I? :) )

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Quote: ozarkian wrote in post #6

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FP123 - I fashioned by response to Palinista before you posted (I'm at work so didn't get posted till after yours) but you're so right. This poor Country is so far gone on legal immigration, we may never get it back and that's why I said we're going to have to give. I hate to say it, I was one of the biggest advocates for border security but it's never going to happen and we have to start winning elections while we wait for the country to get back on the right path.

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Palinista:

"In my own state Senator Chambliss is a good example of this. He says one thing to the voters when he wants their votes. Later he modifies his position in a go-along-to-get-along manner that leaves me wondering what happened for the man I voted for."

Surely you are aware (I'm being tongue in cheek) that every Senator does that? They lose all sense of morality when they are thrown into the den of iniquity (that's what I always call DC) - even some of the tea party members did that - that was a huge disappointment to me - by and large I think they stuck to their guns but you can't get anywhere in DC unless you play the game and it's a dirty game - no honest or decent person can survive.

Let's be honest here. Rubio is boosting his profile for a run in '16. What better way to get MSM ink than to be one of the "Gang of (add your number here)". When this falls apart or some lousy bill that Schumer wrote is signed, Rubio can feign outrage and rail against "Business as usual" in DC as he runs for POTUS.

Quote: ozarkian wrote in post #10

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Palinista:

"In my own state Senator Chambliss is a good example of this. He says one thing to the voters when he wants their votes. Later he modifies his position in a go-along-to-get-along manner that leaves me wondering what happened for the man I voted for."

Surely you are aware (I'm being tongue in cheek) that every Senator does that? They lose all sense of morality when they are thrown into the den of iniquity (that's what I always call DC) - even some of the tea party members did that - that was a huge disappointment to me - by and large I think they stuck to their guns but you can't get anywhere in DC unless you play the game and it's a dirty game - no honest or decent person can survive.

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Then the question is - who here thinks Rubio can win? Who here wants Rubio to win (me)

Quote: FP123 wrote in post #4

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Mr. Kaus pretty much sums up this mess, and his use of the word "Con" in the title is accurate. Whether one loves Marco or hates him, he is just a mere bit player in this entire charade. There hasn't been any level of serious border security enforcement in the US since the middle of the last century. And there is not enough political will left in this country to counter the will of the monied and powerful interests that simply wish to have open borders to suit their (diverse) whims and wants. We will not get enforcement of border security and our existing laws ever again, nor will we have a regime in Washington that will do anything but further smooth the way for more mass immigration from the 3rd world by using every means available (Constitutional or not!) at their disposal. We will be minting new "citizens" by the millions each year from now on.

The tide has long since rolled out on any chances that Republicans are going to successfully garner votes from any members of this segment of our society whether or not they were born here or elsewhere. (Not that one should assume that "Republicans" as a party are any longer worthy of votes from anyone.) Our society has been fully corrupted to the point where there are far too many lost souls that have completely wandered away from embracing the role of an honest and upright citizen that was required for this Constitutional Republic to operate successfully. They are gone, and they will not return in great enough numbers to make a difference.

We've passed the tipping point in terms of a reasonable person having any realistic expectation that any elections of substance are going to make a hill of beans difference. The elections of 2014, 2016, and beyond are not going to make a damn difference. The "Republican" brand is a rapidly dying trademark that has devolved to represent quisling traitors that have been willing to sell off their political souls for the promises of relevancy, admiration, and personal enrichment. (Sure there are more than a small handful of politicians using the Republican label still out there that are stark exceptions to this fact. I can think of at least 3-5 women and men in each house of Congress that are far from encompassed in that blistering condemnation. And I'm sure that there are countless numbers of them at the state and local levels.)

You may disagree but I have no reasonable expectation that any of these people are ever going to garner sufficient support at any level to be able to rise to positions of power and influence in the time remaining to be able to make a difference. Sure a new Constitution-based 3rd party would be a welcome presence on the national level, and perhaps over time they could rally the tens of millions of patriotic citizens that remain firmly planted in almost ever corner of this country. But time is running short, and their elective success is contingent on fair and open elections. Many of us no longer believe that we have that construct available at this point in time. But let's suppose that we still do (just for argument's sake), that still leaves the gaping void of collecting enough dollars and influence to get these candidates to the ballots. Does anyone really see that happening any time soon?

N.B. Yes, it is Monday morning and I have firmly crashed from my Super Bowl-sized helping of "bread and circuses" high. So you must forgive my glum and cloudy forecast! As is always my hope, I terribly want to be proven wrong on all of this!

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Quote: FP123 wrote in post #8

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. . .
I honestly don't know if "only half of us or less are really upset about this issue." I suspect that there is a large majority of citizens left in this country that don't agree with the open borders policy. But I don't believe that there are any honest and accurate polling mechanisms left to give us an accurate and truthful picture of anything. And I don't believe that the election results give us an accurate assessment either.

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