OOPS! Boehner Just Screwed The GOP And Helped Hillary At The Same Time

[kpete]

At the start of 2013, I really thought immigration reform was going to happen. Unlike every Obama-supported initiative that Republicans had opposed, the cold political logic of cooperation was obvious: Republicans would alleviate their crippling weakness with Latino voters while Obama would gain a major policy accomplishment. The only real loser in the deal would be the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, who would lose a powerful issue, but Hillary Clinton was not going to be in the room when the deal was cut.

..............................

The GOP’s worst problem is that Obama’s unilateral relaxation of immigration enforcement will add a newer and more potent dimension to the immigration issue. No longer will Republicans merely have to promise to oppose reform legislation. They will have to promise to undo what Obama has done.

This is an important distinction. A campaign promise about legislation can be easily slipped, as a president can blame any failure to comply on Congress (often rightly). A promise about executive action cannot be so easily slipped. Interest groups have a way of forcing candidates to make specific, immediate promises of executive action.

And so Republicans may well find themselves in the position of watching their nominee pledging to prosecute or deport immigrant families or children pardoned or left alone by Obama. The only way their friends, neighbors, or relatives who happen to be legal citizens can spare them will be to vote for Clinton. It may have seemed that the Republicans’ standing with immigrant communities had sunk to a new low in 2012, but in 2016, things could actually get worse.

The rest:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/boehner-helps-hillary-kills-immigration-reform.html

[Mz Pip]

1. They just can't help themselves.

They have to keep their base engaged but it's at the cost of everyone else.

I hope this backfires but I have so little faith in the electorate. Young people and women need to vote this November. I just hope they are motivated enough to do so. If these recent SCOTUS rulings don't do it, nothing will.

[SwampG8r]

2. hillary will blow the edge by

claiming to have made tamales on the tarmac in belize while under sniperfire

[n2doc]

3. GOP is counting on voter suppression

They don't care about the hispanic vote, except for those who can be conned into voting for them (fetus worshippers, primarily). Gerrymandering and voter suppression is their way. They have won control of the majority of state legislatures and the House this way.

[MoonchildCA]

4. So, it's a done deal?

Clinton is our nominee?

[ieoeja]

5. Or they could vote for a much better candidate during the Democratic primary. n/t