Tea Party Leader Labels Immigration Bill ‘Obamacare Redux’

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

BENJY SARLIN MAY 2, 2013, 1:47 PM

Going into immigration reform, supporters knew that the biggest obstacle to passage would be on the right and planned their entire strategy around minimizing the inevitable backlash. Now as conservative voices grow louder in opposition to the newly released Senate bill, their plan is being put to the test.

On Wednesday, Tea Party Patriots’ co-founder Jenny Beth Martin penned an op-ed on Breitbart.com decrying the immigration bill as “Obamacare Redux.” Her objections were primarily process based — the bill was too long and shouldn’t have been negotiated by a small group of senators.

“This is not about amnesty,” she wrote. “It is not about illegals. It is about how government has gone off the rails. Just like Obamacare that was negotiated behind closed doors, any legislation cooked up in a secretive gang-like attitude among D.C. politicians is not the kind of system the forefathers had in mind.”

Grassroots conservative, who were important players in the 2010 Republican takeover of the House, have kept relatively quiet about the bill so far. Martin even praised Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) last month for his speech supporting far-reaching immigration reform, saying they were “aligned” on the issue.

full article at link


Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/05/tea-party-leader-labels-immigration-bill-obamacare-redux.php?ref=fpb

[librechik]

1. ...in that it is one more thing they will reject without reading

[pampango]

2. Oh, the horror! Federal legislation 'cooked up' by national legislators.

"... the Heritage Foundation ... will work to rebut reports that immigration reform will reduce the deficit and spur economic growth."

"... these moves clearly demonstrate the reform movement’s expectation that they’ll face a substantial pushback from the right, they’re only now starting to face their first real battle. And leaders in the Republican-led House, which has been slower to move on immigration reform, are surely watching closely as they decide how far they’re willing to go to pass a bill."

Looks like some republican senators are starting to get cold feet now that the far-right (the Heritage Foundation, National Review, Center for Immigration Studies and the tea party base) is getting fired up. Last November's debacle for the republicans is fading from memory.

While good national policy may once again suffer at the hands of republican hyper-partisanship, it seems they are once again falling into that "everyone in the conservative echo chamber seems to agree so the country at large must feel the same way" syndrome that they thought they could emerge from.