Cigar
10-29-2013, 12:18 PM
Immigration reform's failure didn't just sink Rubio's political ambitions, it sank the idea of a multicultural GOP
Now and again, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., must ask himself whether the GOP’s promiscuous flirtation with comprehensive immigration reform was part of an elaborate plan to trick him into sabotaging his own chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.
After last year’s election, top GOP leaders including the speaker of the House and the chairman of the Republican National Committee were crystal clear that the party’s big adjustment would be to broaden its appeal to Latino voters by embracing immigration reform. Rubio took them at their word, and as part of an implicit quid pro quo offered to make himself the face of the party’s new commitment. He would lend the effort his ethnic heritage and conservative bona fides. In return, they wouldn’t hang him out to dry. He’d help them neutralize immigration reform as a flashpoint issue on the right, they’d give him a legacy issue lasting enough to carry him to the presidency.
That oversimplifies things a bit, but it underscores the fact that Rubio’s incentives were shaped in part by a belief that the party’s interest in the project wasn’t fleeting or feigned.
But shortly after Rubio helped marshal a comprehensive, bipartisan bill through the Senate, John Boehner effectively handed the entire House agenda to the Tea Party, and in so doing torpedoed the reform consensus, including the Senate’s legislation, altogether.
full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/29/rubios_immigration_defeat_a_huge_victory_for_gops_ whites_only_coalition/
:applause:
Now and again, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., must ask himself whether the GOP’s promiscuous flirtation with comprehensive immigration reform was part of an elaborate plan to trick him into sabotaging his own chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.
After last year’s election, top GOP leaders including the speaker of the House and the chairman of the Republican National Committee were crystal clear that the party’s big adjustment would be to broaden its appeal to Latino voters by embracing immigration reform. Rubio took them at their word, and as part of an implicit quid pro quo offered to make himself the face of the party’s new commitment. He would lend the effort his ethnic heritage and conservative bona fides. In return, they wouldn’t hang him out to dry. He’d help them neutralize immigration reform as a flashpoint issue on the right, they’d give him a legacy issue lasting enough to carry him to the presidency.
That oversimplifies things a bit, but it underscores the fact that Rubio’s incentives were shaped in part by a belief that the party’s interest in the project wasn’t fleeting or feigned.
But shortly after Rubio helped marshal a comprehensive, bipartisan bill through the Senate, John Boehner effectively handed the entire House agenda to the Tea Party, and in so doing torpedoed the reform consensus, including the Senate’s legislation, altogether.
full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/29/rubios_immigration_defeat_a_huge_victory_for_gops_ whites_only_coalition/
:applause: