History suggests Republicans should be in decent shape for the 2014 mid-term elections. The country likely will be entering the sixth year of an anemic Obama ”recovery” (and even a sycophantic media is finally beginning to tire, if ever so slightly, of the refrain, ”It’s Bush’s fault”).The labor force participation rate shows no signs of improving any time soon. The same is true for household incomes. And Americans will finally begin experiencing the myriad delights of Obamacare. History teaches that voters will punish the party perceived to be responsible for the mess.
Yet Republicans appear intent on committing random acts of political suicide by doing things that seem calculated to either dispirit or alienate the base. How else to explain reports over the last few days that House Republicans may soon vote on a series of “small” immigration-reform bills to address, among other things, the status of the estimated eleven million illegal aliens in the country? The bills may then go to conference with the Senate, which has already passed a “comprehensive” immigration-reform bill, the chief feature of which is amnesty.
Does any sentient being having any doubt about what’s likely to emerge from that conference?
Not one poll conducted over the last year shows immigration reform placing in the top five of chief voter concerns. Indeed, you’d have to search far and wide to find a poll in which immigration reform even places in the top ten. On the other hand, there are polls aplenty showing overwhelming conservative opposition to any bill that remotely resembles amnesty.
The passage of “small, “targeted”, or “specific” immigration-reform measures isn’t fooling anyone. Conservatives long ago sniffed out the euphemisms and parliamentary maneuvers politicians employ to disguise their indefatigable attempts to pass amnesty.
Nonetheless, some Republicans are urgently intent on committing a huge unforced error. Democrats must be rubbing their hands with glee.