It's pretty hilarious watching the major presidential candidates scurry away from Ted Kennedy and John McCain's immigration compromise with the president. The vibe I'm getting online is that McCain is finished, as far as the right is concerned, and Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter are looking like aging rock stars -- beloved by the masses but with no shot at getting to number one. Mitt Romney has flopped himself onto the politically "right" side regarding the bill (surprise, surprise) and Giuliani is very quietly for it. As for the Dems?
Hil hasn't read it ...
Obama's carefully studying it ...
Edwards is somewhat troubled ...
Richardson hasn't said...
You get the picture. Nobody with any political ambition beyond their current job wants to touch this.
As for other elected Dems: so far, they're cool to the proposal. Maybe they're just wary of doing anything further with the president.
More on the candidates conundrum from MSNBC's First Thoughts.
Meanwhile: Fred Thompson is running for president. How do I know? Because like Hillary in the first debate regarding how to respond to a terror attack, he nailed the answer on the immigration compromise, as far as the GOP base is concerned:
“We should scrap this bill and the whole debate until we can convince the American people that we have secured the borders or at least have made great headway.” Ding!
On the other end of the scale, here's Rudy:
"Rudy's top priority and main objective is to ensure our borders are secure and to stop potential terrorists and criminals from coming in. The recent Fort Dix plot is a stark reminder that the threat of terrorism has made immigration an important matter of national security. We need to know who is coming in and who is going out of this country if we are going to deal with those who are here illegally.”
Well there you go.
Labels: Bush administration, Democrats, Fred Thompson, GOP, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani |
