Conservative Wall Street Journal might ruffle Tea Party's feathers with DREAM Act endorsement

[pampango]

http://caivn.org/article/2010/11/30/conservative-wall-street-journal-might-ruffle-tea-partys-feathers-dream-act-endor

Just as Congress will probably vote on the DREAM Act as a stand alone bill, the editorial board of one of the nation's foremost conservative news publications has put forth an op-ed endorsing the measure. In doing so, it is ultimately taking a shot at hard line, anti-illegal immigrant Republicans who have been opposing recent efforts in full force, further revealing the internal rift within the Republican Party.

"Reactionists dismiss the Dream Act as an amnesty that rewards the people who entered the country illegally. But the bill targets individuals brought here by their parents as children. What is to be gained by holding otherwise law abiding young people, who had no say in coming to this country, responsible for the illegal actions of others? The Dream Act also makes legal status contingent on school achievement and military service, the type of behavior that ought to be encouraged and rewarded," the editorial stated in the meat of their argument.

While the argument was made that Republicans would benefit from backing an immigration reform bill, that very notion seems to be an inaccurate assessment of a solution to Republican woes with the pro-immigration reform supporters. If Republicans were to support an immigration bill such as the Dream Act when it comes up for a vote, not only would they suffer a blow from the base that got them into office, they would also likely gain little of the Hispanic vote. An immigration reform bill passed under the Pelosi-Reid alliance and signed under Obama would be seen as a victory under the Democratic Party's leadership.

However, that doesn't exclude Republicans from proposing a solution to the nation's immigration woes. Back when President Bush proposed his plan, it died in the senate by 14 votes due to Republican opposition and to Democratic opposition in Republican strongholds. If the Republicans want to be taken seriously on immigration reform and would like not to be seen as the cause of gridlock in DC, especially by Independents, then they must start from scratch to show their plan is better than the Dream Act. If they are seen as killing immigration reform under both Presidents Bush and Obama, then the anti-immigration stigma is here to stay.
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For once, thanks to the WSJ for highlighting the split between repub corporate politicians who largely accept the WSJ's position on issues and their "Reactionist" and tea party base.

[Ian David]

1. I'll send a copy of the article to Senator Treasure-Trail. n/t

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Tea Party has scales or warts, not feathers.

[TBF]

3. Yup, the old school of the party believes in cheap labor - they're not

going to make anyone leave. This will help Rubio when he's on the ticket (probably as VP to Jeb Bush or Mitt Romney). The hispanic vote can be very conservative (social issues), and that is the voting bloc they are targeting. They know exactly what they are doing with this.