There is a saying that America is always preparing to fight the last war. So it is with the conservative crusade against illegal immigration. After all, even as Tea Party Republicans demand draconian--and expensive-- new "border security" measures, apprehensions of the undocumented have plummeted to 40 year lows. And thanks to the slow U.S. economy […]

It is said that historical events occur twice, first as tragedy and then as farce. But when it comes to Republican presidential frontrunners and comprehensive immigration reform, the results appear to be all farce, all the time. After all, in 2008 a John McCain desperate to win over xenophobic Republican primary voters promised he would […]

During his tenure as a South Carolina Senator, Republican Jim Demint was a big supporter of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). In the fall of 2009, he cosponsored a bill requiring the budgetary impact of all legislation to be "scored" by the CBO at least 72 hours before its consideration on the Senate floor […]

After its shell-lacking in November, the Republican Party is now splitting in two over the issue of immigration reform. On one side are the cynical, convinced the GOP must change its stand not out of principle or basic humanity but simply because of, as John McCain put it, "elections, elections." But on the other side […]

The new bipartisan immigration framework announced by the "Gang of 8" brought some great news for Mitt Romney. After he lost the Hispanic vote by 44 points in 2012 (up from just 9 in 2004), Senate Republicans have apparently concluded you can have illegals, for Pete's sake. But at least for now, you shouldn't compare […]

While all eyes in the Beltway were focused on innocent dogs and stay-at-home moms, Republicans have been unveiling their strategy for the 2012 presidential race. President Obama, they claim, is responsible both for failed GOP policies and the unprecedented Republican obstructionism designed to prevent him from fixing them. The fall-out from the Bush recession, the […]

"We're going to be able to get Hispanic voters," Mitt Romney assured big-dollars donors this weekend, adding, "We're going to overcome the issue of immigration." How the Republican presidential nominee plans to do that is another matter. After all, John McCain captured only 31 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2008. A recent Pew Research […]

The Republican presidential contest is a lot like The Wizard of Oz: no brain, no heart and a whole lot of cowardly lyin'. And perhaps on no issue is the GOP's field's misguided cruelty and duplicity more profound than illegal immigration. After all, while Michele Bachmann wants to deport all 11 million current illegal aliens […]

In January, the new Hispanic Leadership Network is hosting a forum to showcase the 2012 Republican presidential field. But while the event is well funded by the conservative American Action Network, it is lacking for one thing: the GOP White House hopefuls themselves. If this slap in the face of America's fastest growing voting block […]

As she left office 10 months ago to earn $12 million, half-term Governor Sarah Palin declared, "It's all for Alaska." Now, joining Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in Phoenix t defend that state's draconian immigration law, Palin announced, "We're all Arizonans now." But while the latest roar from the Mama Grizzly is music to the ears […]