Immigration

Trump/King 2016

  Reading a transcript of Donald Trump's announcement speech or listening to him double-down on his immigration positions, you would…

What To Expect At The Western Conservative Summit

The long road to the Republican nomination is winding through America’s highest-profile home for Illuminati and Reptoids this week with Scott Walker, Rick Perry, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee and more attending the Western Conservative Summit.  Here’s what to expect from this weekend’s cattle call:

1. The New GOP Litmus Test:  Gay Marriage

The Western Conservative Summit made news earlier this year when they barred the Log Cabin Republicans from attending their conference, but their backwards attitude towards the LGBT community won’t stop there.  Summit Gala headliner Scott Walker has already doubled down on his call for a constitutional amendment, and panelist Tony Perkins went on an epic Twitter rant Friday, calling the ruling a “shocking abuse of power” and promising it would “supercharge” opposition to gay marriage.  Don’t take Perkins’ word for it: Rick Santorum didn’t even wait for his speech to begin teeing off, telling Denver radio station KNUS that the ruling was the court’s attempt to be “trendy” with marriage equality and would lead to polygamy.

Somewhere, Whit Ayres Is Scratching His Head

Here's the premise, laid-down by Republican pollster Whit Ayres: the GOP presidential nominee will need to take at least 45% of the Latino vote to win the White House in 2016. That's a tall order, considering Mitt Romney won just 27% of this voting bloc in 2012 and John McCain did just slightly better in 2008, winning 31%. So naturally the Republican Party has studied why they've done poorly with Hispanics in presidential elections, most recently in a postmortem after the 2012 election. "We must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. If we do not, our Party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only," wrote the authors of the report from the RNC. "If Hispanic Americans hear that the GOP doesn’t want them in the United States, they won’t pay attention to our next sentence. It doesn't matter what we say about education, jobs or the economy.

WaPo: Scott Waffler's "stances on immigration issues have moved back and forth"

Walker's stances on immigration issues have moved back and forth in recent weeks -- moves labeled a subtle evolution by his supporters and flip-flopping by detractors. The shifts underscore how the Wisconsin governor is still solidifying his views on national policy issues, while also trying to please a wide range of Republicans who often don't agree on issues such as immigration. Two years ago, Walker said that it "makes sense" to grant citizenship to some of the millions of undocumented workers already in the country. By earlier this year, his position had changed, with Walker saying in March: "I don't believe in amnesty" for those in the country illegally.

MEMO: What To Expect In Nashua

TO: Interested Parties FROM: Brad Woodhouse, President, American Bridge 21^st Century RE: What to Expect in Nashua DATE: April 17, 2015 Republican presidential candidates are descending like a swarm of locusts on Nashua, New Hampshire, this weekend for the NHGOP’s First in the Nation Leadership Summit. With more than 20 candidate events scheduled in addition to Friday and Saturday’s speaking slots, American Bridge will be working overtime to document every word from targeted candidates and continue our work holding Republicans accountable for their extreme positions and words. Here’s what we’re expecting to hear.

VIDEO: El Sueño de Marco Rubio es una Pesadilla para los Hispanos

Marco Rubio's "New American Century" is premised on his ability, as a young Latino legislator, to expand the shrinking GOP electorate. But 15 years in, this country and its Hispanic community have clearly left Rubio behind. As American Bridge highlighted on Monday, Rubio is stuck between a rock and a hard place with two constituencies he needs to win: Latinos and Tea Party conservatives. And as only a pandering politician like Rubio could, he's somehow managed to alienate them both.

No one is happy with Marco Rubio on immigration

Marco Rubio's first day as an official candidate didn't go very well. He's facing heated criticism for backtracking on his immigration reform bill after tying his political fortune to its success. Rubio is stuck between a rock and a hard place with two constituencies he needs to support him: Latinos and tea party conservatives. Tea Partiers are unhappy with Rubio's key role in immigration reform and will never forgive him. At the same time, four out of five Latino voters oppose Rubio's immigration stance, as American Bridge pointed out this weekend, and they're feeling abandoned by the senator. Mark Murray from NBC has it right: Immigration is "toxic" for the Rubio campaign. This is one issue that isn't going away.

Jeb's Fox Problem

Add another one to the list -- first it was Jeb Bush's high expectation problem, then his talk radio problem,…

MEMO: Scott Walker Refusing to Answer Questions after Doubling Down on Extreme Positions

As Scott Walker gets closer and closer to announcing his run for president, he’s doubling down on extreme positions that are taking him closer and closer to the right wing conservative base. On top of that, he’s avoiding answering press questions on these positions because he only wants to talk about them to extreme audiences who share his views. In just the past couple weeks, he avoided answering press questions at CPAC in late February, after a speech to the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce last week, at the Iowa Ag Summit this past weekend, and after signing his disastrous right-to-work bill in Wisconsin yesterday. Since Scott Walker won’t talk about his positions, we’re happy to fill the void. Here’s what Walker has been up to lately:

• He insulted working families across the country when he compared union protesters to ISIS terrorists;
• He’s falsely claimed that President Reagan firing air traffic controllers made the Soviet Union take him more seriously;
• He’s attacking working families again by pushing through new right-to-work legislation after promising he wouldn’t;

VIDEO: Watch Walker Compare Wisconsinites to ISIS

Governor Scott Walker, who has a record of ducking foreign policy questions, showed why today at CPAC.  When asked what his plan was to deal with ISIS, Walker compared thousands of middle class constituents protesting his destructive policies to ISIS.  Watch the stunning video here: