Saturday, April 20, 2013

GOP Ties Immigration Reform Bill to Boston Terrorists


The ugliness and bigotry of today's Republican Party seems to truly know no limits as GOP elected officials leap at opportunities to pander to the racism and downright nastiness of the GOP base in the wake of the tragedies in Boston this week.  Not only do prominent Republicans want to suspend legal protections afforded to every American citizen, but they also want to use the Boston nightmare as a rationale for turning back efforts at desperately needed immigration reform.  And behind it all is the fury of angry conservative Christian white males in particular who simply cannot deal with the loss of the special privileges and deference that they have enjoyed for so many years.  One of the assholes leading the anti-immigrant charge is Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a true douche bag if there ever was one in my opinion.  The Des Moines Register ahs details on Grassley's anti-immigrant rant.  Here are excerpts:

The Boston Marathon bombings cast a shadow Friday over the start of debate on sweeping legislation to remake the U.S. immigration system, as some Republicans argued that the role of two immigrant suspects raised questions about gaps in the system.

Once officials learn the immigration history of the suspected marathon terrorists, that information will help figure out how to reform the system, Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Friday.

“While we don’t yet know the immigration status of people who have terrorized the communities in Massachusetts, when we find out, it will help shed light on the weaknesses of our system,” Grassley said during the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Friday morning on the so-called Gang of Eight’s immigration reform bill.

How can individuals evade authority and plan such attacks on our soil?” said Grassley, the top Republican on the committee. “How can we beef up security checks on those who wish to enter the United States? How do we ensure that people who wish to do us harm are not eligible for benefits under the immigration laws, including this new bill before us?”

Others went further.

“It’s too bad Suspect No. 1 won’t be able to be legalized by Marco Rubio, now,” conservative commentator Ann Coulter wrote on her Twitter account, referring to the suspect killed in the shootout. Rubio, a Florida Republican, is one of the main Senate authors of the legislation.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Ia., said Congress should be cautious about reforming immigration policies right now. King said the focus should be national security, not a path to legalization for immigrants who came to the country illegally.

 There's more, but the main point to take away is that if one isn't a racist, an jingoistic nationalist, a far right Christianist religious extremist or a homophobe, you really do not have a place in today's GOP.  And as for fiscal conservatism, the GOP lost all credibility on the issue when Chimoerator Bush and Emperor Palpatine Cheney took America to war in unfunded operation (in Afghanistan and Iraq) based on lies and untruths after first enacting massive tax cuts to the wealthy.  Half of the current national debt tracks directly to failed GOP policies.


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