The Man Who Helped Keep Harry Reid Majority Leader Now Wants to Take Down Immigration Reform Along with GOP Presidential Prospects
Washington, DC – New polling from the New York Times/CBS News finds that “83 percent of respondents said they supported a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants already in the country illegally, as long as certain requirements — like paying fines and back taxes, passing a criminal-background check and learning English — were met.” Only 14 percent of respondents expressed opposition to this concept, which matches the provisions of congressional immigration reform legislation.
Former Senator and current Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint (R-SC) appears intent to speak for this 14% of Americans, as his recent media appearances demonstrate. DeMint, the man whose past leadership PAC and support helped bring you such Senate candidates as Todd Akin (R-MO), Sharron Angle (R-NV), Ken Buck (R-CO), and Christine O’Donnell (R-DE), is trying to derail the momentum and broad support behind immigration reform, no matter the consequences for his Republican Party.
By backing many extreme, far right candidates who proved unpopular with the general electorate, DeMint was a major reason the Republicans lost a series of winnable Senate races and Democrats maintained the majority in the U.S. Senate. Now, by backing extreme, far right positions on immigration that are unpopular with the general electorate, DeMint again seems intent on undermining the GOP’s White House prospects by opposing an approach to reform championed by leading contenders such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jeb Bush and embraced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, “DeMint’s entry into the immigration fray is bad news for Republicans trying to modernize the Party and improve its electoral competitiveness, and good news for Democrats looking to keep the White House for the foreseeable future.”
Follow Frank Sharry and America’s Voice on twitter @FrankSharry and @AmericasVoice.
America’s Voice – Harnessing the power of American voices and American values to win common sense immigration reform
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