Boehner Immigration Nonsense Falls Apart On The House Floor-- He Should Resign

This afternoon House Republicans decided to follow Ted Cruz, Steve King and Michele Bachmann down the racist rabbit hole and defeated their own leaders who were trying to pass a border supplemental bill that was terrible-- but not terrible enough for the extremists. The bill deports people, but not enough people for enough Republicans to back it. And even with scumbag Blue Dogs like Henry Cuellar pledging to help Boehner pass his bill, it wasn't enough. So, the Republican do-nothing Congress, is taking the month off so they can go back to their districts and tell the same lies Luke Messer spouted on MSNBC a few hours ago.

This morning one of the MSNBC pundits interviewed Messer, an extreme right wing crackpot from IN-06 (Muncie), a blood red district with a PVI of R+12. Obama scored 37% in Messer's backward district in 2012. Last year, the Democratic freshmen elected sharp-witted progressive Matt Cartwright freshman class president; the Republicans puked up Messer. Today's topic was immigration reform-- except that wasn't the discussion. The discussion was a pathetic basket of GOP electoral talking points about how the House passes wonderful bipartisan bills to solve all problems and how the Senate kills them. The moron pundit-- a fine Beltway fellow-- didn't correct him or even mention the truly bipartisan Senate bill which passed the Senate on June 26, 2013, 68-30.

That was a bipartisan bill, backed by every Democrat and the following 14 conservative Republicans:

• Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
• Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
• Jeffrey Chiesa (R-NJ)
• Susan Collins (R-ME)
• Bob Corker (R-TN)
• Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
• Lindsay Graham (R-SC)
• Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
• Dean Heller (R-NV)
• John Hoeven (R-ND)
• Mark Kirk (R-IL)
• John McCain (R-AZ)
• Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
• Marco Rubio (R-FL)

When GOP propaganda wind-up dolls like Messer talk about bipartisan bills the House passes against reform, he's talking about all the Republicans + a handful of racist Blue Dogs who don't even belong in the Democratic Party at all (but who fellow Blue Dog Steve Israel funnels immense sums of DCCC money to to buy them their reelections). Remember when the Democrats were trying to get the Senate bill voted on in the House? All Democratic House Members-- except 9 of the most repulsive Blue Dog racists and bigots from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party (like John Barrow, Jim Matheson and Dan Lipinski)-- signed the discharge petition that would have forced Boehner and Cantor to allow an open up or down vote on the Senate legislation. That's Messer's idea of bipartisan-- a Republican dominated by the GOP's dominant KKK/Tea Party wing + a mangey gaggle of pathetic Blue Dogs. Hoyer's office had said they expected "around" 10 Blue Dogs to cross the aisle and voted with the Republicans.

After Boehner had the bill pulled, the House GOP leaders issued the statement just above. While you think about it, keep in mind that almost 70% of Americans see the children on the border as legitimate refugees rather than immigrants.

A majority (69%) of Americans say that children arriving from Central America should be treated as refugees and allowed to stay in the U.S. if authorities determine it is not safe for them to return to their home countries. In contrast, 27% say that children arriving from Central America should be treated as illegal immigrants and deported back to their home countries.

• Majorities of Democrats (83%) independents (66%), and Republicans (52%) believe these children should be treated as refugees, but Republicans are more divided; 42% of Republicans believe they should be treated as illegal immigrants.

When asked how the U.S. should respond, 7-in-10 (70%) Americans say the U.S. should offer shelter and support to children coming from Central America while beginning a process to determine whether they should be deported or allowed to stay. However, more than 1-in-4 (26%) Americans believe these children should be deported immediately back to their home country.

• Majorities of Democrats (80%), independents (69%), and Republicans (57%) favor offering support to unaccompanied children while a process to review their cases gets underway. However, nearly 4-in-10 (39%) Republicans favor deporting these children immediately back to their home countries.

• Majorities of all major religious groups-- including white evangelical Protestants (56%), white mainline Protestants (67%), minority Protestants (74%), Catholics (75%), and the religiously unaffiliated (75%)-- prefer that the government offer these children shelter and support while their cases are being decided.

• More than 8-in-10 (82%) young adults (age 18 to 29) say the U.S. should offer support to these children while beginning a process to review their cases. In contrast, seniors (age 65+) are divided over whether they should be deported immediately (45%) or allowed do stay while their cases are being reviewed (50%).

Approximately 7-in-10 (71%) Americans agree with the general principle of offering refuge and protection to those who come to the U.S. fleeing serious danger in their home countries.

The confused situation got even more confusing because the confused (drunken?) Speaker told Obama to go fix the border problem himself with executive action-- a day after the Republicans voted to sue him for… executive action. These people are insane and incapable of participating in democratic government. As the White House said today, "In the face of Congressional inaction, the Administration’s use of Deferred Action for DREAMers in 2012, which has benefitted more than 500,000 young people who are Americans in every way except on paper, is the most significant progress we have made toward immigration reform in years. By failing to act on an immigration reform bill that requires that people who are here illegally pay taxes, undergo background checks and get on the right side of the law, the House is instead driving an approach that is about rounding up and deporting 11 million people, separating families, and undermining DHS’ ability to secure the border."

Normalish Republicans were aghast that Boehner was unable to beat Cruz and his nutcase allies at that game today. Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers of Kentucky begged some of the extremists in the Republican Caucus: "It can't wait, it's a humanitarian crisis. This bill is an urgently needed bill." Not to them, apparently. Devin Nunes, a Boehner ally from California's Central Valley told Fox News' Chad Pergram that " We weren't that close or we would have rolled the dice." He explained Cruz's interference this way: "It wasn't helpful. We've seen this game before."

So they all rushed off to the airport. Until… they got called back for an up or down vote to just make it so that Boehner wouldn't be a complete laughing stock even Inside the Beltway. Even Rick Perry-- new hipster glasses and all-- was beating up on the House Republicans! Boehner was reduced to threatening his caucus that he would keep them in session until they passed a bill. They'll meet again in the morning.