I’m going to go out on a limb and predict: Backlash.

Is it at all relevant, by the way, that the GOP’s number two in the Senate is now telling reporters that the party can’t win in 2016 if it doesn’t pass reform of some kind?

Zitat

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“We can win in 2014 without resolving it. We can’t win in 2016 without resolving it,” said Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and immigration-law expert Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, are writing the principles with Boehner…

Then, according to aides, the plan is to gauge public reaction. If House members are deluged with nothing but hate mail from their districts, Republicans might decide to do nothing but emphasize border security, perhaps even voting on the border bill produced last year. That’s at least until 2014 primary-election filings are over. (The biggest threat to Republicans on immigration is in the primaries anyway, strategists say. No one will lose in the general election because they are too soft on immigration.)

But if leadership’s principles receive some positive feedback, Goodlatte, Cantor, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., could advance legislation they have discussed for the last several months. As yet, there is no legislative language drafted, however. Cantor and Goodlatte have talked about a path to citizenship for undocumented “dreamers” who came to this country as kids. Even Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., is discussing some sort of “Dream Act.” Issa is mulling broader legalization for other unauthorized immigrants. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., is trying to gather support for a legalization plan that would allow undocumented immigrants to get green cards through normal channels, such as children or spouses.

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This is at least the second leak to a major media source about the forthcoming “principles” in the last week, even though they haven’t actually been written yet. If you want to know how little confidence you should have in this process, there’s your answer. How the grassroots might react to a new GOP initiative on immigration reform is more important to Boehner and his aides than the substance of the reform itself.

Serious question: At this point, why wait? Cornyn’s view is, I’m all but certain, the view of the majority of the caucus in both the House and Senate. They’re going to pass some sort of amnesty before 2016, be it for DREAMers or something broader. The question is simply when. In that case, what are the arguments for doing nothing this year and waiting until 2015? One, purely viscerally, is that it would be a moral victory over business lobbyists who’ve sworn up and down that they’re going to show the tea party who’s boss by getting immigration passed. But so what? They’ll declare victory anyway when it passes next year instead. Another is that passing amnesty now would move the spotlight off of ObamaCare, which is where the GOP wants it in the run-up to the midterms. I’m not convinced, though. If amnesty gets done, it’ll get done no later than the summer; the fall will be consumed with news of new plan cancellations and stump speeches about the folly of “if you like your plan.” The GOP message machine will be full throttle on O-Care no matter what happens with amnesty, and voters have short memories. Besides, the real battle in the midterms is over the Senate and the Senate passed the Gang of Eight bill long ago. If you want to punish a Senate Republican for his or her vote on that, you don’t need to wait around to see what Boehner does.

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Read more:http://hotair.com/archives/2014/01/15/bo...-conservatives/