Jeb Bush has a principled stand on immigration. Several, in fact.

Last summer, Jeb Bush was in favor of offering illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. As he told Charlie Rose:

“You have to deal with this issue. You can’t ignore it, and so either a path to citizenship, which I would support — and that does put me probably out of the mainstream of most conservatives — or a path to legalization, a path to residency of some kind.”

In his new book, “Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution”, Bush comes out in stalwart opposition to citizenship.

“It is absolutely vital to the integrity of our immigration system that actions have consequences — in this case, that those who violated the law can remain but cannot obtain the cherished fruits of citizenship. To do otherwise would signal once again that people who circumvent the system can still obtain the full benefits of American citizenship.”

Today on “Morning Joe”, Bush was back to his initial position. Kind of … He repeatedly stressed that the book was written last year, as if something had happened recently to alter what in the book seems to be a strong, principle-based opposition to a path to citizenship. He also argued that a path to legalization would not create a magnet for future illegal immigration, while a path to citizenship somehow would.

“If you don’t have a difference between a path to citizenship or a path to legalization, you’re going to create a magnet going forward for more illegal immigration. So going forward — we wrote this last year — going forward, if there is a difference, if you can craft that in law where you can have a path to citizenship where there isn’t an incentive for people to come illegally, I’m for it. I don’t have a problem with that.”

A couple of points:

1.) The Bush flip-flop-flip has angered veterans of Mitt Romney’s campaign, which last year felt stranded on unpopular ground with the candidate’s “self-deportation” approach.

“Where the hell was this Jeb Bush during the campaign?” one advisor told the Miami Herald. “He spent all this time criticizing Romney and it turns out he has basically the same position. So he wants people to go back to their country and apply for citizenship? Well, that’s self deportation. We got creamed for talking about that. And now Jeb is saying the same thing.”

2.) The distinction that Bush attempts to draw between legalization and citizenship in fact has little real consequence. Those who have immigrated here illegally were drawn by jobs, the chance to escape Third World living conditions or greater opportunity for their children. Getting U.S. citizenship was way, way down on their list. A nice possibility, maybe, but hardly a deciding factor.

The notion that a path to legalization would be a less powerful magnet than a path to citizenship makes no sense, and Bush is smart enough to know it. But when you’re caught tacking to the right when the political winds are blowing left, and when you have ambitions of becoming the third consecutive Republican president named Bush, you have to scramble a bit.

– Jay Bookman

2,197 comments Add your comment

stands for decibels

March 5th, 2013
4:05 pm

fred, there’s also some unfinished business about Kwanzaa being a “racist holiday,” but I’ll wait until Jay’s back for that.

/drive-by

getalife

March 5th, 2013
4:06 pm

“From BreitBart———————”

Did you expect anybody here to read that tom?

Fred ™

March 5th, 2013
4:06 pm

Damn, and I forgot the FRED charts and graphs lol.

TBS

March 5th, 2013
4:06 pm

“I’ve got low friends in high places………”

Are your friends with the majority of members in Congress?

:-)

Keep Up the Good Fight!

March 5th, 2013
4:06 pm

Dangnabbit, you post Fred 3 times and he shows up. Does he have a hockey mask? :lol:

Grasshopper

March 5th, 2013
4:07 pm

And Obama’s positions change like the wind on:

– Gay Marriage
– Keystone
– Immigration
– Taxes

So what’s the point?

Fred ™

March 5th, 2013
4:07 pm

There is nothing unfinished about thta Stands. I can’t help it if you refuse to acknowledge the facts and the words by the RACIST creator of the so called holiday.

getalife

March 5th, 2013
4:08 pm

Fred,

I expect you to behave yourself.

Peadawg

March 5th, 2013
4:08 pm

Damn that communist in the White House and his sequester idea!!!!!

“Dow closes at record high”

Jm

March 5th, 2013
4:10 pm

Four years of Jay attacking Jeb

This should get very boring

Peadawg

March 5th, 2013
4:11 pm

Four years of Jm whining about a Democrat “attacking” a Republican.

This WILL get very boring.

Jm

March 5th, 2013
4:11 pm

Dow closes at record high

Boy that sequester was a doozy

Next

Peadawg

March 5th, 2013
4:11 pm

And then four years of Jm “attacking” Jay for “attacking” Bush.

Fred ™

March 5th, 2013
4:13 pm

getalife, I ALWAYS behave myself. It’s just not always the behavior folks like. Especially puffed up blowhards, closed minded hypocrites, delusional lick spittles and assha……. well I pushed thta one one today, that;s enough lol. I’ve already had one post deleted today. (Bet you thought I missed that eh jay :wink: )

Fred ™

March 5th, 2013
4:14 pm

Four years of Jay attacking Jeb

This should get very boring
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Not as boring of five years of you FOXBOTS and your lies and Obama bashing………

josef

March 5th, 2013
4:15 pm

TBS

I said I had low friends in high places, not high friends in low places… :-)

josef

March 5th, 2013
4:16 pm

FRED

Yeah, I ran a check on it the other day…moderated me, too…

Carlos

March 5th, 2013
4:16 pm

Has as many “principled stands” as President Obama does on gay marriage.

Erwin's cat

March 5th, 2013
4:16 pm

so he evolved” on the issue…and then “devolved”

ARE WE NOT MEN!

Granny Godzilla

March 5th, 2013
4:17 pm

Attacking Jeb?

Why wait?

Just helpin’ the GOP realize early he’s not an option.

Why waste everybodies time and all the GOP’s money?

Fred ™

March 5th, 2013
4:17 pm

getalife

March 5th, 2013
4:18 pm

jm,

Yeah, attacking Obama is boring .

Nothing but lies

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

March 5th, 2013
4:19 pm

getalife

March 5th, 2013
4:28 pm

jeb will pretend to be a con for four year then flip flop like romney to move left.

Same ole same ole bs.

Keep Up the Good Fight!

March 5th, 2013
4:29 pm

Trump is speaking at CPAC but not Chris Christie? Will Donald tell us all again how he would have won the 2012 election if he had not quit or will he report on the things his investigators found out about Obama’s birth certificate.

Granny Godzilla

March 5th, 2013
4:30 pm

Keep

Donald Trump and Sarah Palin together at CPAC…..

Oh please don’t BREEEEEED!

josef

March 5th, 2013
4:31 pm

getalife

Not unlike President Obama, wouldn’t you say? Pretend to be a liberal and then move right…

Not being particularly critical…it goes with the territory. Effectively you can run from the “sides,” but you have to rule from the center…

josef

March 5th, 2013
4:31 pm

GRANNY

Well, breeders IS messy, you know… :-)

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

March 5th, 2013
4:32 pm

White House tours cancelled due to sequestration. This can only mean that the Friday night Hip Hop BBQ is a go!

Heh, heh, heh.

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

March 5th, 2013
4:33 pm

Donald Trump and Sarah Palin together at CPAC…..

Oh please don’t BREEEEEED!

She’d need a blonde wig first….

Jefferson

March 5th, 2013
4:35 pm

They don’t call it “pillow talk” for nothing….

Granny Godzilla

March 5th, 2013
4:36 pm

josef

messy …and it hurts too!

Granny Godzilla

March 5th, 2013
4:37 pm

Sarah Palin and Donald Trump walk into a bar ……

getalife

March 5th, 2013
4:37 pm

josef,

President Obama vs Hillary Clinton was a fight for liberals that he won but came through on most of his promises in the campaign.

barking frog

March 5th, 2013
4:39 pm

josef
I’m sick and tired of your limpwristed comments about breeders
being messy, if not for breeders that fed and educated you, you
would be hiding behind some bush in the missisippi backwaters.
so there.

Jm

March 5th, 2013
4:39 pm

And four years of you turkeys attacking me for attacking jay for attacking jeb

Yes, also boring

Samsara is a b-tch

Li'l Aynie

March 5th, 2013
4:39 pm

Don’t laugh! Another Bush is the only viable candidate the Republicans have for 2016. Who else? Gingrich, Santorum, Rick Perry, Palin, etc. are tiresome jokes.

Actually, Jeb Bush would be a strong contender. He can attract a lot of Hispanic votes. His wife is Hispanic, his children are bilingual, and he can manage a few sentences of Spanish. As Florida Governor, he exhibited far more intelligence and common sense than his big brother.

As for the flip-flops, that goes with the political affiliation. Since the sole Republican agenda is to oppose whatever President Obama favors, when Obama shifts, Republicans flip!

josef

March 5th, 2013
4:39 pm

getalife

March 5th, 2013
4:40 pm

cpac stands for clowns parading as cons.

Arms Akimbo

March 5th, 2013
4:42 pm

Obama is not going to allow meaningful immigration reform until after 2014. He is going to continue the blame game in his never ending campaign while the nation as a whole suffers through his gross negligence. Obama lost significant credibility because of the sequester and even the NYT and Wa. Post have been publishing more critical comments questioning the ethical ramifications of the OFA. It is hard to take Obama seriously when he can’t seem to get his own fiscal house in order while average Americans juggle volatile gasoline, food, and insurance prices on a monthly basis. He is going to accomplish nothing in the next two years in an attempt to capture the House. It is a gutsy, yet shortsighted strategy and the country is going to pay the price for a complete lack of leadership.

josef

March 5th, 2013
4:42 pm

FROG

Hell, it was in them bushes that them messy breeders did the deed that brought me into your world view…
:-)

Welcome to the Occupation

March 5th, 2013
4:43 pm

Afternoon everybody. How are the con ilks and lib ilks doing?

Greetings from the land of the snow shovels.

That Black Guy

March 5th, 2013
4:43 pm

Bro, I noticed downstairs that you are a White guy now (per KhlidX).

Did you at least get to keep your rhythm? :lol:

Purveyor

March 5th, 2013
4:43 pm

After your last post Jay I had some hope. Alas you summon the great unwashed masses yet again. Great journalism. How sad you use your space for such. Ignorance and frivolity do not a respnsible voter make and you seem to have the best at your beck and call. I’m sure your readers can look up frivolity if they actually own a dictionary.

They call me MISTER JamVet.

March 5th, 2013
4:44 pm

Changing one’s mind when they get new/better information is a sign of strength, not weakness. I believe it was Jefferson who wrote about being a slave to ones’ ideas.

But Romney’s public and self-inflicted humiliation was anything but that.

He came across – and for good reason – as an unprincipled and TOTAL sell out who “reinvented” himself on the fly, repeatedly. The man struck me as someone who would say ANYTHING at ANY time, if he thought it would get him one more vote.

So to that extent, he was the anti-GWB, who would never change his mind nor eever admit that he made a mistake.

You, in the party faithful, did not want to see the damning truth about Romney, but I assure you that the voting public did.

And why he was both the weakest GOP candidate in 80 years and why he got decimated last November…

getalife

March 5th, 2013
4:45 pm

How much snow Occupation?

arms,

So?

Everything is politics for the gop so he can do the same.

Crybaby much?

barking frog

March 5th, 2013
4:45 pm

josef
I figured it was something like that…our good luck…

Keep Up the Good Fight!

March 5th, 2013
4:45 pm

Well I just hope Sarah hunts down that thing on Trump’s head.

That Black Guy

March 5th, 2013
4:47 pm

Adam

March 5th, 2013
3:51 pm
The real problem is that they aren’t EXPLAINING themselves well enough…. etc
______________________________________
Wasn’t that also the line of reasoning Obama took when some of his earlier positions were resisted (ACA, Cash for Clunkers, etc.)?

Granny Godzilla

March 5th, 2013
4:51 pm

Keep

From a helicopter?

Cool.

josef

March 5th, 2013
4:52 pm

OCCUPATION

Bless your heart…

FROG

At the risk of getting Sinkwich’s WTF award, how DID I come into your world view? Mama and Daddy were getting a divorce. She had gone down to the Old Place to pick up a few things, Daddy was there. She says, “well, after 20 years, what could once for all time’s sake hurt?” So, I’m her “once more for old time’s sake young-un.” The judge refused to finalize the divorce until after I was born. He said he didn’t want me to take after my Daddy and be a b*stard! He didn’t much care for mon pere!

Keep Up the Good Fight!

March 5th, 2013
4:53 pm

Granny, I would hope that Sarah has kept up and gotten drone technology for her hunting

Welcome to the Occupation

March 5th, 2013
4:53 pm

Wow, news out of Venezuela is saying Chavez has died.

Get ready for the big US establishment hate.

Brosephus™

March 5th, 2013
4:54 pm

Sarah Palin and Donald Trump walk into a bar ……

After regaining consciousness, they both look at each other and blame Obama for putting the bar in their pathway.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

————–

TBG

I’ve lost my Blackness on this blog more times than I’ve ever lost it anywhere else. I’m gonna throw on some Uncle Luke and see if I still got it. :)

getalife

March 5th, 2013
4:54 pm

Occupation,

Seriously?

Fred ™

March 5th, 2013
4:55 pm

I see I was too late, but at least the blow back is funny lol.

Welcome to the Occupation

March 5th, 2013
4:55 pm

getalif, around Chicago it’s a good 8 inches and still going.

TBS

March 5th, 2013
4:56 pm

Bro

Forget Luke…………. You need to go straight to Public Enemy and NWA if you really want to get back to where you need to be………….

:-)

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

March 5th, 2013
4:56 pm

JAY:

You left out this “principled stand” by the White House on the Sequester !

“Email tells feds to make sequester as painful as promised”

“The Obama administration denied an appeal for flexibility in lessening the sequester’s effects, with an email this week appearing to show officials in Washington that because they already had promised the cuts would be devastating, they now have to follow through on that.

In the email sent Monday by Charles Brown, an official with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service office in Raleigh, N.C., Mr. Brown asked “if there was any latitude” in how to spread the sequester cuts across the region to lessen the impacts on fish inspections.

He said he was discouraged by officials in Washington, who gave him this reply: “We have gone on record with a notification to Congress and whoever else that ‘APHIS would eliminate assistance to producers in 24 states in managing wildlife damage to the aquaculture industry, unless they provide funding to cover the costs.’ So it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be.”

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/5/email-tells-feds-make-sequester-painful-promised/#ixzz2MhkCGlW6

josef

March 5th, 2013
4:57 pm

BROSEPHUS

Well, are you a Mormon yet?

getalife

March 5th, 2013
4:57 pm

Occupation,

You broke the news before cnn.

Granny Godzilla

March 5th, 2013
4:57 pm

Sarah Palin and Donald Trump walk into a bar ……

and the bartender says “What’s this? A joke?”

TBS

March 5th, 2013
4:57 pm

Bro

Some KRS1 and Tupac would help your cred as well……..

josef

March 5th, 2013
4:58 pm

“getalif, around Chicago it’s a good 8 inches and still going.”

BROSEPHUS

They measure their SNOW in inches…maybe they could use a little Southern pride, eh? :-)

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

March 5th, 2013
4:59 pm

JAY:

You left out these “principled stands” by Obama !

“The Top 10 Obama Flip Flops”

■Voted against increasing the debt limit; then supported raising it.
■Campaigned against the Bush tax cuts; then extended all of them.
■Promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term; then proposed trillion dollar deficits.
■Vowed the unemployment rate would be below 8% if his stimulus was passed; but then it broke 10%.
■Promised shovel ready jobs; then admitted they weren’t shovel ready.
■Said if you like your health plan you can keep it; but then threw seniors off Medicare Plus and employers are now saying they’ll dump people onto the public exchange.
■Promised to have health care negotiations on live TV, but then reversed himself.
■Indicated Bush violated the Constitution; then carried out warrantless wiretaps, indefinite detentions, secret renditions, quadrupled drone attacks, and kept Guantanamo Bay open. Voted against the Patriot Act, but then supported its extension.
■Said lobbyists wouldn’t work in the White House; then gave them waivers to work there.
■Vowed to take public financing for his 2008 campaign; then refused public financing when he realized he would receive more money without it.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/republican-security-council/the-top-10-obama-flip-flops-by-ari-fleischer/171275079638338

And that’s just the TOP TEN !

GEEZ !

Keep Up the Good Fight!

March 5th, 2013
4:59 pm

Chavez has died. How long before someone claims Obama will order flags lowered to half mast?

Fred ™

March 5th, 2013
4:59 pm

Forget Luke…………. You need to go straight to Public Enemy and NWA if you really want to get back to where you need to be………….

Aw hell naw. You need some 2Pak to heal that wound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=610vDBi3LgA

Welcome to the Occupation

March 5th, 2013
5:00 pm

Keep: Chavez has died. How long before someone claims Obama will order flags lowered to half mast?

Ha! Indeed. :)

getalife

March 5th, 2013
5:00 pm

They say his VP will be President.

Joe Hussein Mama

March 5th, 2013
5:01 pm

This just in. Hugo Chavez dead.

Normal, plain and simple...

March 5th, 2013
5:01 pm

Hugo’s VP is saying we infected Chavez with the cancer… wild.

TBS

March 5th, 2013
5:01 pm

Scout

Good call. Maybe that will be your 1st article on your new blog.

“GEEZ”

Joe Hussein Mama

March 5th, 2013
5:02 pm

Whoops, should have checked before posting. :P

Erwin's cat

March 5th, 2013
5:02 pm

Welcome – Wow, news out of Venezuela is saying Chavez has died.

yep, just came up on the crawl. I read an article just a couple hrs ago where the No. 2 was saying that the USA gave him cancer to kill him…

getalife

March 5th, 2013
5:02 pm

“Campaigned against the Bush tax cuts; then extended all of them.”

Raised them on the wealthy.

josef

March 5th, 2013
5:03 pm

SCOUT

Now, now…you know according to al Shariff, Maureen Dowd, the NYT, et al. he ain’t no “profile in courage!” :-)

That Black Guy

March 5th, 2013
5:04 pm

Brosephus™

March 5th, 2013
4:54 pm
TBG
I’ve lost my Blackness on this blog more times than I’ve ever lost it anywhere else. I’m gonna throw on some Uncle Luke and see if I still got it.
___________________________________________
Considering your new “status”, may I suggest Vanilla Ice?

Baby steps.

You might berak a hip with Uncle Luke. :lol:

josef

March 5th, 2013
5:04 pm

JOE MAMA

@ 5:01

That’s OLD news already… :-)

Keep Up the Good Fight!

March 5th, 2013
5:05 pm

Vowed the unemployment rate would be below 8% if his stimulus was passed; but then it broke 10%.

No lie is too low to keep repeating for Senior Digits. But hey, he’s getting his news from facebook. :roll:

josef

March 5th, 2013
5:06 pm

JHM

“Whoops, should have checked before posting.”

And why should today be different from all other days? :-)

TBS

March 5th, 2013
5:07 pm

Hopefully the people of Venezuela are ready to push and work for a better government than what Chavez or the crooks he took over from you providing to that country.

I know someone who has lived under both. She claims they were both horrible. Says that Chavez was awful and anyone is kidding if they think the US backed government before him was worth a damn.

Fred ™

March 5th, 2013
5:07 pm

Considering your new “status”, may I suggest Vanilla Ice?

Well hell TBG, if you are backing THAT far up lets take it back to here………….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui1tUS6Ho-c

Joe Hussein Mama

March 5th, 2013
5:07 pm

Josef — “And why should today be different from all other days?”

You have a pleasant evening, Josef. :)

Erwin's cat

March 5th, 2013
5:07 pm

TBG – Considering your new “status”, may I suggest Vanilla Ice Yo!

In my best Jessie Pinkman voice

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

March 5th, 2013
5:08 pm

Tip: Just tell the kids that Hugo Chavez is up on the roof with the cat. And Andrew Breitbart.

Heh, heh, heh.

That Black Guy

March 5th, 2013
5:08 pm

TBS

March 5th, 2013
4:56 pm
Bro

Forget Luke…………. You need to go straight to Public Enemy and NWA if you really want to get back to where you need to be………….
____________________________
TBS, maybe we should enroll him in a remedial dance class.

Harlem Shake 101 :lol:

Doggone/GA

March 5th, 2013
5:10 pm

“Chavez has died”

And his VP is now claiming the US “infected” him with cancer. Personally, when I heard he left Cuba, my first thought was that he was going home to die.

Fred ™

March 5th, 2013
5:11 pm

Hey Scout: How about that Dow Jones?

That Black Guy

March 5th, 2013
5:11 pm

TBS

March 5th, 2013
4:57 pm
Bro

Some KRS1 and Tupac would help your cred as well……..
___________________________________
Well, if we really want to get him back, a little Jungle Bros and A Tribe Called Quest, is what the doc ordered.

TBS

March 5th, 2013
5:11 pm

Bro

If you are crankn this tune it just might be too late for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtILxBszyf8

Welcome to the Occupation

March 5th, 2013
5:12 pm

getalife: “Occupation, / You broke the news before cnn”

Comrades have connections. :)

Steve

March 5th, 2013
5:12 pm

That outspoken New Jersey governor is the only one I think the GOP could raise up to win a national election so far. That’s about it.

TBS

March 5th, 2013
5:12 pm

TBG

TCQ could do it for sure.

They call me MISTER JamVet.

March 5th, 2013
5:13 pm

TBS, I only discovered 1990’s Fear of a Black Planet a few years ago and was damn impressed. Great talent – musically and production wise.

The future of the groove is in doubt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAEB914yOcw

And TBG, funny you mention that, my older bro sent me this today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGVagrpZUQY

Fred ™

March 5th, 2013
5:13 pm

Keep Up the Good Fight!

March 5th, 2013
5:14 pm

I think what we have here is a Fred infestation. :D His popularity is spreading. Now they name concert venues after him. What next, a new stadium?

http://www.accessatlanta.com/weblogs/atlanta-music-scene/2013/mar/05/fred-unveils-summer-concert-series/

TBS

March 5th, 2013
5:15 pm

josef

March 5th, 2013
5:15 pm

Fred and Red Cards? Our very own Tomáš Řepka!

JHM

Oh, I will now that you’re here. I don’t have to worry about being the most self-inflated, know-it all. pompous ᎠᎵᏍᏇᏚᏬ ᏫᏍᎽᏫᎢ ᎤᎧ on the blog. I can relax… :-)

They call me MISTER JamVet.

March 5th, 2013
5:16 pm

Brosephus™ - Comin' straight out of Compton

March 5th, 2013
5:17 pm

TBS @ 4:56

Advice heeded!!!

————–

josef

I think Mormon is about the only thing I have yet to be labeled with. I’ll have to dig through the archives to be sure. As for 8 inches of snow in Chicago, it’t not enough for Southerners to have to measure yet. :lol:

————–

Fred

:lol:

————–

TBG

No Vanilla Ice. That’s not gonna be enough to get my Melanin Membership Card back. I’ve gotta go full throttle….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmhUjOvzSo0