Profile In Hackery: Jennifer Rubin On Immigration

Fresh off her triumphant effort to push Mitt Romney as the great GOP hope, the Washington Post's "conservative" blogger Jennifer Rubin has been doing her best to build and burn straw men out of amnesty opponents.

Today she reached new highs as an intellectually stunted shill.

On the new Corker-Hoeven amendment she titled her post "Here comes the border security amendment".

We must pause at the title because that's where the hackery begins. You see, not that long ago Rubin told us the border security amendment had already arrived.

BREAKING: Cornyn presents solution for Gang of Eight

In a dramatic breakthrough on immigration reform, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) is offering up an amendment to break the log jam and address his and other GOP senators’ concerns about border security.

Rubin was so enamored of Cornyn's plan and the positive noises her pet Mitt, er, Marco Rubio was making about it, the next day she assured everyone that the Cornyn amendment wasn't a "poison pill" to kill the bill but rather a legitimate effort to improve it.

In short, none of these pro-reform experts think Cornyn’s proposal is a poison pill. If Democrats want to claim it is they have some explaining to do. Were they not serious when they put in the 90/100 percent standards [90% apprehension rate an 100% operational control] in the original bill?

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other liberals are starting to sound like a version of the Groucho Marx joke: They don’t want to be a member of any group that would devise a passable bill. If they can’t take “yes” for an answer, they will have many pro-immigration reform advocates and Hispanic Americans to answer to. Kicking away a deal just as it is coalescing reeks of bad faith.

So having seen the "bad faith" of the Democrats in killing the Cornyn amendment, Rubin is clearly ready to apologize to the people who have been pointing out all along that the Democrats aren't serious about security, right?

Nope, back to today's "Here comes the border security amendment" post...

Rubio’s office has worked with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), whose effort to beef up security, was demagogued by Schumer and others, but in recent days has turned attention to the Corker-Hoeven effort, which is expected to clarify that at least some of the enhanced security measures must be in place before green card status becomes available to those who are illegally here and otherwise qualify (e.g. paying back taxes and a fine).

...

Some Republicans remain skeptical that the Democrats will play ball. On senior adviser not directly involved in the Gang of Eight discussions e-mails me, arguing that “Dems will allow no significant changes, certainly not anything that will increase the vote total, and that as a result, it will pass narrowly–and then sit on a shelf. They don’t want to make law, they just want to pass a bill.” That may still be the case, but we will find out when the amendment is revealed and Schumer and other Dems react to the one chance to do something meaningful in President Obama’s second term.

Rubin still seems surprised that some Republicans don't trust Democrats. In fairness to her, she's clearly more a fan of the Democrat position on amnesty.

So having killed what Rubin described as a serious attempt at security she is ready to accept an amendment that is, "expected to clarify that at least some of the enhanced security measures". That's the saving grace Republicans who care about security (allegedly including Rubio and Rubin herself) are supposed to be grateful for? Instead of tying the outcome of border security to green cards as Cornyn does, Corker-Hoeven ties inputs (hiring more agents, building more fences,, etc). If those inputs don't work, oh well, too bad full steam ahead on citizenship! Earlier Rubin accused Democrats of not taking their 90/100 percent language seriously and here she is throwing it overboard too.

Basically Chuck Schumer says, "you'll get nothing and you'll like it" and Rubio fan-girl Rubin says, "thank you Senator Schumer!". If she negotiated for her clients like she does for conservatives, no wonder she's not a lawyer anymore.

What bothers me the most about Rubin isn't that she's not a conservative. She's barely a Republican yet she's the type of person liberals interact with and think real conservatives should be judged by. It's not her hackery that hurts conservatism, it's the ability of Democrats to hold her up as the model and judge the rest of us against her.

Bonus Rubin buffoonery....

My colleague Greg Sargent does a fine job calling out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) for shedding crocodile tears over concern people will die trying to get into the country illegally under the Gang of Eight plan. The argument is as insincere as it is wrong (with enhanced border security fewer people will come).

Yeah.

posted by DrewM. at 05:29 PM

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