Rick Perry Rejects Gang of 8 Bill;
Suggests He Favors Enforcement First, But There's No "Will" In Washington For It

Is Perry running for President? Who knows. But his Great Big Entrance into the 2012 primaries quickly turned into a pratfall beginning with his statement that those who objected to in-state tuition rates for the children of illegal immigrants "had no heart."

I doubt he's recanted that part of his thinking on immigration. But perhaps he now realizes how disastrous that statement was as far as national Republican politics* -- Texas Republicans may be cooler with illegal immigration than Republicans nationally, but any Republican hopeful needs to carry more states than Texas.

Perhaps Perry's statements today are intended to move him, rhetorically at least, into the immigration hawk camp.

He went on to criticize the Gang of Eight’s legislation for its failure to adequately secure the border, which he argued is a prerequisite for immigration reform rather than a feature of it. “I don’t think the will is in Washington, D.C., to secure the border. So, until that happens, I’m not sure the American people are going to trust Washington to come up with some immigration bill until they secure the border.”

* That statement began the narrative that he was a dummy who said lots of dumb things. Even though he went on to say other dumb things, it's possible that many Republicans would have supported him and ignored those other dumb things (we've done so before) had his opening act in national politics not been one of insulting and alienating half of the caucus. He immediately moved himself from "friendly" treatment to "hostile" or at least "suspicious" treatment, and paid the price later on.

posted by Ace at 07:10 PM

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