Greg Sargent draws my attention to the latest from Sen. Marco Rubio:
I believe that this president will be tempted, if nothing happens in Congress, he will be tempted to issue an executive order, like he did for the Dream Act kids a year ago, where he basically legalizes 11 million people by the sign of a pen. Now, we won’t get any E-Verify, we won’t get any border security, but he will legalize them.
As Sargent mentions, Rubio’s latest effort isn’t likely to cut much ice with opponents of immigration reform. Rather, it’s interesting for what it says about how Rubio views his tea party base. Basically, he’s given up on reasoning with them. Instead, he figures the only way to win them over is to appeal to their paranoid belief in Obama the tyrant, the man who’s unilaterally ruining America by running roughshod over Congress with his dictatorial executive order powers. Reason might not work, but perhaps they hate and fear Obama even more than 11 million undocumented immigrants.
And who would know better than Rubio? After all he helped build this base.
