The word is that some Republicans are finally catching on to the fact that they need to rebrand their image if they ever hope to win the White House any time soon. The Dr. Evil / Mr. Hyde persona they’ve been carrying around for the last few decades appears to be wearing thin on voters. And so we have Eric Cantor coming out yesterday in favor of proposals for immigration reform that sound suspiciously similar to what Democrats have been saying for years.
“It’s no secret that there are more than 11 million people here illegally, many of whom have become part of the fabric of our country,” he [Cantor] said. “They, like us, have families and dreams.”
and…
“It is time to provide an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home.”
If Cantor’s newly evolved position on immigration sounds exactly opposite to Mitt Romney’s “self-deportation” position that was supported by Republicans during the election campaign, it’s because it is. It’s amazing what 70 percent support for Obama by Hispanics can do to Republicans’ long held beliefs.
But don’t bet the farm on Republicans evolving into rational fact-based 21st century beings just yet. It won’t happen any time soon as exemplified by Marco Rubio’s take on climate change at a BuzzFeed event yesterday.
The question is if man made activity is what’s contributing the most to it. I know people said there’s a significant scientific consensus on that issue, but I’ve actually seen reasonable debate on that principle.
Bullshit. Marco Rubio is a liar. There is no “reasonable debate” on the issue of whether human activity is the prime cause of global warming. When 97 percent of climatologists are in agreement on man’s role in climate change, it’s a fair assumption to say that there’s a scientific consensus out there – a consensus that the liars and deniers refuse to acknowledge.
You can take Rubio’s word on climate change…or you can listen to what the The National Academy of Sciences has to say on the issue:
“Some scientific conclusions or theories have been so thoroughly examined and tested, and supported by so many independent observations and results, that their likelihood of subsequently being found to be wrong is vanishingly small. Such conclusions and theories are then regarded as settled facts. This is the case for the conclusions that the Earth system is warming and that much of this warming is due to human activities.”
Is that not clear enough?
Throw in the right’s views on creationism, marriage equality, gun control, women’s reproductive rights and countless other issues and what you’re left with is a political party that refuses to alter its beliefs and join the rest of us in the 21st century. And as long as Republicans refuse to do so, the GOP will continue their downward slide into irrelevancy no matter how enlightened Eric Cantor appears to have become on the immigration issue.
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Let’s take one step at a time. Let’s pass immigration laws,gun control and a budget for now.
If they want to continue with ridiculous obstructionism in the future,it will be to the Democrat’s advantage.The electorate to me can read between the lines and their actions at the voting booth will be the just retribution to a false party.
Careful, Mario, you just used the word ‘enlightened’ and name ‘Eric Cantor’ in the same sentence. Maybe you’ve been listening to Faux News & Limpballs too much of late.
Has anybody besides me noticed that the speech given by Mr. Cantor the other day had many passages in it which were almost word-for-word repeats of things President Obama said in a speech he gave in 2011?
What I think they will try to do is to take all the points on which Democrats had winning hands and try to re-shape and remould them into some facsimile of something a conservative might actually believe to see if they can hitch a free ride on a successful approach – - the democrat approach.
Be not deceived however because if a cow pie is coated in the sweet essence of sugar and sprinkled abundantly with graham crumbs, the true nature of the creation will be soon enough discovered once someone who wishes a repast takes a bite of it.
A simplification of what I just proposed might be, “Dung in any disguise is still dung indeed.” The robes may be changed and the phalacteries re-embroidered and the incense changed from jasmine to patchouli, but in the end the Pharisee still is the Pharisee regardless of trappings or pretenses.
This illustration is genius, Mario!! Gave me the best laugh I have had in awhile! This shows how “in the dark” Republicans are, and I wouldn’t trust any of them as far as I could throw them no matter what they say now — too little, too late!!
Best. Illustration. Ever!
Mario, this graphic is GREAT!