I wondered if there was a right edge to the Overton Window. Suggest raising taxes on the top 2% or cutting the defense budget, and you're a left wing lunatic. Say President Obama may be building concentration camps, and it's a real question for debate.
But finally, something is udderly absurd.
More below the fold....
Sacred Cow Tipping, Part II - Slipping on the Fourteenth?
This week Morning Feature considers sacred cows offered by the Tea Party GOP, wedge issues they use to arouse their base and demonize their opponents. Yesterday we reviewed Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision overturning California’s Proposition 8, which had banned LGBT marriage since 2008. Today we look at Tea Party GOP leaders’ statements against birthright citizenship, a position so absurd even Lou Dobbs disagrees. Tomorrow we conclude by asking if their sacred cows are running out of political milk.
Disclaimer: I do not endorse or approve of actual cow tipping, which is an urban (well, rural) legend. Neither do I endorse or criticize the Hindu reverence for cows. I'm using "sacred cow" as a metaphor. (Trans: "So there!")
"Not Aware of Anyone."
Thus did Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) respond yesterday when asked about Tea Party GOP leaders and candidates proposing to amend the Fourteenth Amendment's birthright citizenship provision. We think the KY refers to the state, not the personal lubricant, but given Sen. McConnell's changing positions it's hard to be sure.
Sen. McConnell's seemed firm on Monday when he agreed with Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), who called for hearings to review birthright citizenship Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation. The question came to Sen. Kyl after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) proposed a constitutional amendment on the issue last week. It seemed to be a growing issue for the Tea Party GOP, as Sens. McConnell, Kyl, and Graham joined earlier statements by Senate challenger Tony Hayworth (R-AZ), Rep. Louie Gomert (R-TX), Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), George Will, former Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA), and 2008 presidential hopeful Mitt Romney (R- MI UT MA NH).
On Monday, former CNN anchor and anti-immigration agitator Lou Dobbs weighed in. But Dobbs took the other side, saying the Fourteenth Amendment "is so important, it lays the entire foundation for the Bill of Rights being applied." He even rejected Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly's suggestion of repealing the birthright citizenship clause and leaving the rest of the Fourteenth intact.
Flip, meet Flop.
By Tuesday, Sen. McConnell was putting the lubricant on his postal abbreviation, saying he didn't mean all children of non-citizens born in the U.S. Only Chinese ones, maybe.
Sen. McConnell referred to a Washington Post article about wealthy Chinese pregnant women who supposedly schedule visits to the U.S. to have babies here. It's what right-wing talk show host Laura Ingraham called "birth tourism." (Ingraham copied her piece from a Times of London story, but plagiarism is a topic for another day.) Sen. McConnell said the Senate should "take a look at" that "unseemly business."
As for changing the Fourteenth Amendment, as of Tuesday, he declined to take a position. "I think you should ask Senator Graham what he thinks the solution ought to be," Sen. McConnell said in a press conference. Obviously he was aware of Sen. Graham's proposed constitutional amendment.
Until Thursday, when he was "not aware of anyone who's come out for altering the Fourteenth." Maybe Mythbusters should use him next time for their banana peel slip test. In their test, they used bovine birthing lubricant, which brings us back to....
A slippery sacred cow.
Why did Sen. McConnell backslide on this? Perhaps because the Tea Party GOP will go to almost any length to evoke whites as victims of immigrants, but that message isn't selling well even in Sen. McConnell's own state. Tea Party GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul wants to end birthright citizenship, and his lead over Democrat Jack Conway has slipped. Yes, Rasmussen and SurveyUSA both show Paul leading Conway by 8 points, but Public Policy Polling and Braun Research show the race a statistical tie. While the Rasmussen and SurveyUSA polls use a likely voter model that predicts a big Tea Party GOP turnout, Democratic turnout was 60% higher in the state primary in March.
Despite all the Tea Party GOP race-baiting, voters this year are more worried about the economy and creating new jobs than about "birth tourism." When conductor Lou Dobbs hops off the anti-immigration train, you've probably run out of track.
Nite nite, sacred cow.
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Your Kossascopes are in today's BPI Campus Chatter.
Happy Friday!
Crossposted from Blogistan Polytechnic Institute (BPICampus.com)