Not one to miss a good wedge issue that appeals to the lizard brains of his constituency, House Minority Leader John Boehner said yesterday on Meet the Press that he was "open to considering" repealing the 14th Amendment. 'Cause you know nothing says I love the Constitution more than tearing it apart.
GREGORY: Do you support efforts to have the 14th amendment amended at this point?
BOEHNER: Well David, I’m not the expert on this issue. I have read these comments here over the past week. There is a problem. To provide an incentive for illegal immigrants to come here so that their children can be U.S. citizens does, in fact, draw more people to our country. I do think that it’s time for us to secure our borders and enforce the law and allow this conversation about the 14th amendment to continue.
GREGORY: Do you have a position on it?
BOEHNER: Listen, I think it’s worth considering. It’s a serious problem that affects our country, and in certain parts of our country, clearly our schools, our hospitals are being overrun by illegal immigrants — a lot of whom came here just so their children could become U.S. citizens. They should do it the legal way.
And the beautiful thing about this line of attack is that it is so ripe for exploitation, because the real facts are unknowable. Do you have any idea how many so-called "anchor babies" are born in the US every year? Of course you don't; there are no reputable studies. Yet go ahead and google that question and see if you don't get some alarmingly high numbers proffered as fact, claiming that upwards of 500,000 babies are born in the US of undocumented immigrants. 60,000 in Dallas alone! Considering that there are only 4,000,000 births in the US each year, that means that one in eight births--according to the facts pulled out of some right wing nut job's posterior--is an "anchor baby". That's an amazing statistic, and ironically, mirrors the percentage of the US population that is Hispanic. Are they suggesting that all Hispanic births are anchor babies? But never ming that! Hospitals and schools overrun with the children of undocumented immigrants. All taking from you--Mr. Conservative Tea-baggin' Voter--all the things you want: a job, a house, a decent education, affordable health coverage.
It's not the Republicans' obstructionist ways or their fetish for reducing taxes that have done away with social safety nets and public goods like education. It's not the union busting and elimination of tariffs championed by Republicans that made it more affordable for corporations to outsource your job. It's not the deregulation of the mortgage and finance industries that created credit default swaps, counting on you to default on your home. It's not the ridiculous and inflammatory rhetoric of socialist agendas that are forcing you to part with a huge chunk of your paycheck to a for-profit insurance company.
No, no, no...it's the fault of these evil little "anchor babies."
Seriously? How stupid do you have to be to believe this crap?
And what's worse? Boehner knows that while they try to hammer this wedge a little further into our collective psyche, the GOP website touts that the Republican Party was responsible for creating the 14th Amendment.
Although the Republican National Committee touts the 14th amendment as one of the GOP’s brightest “accomplishments,” many high-profile Republicans are now trying to appeal to their far-right base by calling for repealing parts of it. Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC), John Cornyn (TX), Jon Kyl (AZ), John McCain (AZ), Tom Coburn (TX), Mitch McConnell (KY), Chuck Grassley (IA) and Jeff Sessions (AL) all back holding hearings on the issue.
And now Boehner joins them, clamoring to destroy one of their "greatest achievements."
