Yep, probably.

This point has been made many, many, many times elsewhere this week, but let me put out a little BOLO of my own just in case attention on our side of the aisle is starting to wander too far from immigration. There are two theories on how Scandalmania might affect O’s second-term agenda. Theory one: [...]

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"I would call it a cover-up."

It’s a cliché, of course, but it really is true: in Washington, every scandal has a crime and a coverup. The ongoing debate about the attack on the United States facility in Benghazi where four Americans were killed, and the Obama Administration’s response to it, is no exception. For a long time, it seemed like [...]

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Trillions.

An exhaustive study by the Heritage Foundation has found that after amnesty, current unlawful immigrants would receive $9.4 trillion in government benefits and services and pay more than $3 trillion in taxes over their lifetimes. That leaves a net fiscal deficit (benefits minus taxes) of $6.3 trillion. That deficit would have to be financed by [...]

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Borders.

President Obama said there is one thing he absolutely won’t compromise on in immigration reform: a pathway to citizenship. But as for what he would be willing to give up, he won’t say… The president praised the bill produced by the Gang of Eight as a “good piece of work” that doesn’t include everything Obama [...]

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Maverick.

On the one hand, I want to dismiss this as mischievous shinola-stirring by lefty Bill Scher and righty Matt Lewis. On the other hand, it seems … all too plausible, doesn’t it? Ted Cruz hasn’t showed his cards on foreign policy yet but if he ends up tilting isolationist too, you could apply this same [...]

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“I don’t know that there is an issue that has generated more heat internally in the Republican conference.”

Via Dave Weigel, who makes a fair point: How many of the RINOs who were yelling at Cruz at caucus lunches objected to his filibuster on strategic grounds, not because they wanted gun control to pass? That was the WSJ’s big objection, that Republicans had to make sure to force vulnerable red-state Democrats like Pryor [...]

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Seeing red.

Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists. Even the Supreme Military Council, the umbrella rebel organization whose formation the West had hoped would sideline radical groups, is stocked with commanders who want to infuse Islamic law into a future Syrian government. [...]

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Yep.

Syria and the Tsarnaevs: It’s an intelligence showcase for the Sunday shows this morning. House Intel Committee members Mike Rogers and Dutch Rupperberger will be on ABC, Senate Intel Committee member Saxby Chambliss will be on CBS, and Homeland Security Committee member Mike McCaul will hit Fox to explain why the FBI missed Tamerlan Tsarnaev [...]

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Okay.

I can’t embed the clip but you can watch it here starting at around 42:00. The Daily Caller has the key quotes. A challenge: Sketch out the process for me by which Democrats, with precious red-state seats in the balance, decide it’d be a good idea to try to choke down another vote on guns [...]

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Escalation.

Remember Tuesday’s post about Obama’s “red line” in Syria having been crossed? I’m treating this as circumstantial evidence that it’s true and that the Pentagon and CIA are now huddling over what to do about it. Need more evidence? Hagel apparently had a “long conversation” with Obama at the White House yesterday about Syria, the [...]

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It begins.

Even TPM seems incredulous. The left’s supposed to wait until after Republicans help pass amnesty to start shrieking that they’re Latino-hating racists who’ll never change. Enter American Bridge, a prominent Democratic super PAC devoted to tracking Republican candidates and gathering opposition research. The group is out with a dossier Monday entitled “Barriers to Reform: The [...]

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Change.

Just Toomey, Collins, Kirk, and Maverick John McCain so far, but expect a few more to flip soon. Jeff Flake’s on the fence but he’s probably worried about voting no on gun control across the board when fellow Arizonan Gabby Giffords is campaigning hard against it in the media. (Since McCain’s apparently voting yes, Flake [...]

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Hmmmm.

Here’s a better question. Should the GOP filibuster the gun-control bill? Johnny Isakson says no: “I’ll speak for myself on that question,” Isakson said on CBS’s “This Morning” when asked about the filibuster. “There’s no ambivalence on the gun issue, I think everyone knows what the issues are. We have not seen the final draft [...]

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Immigration.

McCain, Graham, and Schumer: Three of the four biggest members of the Gang of Eight are on this morning to talk up the benefits of “earned amnesty.” Who’s missing? Hmmmmmmm. The line-up via National Journal: Meet the Press hosts Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Face the Nation hosts Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Charles Schumer, [...]

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Gaps.

All tried and true border hawks should be concerned. Right, Maverick? LA Times: “Radar shows U.S. border security gaps” latimes.com/news/nationwor… — John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) April 4, 2013 The drones aren’t in wide enough use yet to know what the numbers look like in other spots along the border but that situation may soon be remedied. [...]

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Secrets.

Initially it sounded like Pat Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, was prepared to put the brakes on, but his last letter to Jeff Sessions suggested otherwise. We’ve already had hearings on immigration over the years, he said. Granted, not on this particular bill, which might, in substantial part, actually end up being enacted [...]

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Enforcement.

No one has video of this glorious moment in the annals of border security? C’mon. I’m trying to figure out why he would tweet this and I can’t settle on a theory. Maybe because he thinks it shows that the “goddamned fence” won’t keep illegals out, in which case there’s no point in expanding the [...]

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Amnesty.

No worries. She says the border’s already “as secure as it’s ever been,” even though her department has given up trying to measure that. Marco Rubio recently claimed that 10 million new illegals would cross the border over the next decade if there’s no new guest-worker program in place. Maybe Napolitano could quantify border control [...]

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Intervention.

And so the effort by the Senate’s super-hawks to mainstream Rand Paul’s isolationism by contrast continues apace. “We are extremely disturbed by reports that chemical weapons have been used today in Syria. President Obama has said that the use of weapons of mass destruction by Bashar Assad is a ‘red line’ for him that ‘will [...]

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"That was inappropriate."

The key bit comes at 2:00. We all knew McCain was taking a lot of heat politically for dumping on Paul after his filibuster but I never would have guessed it was enough to squeeze an apology out of him. Good lord. How many times in his life, do you suppose, has Maverick apologized to [...]

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Credentials.

Via Ace, skip to 17:00 for the money line. Judging from Drudge, against all odds on a day when both Rubio and Paul spoke, Perry seems to have walked away with the killer soundbite from CPAC. I don’t buy his argument, though. Obama won in 2008 because the public was exhausted with Bush and he [...]

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"I don't think we need to name any names, do we?"

If you can’t watch it all, pick it up at 16:00 as the big call for a new Republican Party begins. Very rarely do CPAC speeches surprise but Paul’s had a chance just because one never knows where his ongoing libertarian/conservative straddle might take him. An overt pitch to leave marijuana policy to the states? [...]

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Probationary.

I’m … not sure this is news. The chief objection from border hawks to the bipartisan plan announced in January was that it would grant probationary legal status to illegals on the first day, immediately upon passage. A path to citizenship would, if Rubio gets his way, be granted later after there have been measurable [...]

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Choosing sides.

Benjamin Wittes, a national security scholar at the Brookings Institution who has written extensively about drones, said he thought Mr. Paul’s marathon was a “dumb publicity stunt.” But he said it had touched a national nerve because the technology, with its myriad implications, had already deeply penetrated the culture… “It’s not merely the black helicopter [...]

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War.

The Senate has the power to restrain the executive branch — and my filibuster was the beginning of the fight to restore a healthy balance of powers. The president still needs to definitively say that the United States will not kill American noncombatants. The Constitution’s Fifth Amendment applies to all Americans; there are no exceptions. [...]

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