BLOG SOUP - This is ridiculous: According to a new Washington Post poll, 70 percent of Americans support a path to citizenship in comprehensive immigration reform, including 60 percent of Republicans.
Those results are in line with a slew of polls showing that earned citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants is a popular policy.
But a funny thing happened when Republicans were asked an identical question about citizenship with Obama’s name attached. Republicans hated the idea: Support dropped from 60 percent to just 39 percent.
I know that Democrats are hypocritical when it comes to supporting Obama and the Democrats doing something they previously opposed when a Republican did it. But I'm unaware of them opposing something simply because a Republican supports it.
I could be wrong. But if they behave with similar irrationality then they're idiots too.
There's an awful lot we genuinely disagree about in this country and it's often passionately felt. We have different philosophies and values. I accept that this is an ideological fight and I don't think it's democratic for our leaders to form phony bipartisan alliances that don't accurately reflect the wishes of the people who put them in office.
I was no fan of Ronald Reagan. I followed him from his days as governor of California and really believed he was a menace. But I would never have been against something simply because he was for it. Why? Because that's just stupid.
(Digby is the pseudonym of progressive political blogger Heather Parton from Santa Monica, California who founded the blog Hullabaloo … where this commentary first appeared.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 14
Pub: Feb 15, 2013
