Although the congressional standoff over the Department of Homeland Security is being framed as a debate over national security, it is, at its core, the latest example of the GOP divide over how to tackle immigration reform. For a party that is already facing demographic challenges and shrinking Electoral College […] Read more »
Remembrance of Shutdowns Past
… It’s fine, of course, to employ legislative strategies to encourage the other side to compromise or to score political points and curry favor with the voters. But the trick is to hold out for the best deal possible while at the same time looking serious, thoughtful, measured and reasonable. […] Read more »
What Americans Actually Think About Immigration
On immigration reform, rhetoric has often been out of sync with public opinion. Despite roughly three-quarters of Americans supporting the goals behind President Obama’s executive action on immigration, Obama’s new immigration plan has run into repeated Republican roadblocks. CONT. Robert P. Jones, Public Religion Research Institute Read more »
10 Things the American Values Atlas Teaches Us About America’s Religious Landscape
Today we launch the American Values Atlas, a new, online tool that lets users see how Americans in each region, state, and major metro area feel about immigration, same-sex marriage, and abortion—in addition to seeing their religious, political, and demographic attributes. … [H]ere are the top ten things the AVA […] Read more »
Shut it down – again
… President Obama decided that, in carrying out the laws of the United States, he is going to focus on deporting dangerous felons, not grandmothers with families who are citizens. Irate at the notion that grandmas are being coddled, while felons are given a hard time, the GOP is bound […] Read more »
Many Republicans gambling that a new shutdown would not hurt their party
… Some Republican stalwarts fear another government shutdown, even a partial one, could deliver a deep political wound to the party. … But buoyed by a Texas federal judge’s order last week to temporarily halt the president’s immigration plan, other Republicans are betting heavily that this time things will end […] Read more »