Six days ago, President Obama unveiled a new immigration policy, which included using the executive branch's prosecutorial discretion to implement many of the goals of the DREAM Act. Since then, Mitt Romney has been pressed repeatedly for his position on the new policy.
Apparently, the Republican presidential hopeful is feeling a little shy.
Over the weekend, Romney dodged the issue in a CBS interview. The candidate has also dodged reporters' questions all week. On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he intends to take his cues from Romney, but Romney still wouldn't say anything. Yesterday, the Romney campaign cut short a press teleconference, rather than trying to deal with the question they didn't want to answer.
Today, Romney scheduled a big speech on immigration policy, finally giving him the chance to make his position clear. Unfortunately, the Republican still won't give a straight answer.
In remarks he delivered in Florida before Latino political leaders, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney once again declined to answer if he would overturn President Obama's executive action to no longer deport qualified young illegal immigrants.
Instead, Romney explained that he would work to craft a long-term solution dealing with illegal immigration.
"Some people have asked if I will let stand the president's executive action," Romney said at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials' conference. "The answer is that I will put in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the president's temporary measure."
You've heard of a non-apology apology? This is a non-policy policy. What's Romney's position? It's to come up with some other position that will "replace and supersede" Obama's policy. Does Romney agree with Obama's policy? He won't say. What will the new "long-term solution" include? He won't say that, either.
Just about everyone -- congressional Republicans, voters, reporters, et al -- are waiting for Romney to step up and show some leadership. The GOP candidate isn't quite up to the task.
Leave a Comment:
Romney leaves blanks wherever he goes. He also is not shooting straight either and he is not playing poker with a full deck. He just wouldn't make a very good cowboy.He's up to his neck in it.
People have complained that the last several Presidents were either "policy wonks" or lacking in "the vision thing."
Romney has transcended those problems: he's all about vision, and he hires wonks to fill in the blanks for him.
Maybe he needs to be hiring people, because his blanks are still empty (including the one where his principles should be).
This isn't a surprise. One thing Mitt is not ready to do is expose what plans he has (if he actually has them) to public discussion and scrutiny. He wants to be the mystery box, enticing with the possibility that it could contain everything you want, and hope that encourages the easily-fooled to vote for him. He's a cardboard cutout of a man, and he has my contempt and pity.
I don't know who is advising Romney but Romney's advisors are engaging in political malpractice. He is unable to articulate a popular position on any important subject. He routinely lets the President jump out front. He never shows leadership or even something that might be mistaken for leadership.
Look at the recent polls. Dig into them. Not even Chuck Todd can make a case that Romney is going to do anything but lose big this November. If the Romney campaign were a reality show it would be cancelled.
You forget (or don't realize). Money can buy a lot. Romney is a horrible candidate and money has bought him to within a few percentage points of Obama. Money can also buy a lot of ignorance on the part of our stupid GOP voters (& some Independents) and can buy a lot of IGNORE-ance, as in ignoring the facts, ignoring what Romney has said in the past, etc. on the part of our media.
You're right. Romney should be like 30-40+ points behind Obama but money buys you a lot, even if you're stupid, even if you have no intention of telling people your intentions or you switch your positions so much that no one really knows what you'll do.
It's a $$win$$ $$win$$ for Romney, at this point, because our press is so complicit with his nonsense.
I think they bet all their money on that being able to win him the Presidency I just can't see them wasting that kind of money and not getting something in return. Who does that? That's a huge price to pay for nothing. These people really like to gamble they haven't really stopped even when they gambled away all of our pensions.
That's not true: he's totally clear that taxes and spending on the poor and middle class (including on teachers, police, and firefighters) must be reduced. This is a very popular position among his social and business circle.
More important, he's totally clear that the current occupant of the White House has no right to be there and if he ever visits again should use the service entrance. That's extremely popular among Republicans, and they're the ones who count.
So, his social circle wants to get the money that is going to be saved by allowing some of our hardest working citizens to fend for themselves when he puts them out on the street. Adding to our already growing number of impoverished.He then is going to use the same failed model that Nixon proposed, in getting rid of the Unions and hire inexperienced workers and make them responsible for teaching our children and saving our fellow citizens from burning buildings and putting guns in the hands of rookies who are real anxious to beat up on some of the less fortunate who have addictions.This is what Romney wants to continue? Nixons' failed policies that got us into this mess, Did I get this right. What plans do they have with all this saved money? Their pockets or their already inflated bank accounts. Perhaps Buffy needs another horse to dress up.Corporations don't need saving, The American people are the ones who need help now. We are desperately trying to get out of a depression. The high price tags on everything from healthcare to electricity needs to be lowered in order for us to live. The hell with the 2nd amendment what about the part in the Constitution where it states, the pursuit of happiness. Just throw us a few crumbs once in awhile that makes us happy.
I understood his statement.
He's going to repeal and replace. It's right here:
He's worthless. He knows what he wants to do but, he hasn't articulated his method, therefore, we're'assaulted with these crap responses all the time.
You would think by now they would come up with another method of trying to deceive The American People. What lengths they go to just to not have to work. How boring they must be, even in social situations. They don't even know how to debate amongst themselves. Don't hurt each other now, you might need a favor down the road.
Romney is saying "If you want to peek (actually he's saying "peak") under the skirt, you have to marry me."
Don't know about you, but I won't buy a pig in a poke.
Apparently, talking without actually saying anything is his forte, or maybe even that is fake and it's really just his speechifying writers. Who knows and who cares? Not me. There is nothing he can NOT say that will make me even listen let alone believe!
Did you mean pig till I poke?
So, Dream Act or no Dream Act? Repeal Executive Order? -- ????
Ryan Plan- yes OK- http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/paul-ryans-budget-insummary/2011/03/28/AFnwrZkC_blog.html
yikes
Anything else besides general I'm not Obama? -- Not really
We'll let you know after the election.
For a man of supposedly great political talent and instincts Mitt Romney has shown a complete inability to get his approach to Hispanic voters right or give them any reason whatsoever to ever vote for the Republican Party again. Romney's campaign bills a speech meant to offer details on his immigration policy and his position on the president's long-overdue shift in deportations yet the candidate still refuses to take a stand on this issue and will not offer any specifics until he is actually elected. What hubris! How can any Latino voter ever support Romney when he apparently still believes the racist Arizona law that legalizes the detention and deportation of any Hispanic caught without a briefcase full of papers is the "model" for immigration reform? http://www.sunstateactivist.org
Yeah, what would make them think that our border is open for business? They probably don't even know they are stepping into The U.S. Alot of them don't understand English, they are looking for a way out from where they are and somebody told them that America was The Promise Land, the home of the free and the brave or We may have invited them when they read somewhere, Bring me your poor.....
Aka "notpology."
I can't WAIT for the debates...the President will bury Romney.
You forget that our inadequate press will use false equivalence to even the playing field. Even if Obama eats Romney alive and Romney lies through his teeth, and can't do anything but regurgitate talking points that say nothing about what he'll do, our press will turn it into a 'he said, he said' debate.
They'll look to the polls to determine who 'wins' and won't call Romney on his lies until after the debate if they even get around to that. The press relinquishes it's responsibility to polls of uninformed people who tell you nothing about what was said, what was true, or who really performed in the debates. This happens in every debate that I've seen in the last 20+ years.
It's pathetic. Our press needs to do their jobs better and they should hold people accountable for what they say and how well or poorly they perform in these debates. This is a high stakes deal here and the press falls apart at the first sign of having to do their jobs.
Chris Hayes just wrote a book about how we should be holding people more accountable and what it does to our country when we don't do so.
While the press may try to spin it into a he said, he said debate, they will not need to call Romney out on his lies. This is what Obama is preparing for. It has been made no secret by MSNBC or the Democrats that they know he is lying but the Republican public does not (or they are just choosing to ignore it). What the Independents or undecided voters will see are three debates. Just like 2008, they will be plastered on EVERY major channel so many more will watch them than those who are relegated to MSNBC or FOX News. This means that when Romney comes out with an answer, Obama will be waiting with the quote and time when Willard contradicted himself. I cannot wait for the debates to see how Romney will rebute Obama when he is called out with exact quotes showing that his response in the debate was a lie. No $10,000 bets anymore lying Romney.
I could do some real speculating on this issue with Holder, but I am going to refrain from that. But I will say one thing; I do see some real chicken feathers hanging from the mouths of Republicans as the fox is in the hen house. But if the Republicans really want to get down to the case about these guns in Mexico, why are they not subpoenaing Bush and Chenney to ask them some real serious questions for once to get to the real truth.
Of course, put through the GOPrism, this translates to "Romney refuses to kowtow to librulz' demands to explain immigration policy." And do you know what that makes him? Do ya? Huh? Doyadoyadoya? Do ya know what that makes him?
"Mavericky."
After all, why should he explain anything to liberals? THEY don't deserve to know anything, they're not worthy to understand his policy that will absolutely work, and they'd be too stupid to get it even if you DID tell 'em! High five! Wait, don't want to hurt my hand, Five-Hundred Five! (That's a high-five while a stack of 25 20-dollar bills are taped to your hand to cushion the impact. Also makes it easier to spot fellow obnoxious Republicans in crowded areas).
Yeah, because the whole "maverick" thing worked so well for McCain, right?
Palin likes getting all "Mavericky" .
Jenni88 is SO correct - as I have said before, I cannot wait until they start debating, unless somehow Romney weasles his way out of the debates too. There is no way he will do well against Barack one on one. I just hope the moderators have good, cerebral and relevant questions to pose.
This is his plan. He takes two opposing positions so you don't get surprised at what he does in office because he has no opinion/agenda. He is the first 100% for sale candidate, only and solely purchased by private interests in a way we have never seen. He has no real positions because he only has the positions of those who pay enough.
If Romney has his way, this country will start to look like a bad scene from the movie "Seven". It's hard to believe that the GOP actually want Apocalypse now.
She thinks she's disappointed with him on immigration, she hasn't seen anything yet! People will be immigrating alright, to other countries.
I don't know why people keep saying they're waiting for the coward to take a stand on any given policy... He already gave his position on these policies during the republican primary, all you have to do is go back and look at the video....
The only different is he's no longer in the republican primary so the gutless wonder don't have the nerve to repeat his position because the real leaders of the republican party told him keep his mouth shut on these issues and we'll take care of the rest (faux news, rwnj, phony corp. media aka Candy C, David G, George W, Steve S., etc.) Karl R, Koch Bros. etc..... So the result is a empty suit who flops where ever he goes, which his crowds are such dismal failure that you only see close-p shots until he or they can bus in more people to his speeches to span the whole area/room.....
Those Latinos at that conference was waiting on to hear a leader with a vision.... And all they got was a fake want-a-be with an empty speech full of platitudes, hate and lies.... And this is what msm is prompting up as a opponent for Pres. Obama......
Yes, our Etch-A-Sketch is broke and on it remain the images and words that Romney has ever said.I'm sure the Democratics are looking at Mitt's Mendacitys right now.
Two points, Mitt.
First, stopgap measures do not prevent formulating long-term solutions. In fact, temporary measures enacted in the near term can provide room in which to craft long-term solutions.
Secondly, it is completely idiotic to criticize Obama for not having enacted a long-term solutions when it is your party which has been assiduously blocking solutions to all of our real problems, while going gangbusters on fictional problems, including that of immigration reform. Remember, immigration reform requires legislation to fully implement, and legislation is the responsibility of Congress.
Rachel, you do your viewers a great disservice when you incorrectly refer to ANTI ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION laws as anti immigration. That's mixing apples and oranges. I know of no instance where those against ILLEGAL immigration are against LEGAL immigration. If you know of any example of that, please let your viewers know.
I am against illegal immigration. I'm against anyone who knowingly breaks any of our laws. I keep hearing that we're a nation of laws but apparently we can pick and choose which ones we will obey and which ones we will ignore.
We had an anti illegal immigration bill passed and signed into law in 1986. Except for the amnesty provision, it has been ignored by President's of both parties. As a result, we have 12 to 20 million illegal aliens in this country providing bigger profits for businesses that employ them at the expense of the American taxpayer. The 1986 law had provisions for penalties against those who hired illegal aliens. Please inform me and the rest of your viewers how many have been prosecuted. Again, I know of no one.
Ask MALDEF and other Hispanic groups why they support illegal aliens. For humanitarian reasons? If that's the case why aren't they supporting illegal aliens from China, India, Russia and other countryies. Don't they deserve humanitarian concerns? No, they turn their backs on their fellow citizens and their country to aid and abet those Hispanics who have consciously made the decision to sneak into our country, not to make it better but to take from it.
So, please, call it what it is.... anti illegal immigration law.
The illegal part is what is being debated. Most of these people who are immigrating to the U.S. are trying to save their lives and that of their children, they could give a rats' ars if they are breaking any American laws. Would you?
Don, no. The canard that your xenophobia is simply about illegal immigration, rather than immigration period, is not credible to anyone who pays attention to the rhetoric, antics and legislation coming from your side. So, give it up. You're fooling nobody but yourself.