Because of the Democrats’ decision to make immigration a priority.
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) decision to walk away from Senate talks on climate change and energy legislation – at least for now – has prompted the measure’s remaining architects to scuttle Monday’s planned unveiling of the bill.
[snip]
Graham is upset over Democratic plans to take up immigration legislation this year – he accuses Democratic leaders of pushing forward immigration “haphazardly” and calls it an election-year political gambit.
Of course, it’s an open question about how broken up Senate Democrats really are to not have to take up that particular piece of pandering to religious fanaticism just quite yet. It will be also interesting to see how this will affect the immigration bill debate: considering that even John McCain is sounding like he’s had a Road to Damascus (or road to the Arizona primary) moment, it is going to be very weird if Graham ends up supporting the immigration bill.
OK, let’s unpack that for a little, because I already know some of the objections. Yes, there is a nontrivial portion of the GOP that doesn’t trust either Senator McCain or Senator Graham at all, and a somewhat larger one that doesn’t trust them on immigration issues. They also have valid reasons for that mistrust. I merely suggest that those people consider: first, the truly alarming way that the security situation in Mexico has degenerated since the last time immigration was an active issue (some examples from the last day here and here); and second, the truly insulting way that Democrats rammed through a decidedly unpopular health care bill through Congress*. If they honestly take those two points under consideration, and still conclude that betrayal is likely… well, at least they honestly took those two points under consideration. See Say Anything for a contrary take on this issue, in fact; I don’t agree with Rob on Graham’s motivations, but I see why he’s come to his conclusions.
Moe Lane
*The second may be the more important one: Senators are not used to being treated rudely by their members, and they especially do not appreciate being treated rudely at the orders of the Executive Branch.
Crossposted to RedState.
I don’t for a second believe McCain’s had a ‘Road to Damascus’ moment, but I do think he’ll pander to the primary voters and oppose things this year. It’s fairly obvious where McCain’s beliefs lie, just look at him in, oh, every year when he wasn’t running for national office or in a competitive race at home. And the other years show his ability to jettison those beliefs to pander.
Still, pandering some of the time is better than being a liberal Republican all of the time, I guess, so we should take it when we can get it (while looking for replacements).