Oh, this is entertaining, in its way: “More than half a dozen state governors have come out against President Obama’s plans to relocate several thousand Syrian refugees within the United States.” Link is not to Think Progress; it’s to Memeorandum, which will lead you to TP. Because I feel like being That Person, tonight. Sorry. …Well, no.
Anyway, I guess that it’s technically true: ‘at least 20‘ is certainly more than ‘half a dozen’ (note that I will link directly to FiveThirtyEight Politics). Now I suppose that some of those governors announced their planned Syrian refugee policy after the article got published, but honestly: the writing was on the wall for this one. There was going to be a strong push-back on accepting refugees, particularly since we know that Islamic State is using forged passports in its operations. And it’s going to be a particular problem for Democrats up for election next year. Like, oh, Maggie Hassan (running for Senate) and Steve Bullock (running for re-election); and, surprisingly enough, both of them are making all sorts of noises about having to be careful and better safe than sorry and yadda yadda yadda.
On the bright side, the President probably doesn’t have to worry about many more defections. After all, most gubernatorial elections are in the midterms and the pool of Democrats running Republican states is… small. As is the pool of Democratic governors in general, honestly.
Moe Lane
PS: The President will never admit to losing this fight. But don’t be surprised if it… falls off of the front page. I mean, trouble with the paperwork isn’t really a sexy story, is it?
*I know that some people think that Barack Obama would like it that way, too. …No. Oh, I mean, yes he probably should; but Barack Obama never likes it when somebody doesn’t let him have everything that he wants, the second that he wants it. So there’s that.
A few thoughts:
ISIS has transgressed one of the great and ancient prohibitions: that of breaking hospitality with bloodshed.
And now we are seeing why it was a great and ancient prohibition.
That some cannot see it for what it is — maddening!
Unfortunately, our Governor is still welcoming them with open arms.
Despite being a Republican in a state where Republicans hold a supermajority in both houses, and all the executive positions.
My governor decided to join the protest.
He weasel worded it, but he definitely sees which way the wind is blowing.
Unfortunately, there really isn’t much that the governors can do legally to prevent the resettlement of refugees in their borders, so I’d recommend taking a different tack.
.
Pass a set of laws in each state requiring that anyone facilitating refugee resettlement must be licensed by the state, pass a criminal background check, be fingerprinted, etc., and file monthly public reports on precisely how many refugees were resettled where. Also, I’d make them do feasibility studies on each community that gets refugees in advance proving that the local infrastructure is available to handle the influx, and require it to be publicly available for comment 90 days.
The Democrats will now try to unplug from Obama as best they can while maintaining as much semblance of dignity as they can. And it is so not dignified to gnaw off your arm.
OT: Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper – I see that guy and I feel like I ought to hand him a dollar and ask him not to spend it all on drink. Is the Hobo-American community really that strong in Colorado that he could get elected?