{"id":1458,"date":"2016-03-03T21:40:34","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T02:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1458"},"modified":"2016-03-03T21:40:34","modified_gmt":"2016-03-04T02:40:34","slug":"fake-conservative-media-personalities-who-supported-amnesty-though-now-deny-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/03\/fake-conservative-media-personalities-who-supported-amnesty-though-now-deny-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Fake “Conservative” Media Personalities Who Supported Amnesty–Though Now Deny It"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a recent article<\/a> in the New York Times, <\/em>on the evening of March 9, 2011, Rush Limbaugh met privately with Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, Fox\u2019s chairman and chief executive, Roger Ailes, Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer, and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to discuss\u2014you guessed it\u2014\u201ccomprehensive immigration reform,\u201d i.e. amnesty.<\/em><\/p>\n

Two years later, after meeting with Schumer and Marco Rubio, Murdoch and Ailes agreed to allow the senators to shop their Gang of Eight immigration plan around Fox News. To win over the GOP voters, the vast majority of whom still needed convincing that amnestying 11 million or so illegal immigrants was a good idea, it was agreed that Rubio would have to exploit his warm relationships with certain \u201cconservative\u201d talk radio hosts.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the Times <\/em>expose, Limbaugh<\/a>, Sean Hannity<\/a>, and Mark Levin<\/a> insist that they never <\/em>supported amnesty. Did they?<\/p>\n

There are three definitions of \u201camnesty.\u201d<\/p>\n

First, according to the Rubio\/Gang of Eight definition of it, while \u201camnesty\u201d places immigrants on a \u201cpathway to citizenship,\u201d it affixes no penalties for having initially violated the law. Since Rubio and his seven colleagues attach penalties in exchange for citizenship, Rubio swears that he never endorsed \u201camnesty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second, there is the Ted Cruz definition of \u201camnesty.\u201d Here, the latter is a policy whereby illegal immigrants will be made citizens. <\/em>Since Cruz only ever supported (and for years and years<\/a>) granting illegals legal status<\/em>\u2014but not <\/em>citizenship\u2014Cruz claims that he always opposed \u201camnesty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third meaning of \u201camnesty\u201d is that which is held by millions and millions of hard working, taxpaying, law abiding American citizens. Here, amnesty\u201d consists simply and solely in allowing violators of our laws who had no right to be in the country to remain so.<\/p>\n

The \u201csolution\u201d to amnesty so considered is to remove the trespassers from the premises.<\/p>\n

Slick bureaucrats with law degrees can finesse language and bicker over distinctions without differences (\u201clegalization\u201d versus \u201ccitizenship,\u201d etc.) all day long. But to those whose economic and social well-being has been deleteriously impacted by the relentless onslaught of illegal immigration, all of this is the worst kind of sophistry.<\/p>\n

Nor does it matter to such folks whether illegals are \u201cbrought out of the shadows\u201d by executive order or Congress, Democrats or Republicans.<\/p>\n

Nor does it concern them whether bills designed to legalize the law-breakers contain promises <\/em>to secure the border. In fact, even if their elected representatives actually proceed to secure the border, doing so is the federal government\u2019s responsibility: It is non-negotiable, something that should never be conditioned upon anything, much less allowing millions of aliens to invade and remain within the country.<\/p>\n

The third definition of amnesty is the only sound one.<\/p>\n

So, if Rubio and the Gang of Eight were in favor of amnesty, as the foresaid talk radio hosts appear to now believe, then so too were they<\/em> in favor of amnesty a few years back.<\/p>\n

In fact, on Thursday, November 12, 2012, just days after Mitt Romney lost the presidential election to Barack Obama and two months before Rubio began exploiting talk radio to push for amnesty, Sean Hannity came out for a \u201cpathway to citizenship<\/a>,\u201d claiming to have \u201cevolved\u201d on the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get rid of the immigration issue altogether,\u201d he told his radio audience. \u201cIt\u2019s simple to me to fix it. I think you control the border first. You create a pathway<\/em> for those people that are here. You don\u2019t say you\u2019ve got to go home<\/em>. And that is a position that I\u2019ve evolved on<\/em>. Because, you know what, it\u2019s got to resolved. The majority of people here, if some people have criminal records you can send them home, but if people are here, law-abiding, participating for years, their kids are born here, you know,<\/em> it\u2019s first secure the border, pathway to citizenship<\/em>, done, whatever little penalties you want to put in there, if you want<\/em>, and it\u2019s done\u201d (emphases added).<\/p>\n

Notice, unlike<\/em> Rubio and the Gang of Eight who at least sounded somewhat tough about affixing penalties to illegals, Hannity didn\u2019t sound very concerned at all about doing any such thing. The Washington Post <\/em>remarked at the time:<\/p>\n

\u201cHannity is a pundit, not a politician, but for such a high-profile conservative [this] is a notable shift. A pathway to citizenship for all law-abiding undocumented immigrants goes beyond the DREAM Act opposed by most Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Post <\/em>quotes Ana Navarro, a pro-amnesty Republican consultant who tweeted: \u201cMonkeys evolved into humans. Hannity has evolved on immigration. Keeping hope alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannity now expresses regret over having<\/a> \u201cevolved\u201d on this topic. Presumably, then, he has devolved. Yet he was right there with the Gang of Eight even before anyone had heard of the Gang of Eight.<\/p>\n

In January of 2013, Levin had Rubio on his show<\/a>. He said to Rubio of his plan that it \u201cis very fascinating to me.\u201d Levin continued: \u201cI am going to take a much closer look at this and I am going to try to keep an open mind about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the interview, Levin assured his listeners that Rubio is \u201ca thinker,\u201d \u201ca problem-solver<\/em>,\u201d and \u201ca conservative<\/em>.\u201d Rubio was right in claiming that \u201cwe\u2019ve got to address this problem,\u201d that what we currently have is \u201ca de facto amnesty [.]\u201d Levin said that when Rubio described our current circumstances in these terms \u201ca light bulb [went] off.\u201d Admitting to being \u201ca little slow,\u201d Levin declared that \u201che\u2019s right, we do have de facto amnesty<\/em>.\u201d Levin concluded that this <\/em>was \u201cexactly why Obama wants to really do nothing\u201d (emphases added).<\/p>\n

Levin also commended Rubio\u2019s proposals<\/a> for being \u201cmore conservative than the 1986 Simpson-Mazzoli bill that my hero, my former boss, Ronald Reagan signed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levin came to reject the Gang of Eight plan. Yet he rejected it on the grounds that \u201cthe border is NOT secured, and Obama cannot be trusted, period\u2026\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Note, Levin had no objections to a \u201cpathway to citizenship.\u201d He just didn\u2019t trust Obama to hold up his end of the agreement.<\/p>\n

On January 29, 2013, Rubio was on Rush Limbaugh\u2019s show<\/a>. Rubio\u2019s proposal to place the millions of illegal aliens in America on a \u201cpathway to citizenship\u201d Limbaugh found \u201cadmirable and noteworthy.\u201d Rubio, he continued, deserved to be lauded for not just \u201crecognizing reality,\u201d but \u201ctrumpeting\u201d and \u201cshouting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only problem that Rush seemed to have with the Gang of Eight\u2019s plan \u201cis that the Democrats aren\u2019t interested in border security, that they want this influx.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Levin, it isn\u2019t the pathway to citizenship to which Limbaugh objected. He just didn\u2019t trust Obama and the Democrats to abide by the terms of the deal.<\/p>\n

The Gang of Eight is now notorious. Yet not too long ago, our \u201cconservative\u201d talking heads on the airwaves were gushing over Rubio.<\/p>\n

And they were of like mind with him in desiring \u201ca pathway to citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to a recent article in the New York Times, on the evening of March 9, 2011, Rush Limbaugh met privately with Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, Fox\u2019s chairman and chief executive, Roger Ailes, Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer, and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to discuss\u2014you guessed it\u2014\u201ccomprehensive immigration reform,\u201d i.e. amnesty. 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