In another sign that the right is not by any means united in its reaction to the President’s immigration policy shift, Bill Kristol all but endorsed the idea completely this morning on Fox News Sunday:
KRISTOL: I think its a sensible policy. I think it would be much better if that were the law of the land, and I think the president’s pushing the edges of prosecutorial discretion in saying we’re not going to enforce a law in order to leave these people in the country. But I think it’s the right thing to do, actually.
Meanwhile, over on Face The Nation, Mitt Romney again refused to commit to repealing the policy should he become President, instead concentrating his argument on the idea that the change should be made permanent via legislation:
(CBS News) President Obama’s new policy allowing qualified children of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States is a short-term solution to a long-term problem, and was driven in “large part” by politics, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Sunday on “Face the Nation.”
“I don’t know why [the president] feels stop-gap measures are the right way to go,” Romney told Bob Schieffer in an interview from the campaign trail in Pennsylvania.
“With regards to these kids who were brought in by their parents through no fault of their own, there needs to be a long-term solution so they know what their status is,” Romney continued. “This is something Congress has been working on, and I thought we were about to see some proposals brought forward by Sen. Marco Rubio and by Democrat senators, but the president jumped in and said I’m going to take this action – he called it a stop-gap measure.”
The former Massachusetts governor wouldn’t elaborate on the fate of the policy should he take office next year. Pressed by Schieffer on whether he planned to repeal it, Romney said it would be “overtaken by events, if you will, by virtue of my putting in place a long-term solution.”
Welcome to political reality, Republicans.
