Some of them are acting like Leftists:
The strange thing about the Republican members in the Gang of Eight debate is that to ram through immigration legislation, they and their supporters are beginning to adopt the same sort of tactics that we have seen used by the Left during the fights over Obamacare and gun control: obfuscate the issue by imprecise vocabulary and ahistorical allusions; demonize your opponents with all sorts of crazy accusations of quasi-tolerance of “slavery” to abortion; create a false sort of urgency (we are supposed to pass this very minute the huge and mostly unread immigration bill in the manner of the huge and unread Obamacare bill); and speak loftily of principles and humanitarianism when the issue is mostly driven by electoral politics and demography.
It’s quite tiresome, even infuriating, regardless of the source. Of course, I’ve never been a Republican. This is one reason why.
when the issue is mostly driven by electoral politics and demography
Expecting politicians of any party or ideological stripe to act in a way that is not mostly driven by electoral politics is folly.
Hey, if it works for the fascisti… But I’m with you.
Standing on dignity, and losing, is probably not the best approach. If we have to adopt the tactics of the enemy to accomplish our goals then, so long as those tactics don’t sabotage the goals themselves, we do what we must. Politics has never been a particularly gentlemanly activity.
Anti-immigration conservatives reacted the same way to the recent bombing as leftists did to the Sandy Hook shooting.