I think Newt’s edging into the GOP danger zone here on immigration. He really did say he’d provide a path to legality, though not citizenship, to a substantial number of the current undocumented population. Bachmann called him on it. And he denied he said it. But Bachmann, I think, was right. He did say it.
Now, that’s an immensely logical thing for Newt to say — that you’re not going to be uprooting and separating families who’ve been here for a quarter century.
But this is toxic in GOP primary politics. It helped sink Rick Perry.
And then he went the extra mile, suggesting that opposing his position is inhumane …
I’m prepared to take the heat for saying, let’s be humane in enforcing the law without giving them citizenship but by finding a way to create legality so that they are not separated from their families.
I think this is going to be the story of the evening.