Ezra Klein argues that the consequences of comprehensive immigration reform won’t be just positive-sum in economic terms, but politically, too.
Immigration reform, however, sits at the center of an unusual convergence of forces that have made it positive-sum politics. Democrats believe in the policy, but they also believe that it’s good — even essential — politics to deliver on the number-one priority of the growing Hispanic electorate. Many Republicans also believe in the policy, and almost all Republicans believe that if their party is to prosper, they need to agree to immigration reform to show Hispanic voters that the GOP isn’t hostile to their interests.
What we’re seeing here isn’t actually positive sum politics, but instead a situation in which both parties have examined the same issue and reached antithetical conclusions about its political consequences. Read More
Toward the end of this op-ed Ross Douthat contends that gay marriage has self-evidently contributed to the weakening of the institution of straight marriage, and that liberals should operate from that premise when confronting their opponents. If gay marriage advocates are winning the broader argument, they should at least be willing to admit, or pretend to agree, that gay marriage opponents aren’t all just repulsed by gay people. Read More
In case you’re wondering, no, we don’t do April Fool’s stuff at TPM. Everything here tomorrow will be accurate or as near as we’re able to make it.
Georgia Republican party chair says straights will flock to sham gay marriages to win job benefits.
Looks like background checks are close to toast in the Senate. And that doesn’t even get to the near impossibility in the House.
Trump again presses GOP on the importance on bringing in more white people in the immigration debate.
We’re very interested in what’s happening down in Kaufman County, Texas, where a prosecutor was gunned down in broad daylight at the end of January and then the DA and his wife were gunned down in the home over the weekend. What makes it especially chilling are suggestions that the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas may be behind the killings. Here’s our read on what we know so far.
TPM Reader CC shares thoughts on the happenings out of Rome …
First, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your respectful coverage of the historic events of the past month, which has seen the first papal abdication in six centuries, the election of the first Jesuit Pope, and all of the other firsts. I know that religion is not part of TPM’s normal beat, except where it intersects with the world of politics, but I am glad that you are recognizing the historic nature of the news out of Rome.