Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Friday, February 13, 2015

The Problem In A Nutshell (Accent On "Nut")

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/02/republicans-love-obamas-immigration-policiesuntil-they-find-out-theyre-his/385451/

Here is the important 'graph:

When there is no mention of Obama, two-thirds (67 percent) of Republicans favor allowing illegal immigrants who are parents of those with legal status to avoid deportation if they meet certain requirements. But when Obama is linked to the policy, support among Republicans drops 16 points to 51 percent. Support among independents also falls 13 points when Obama is linked to the policy, from 77 percent to 64 percent. Among Democrats, there is no statistically significant effect in support.

Look, it's either a good policy or it's not.  There were a few policies of George W. Bush that I liked: his AIDS program for Africa, parts of Medicare Plan D...OK, I'm running out of policies... The point being a good policy is a good policy.

If attaching Obama's name to it suddenly makes it "bad" then people aren't bothering to think.  They are simply being reflexive.  It's the lizard brain at work.

Time and again, Obama has offered variations of Republican policies - most famously the Affordable Care Act - and had them thrown back in his face because he's a Democratic president.

And now we are going to have a partial government shutdown because the GOP is filled with children who are prone to tantrums.


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