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WE’RE HANGING FROM THE CLIFF — AND THE HASTERT RULE IS THE ROPE

Two news items should shock even Republicans into awareness of potential doom:

-The first, news reports that the “Gang of 8″ has reached agreement on the “path to citizenship” (Think, 20,000,000 new voters voting 71% Democrat, plus Orwellian biometric ID’s and “Brady Checks” for jobs).

-The second, an announcement by House Speaker John Boehner on a Sunday talk show that the House would “consider” any gun control approved by the Democratic Senate (whatever “consider” means).

The last-ditch solution to both of these Armageddon scenarios is the same: the Hastert Rule, which prevents House consideration of any bill not supported by a majority of the Republican caucus — currently, 117 Republicans. Whatever the media has convinced John McCain to do, surely 117 House Republicans would oppose allowing the GOP to commit suicide.

I know, I know. You thought the Hastert Rule was dead because it’s been violated three times. The catch is this: In all 3 cases (fiscal cliff, Sandy, VAWA), the Hastert Rule’s violatees wanted to be violated.

If 117 GOP reps signed a letter saying “Don’t violate Hastert on gun control.” or “Don’t violate Hastert on amnesty.”, House Speaker Boehner would be hard-pressed to bring up either of these items. And the process for getting around Hastert — the discharge petition — is almost impossible to pull off.

Fortunately, it turns out that such a letter already exists on guns: It is the Stockman-Broun letter to invoke the Hastert Rule on any gun control. And, although the Stockman-Broun letter is picking up steam, it still does not have obvious signatures from people like Michele Bachmann and Steve King.

And, as Stockman-Broun begins to reach 117, we can do the same on amnesty.

So here’s the message: If there’s any “silver bullet” to the twin catastrophes which threaten to destroy us, this is it. Every conservative should be spending every waking hour pushing the Stockman-Broun letter toward 117 signatures — and, after that, the same for amnesty.

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COMMENTS

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    Agreed on all substance but shouldn’t we make a distinction between full amnesty and non-voting rights amnesty? I think so.

    • tscottme2

      I suggest non-voting rights amnesty is a dishonest compromise that the RINOs and others will use to make an atrocity of an amnesty bill seems less foul. I say it’s dishonest because there is no chance that a non-voting rights class of permanent inhabitants will last as The Left will quickly find a judge to rule such a second-class status in violation of some Constitutional clause, at least Equal Protection and must be upgraded to full citizenship. So the practical outcome of this “reform” will be millions of new citizens or the prospect of millions of replay of an Elian Gonzales episode.

      The safest thing to do, especially with this RINO leadership is to demand they stand in the way of any reform and shout “stop”. Accepting anything other than “stop” will just be an opportunity for the “reformers” to insert full amnesty into the unseen clauses that won’t be in the headlines. And if ObamaCare proves anything it proves that once the monster is unleashed onto the country the RINOs are unwilling to do anything but have symbolic votes.

      • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

        Not only RINOs think its wrong to treat long-term illegals that we let in and treated like the de facto neighbors them became and yet still treat as de jure criminals. Yes, I don’t deny that 5 lawyers could rule anything, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t govern according to the Constitution, which gives the Congress the power to define naturalization etc, short of full voting rights citizenship. imho

  • aardvar

    I am thoroughly unimpressed by Boehner as Speaker. The “show votes” have hurt the GOP by providing the media with slings and arrows versus the idea of defining Republican positions. Like the media would ever present a fair analysis. I’d like to see him adopt the “Reid” rule. That is, the House will consider any bill passed by the Senate but will not propose or vote on any legislation first. Thus, if the Senate hasn’t passed a bill on a topic, the House does nothing except the preliminary committee work. The House would reject Senate bills that are unacceptable. That would place the buck on Harry Reid’s desk. Let’s see the Senate Dems under the media spotlights for a change. Let’s see those vulnerable Dem senators actually cast votes.

    In the present case, the House passes a bill. The media and President slam it for two news cycles. The House backs down and the Dems and media claim concessions without ever having offered up anything themselves. It’s time the House stops going first.

    Speaking of the media, why haven’t a bunch of wealthy Republicans created a private equity partnership and simply bought, say CNN, NBC, and the Washington Post. While it would be inappropriate to fire people for their political leanings, existing contracts could be allowed to expire. The senior management, however, could be replaced immediately and that drives how many minutes or column inches any particular story receives. But I ramble…..

  • dudley

    John Boehner is an unmitigated disaster.

  • 308winchester

    Just dump Boehner PLEASE… This RINO is has no moral compass and is a flop as a leader. Put Ryan in charge and Cruz in control in the Senate

  • paxcat

    When you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything! Couldn’t be more true!

  • Alo Konsen

    Where’s this letter posted? Who’s signed it? Links, please.

  • steve51

    This drive by some Rinos to please the MSM is sickening. We don’t need a
    second Dem party, the one we have is pitiful enough. We need men & women
    of character, conviction & integrity to stand up & declare their stance. Be damned
    with the Press, what about we the people? Stand up & defend our Constitution,
    Bill of Rights & Declaration of

  • battleaxe

    Boehner’s a fraud. The guy pretends to be conservative but he would prefer people like us just go away.