Hillary Clinton
lobbed a grenade into the Republican field Tuesday when she gave her full-throated support to the undocumented community—backing both a path to citizenship and deportation relief for Dreamers and their parents.
"I'm ready to have this discussion with anyone, anywhere, anytime," she said.
It didn't take long for some GOP hopefuls to pounce. Newly minted Republican candidate Carly Fiorina
told CNN that Clinton was "pandering." Then she offered this innovative fix:
"I think we need to start with some basics, ya know, I think we need to secure the border."
Oh, that Carly—just so fresh and entrepreneurial. But the GOP's
new darling in Iowa, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, was not to be outdone, going on an anti-immigrant tweet rant Wednesday.
.@HillaryClinton's full embrace of amnesty is unfair to hardworking Americans & immigrants who followed the law to achieve these rights -SKW
— @ScottWalker
RT if you agree: by supporting @BarackObama's lawless executive action, @HillaryClinton once again believes she's above the law. - SKW
— @ScottWalker
Surprisingly, only 63 of Walker's 128,000 followers retweeted that last one within the first hour. Certainly, Walker expected more given the latest
New York Times/CBS News poll showing that nearly half of Republicans think undocumented immigrants should be deported.
On immigration, 46 percent of Republicans said illegal immigrants should be required to leave the United States, while only 16 percent of Democrats said the same. And while 71 percent of Democrats said illegal immigrants should be able to stay in the country and apply for citizenship, just 38 percent of Republicans said they should be allowed to remain in America and pursue citizenship.
That same poll, released Tuesday before the immigration event,
found Clinton dominating even the GOP's most immigration-friendly candidates.
The Latino Vote: In new NBC/WSJ poll, Hillary leads both Jeb (66%-28%) and Rubio (63%-32%) among Latino voters
— @mmurraypolitics
Interestingly, neither Marco Rubio nor Jeb Bush has had any response to Clinton's event. That's probably because they know they can't win the White House without at least some Latino support.
But if you want to get a sense of the tough spot Clinton has created for Republicans in the general election, one need only look at yesterday's Twitter feed from conservative Latina pundit and former McCain National Hispanic co-chair, Ana Navarro. Navarro attempted to tamp down the enthusiasm of immigration activists and rebut the media's read on Clinton's comments.
It's not that easy. Folks have heard it before "@BuzzFeedAndrew: Hillary Just Won Over Much Of The Skeptical Immigrant Activist Movement..."
— @ananavarro