DREAM Act Portal Forum - View Single Post - What happened behind doors on immigration

swiftp · 05:49 PM

I have two pieces to share. One that details how the actual Gang of 8 group was formed, what really happened to broker an agreement with the labor unions, why Fox News is now changing its tone on immigration, the strategy the White House has played, and why Schumer was furious at Leahy during the Judiciary Committee.

Quote:

Getting to Maybe: Inside the Gang of Eight’s immigration deal. The New Yorker.

Six years ago, when John McCain, the Arizona senator, last worked on an immigration bill, his partner was Ted Kennedy, of Massachusetts. Kennedy, especially in his final decade in the Senate, was known for working closely with ideological opponents to pass major pieces of legislation. On a recent morning, McCain sat in his dimly lit office, across the street from the Senate, and said how much he missed Kennedy. The Massachusetts senator died in August, 2009, at the age of seventy-seven, after a protracted battle with brain cancer. McCain, who is known for his irascible disposition and his sarcastic ribbing of colleagues, was in a wistful mood. When asked if there was anyone like Kennedy in the Senate today, he replied, “No. I can’t think of anybody.” He added, “We had a lovely relationship for a number of years there. He changed, too.” In his forty-six-year career, Kennedy somehow had moved past Chappaquiddick and his time as a hard-drinking bachelor to become one of the institution’s best legislators. “He grew from the playboy to what I always call the Last Lion.”

McCain is attempting his own political comeback, and Kennedy’s redemption was instructive. Beginning with his Presidential run against Barack Obama, in 2008, McCain had aligned himself with a wing of the Republican Party he once fought, and retreated from issues he once championed, including immigration reform. “Let me show you something,” McCain said. He got up and removed a framed cover of National Review from a wall of political memorabilia. It was dated July, 2007, the height of the previous immigration debate. It showed him leaning in close to Kennedy, apparently about to share a confidence. Opponents of the bill had decried it as “amnesty for illegals,” and the magazine accused the two men of hiding the true nature of the legislation. “LET’S SAY IT’S NOT AN AMNESTY,” the headline said. In the bottom corner of the cover, Kennedy had scrawled, “Let’s at least deny amnesty to National Review! Best, Ted.” McCain laughed as he read it.

“I’ll never forget the last time I saw him,” he said. In March, 2009, Kennedy had returned to the Senate for an important vote. Afterward, as a few of his aides escorted him to his car, he spotted McCain. “He called me. ‘Oh, Jawn! Oh, Jawn!’ ” McCain said, imitating Kennedy. “I came over and he gave me a hug.” . . .

Full article here