Jeb Bush pens an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal advocating for “comprehensive” immigration reform: “The nation's capital is awash with ideas about how to fix America's immigration policy. The sudden ferment on this issue, which was largely dormant since efforts at comprehensive reform were torpedoed five years ago, is as welcome as it is overdue. The growing consensus on both sides of the political aisle that something needs to be done should not be squandered, for such opportunities are rare and fleeting.”
More: “In some conservative circles, the word ‘comprehensive’ in the context of immigration reform is an epithet—a code word for amnesty. People who oppose such reform declare that securing the United States border must come before moving toward broader reform. Such an approach is shortsighted and self-defeating. Border security is inextricably intertwined with other aspects of immigration policy. The best way to prevent illegal immigration is to make sure that we have a fair and workable system of legal immigration. The current immigration system is neither.”
NEW YORK: What does changing the rules to get you three terms? Your potential successors trashing you at their first forum. The New York Daily News: “Six major mayoral candidates squared off for the first time Thursday night, and all went on the attack — not against each other, but against Mayor Bloomberg. At a forum on housing, co-sponsored by the Daily News, the four Democrats and two Republicans ripped the three-term mayor on his approach to building affordable housing, his handling of the embattled Housing Authority, and especially his response to communities ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.”
NEW JERSEY: Frank Lautenberg, a day after saying Cory Booker deserved a “spanking” for so openly coveting his seat, is now criticizing how Booker’s done his job as mayor of Newark. There’s “a lot of work that should have been done and hasn’t been done,” Lautenberg told National Journal, calling Newark a “city in desperate need of attention.”
