In other news, Rep. Steve King continues to be a jackass

Surprisingly, not a mugshot. Some of the smarter Republicans are beginning to note that maybe their party can't keep dumping on Latino voters and immigrants and expect to win future elections, but there's been precious little to indicate they'll be able to convince dumber and/or meaner Republicans to go along with the plan. Here Rep. Steve King, prominent in both the Dumber and Meaner factions of the party, demonstrates the other, more popular Republican approach on a wingnut radio show:

JANET MEFFERD: How in the world do you out-left the left anyway? If we go to the left on amnesty, do you think the Democrats are going to sit still and just go 'oh I guess that they're more caring than we are'? It's a zero-sum game. I don't know how in the world the Republicans expect to get votes when the Democrats are already farther along than we are.

STEVE KING: There's no possible way. Whatever we might say we are going to do, reduce the enforcement of the rule of law, waive the rule of law, Democrats will find a way to hand deliver citizenship papers along with a great big check from money borrowed from the Chinese.

I like this exchange for many reasons. First, because of the implicit assumption that Democrats will always care more about non-white communities anyway so screw it, the Republicans shouldn't bother. Second, because King manages to tie it into the sniffled Republican premise that the Democrats "bought" votes by scandalously giving a damn on issues voters said they cared about, as opposed to the more genteel Republican approach of asking dinner parties full of millionaires what the party platform should be, then promising to do that. Third, because Steve King always seems one little match away from a full-on racist rant. If we give in on letting a bunch of kids who have been in America ever since they first learn to walk stay here, rather than tossing them out on their ears, what's next? We'll be giving them Chinese money, dammit!

No, Steve King is never going to get it. The Republican Party as a whole might, however; if the more race-obsessed elements of the party eventually prove to be incompatible with the more plutocratic portions winning the elections the plutocrats are so handsomely shoveling money towards, I'd place my bets on the party keeping the rich people and selling out the racists. How they make that transition without a full-on party split, however, I have no idea.