Pro-immigration attack ads to target House Republicans
(CNN) - A new union-backed ad buy will look to drum up support for passing comprehensive immigration reform in the House of Representatives by targeting vulnerable chamber Republicans, according to a statement.
The Service Employees International Union said Thursday they are spending more than $500,000 on attack ads targeting seven House Republicans who face tough re-elections next year, and House Speaker John Boehner. SEIU has already spent more than $2.5 million promoting immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship, the group said.
According to the statement, the 30 seconds ads will target Boehner in the Washington, D.C. market while going after Reps. Gary Miller of California, Joe Heck of Nevada, Mike Coffman of Colorado, Rodney Davis of Illinois, David Joyce of Ohio, John Kline of Minnesota and Michael Grimm of New York in their home districts.
Among the candidates, Grimm is particularly vulnerable. The Staten Island Republican is the only GOP representative for heavily liberal-leaning New York City.
The ad buy marks the second Thursday to name Heck, albeit the other ad is from the conservative Americans for Prosperity, praising his opposition to Obamacare.
For Heck and the other representatives, the message is clear, SEIU Executive Vice President Rocio Saenz said in the statement.
"Enough talk – it is time for action. If Republican members support commonsense immigration reform, they must tell Speaker Boehner that that time is now to bring a bill to the floor for a vote that includes a pathway to citizenship," Saenz said.
The ads are all but identical to each other, changing only the names of the Republican in question. The one attacking Boehner is the only one even remotely different, albeit only slightly.
"The Senate passed bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform months ago," the announcer says, but there has been no movement by "House Republicans to fix our broken immigration system."
Obama puts immigration back in spotlight
Immigration has virtually stalled since the Senate passed a bill in June that Republicans have refused to take up. Boehner has instead said he prefers a series of piecemeal immigration bills rather than one large bill.
There has been limited progress in recent weeks however, with most House Democrats and a handful of House Republicans saying they're in favor of comprehensive reform.
GOP Rep: Many House Republicans will sign onto immigration bill
The most prevalent conflict in the House is over the 13-year pathway to citizenship for some of the country's estimated 11 million undocumented migrants, a pathway passed in the Senate legislation that many Republicans blast as amnesty for lawbreakers.
Also at issue, the Senate bill has no provisions requiring that the U.S. border be certified as secure before the pathway to citizenship can commence, although the Senate version did vastly expand the border patrol.
A large majority of Americans have consistently said they support immigration reform. In the most recent poll, from CBS last month, more than three-quarters of Americans supported an eventual pathway for the vast majority of undocumented immigrants. But the survey also indicated a slight majority of Americans said securing the border was a higher priority than citizenship.
@The Real TP
"Well, the absence of a conscience can lead to that: the side eftects do include a certain Dennis Miller-type smugness, as well as an insistance that problems can be solved by ignoring them. The procedure accomplishes much the same thing as a lobotomy, so can you tell us when you had your's?"
I really hope that you're joking. So conservatives don't have a conscience? I'm going to assume that you're kidding because if you're not that is a real demonstration of probably the most arrogant comment you have ever made. So because conservatives have a different thinking than yours that makes them lack a conscience or knowing right from wrong? Wow, dude. A new low for you if yoiu really believe that. I don't think you're a bad person because you believe there is a better way for our nation to be run. I just simply have a difference of opinion. But if you think you are better than me because of your way of thinking then I just don't know what to say.
By the way, the left loves studies. Just google it. You'll see that I'm correct.
-tom l
@PaulCat
Not to mention if you look on these boards who is angrier. Just look at Sniffit. The guy might be the angriest most miserable person I have ever interacted with. Clearly he is single with no wife.
************
Sorry, that would be just saying: he's still in the basement at his parents' house with a lava lamp next to his bed.
""Could it be that they are not very happy in their own personal life?"
Actually, there has been studies done on that. Guess what? Study after study shows that repubs are much happier than dems."
Well, as long as we're going to play this silly game, we might as well point out that ignorance is bliss, eh?
Democrats lied to the country in the 80's after millions were granted amnesty. The border was never secured and now we have tens of millions more illegals here. It is clear that until the laws are FULLY enforced and the borders secured, we will always have this problem. The Deomcrats do NOT support secure borders OR the full enforcement of our laws. They DO support illegal activity and the invasion of this country by illegals. No other country on the planet allows this to occur. The Democrats are treasonous criminals that support and encoruage criminal behavior that threatens the security of this nation.
Senate bill contains a $3B "dang fence", doubles the border patrol troops from 24,000 to 48,000, puts more technology (helicopters, drones, etc.) on the border and myriad other pretty draconian and very expensive things to make the border more secure, and yet the GOPers/Teatrolls ignore all of that as if it's not in there because the only thing they are concerned about is whether these immigrants become citizens and who they might vote for if they do. You can tell because it's the only thing they talk about wen it comes to demagoguing the issue. A 13 year pathway to citizenship that requires paying all sorts of fines and back taxes, etc., is not "amnesty" unless you've got a version of the Webster's or Oxford dictionary that nobody else has ever seen before.
Teatroll Rosetta Stone says: "amnesty" = code for "watch out for all those brown Dem voters."
Aw, Humm,
The Right doesn't understand reality? No kidding Gizmo, where ja get that idea? Trying to shuck and jive us? Just like you did on Obama Care? There is already a path to citizenship. Over a million use ever year. You illegal? Want to become a Citizen of the United States? Simple. Go back to your own country and put in your application. Like millions are already doing.
"obama has refused to implement obamacare as the bill was passed."
Blah blah blah Heckler v. Chaney...GFY.
The liberals stay silent when liberal cronies throw money into politics. However, when the NRA or anybody else who does not contibute to their cause puts money into politics they are screaming and crying.
This is another job killing bill
YES IF WE PASS THIS BILL IN THE HOUSE WE WILL LOSE OUR JOB
John Boehner