August 23, 2015

scott_walker_waffle_house_0
Last week, Scott Walker said that he wanted to do away with birthright citizenship. He quickly backpedaled and said that he was too tired from a three hour confab and that his official position was that he had no position.

On Sunday, Walker appeared on This Week with George Stephanopoulos and started to do the Walker two-step as he served up a big, heaping helping of word salad:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Also been taking on this question of birthright citizenship and the Fourteenth Amendment. Let me just put the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment up there on the screen right now. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”

Do you support the first line of the Fourteenth Amendment?

WALKER: Well, George, let me step back for a second and tell you an interesting story. Last month, I was in a small town in Iowa called (INAUDIBLE). In fact, I lived there as a kid for a while. And a family came from Waukesha, Wisconsin, to confront me. They -- the father in particular was upset that I was one of the 25 governors that went to court and stopped the president. And I told that father in a very tense situation with the media all around, including some from ABC News and others out there, I told that father I felt bad for him and his family, I really do, I feel bad for families like that. But I told them that this president had said I believe some 22 times, 22 times, before he did what he did last November, that he couldn’t he do it. He said that he was the president, not the emperor, that he wasn’t above the law, and then he went out and changed the law by his actions. It took me and 25 -- or excuse me, 24 -- governors to stop him in court.

The problem here, we need to address the root problem of the issue, which is we need a president who’s going to secure the borders, not just give lip service to it like we’ve seen over the past couple decades -- secure the border and enforce the laws. My point all week has been and continues to be, as it was last month, until we address those core problems, we’re going to -- we’re not addressing the real issue and Americans are right to be upset with that.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I understand that’s what you feel we have to address, but this is simply a yes or no question. Do you support that line of the Fourteenth Amendment?

WALKER: Well, I said the law is there. And we need to enforce the laws including those that are in the Constitution. My point is having this debate about anything else when we don’t have politicians who are committed to actually securing the border and enforcing the laws, which means very simply in our country e-verify. Making sure that every employer ensure that the people working for them are legal to work in this state -- in this country. That will resolve the problems you’re talking about and that’s what I’ve been talking about this week.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you’re not seeking to repeal or alter the Fourteenth Amendment.

WALKER: No. My point is any discussion that goes beyond securing the border and enforcing the laws are things that should be a red flag to voters out there, who for years have heard lip service from politicians and are understandably angry because those politicians haven’t been committed to following through on those promises.

I hope the one thing people see, in my state, I had 100,000 protesters on a different issue. I had all sorts of death threats and all sorts of other views. I think people in my state will tell you whether they agree or disagree with me on the issue, the one thing I do is when I make a promise I follow through on it. My promise is to truly secure the border and enforce the laws of this great country.

So in less than a week, Walker went from saying he as against birthright citizenship to being neutral to that he didn't want to repeal it. I think.

But given Walker's standard operating procedure of doing what he said he wasn't going to do, it's probably a good bet that Walker would start the repeal of the 14th Amendment on Day One, along with declaring war on Iran and on the American people who benefit from Obamacare.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon