begging Bill O'Reilly to support their immigration bill?

O'Reilly and Fox News have been the subject of an intense, personal lobbying campaign by members of the so-called "Gang of Eight" who are working on the immigration bill and feel that the network's support is crucial if the GOP wants its base to accept the measure . The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza recently wrote that senators Marco Rubio, John McCain and others have talked privately to O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Neil Cavuto to get them on side.

Yeah, it's true. You see Rubio and McCain believe BillO's ego is sufficiently big enough to punch through the barricades constructed by the nativist right wing conservative politicians and pundits who have been blocking any immigration deal since 2007. Well, it's finally happened.

BillO's ego has come into play.

Boosters of the Senate’s immigration reform bill secured a key endorsement Thursday evening: Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.Just hours after Republican Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) unveiled a sweeping border security amendment, O’Reilly said, “It is time for the U.S.A. to pass immigration reform” and that he hopes “this bill does become law.”

“It’s not perfect, but it’s the right thing to do,” O’Reilly said.

O’Reilly’s support could be key to swaying public opinion – and, possibly, some lawmakers – to support legislation that he thinks got much tougher on border security Thursday. His endorsement came after a pair of Republican senators struck a deal with the bipartisan Gang of Eight on an amendment that would pour $30 billion in manpower and technology into the Southern border as a prerequisite to undocumented immigrants being able to pursue a path to citizenship. Supporters in both parties hope the deal will deliver as many as 70 votes in support of the Senate bill.

O’Reilly said the Hoeven-Corker amendment will go a long way toward making the border secure — and he cast the immigration bill’s future as one synonymous with the success of the GOP.“The Republican Party has a lot to lose here. If it doesn’t compromise, many Hispanic voters will reject the GOP entirely, pretty much dooming the party in the future,” O’Reilly said.

If I'm Rubio I wouldn't get my hopes up because the hard core wingnuts really don't view BillO as a true ally. Laura Ingraham is against it and of course, the ever loopy, but very dangerous Ted Cruz is totally and I mean totally against it.

Here's what he told Rush Limbaugh.

In a radio interview with Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz warned that the Gang of Eight immigration plan would prompt a flood of illegal immigration — 20 million or 30 million undocumented workers within the next decade or two.

When asked by the conservative commentator why Democrats support the Gang of Eight bill, the freshman Republican from Houston said that it is pure politics and that it is a way to create more Democratic voters

And Cruz has a reason not to support immigration based on the new CBO numbers that show it'll reduce the federal deficit, which is the holy grail of conservatives.

Cruz rejected estimates from the Congressional Budget Office that the immigration bill would significantly reduce the federal deficit.“If there’s one thing Washington knows how to do, it’s come up with a bogus cost estimates. I mean, we all remember when Obamacare was passed, and we were told it would save money, and we’ve now discovered it’s gonna cost trillions,” said Cruz.

Numbers? Who needs those stinking CBO numbers?

Immigration reform is squarely on the shoulders of Speaker John Boehner and we know what just happened to him on the farm bill so the chances of it passing the House is remote at best.

Still---there is Bill O's Ego. After all it is mighty indeed.