Last night Jon Stewart went not so far back to reveal a time when Republicans were opposed to any immigration reform as a form of amnesty. However, as Stewart illustrates in clips from the past week, that all seems to have changed now. Many Republicans now are pushing a bill which would provide at least temporary legal status to the over 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Stewart has no apparent problem with the Republican changing their mind, but he does take issue with the motive. A video clip of Stewart’s segment, via Comedy Central, appears below along with a summary.
Playing clips from the 2008 campaign, Stewart showed nearly every Republican presidential candidate trying to “one up” each other on how tough they would be on immigration. Herman Cain promised to build a electrocuted fence along the border with barbed wire on top. Mitt Romney accused Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) of being too soft on the children of undocumented immigrants, and Perry responded by accusing Romney of being in favor of Amnesty.
Stewart then asks Republicans why they have changed their minds, and proceeds to play a video of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) who said Republicans lost in 2012 because of the Hispanic vote. Stewart then takes Republicans to task for the political motivation behind their change of heart:
“Craven political calculation to squeeze out enough votes to make Nevada competitive again. Okay, that’s okay, too. Not sure that’s the reason you’re supposed to say out loud, but you’ve come a long way. Well, you’ve come a way. Yes, the arc of history is long, but it bends toward shamelessness.”
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