Eric Gay/Associated Press
Jeb Bush
… the less we know, and the less I care. I’m talking about Jeb Bush, who’s been trying desperately to explain what he really thinks should happen to the millions of people currently living in the United States illegally.
Mr. Bush, the former Florida governor and possible Republican presidential candidate in 2016, was known for years as a relative moderate among Republicans on immigration, someone who had no problem with tuition breaks and other opportunities for the undocumented, including possible citizenship.
But then his new book, “Immigration Wars,” came out, written with Clint Bolick. Its tone is unequivocally harsh, something more fitting the mood of last year’s Republican presidential primary campaign
(which was when the book was written).
“A grant of citizenship is an undeserving reward for conduct that we cannot afford to encourage,” the book says.
This astringent view is bad news today for Mr. Bush, not just because it’s harsh, unrealistic and insulting to the Latino voters whom Republicans are desperate to win over. It’s also a problem because most other prominent Republicans have abandoned it, notably Mr. Bush’s fellow Floridian and potential presidential competitor, Senator Marco Rubio.
On Sunday he was on just about every talk show. When interviewers noted the gap between what he said then and now, Mr. Bush tried obfuscating, with complicated answers about how the question was not whether he favored a citizenship path, but whether he thought one was possible. He stressed how close his opinions are to those of Mr. Rubio and other mainstream Republicans.
Call me cynical, but Mr. Bush is being too slick and slippery by half. Compare him with his brother George, who as governor of Texas and as president was always consistent and credible on immigration. His views meshed with reality and decency: Immigrants are human beings. They are not all criminals. Their presence here is a net positive for the United States. The best way to deal with the millions who violated our broken immigration laws is to fix the laws.
All the other ways — like the mass deportation of 11 million people, or Arizona border posses, or Mitt Romney’s deluded vision of “self-deportation” or now Jeb Bush’s vague proposal for an unprecedented new limbo status of permanent non-citizenship — is just posturing. It might be interesting to know what Mr. Bush really thinks should be done, but by now it’s probably safe to say that it is impossible to find out for sure.