Surprise: Washington Post dishonesty on immigration reform.

The very day I posted my “Marco Rubio Steps Up on Immigration,” the Washington Post published an editorial identically titled, “Sen. Rubio steps up on immigration.” Amazing.

Actually, the “WP” writes from a different perspective, that of the Democratic Party. Where I identify Rubio as a leading contender for the 2016 GOP nomination, the “WP” writes, “some GOP activists have invested presidential hopes” in him. When I say he’s taking the lead on immigration reform, the “WP” says he “has seized on the issue of immigration, hoping to stake a claim to leadership in the coming national debate and to revive Republicans’ dismal standing among Hispanics.”

But then the “WP” hits Rubio with a poison dart when it writes: “What’s striking about his plan” is its marked similarity to “President Obama’s own approach.” After that another poison dart: “nothing in Mr. Rubio’s proposal is terribly novel; it’s a tweaked version of what many Democrats have wanted for years.”

Conservative Republicans, whom I said will have difficulty with Rubio’s path to citizenship for illegal aliens, will be even more suspicious now that the liberal Washington Post has “endorsed” Rubio’s plan. In case conservatives still don’t get it, the “WP” gratuitously goes on to say,

Conservative Republicans in Congress and statehouses, in thrall to radio talk show bloviators, have vilified any solution short of mass deportation as a sellout that rewards scofflaws. On immigration, nativist extremism infected the Republican mainstream years ago. Disinfection will not occur simply because a freshman senator has crooked his finger and asked the party to follow.

Let’s be clear. For Rubio, who needs conservative support first before going after Democrats, the “WP” is seeking to be as unhelpful as humanly possible.  

Comment: The Washington Post editorial offers early insight into the war Democrats will wage against any Republican effort to capture Hispanic support. The “WP” is deliberately misleading on immigration reform. Democratic unions don’t like either Rubio’s guest worker proposal or his expanded visas for skilled foreign workers. Activist Democratic Hispanic groups will fight hard against his obstacle-filled path to citizenship for illegals, and will quietly undermine efforts, as recommended by Rubio, to seal the border and expand employer verification. Democratic opposition to immigration reform is why no reform bill passed in 2009-10, when Democrats totally and completely controlled Congress.

The “WP” has no interest in telling the truth, however, about Democratic opposition to immigration reform, if it can instead--by selling Rubio’s plan as a Trojan horse for Democrats--encourage conservative Republicans to kill reform first.