Christopher Ruddy writes in his June 26 Newsmax column:
Despite lacking overall public support, President Obama’s recent decision to offer amnesty to the children of illegal aliens who meet certain criteria and are in the country in good standing, which could apply to 800,000 people, is a deft political move that may help him keep the White House — unless his GOP rival Mitt Romney acts decisively.
First, it’s not “amnesty.” As we’ve pointed out, the policy change permits prosecutorial discretion in delaying legal action against certain undocumented immigrants — something that, by definition, is not “amnesty.”
Second, this policy does not lack public support — which Ruddy would know if he had read his own website. A June 19 Newsmax article stated that most voters “agree with President Obama’s decision to allow young people brought here illegally who meet certain criteria to avoid deportation.”
The article highlighted a poll by the right-leaning Rasmussen Reports finding that 71 percent of Americans “think someone brought to this country illegally when they were under 16 should be allowed to apply for a work permit rather than be deported if they have no criminal record, have graduated from high school or have served in the military” — the same group of people affected by Obama’s policy change. Further, 58 percent of Republicans support that policy.
Ruddy also encourages Mitt Romney to pick Marco Rubio as his vice president, because he is “a favorite of conservatives and would be a historic choice for Romney, one that would demonstrate in a very powerful way a desire to bring Hispanics into the Republican Party and a future Romney administration.”
Newsmax has engaged in some seriously embarrassing fawning over Rubio.