So, if Republicans are thinking about an immigration conference committee with the Senate, they should consider this clip, in which Senate Majority Leader Reid calls Republicans who wanted to defund Obamacare \u201cinsane\u201d:<\/p>\n
KNPR:\u00a0 \u201cWas there no other way to break the deadlock earlier?\u201d<\/p>\n
Reid: \u201c\u2026 It is really hard to try to be rational and logical with people who are illogical and not rational.\u00a0 Take one thing as an example.\u00a0 Albert Einstein said the true definition of insanity is someone who does something over and over and over again and expects a different result.\u00a0 If Einstein is right, then we have a bunch of insane people in the House of Representatives. \u00a0And\u2026we found that they voted 45 times, the same vote, always the same result, to defund Obamacare. \u00a0That\u2019s what I was dealing with. \u00a0With people who are totally driven by Ted Cruz and these other people who are not in the mainstream of the Republican Party or in the mainstream of any party, except the Tea Party. And that isn\u2019t what America needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the following exchange, Senator Reid says that he was too lenient in past budget negotiations and says he will no longer do business<\/i> with \u201cbullies.\u201d<\/p>\n
KNPR: \u201cThis is a very different set of affairs than from 2010, when Democrats made concessions in renewing the Bush tax cuts that year. \u00a0There were even a few concessions made in 2012.\u00a0 Do you wish looking back on it you had said no concessions in those earlier negotiations?\u201d<\/p>\n
Reid: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
KNPR: \u201cWhy? Why so? Why so? Is it just, is it just\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Reid.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026. If you give a bully a dollar today, they want a dollar and a half tomorrow.\u00a0 You cannot do business with bullies.\u00a0 And, it\u2019s taken a while for all my caucus to come to that understanding. \u00a0And I think quite frankly, the President, the wonderful man that he is, doesn\u2019t like confrontation and he likes to work things out with people.<\/p>\n
KNPR: \u201cSo he, was he too lenient in those earlier negotiations then?\u201d<\/p>\n
Reid: \u201cThe President feels very good about having stuck to our guns and doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
KNPR: \u201cSo the President was too lenient in those earlier conversations?\u201d<\/p>\n
Reid: \u201cListen I was part of the deal too. I was too lenient. Don\u2019t blame it all on him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Finally, if House Republicans thought the Senate might be willing to address their most serious concerns as budget talks continue this year, consider this clip:<\/p>\n
KNPR:\u00a0 \u201cOk Senator, but if I could ask, what would you want Republicans to concede on in order to come to some kind of an agreement, if you were willing to look at Medicare and Social Security?\u00a0 What do you want from the other side?\u201d<\/p>\n
Reid: \u201cYou keep talking about Medicare and Social Security.\u00a0 Get something else in your brain.\u00a0 Stop talking about that.\u00a0 That is not going to happen this time.\u00a0 There is not going to be a grand bargain<\/i>\u2026.\u00a0 [T]he Republicans are going to have to retake their party or it will never happen. [Republicans] have their minds set on doing nothing, nothing more on revenue [raising taxes]and until they get off that kick there\u2019s not going to be a grand bargain … There\u2019s not going to be a small bargain\u2026.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Call me crazy too, but no one listening to these comments could possibly conclude that the Senate Majority Leader has any intention of negotiating on anything.\u00a0 Period.\u00a0 And if this is how Senator Reid approaches the budget negotiations, why would Republicans ever expect him to approach an immigration conference committee any differently?\u00a0 He won\u2019t. \u00a0For Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Senate amnesty bill will be the beginning and end of all negotiations.\u00a0 So, if House Republicans are foolish enough to go to a conference committee with the Senate amnesty bill, the only thing they should expect to walk away with is the Senate amnesty bill.