Oh please, Mr. Pfeiffer, don't throw us into that briar patch.

Dan Pfeiffer threatens total shutdown of Homeland Security.

They must have discovered a planet where this reasoning makes sense. This is Dan Pfeiffer describing how Obama can deal with Congress. This is reported on Conservative Tribune who is relaying reporting on The Daily Caller. The problem: Obama wants funding for his executive amnesty. Republicans are pretending to fight by imposing cuts to stop or slow Obama's plans to allow illegal immigrants into the country.

Dan Pfeiffer speaking:

1) Obama will block all funding for the entire department and would veto any spending bill if the Republicans try to impose cuts.

2) Are Republicans going to shut down the Department of Homeland Security to undo our executive action? I don't think they are going to do that.

3) It's possible that insanity will prevail upon the House Republican caucus as it did last October during the 2013 shutdown.

Tell us more of your homeworld, Usul. On our world that is no threat, in fact, a welcome development. On my world the shutdown is a ringing Republican success putting the check on Democrat crazy and the spotlight on Presidental menace for all to see ultimately doing terrible and lasting damage to Democrat party, trust in government generally and putting Republicans on notice to shape up, the shakedown is started. No matter how many time you repeat the opposite, slapping stucco on your rickety shed, results show you're wrong. #empty threat

Republicans hiding their support for amnesty

How badly does Republican leadership want to hide their support for amnesty? Asks David Horowitz at Conservative Review. 

And how badly do they want to avoid confrontation with Obama? 

This badly.

They are holding a symbolic vote denouncing Obama's unilateral action but apart from the operative budget bill. It is not even a standalone bill and contains no defund language. Just empty toothless protest.

They took the backbench bill and rewrote to be innocuous and even renamed it to rid it of any possible perception of offensive language. They are treating conservatives with the exact contempt Democrat leadership shows for their constituency. Their new bill adds a substitute amendment including "adds necessary exceptions for imminent humanitarian and law enforcement reasons."  

Horowitz asks, Why add this exception to an unlawful act?

Horowitz ends, This is not about disagreement over policy. These people do not share our values.

It's as if they imagine their positions perfectly secure and the voters who put them there perfectly unconscious. 

"Obama considers plan to delay deportation for millions"

"President Obama is considering an executive order that would prevent as many as 5 million people from being deported, administration officials said Thursday."

But the officials — speaking on condition of anonymity, citing internal deliberations — said the details of the immigration plan are still being developed and called reports of specific action "pre-decisional."

"We will not be shutting the government down," McConnell told reporters...

"We'd like for the president to recognize the reality that he has to govern with the Congress that he has, not the one that he wishes he had, and work with us to try to find a way to improve our immigration system," McConnell said.

Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said he was unimpressed with the latest "trial balloon."

"They're leaving opportunity on the table," said Clarissa Martínez De Castro of the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group that has advised the White House on its executive action plan throughout the year.

"I know there's concern that this executive action was going to be attacked," she said. "But even if they do 100 people, they're going to be attacked the same. So why not go bolder?"

Breitbart on YouGov Poll: "64% of Hispanics Back Deportations"

"Rather than convince the American people that passing a mass amnesty is what's needed, the burst of border coverage earlier this month convinced 77% of the American people that the kids need to be sent back home. A full 42% want the kids sent back immediately regardless of what's happening in their home countries. Add to that another 35% who want them sent back unless their home country is deemed unsafe."

Only 11% want what Obama, Democrats, and the media want -- which is amnesty for everyone.

The numbers are not all that different among Hispanics. Only 22% want to give the children amnesty. A full 64% want the children deported. Of that 64%, 28% want them deported immediately; 36% want them deported unless their home country is deemed unsafe.

That puts Hispanics almost perfectly in line with the rest of country.

In other words, the constituency the democrats claim the republicans "need to win", Hispanics oppose amnesty.

'Immigration Reform', or as I like to call it, 'Amnesty'

Only 3% of Americans Rank Immigration Reform as Top Priority... http://t.co/MHYN4QEsbG
— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) January 16, 2014

"A little over a week ago, 16 House Republicans--led by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL)--stepped forward to write to President Obama about how American workers would be displaced if these immigration reform proposals succeeded."

“Rapidly expanding unskilled immigration – at a time when factory work and blue collar jobs are disappearing – would represent the final economic blow for millions of workers who have been struggling to gain an economic foothold,” the members wrote. “Yet, despite this jobs crisis for American workers, the White House continues to advocate that CEOs and business executives seek lower cost labor. The White House has entertained a parade of high-powered business executives to discuss immigration policy, all while shutting out the concerns of everyday wage-earners who overwhelmingly oppose these measures. You even released an economic report saying that the ‘hospitality and leisure industry’ needs ‘legislation that would legalize workers in the U.S. and facilitate the lawful employment of future foreign-born workers.’”

"Rubio Opposes Murray-Ryan Budget Deal"

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Tuesday said that he opposes the budget agreement reached by Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), calling the deal "irresponsible."

"We need a government with less debt and an economy with more good paying jobs, and this budget fails to accomplish both goals, making it harder for more Americans to achieve the American Dream," Rubio said in a statement. "Instead, this budget continues Washington’s irresponsible budgeting decisions by spending more money than the government takes in and placing additional financial burdens on everyday Americans."

The speculation, among tea party faithful, is that Boehner wants to clear the deck for negotiations on amnesty. The speaker has made up his mind to pass amnesty, and, the budget battle would only get in the way of that.

What do you think? Don't hold back.

Talking Points Memo