Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's current views on immigration seem to be at odds with those expressed in his new book, "Immigration Wars." (Eric Gay / Associated Press) |
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is making the rounds to promote his book "Immigration Wars" -- but he seems to be most at war with himself.
"Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution" proposes that illegal immigrants could become permanent legal residents, but not citizens. The trouble is, the political landscape has shifted -- and so have Bush's ideas.
On Tuesday, Bush said he would support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants “if you can craft that in law where you can have a path to citizenship where there isn’t an incentive for people to come illegally.”
That's at odds with his own book, in which he writes, “those who violated the laws can remain, but cannot obtain the cherished fruits of citizenship.” Tuesday on "Morning Joe," he explained: “We wrote this book last year, not this year.”
So... does he want people to go back in time to read it? Or does he just want them to listen to what he's saying, and ignore what he's written? Is he condemning "Immigration Wars" to remainder tables on the very day it was published Tuesday by Simon and Schuster?
“The idea of immediately giving illegal immigrants a pathway to become citizens was seen as a wildly liberal idea," said Bush's co-author, immigration lawyer Clint Bolick. "A year later it strikes some as wildly conservative.” Good news for undocumented immigrants -- but maybe not such good news for Bush's book.