"Hell-bent" my ass.
Seriously?
House Speaker John Boehner and his Republican leadership team are telling donors and industry groups that they want to pass immigration legislation this year, despite the reluctance of other party members to tackle the divisive issue before the November elections.
Many lawmakers and activists have assumed the issue was off the table in an election year. But Boehner, R-Ohio, said at a recent Las Vegas fundraiser that he was "hell-bent on getting this done this year," two people in the room told The Wall Street Journal.
Everyone have a good laugh, because for Boehner in the majority-ruled House, it's really easy for the speaker to get anything done. He simply calls a vote. Done! Because it's been clear for a long time that the House would pass the bipartisan Senate immigration reform bill in a free vote. Sure, the majority of the support would come from the Democratic caucus, but Boehner's pretend dream of passing immigration reform would be realized, and everyone would live happily ever after.
At this point, Boehner is trying to save face with Latinos, keep business donors happy, and not piss off the nativist Right too much. Not so hell-bent, after all.
Update: Ahh, Boehner has already shot this down.
A spokesman for Mr. Boehner didn't dispute the account but said no action is possible until President Barack Obama proves himself a trustworthy partner to Republicans.
However, he doesn't dispute saying he was "hell-bent" on passing immigration reform to a group of industry and business donors.
In other words, he's feeding bullshit to his pro-reform business donors (many of whom fear reform is dead if Republicans win this November), hoping they won't notice that he actually has no plans to make it happen.