Bills, Bills, Bills

Remember during the debt ceiling battle royale how the Regime and congressional Democrats were so adamant on raising the roof because America "must be able to pay its bills"?  D'ya think they'll maintain that stance about this bill?

Texas Governor Rick Perry has asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to reimburse the state $350 million to cover costs of imprisoning illegal immigrants.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the top-tier Republican presidential candidate blamed the federal government for not securing the border with Mexico, allowing illegal immigrants to cross over and use taxpayer-funded resources. He said resources for county jails are being depleted as a result.

[Hyuk.]  Something tells me this statement is going to end up in Nappy's round file.

But then, Governor Perry's point isn't so much an actual expectation that DHS will fork over for the extra welfare burdens their lawlessness has imposed on Texas, but to make the point that he isn't the wet spaghetti noodle on illegal immigration that some of his purblind critics in the GOP base claim he is.

A word of advice to those folks: immigration is not going to be a front-burner issue in 2012.  The economy is, everybody knows it, it's the core of Barack Obama's terminal electoral vulnerability, and it's Rick Perry's greatest strength.  And if you want to elect a president who will actually control the borders, as well as get the federal government the hell out of the way of letting the American economy actually revive and thrive again, you'll cease and desist from this fratricidal, nit-picky ankle-biting at the most viable Republican candidate in the field.  Savvy?