Hillary Clinton co-sponsored that bill, and was lead sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act in 2005 and 2007. Republicans on Capitol Hill, however – including several seeking their party’s presidential nomination – consistently vote against wage equality. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio—we’re looking at you.

These guys aren’t the only ones to uphold the wage gap. As we celebrate this moment in history, let’s not forget that Republican candidates have a history of opposing women’s progress (and one—ahem, Jeb—had never heard of the Paycheck Fairness Act).

THE GOP ON EQUAL PAY

Donald Trump

Donald Trump said equal pay legislation could lead to “an economy where it’s no longer free enterprise economy.” “CUOMO: You said I’m going to be great for women. I will do the most that can be done for women. Will you pass an equal pay? You know the statistics. You know, they don’t get paid what men do? TRUMP: I’m looking into that very strongly. I was asked that question yesterday. I’m looking into it very strongly. I will have a position on it in the not too distant future. One of the problems you have is you get to have an economy where it’s no longer free enterprise economy. You know, everybody gets the saying whether the — the concept of it is good. It’s a very complicated. The whole issue is a very complicated issue.” [CNN’s New Day, 8/11/15]

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act multiple times. According to the Congressional record, Ted Cruz cast two “nay” votes against the Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation that would strengthen protections for victims of wage discrimination on the basis of sex. [S. 2199, 4/1/14; Senate roll call vote 260, 9/10/14; Senate roll call vote 262, 9/15/14]

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio said he voted against fair pay legislation because “all it really did is just help lawyers sue.” “The most recent data shows that women who work full time throughout the year make just 79 percent of what men doing the same make, and the gap shows up in virtually every job, every single industry, and at every education level. It’s even wider for women of color. Yet when asked by members of the work/family organization Make It Work why he has voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act multiple times, a bill that would ban salary secrecy and strengthen protections against unequal pay, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) indicated that the gap shouldn’t even exist today. ‘It’s already illegal to pay women less than men,’ he responded. ‘If I pay a woman less than a man for the same job, it’s illegal now. You can be sued now.’ Though he offered up lawsuits as the remedy for unequal pay, Rubio is against the Paycheck Fairness Act because it would result in more lawsuits. ‘The Paycheck [Fairness] Act, all it did was allow trial lawyers to sue,’ he said. ‘The reason I voted against it is because…all it really did is just help lawyers sue.’” [Think Progress, 11/30/15]

Marco Rubio repeatedly voted against equal pay legislation, calling it “a welfare plan for trial lawyers.” “Republicans, seeking to mitigate the fallout after recent debates over women’s health have cast them in a harsh light among female voters, were careful not to be seen as rooting against the cause of equal pay. Instead, they decried the bill as a political stunt. ‘It’s pure election-year politics,’ said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). ‘This bill reads more to me like some sort of a welfare plan for trial lawyers.’” [Talking Points Memo, 6/5/12; Senate roll call vote 115, 6/5/12; Senate roll call vote 103, 4/9/14; Senate roll call vote 260, 9/10/14; Senate roll call vote 262, 9/15/14]

Marco Rubio claimed the push for fair pay legislation was “about scoring political points.” In an official press release, Rubio said, “Once again, Senate Democrats have wasted the American people’s time by holding yet another show vote that proves any sense of urgency they have is about scoring political points instead of solving the problems that threaten America’s future.” [Official Marco Rubio Press Release, 6/5/12]

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush: “What’s the Paycheck Fairness Act?” “‘What’s the Paycheck Fairness Act?’ Bush asked, in an exchange captured by the liberal opposition research outfit American Bridge. Once the man he was speaking with defined it as a bill that would ensure that women get ‘equal pay for equal work,’ Bush took issue with his phrasing. ‘Equal pay for the same work, not for equal work — I think that’s the problem with it. I think there’s a definition issue,’ he said, before declining to say whether or not he thought Land should support the legislation.” [The Hill, 10/15/14]

Jeb Bush suggested that existing wage laws were sufficient to ensure equal pay. “‘Wages should be equal, and there are laws to make it so, and they should be enforced,’ Bush said in response to a subsequent question from one female employee, implying he thought that existing statutes were effective at making it so. The employee cited the oft-used statistic that by some measures women are paid 79 percent of what men make for the same work. Bush interrupted her to ask whether that was the case at the startup.” [TIME, 7/16/15]

Chris Christie

Chris Christie vetoed “two sensible reforms that would help prevent women from getting cheated in their paychecks.” “Gov. Chris Christie says he’s committed to pay equity for women. So why, for the second time, has he killed two sensible reforms that would help prevent women from getting cheated in their paychecks? […] One bill, called the Wage Transparency Act, Christie outright vetoed. It would have required state contractors to make their gender, race and wage information publicly available, as federal contractors will soon have to. Christie argues the state’s prevailing wage law already requires wage reporting. But it doesn’t cover all public contractors. And we have yet to see any evidence that doing so would be too ‘costly and burdensome’ for business, as Christie claims. Weinberg’s other bill, the Unfair Wage Recovery Act, Christie’s conditional veto has rendered toothless. Under this reform, a woman who suddenly discovers she is being paid less than male co-workers would have had the opportunity to seek all the back pay she is owed, without hitting an arbitrary statute of limitations.” [Star-Ledger, 8/14/14]

Rand Paul

Rand Paul voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act multiple times and compared equal pay legislation to the Soviet Politburo. “Paul, a staunch libertarian, said passing a law that would have given judges more leeway to determine if a woman had been paid unfairly would be a step toward reviving the Soviet Union’s notorious central governing body here. The United States’ free market, he argued, works much better at setting wages at the appropriate level. ‘Three hundred million people get to vote everyday on what you should be paid or what the price of goods are,’ Paul told reporters on Capitol Hill. ‘In the Soviet Union, the Politburo decided the price of bread, and they either had no bread or too much bread. So setting prices or wages by the government is always a bad idea.’” [Huffington Post, 6/5/12; Senate roll call vote 115, 6/5/12; Senate roll call vote 103, 4/9/14; Senate roll call vote 260, 9/10/14; Senate roll call vote 262, 9/15/14]

Rand Paul: “I think some of the victimology and all of this other stuff is trumped up.” “Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday that Democrats are failing in their attempts to frame the GOP as a party that wages a war against women. ‘The whole thing of the ‘war on women,’ I sort of laughingly say, ‘Yeah, there might have been – but the women are winning it,’’ the Republican senator from Kentucky said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’ He said women have made great strides and, as an example, now make up more than half the students at medical and law schools. […] ‘And I think some of the victimology and all of this other stuff is trumped up. We don’t get to any good policy by playing some sort of charade that somehow one party doesn’t care about women or one party is not in favor of women advancing, or other people advancing.’” [CNN, 1/26/14]

John Kasich

John Kasich said the gender wage gap was “based on experience” and “tied up in skills.” “In Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) grilled presidential candidate John Kasich about his views on immigration, gun control, the wars in the Middle East, and economic inequality — particularly between men and women. USHCC President Javier Palomarez challenged the Ohio governor on the fact that women in his state working full time are getting paid roughly 78 percent of what men make — according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau. For Latina women across the U.S., the gap is even greater: just 54 percent of what men made in 2014. Palomarez pointed out that Kasich has daughters of his own, and asked how he explains this disparity to them. ‘Well, a lot of it is based on experience,’ Kasich replied. ‘A lot of different factors go into it. It’s all tied up in skills. Do you not have the skills to be able to compete?’” [Think Progress,10/7/15]

Women working in Gov. John Kasich’s office were paid an average of $9.81 per hour less than men. “A newspaper investigation has found the average pay gap between men and women in the offices of four of Ohio’s five elected statewide officials has grown to as much as almost $10 an hour, as it’s shrunk to under a dollar across the rest of state government. Women working in Republican Gov. John Kasich’s office earn $9.81-an-hour less, on average, than men, the Dayton Daily News analysis published Sunday showed. That’s the highest gender pay gap among statewide officeholders, according to the newspaper’s study of Ohio Department of Administrative Services data. The gender gap compares to $3.99-an-hour under former Gov. Ted Strickland.” [Associated Press, 4/21/14]

Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina called equal pay legislation “tokens” and “gestures.” “Fiorina: I think in some cases we just have to take on the facts. There are plenty of laws in place today that a woman can look to if she’s truly discriminated against at work, where she’s actually earning less for the same job as her male counterpart. So the Paycheck Fairness Act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — these are tokens. They’re gestures. They don’t truly help women advance. We can’t avoid the factual arguments, because they’re on our side. [CNN, 6/30/14]

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum opposed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, calling it “a trial lawyer’s bill.” “As polls show the tightening of a gender gap and the chase by both Romney and Obama for an elusive ‘women’s vote’ that everyone agrees is far from monolithic, Santorum dismissed all the fuss over Romney’s ‘binders full of women’ and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, touted by the president Tuesday and since as the first piece of legislation he signed. ‘It’s very interesting that what Barack Obama pointed to was a trial lawyer’s bill,’ Santorum told me after his brief speech. ‘The Lilly Ledbetter bill basically gives women a longer period of time to file a lawsuit,’ he said. ‘This was advocated by the trial lawyers so they could make more money. This had nothing to do with changing the law with respect to pay for women or rights for women. It simply gave lawyers a longer time to sue. This is the kind of small ball this president is playing. He’s not talking about major issues that can improve the employment picture for women or for people in this country. He’s talking about taking care of his friends in the trial bar.’” [Washington Post, 10/18/12]

Bumped from the main stage are Paul and Fiorina. Left are the not-so-magnificent seven, from Trump to Rubio to Cruz to…we’ve lost track: in the end, each and every one of these Republicans plies in the same extreme policies and backwards proposals.

You’ll hear shouts and insults and the usual attacks on minorities, women, and immigrants. You’ll see navy-blue suits and faux-angry gestures. But you won’t get a hint of progress—just the same tired spectacle we’ve come to expect.

Bottom line: These Republican hopefuls are all identical – out of touch and too extreme.

WHICH REPUBLICAN HOPEFULS HAVE OPPOSED A PATHWAY TO CITZENSHIP?

AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.

Ted Cruz said that “a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally is profoundly unfair.”

Carly Fiorina said, “My own view is, if you have come here illegally and stayed here illegally, that you don’t get a path to citizenship.” [MSNBC’s Morning Joe, 6/15/15]

Chris Christie stated that providing a pathway to citizenship was “an extreme way to go.”

John Kasich: Kasich remarked that he was “not for giving anybody a path to citizenship here.”

AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME. 

Donald Trump: On CNN’s State of the Union in this past summer, Trump stated he was for “traditional marriage.”

Jeb Bush: In a campaign press release, Bush wrote, “Guided by my faith, I believe in traditional marriage.”

Chris Christie: Christie criticized the Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality.

John Kasich: Kasich opposed both same-sex marriage and civil unions.

AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.

Ted Cruz: Cruz voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act multiple times. [S. 2199, 4/1/14; Senate roll call vote 260, 9/10/14; Senate roll call vote 262, 9/15/14]

Marco Rubio: Rubio said he voted against fair pay legislation because “all it really did is just help lawyers sue.”

Chris Christie: Christie vetoed “two sensible reforms that would help prevent women from getting cheated in their paychecks.”

AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME. 

Ted Cruz opposed universal background checks for gun buyers.

Marco Rubio opposed bipartisan legislation to require background checks on gun purchases.

Rick Santorum opposed universal background checks for gun purchases.

John Kasich said of gun background checks: “I don’t think more laws are going to fix this.”

AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.

Marco Rubio said that Muslims were like “Germans who may have been members of the Nazi party, but weren’t violent themselves.” [ABC’s This Week, 11/15/15]                             

Jeb Bush said he supported making Syrian refugees “prove” they’re Christian as part of the vetting process. 

Mike Huckabee said that “it’s time to wake up and smell the falafel” and close our borders to Syrian refugees.

Rand Paul supported reinstating a failed racial profiling program that targeted Muslims entering the country.

Worse, it’s not only their rhetoric – the GOP presidential candidates’ prejudiced and un-American polices confirm this hate. The GOP excludes and demonizes minorities to prey on the fears of their base.

Trump knows better than anyone that the GOP presidential field stands together.  Today on Morning Joe he said, “[The Republican candidates have] been condemning practically everything I say, and then they always come to my side… They’ve been condemning all of the things that I’ve been espousing, and now, most of them are on my side.”

GOP Islamophobia

Donald Trump

Donald Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States. “Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump wants to bar all Muslims from entering the United States. In a statement from his campaign, Trump called for a ‘total and complete shutdown’ of Muslims entering the United States until elected leaders can ‘figure out what is going on.’ When asked by The Hill whether that would include Muslim-American citizens currently abroad, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks replied over email: ‘Mr. Trump says, ‘everyone.’’” [The Hill, 12/7/15]

• Donald Trump’s ban would apply to both potential immigrants and tourists. “Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he is calling for a ‘complete and total shutdown’ on Muslims entering the United States. Trump says in a statement released by his campaign Monday that his proposal comes in response to the level of hatred among ‘large segments of the Muslim population’ toward Americans. Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says Trump’s proposed ban would apply to ‘everybody,’ including Muslims seeking immigration visas as well as tourists seeking to enter the country.” [Associated Press, 12/7/15]

• Donald Trump’s ban would include American citizens abroad. “When asked by The Hill whether that would include Muslim-American citizens currently abroad, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks replied over email: ‘Mr. Trump says, ‘everyone.’’ Trump is quoted in the statement as saying that a significant number of Muslims harbor a ‘hatred’ toward America and as a result should be kept out of the country.” [The Hill, 12/7/15]

Donald Trump said he “would certainly implement” a national system to track Muslims in the United States. “Donald Trump ‘would certainly implement’ a database system tracking Muslims in the United States, the Republican front-runner told NBC News on Thursday night. ‘I would certainly implement that. Absolutely,’ Trump said in Newton, Iowa, in between campaign town halls. ‘There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases,’ he added. ‘We should have a lot of systems.’ When asked whether Muslims would be legally obligated to sign into the database, Trump responded, ‘They have to be — they have to be.’” [NBC News, 11/20/15]

Donald Trump falsely claimed that “Arab populations” in New Jersey “were cheer­ing as the World Trade Cen­ter came down.” “Trump told ABC’s This Week: ‘There were people that were cheer­ing on the oth­er side of New Jer­sey where you have large Ar­ab pop­u­la­tions. They were cheer­ing as the World Trade Cen­ter came down.’ If Trump ac­tu­ally saw this on tele­vi­sion, it was per­haps on a spe­cial chan­nel pro­duced only for him and some of his fol­low­ers. While In­ter­net posts al­leging this ex­is­ted im­me­di­ately fol­low­ing the ter­ror­ist at­tacks, po­lice de­part­ments and loc­al me­dia said then and say now there were no such cel­eb­ra­tions. In­ter­est­ingly, fel­low GOP can­did­ate Ben Car­son, who fol­low­ing Trump’s re­marks also said he saw the cheer­ing on TV, later said he had got­ten con­fused, and foot­age of the cel­eb­ra­tions was ac­tu­ally from East Jer­u­s­alem.” [National Journal, 11/30/15]

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz: “I will shut down the broken immigration system that is letting jihadists into our country.” “If I am elected President, I will direct the Department of Defense to destroy ISIS. And I will shut down the broken immigration system that is letting jihadists into our country.” [Ted Cruz press release, 12/6/15]

Ted Cruz employed an anti-Sharia activist as his Tennessee state chairman. “Republican Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign is rejecting a call to drop an anti-Shariah activist as his state chairman for Tennessee. Kevin Kookogey, a former chairman of the Williamson County GOP, once criticized Republican Gov. Bill Haslam over the role of a Muslim staffer and a council that has advised two state departments on Islamic affairs. He presided over the 2012 passage of a resolution that said the governor had extended ‘preferential political status to Shariah adherents in Tennessee, thereby aiding and abetting the advancement of an ideology and doctrine which is wholly incompatible with the Constitution of the United States and the Tennessee Constitution.’ The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged Kookogey’s removal as Cruz’s Tennessee chairman, saying that keeping him in place would serve as what the group called ‘an endorsement of anti-Muslim hate.’” [Associated Press, 6/11/15]

Ben Carson

Ben Carson compared Syrian refugees to “dogs.” “‘If there’s a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog, and you’re probably going to put your children out of the way,’ retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said Thursday in Mobile, Ala.,when he was asked about Syrian refugees. ‘It doesn’t mean that you hate all dogs by any stretch of the imagination, but you’re putting your intellect into motion.’” [Washington Post, 11/19/15]

Ben Carson said he would not support a Muslim for President of the United States. “Ben Carson says the United States should not elect a Muslim president. ‘I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that,’ the retired neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate said Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’” [CNN, 9/21/15]

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio said that Muslims were like “Germans who may have been members of the Nazi party, but weren’t violent themselves.” “I don’t understand it. That would be like saying we weren’t at war with Nazis because we were afraid to offend some Germans who may have been members of the Nazi party, but weren’t violent themselves. We are at war with radical Islam, with an interpretation of Islam by a significant number of people around the world who they believe now justifies them in killing those who don’t agree with their ideology. This is a clash of civilizations. And as I said at the debate earlier this week, there is no middle ground on this. Either they win or we win, and we need to begin to take this seriously.” [ABC’s This Week, 11/15/15]

• Salon’s Elias Isquith: Marco Rubio implied “that all Muslims are morally equivalent to Nazis.” “As Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall has noted, this comment has not received nearly the amount of attention that it should. Because while it’s nothing new to hear the violent extremism of ISIS or al Qaeda compared to Nazism, it’s much less common to hear someone of stature imply that all Muslims are morally equivalent to Nazis. Not Germans, mind you, but Nazis — which means, of course, that Islam is equivalent to the Nazi Party.” [Salon, 11/21/15]

• TPM’s Josh Marshall: “The clear import of Rubio’s Nazi analogy is that we are in fact at war with Islam itself but that there are many Muslims who haven’t themselves committed acts of terrorism.” “As this crowd is fond of saying, words have meaning and they have consequences. And the clear import of Rubio’s Nazi analogy is that we are in fact at war with Islam itself but that there are many Muslims who haven’t themselves committed acts of terrorism. Read the actual words. That’s the only reasonable interpretation of the analogy as he states it. He doesn’t say it’s comparable to not mentioning Nazism because it might offend all Germans but that it’s like tiptoeing around the word ‘Nazism’ for fear of offending German members of the Nazi party. Again, in this framework all Muslims are comparable to Nazi party members. Just some haven’t gotten their hands dirty.” [Talking Points Memo, 11/19/15]

• Washington Post: Marco Rubio was “essentially casting the Paris attackers as products of Muslim society rather than a radical group apart from it.” “Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) said the attacks were part of a ‘clash of civilizations’ — essentially casting the Paris attackers as products of Muslim society rather than a radical group apart from it.” [Washington Post, 11/19/15]

• New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait: “If we tease out Rubio’s metaphor, the Muslim faith as a whole is equivalent to Nazism, and violent jihadi terrorists are the equivalent of the Nazi leadership.” “If we tease out Rubio’s metaphor, the Muslim faith as a whole is equivalent to Nazism, and violent jihadi terrorists are the equivalent of the Nazi leadership. Rubio has a knack for grasping the midpoint of Republican Party doctrine at any given moment, and his comments reflect the party’s renewed conviction that the war against terrorists must be defined in the broadest possible terms.” [New York Magazine, 11/16/15]

Marco Rubio said he was open to not allowing Muslim students to receive student visas in the U.S. “On Thursday morning, Rubio stood by his comments in an interview with Fox News host Martha MacCallum: MACCALLUM: You opened the door to perhaps not allowing Muslim students to receive student visas in this country. Did you mean that, 24 hours later? RUBIO: Yeah. Because, let me explain to you. We have to get proper perspective here. No one has a right to immigrate to the United States. No one has a right to visit the United States and no one has a right to get a visa to study in the United States.” [Think Progress, 4/24/13]

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush said he supported making Syrian refugees “prove” they’re Christian as part of the vetting process. “Asked whether he would bar moderate Muslims entirely, Bush said he wants to see what the vetting process looks like first. He was also asked how he would distinguish between Muslims and Christians. ‘You can prove you’re a Christian,’ he said. Pressed further on how, Bush shrugged his shoulders and replied: ‘I think you can prove it. If you can’t prove it, then, you know, you err on the side of caution.’” [CNN, 11/18/15]

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee on the refugee crisis: “It’s time to wake up and smell the falafel…We are importing terrorism.” “Former governor of Arkansas and current presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee responded to Friday night’s terrorist attacks in Paris by saying on Saturday that the United States should close their borders to Syrian refugees. ‘It’s time to wake up and smell the falafel,’ Huckabee told Fox News’ Bret Baier, referring to the traditionally Middle Eastern dish that is — perhaps unbeknownst to him — loved and made by Christians, Jews and Muslims. ‘We are importing terrorism.’” [Huffington Post, 11/16/15]

Mike Huckabee called Muslims “uncorked animals” and said Islam is “a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet.” “Speaking on his radio program on Monday, Huckabee prefaced his remarks by saying that he understood it was ‘politically incorrect’ to ‘say anything unkind about Islam.’ He then went on to suggest that Islamic teachings were to blame for recent unrest during the holy month of Ramadan. ‘Can someone explain to me why it is that we tiptoe around a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet in their so-called “holiest days,”’ Huckabee said. ‘You know, if you’ve kept up with the Middle East, you know that the most likely time to have an uprising of rock throwing and rioting comes on the day of prayer on Friday. So the Muslims will go to the mosque, and they will have their day of prayer, and they come out of there like uncorked animals — throwing rocks and burning cars.’”  [Huffington Post, 8/9/13]

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum endorsed racial profiling of Muslims. “In a discussion over balancing national security and privacy, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Tuesday he would endorse profiling, specifically of Muslims and young men, in order to enhance security at airports. ‘We should be trying to find the bomber, not the bomb,’ the former Pennsylvania senator said at the CNN debate, explaining his support for profiling. He cited the use of profiling in Israel as an example of how it would work. Asked to explain by debate moderator CNN’s Wolf Blitzer who would be profiled, Santorum said, ‘The folks who are most likely to be committing these crimes.’” [CBS News, 11/23/11]

Rand Paul

Rand Paul supported reinstating a failed racial profiling program that targeted Muslims entering the country. “So one would have thought that he would not try and do Lindsey Graham’s job for him and position himself as the frontman for the notorious National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) that is nothing if not surveillance-on-steroids. Implemented in the wake of 9-11, the program was a naked form of racial profiling that targeted Muslims and was finally suspended in 2011. Yet, Paul commented to Breitbart: ‘I’m going to have our subcommittee and maybe committee in Homeland Security look into whether or not we could reinstitute this NSEERS [National Security Entry Exit Registration System] program.’ So what did this program do? It not only singled out Muslims entering the country for extra interrogation at the airport (which is stupid because if they pose a threat then why grant them a visa at all?), it required Muslim foreign boys and men over 16 years already in the country to personally appear before Uncle Sam’s functionaries and register. […] So the entirely predictable upshot of the program was that although it managed to obtain not a single terrorism-related conviction, it did ruin plenty of lives of peaceful Muslims caught in its dragnet.” [Reason,7/18/15]

Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham said that racial profiling of Muslims might be necessary to maintain national security. “The Maryland Democrat has sponsored the End Racial Profiling Act, which would prohibit law enforcement from using race or religion as a basis for search, seizure, or arrest for a half-dozen years. […] The only Republican to attend the Judiciary hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham, voiced general support for the bill but said profiling groups like Muslims might be necessary to maintain national security.” [Daily Beast, 5/13/12]

As more and more Americans recognize criminal justice reform as a key issue in bringing fairness and prosperity to this country, the Republican presidential contenders continue to push out-of-date policies and spew the same hateful rhetoric we have come to expect from Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and others.

Marco Rubio referred to drug sentencing reform as a “careless weakening of drug laws.” Jeb Bush has advocated for gun-sentencing proposals that critics say unfairly target African-Americans. And most Republican candidates have refused to acknowledge the power and importance of the phrase “Black Lives Matter” – even calling it “bullying” and “sickening.” When viewed in full, the GOP’s criminal justice record is woefully inadequate and stuck in the past.

The Republican Party’s out-of-date policies and out-of-touch rhetoric simply won’t cut it.

The GOP on Criminal Justice

Donald Trump

Police Brutality

In 1989, Donald Trump took out a full-page ad in four major New York newspapers titled, “Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back the Police!” “‘Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back the Police!’ Trump’s ad in the four main metropolitan newspapers screamed in two-inch type. ‘At what point did we cross the line from the fine and noble pursuit of genuine civil liberties to the reckless and dangerously permissive atmosphere which allows criminals of every age to beat and rape a helpless woman and then laugh at her family’s anguish?’’ the ad said in part. […] In explaining why he bought the ads, Trump said Saturday in a telephone interview, ‘The criminal is being protected and the the victim is getting zero protection.’ Discussing the Central Park attack, the developer said, ‘‘How does (the victim) have civil liberties lying in hospital, close to death and these criminals are already chanting “police brutality?” It’s absolutely disgraceful, disgraceful.’” [United Press International, 5/1/89]

• Donald Trump said he wanted to “unshackle [police] from the constant chant of ‘police brutality’.” “In arguing that a 14-year-old boy should be killed, he pushed New Yorkers to ‘unshackle [police] from the constant chant of ‘police brutality’’ that overtook the city then as it has in the past year.” [Daily Dot, 9/1/15]

Donald Trump pitched himself as a “law and order” candidate who would give more power to police departments. “Sharpening his pitch to what he calls ‘the silent majority,’ Donald Trump presented himself Saturday as the ‘law and order’ candidate in the 2016 presidential race, pledging to ‘get rid’ of gangs and give more power to police officers. Speaking to the National Federation of Republican Assemblies for more than an hour, in the heart of a Southern city where student sit-ins helped launch the 1960s-era civil rights movement, the Republican complained that cops are afraid to be tough in the face of more scrutiny over their tactics. ‘I know cities where police are afraid to even talk to people because they want to be able to retire and have their pension,’ he said. ‘They don’t want to be pulled off the police forces. And then you wonder what’s wrong with our cities. We need a whole new mind-set.’” [Washington Post, 8/29/15]

Black Lives Matter

Donald Trump on Black Lives Matter: “I think they’re trouble.” “GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Tuesday night said he supported all lives and suggested that supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement are promoting ‘hate.’ ‘I think they’re trouble. I think they’re looking for trouble,’ the tough-talking tycoon said during a Fox News interview with Bill O’Reilly. ‘I looked at a couple of people that were interviewed from the group. I saw them with hate coming down the street last week talking about cops and police and what should be done to them. That was not good,’ Trump said.” [The Hill, 9/9/15]

Ben Carson

Incarceration

Ben Carson said he was “flabbergasted by the accommodations” at federal prisons, saying they were to “conducive to comfort.” “In addressing the young Republicans, Carson also said that he, like President Obama, had visited federal prisons. ‘I was flabbergasted by the accommodations — the exercise equipment, the libraries and the computers,’ he said. He said he was told that ‘a lot of times when it’s about time for one of the guys to be discharged, especially when its winter, they’ll do something so they can stay in there.’ […] ‘I think that we need to sometimes ask ourselves, “Are we creating an environment that is conducive to comfort where a person would want to stay, versus an environment where we maybe provide them an opportunity for rehabilitation but is not a place that they would find particularly comfortable?”’ he told reporters.” [Washington Post, 7/21/15]

War on Drugs

Ben Carson on whether he would continue the War on Drugs: “Absolutely…I intensify it.” “If elected president, Ben Carson won’t just continue to wage the perennially failing War on Drugs, like all of his predecessors in both parties since Richard Nixon—he would intensify the failed policy, because … well, better to quote him directly. Here is the hard-to-follow reasoning he offered in an interview with Glenn Beck: Glenn Beck: Do you continue the War on Drugs? Ben Carson: Absolutely. Beck: You do? Carson: I intensify it.” [Atlantic, 10/23/15]

Ben Carson said that marijuana legalization would lead to “hedonistic activity.” “The legal sale of recreational marijuana began in Colorado on Jan. 1, but Dr. Ben Carson sees it as society’s latest step downward. The use of medical marijuana in some cases has been proven to be useful, Carson said Thursday on Fox News Channel’s ‘On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.’ But, he added, it is a gateway drug. ‘I don’t think this is something we really want for our society,’ Carson said. ‘You know, we’re gradually just removing all the barriers to hedonistic activity. We’re changing so rapidly to a different type of society, and nobody is getting a chance to discuss it because it’s taboo.’” [Newsmax, 1/2/14]

Black Lives Matter

Ben Carson called the Black Lives Matter movement “bullying” and “sickening.” “In a move sure to catapult him to the top of Bill O’Reilly’s most favored list, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson blasted Black Lives Matter for ‘bullying people’ and slammed the movement’s motto as ‘sickening.’ When the conservative former neurosurgeon traveled to Ferguson, Missouri this past Friday, September 11, CBS’s Major Garret rode along with the rising Republican on Carson’s first visit to the city. Seated besides embattled Ferguson Mayor James Knowler, Carson took the opportunity to lash out at the Black Lives Matter that was borne out of the August 2014 shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson. ‘The Black Lives Matter movement, where it’s foisting yourself on people – rather than engaging in dialogue – and bullying people,’ Carson described, adding, ‘I never liked the idea of bullying on behalf of anybody.’” [Salon, 9/14/15]

Marco Rubio

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

Marco Rubio voted for a bill that extended Florida’s 10-20-Life mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines to 16 and 17 year olds. “Lawmakers passed a couple of crime bills on their final day. The Senate voted 31 7 for a bill (SB 1548) that will make most teen age felons who use guns while committing serious crimes serve the same prison sentences as adults. The measure, which extends last year’s 10 20 life law to most 16 and 17 year olds, cleared the House Thursday and goes to Gov. Jeb Bush.” [Associated Press, 5/5/00; SB 1548, 3/7/00; House roll call vote 491, 5/4/00]

Marco Rubio said the reform of drug sentencing guidelines was “careless weakening of drug laws.” “In an op-ed for the conservative Washington Times, Rubio made the noncontroversial case that whomever succeeds Eric Holder as attorney general should be ‘committed to the Constitution,’ and in doing so, seemed to make a vague endorsement of the war on drugs—placing him out of step with a large and loud faction of the conservative movement. ‘While individuals from a variety of perspectives have made a compelling case that American law has been over-criminalized and over-federalized,’ Rubio wrote, ‘…reform should not begin with careless weakening of drug laws that have done so much to help end the violence and mayhem that plagued American cities in prior decades.’” [Daily Beast, 10/3/14]

Stand Your Ground

Marco Rubio cosponsored Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law and restated his support for the measure after the acquittal of George Zimmerman. “Sen. Marco Rubio confirmed Thursday he still supports Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law, which he originally cosponsored as a state representative in 2005. ‘I was in favor of it then, and I am now,’ Rubio told the Washington Examiner.” [Washington Examiner, 7/18/13; HB 249, 1/10/05]

Marco Rubio was a member of a lobbying group that worked to spread Stand Your Ground laws to other states. “Rubio is listed as a member of ALEC, the lobbying group that helped spread Stand Your Ground to other states before losing sponsors.” [Huffington Post, 7/15/13]

Jeb Bush

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

Jeb Bush signed the 10-20-Life plan, which set mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years for committing a violent crime with a gun, 20 years for firing the gun during the crime, and 25 years to life for causing bodily injury with a bullet. “Bush is calling his plan ‘10/20/Life,’ exactly the same name adopted by supporters in California. The law would require minimum, mandatory sentences of 10 years for committing a violent crime with a gun, 20 years for firing the gun during the crime and 25 years to life for causing bodily injury with a bullet.” [St. Petersburg Times, 9/23/98]

• Black lawmakers said Jeb Bush’s gun-sentencing proposal unfairly targeted African-Americans. “Black lawmakers say the tough gun-sentencing proposal unfairly targets African-Americans. Some of Florida’s black political leaders are attacking Gov. Jeb Bush’s chief crime initiative as a racially motivated way to keep young black men behind bars. The state House approved Bush’s gun-sentencing proposal Wednesday, and the Senate could do so as early as today.” [St. Petersburg Times, 3/11/99]

Jeb Bush signed into law a bill that extended Florida’s 10-20-Life mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines to 16 and 17 year olds. “Lawmakers passed a couple of crime bills on their final day. The Senate voted 31 7 for a bill (SB 1548) that will make most teen age felons who use guns while committing serious crimes serve the same prison sentences as adults. The measure, which extends last year’s 10 20 life law to most 16 and 17 year olds, cleared the House Thursday and goes to Gov. Jeb Bush.” [Associated Press, 5/5/00; SB 1548, 3/7/00]

Jeb Bush established a Florida statute that expanded mandatory minimum sentences and included “death” as a guideline for severe drug offenses “depending on the type and amount of the controlled substance.” “Create mandatory prison sentences for persons convicted of drug trafficking. Mandatory minimum prison sentences of 3, 7, 15, 25 years, life or death will be imposed depending on the type and amount of the controlled substance. A minimum of three years will be mandated for any person convicted of possession, sale, importation, etc., of at least 25 pounds of cannabis, 4 grams of flunitrazepam, morphine, opium or heroin, 14 grams of amphetamine, 28 grams of cocaine and phencyclidine, or 200 grams of methaqualone. Penalties increase as the type and amount of the drugs increase or if use of the drug results in someone’s death.” [MyFlorida.com, accessed 4/9/15]

Racism in the Justice System

Jeb Bush said he did not think “there’s evidence of” the death penalty being applied more frequently to black defendants. “Bush, who insisted that lawmakers deal with speeding up the complex appeals process, said he doesn’t think the death penalty is applied more frequently to black defendants. ‘I don’t think there’s evidence of that being the case,’ Bush said during a meeting Thursday with four of his closest allies in the black caucus.” [Orlando Sentinel, 1/7/00]

Jeb Bush opposed a measure “that would allow accused murderers to argue that race is a factor in their cases.” “On Thursday, as lawmakers approved a switch to lethal injection as Florida’s chief form of execution, Democrats tried to add a provision that would allow accused murderers to argue that race is a factor in their cases. The GOP-led Legislature rejected the measure. Gov. Jeb Bush, who also opposed the measure, established a 15-member task force to study the role of race in capital sentencing.” [St. Petersburg Times, 1/7/00]

Jeb Bush angered black lawmakers by refusing “to consider allowing blacks sentenced to death to challenge the sentence on grounds that it was racially motivated.” “Black lawmakers are angry that Bush refused to consider allowing blacks sentenced to death to challenge the sentence on grounds that it was racially motivated. They cited a 1991 study showing that black convicts in Florida are more likely to receive the death penalty, and that killers of white people were three times as likely to get the electric chair as killers of black people. Rep. Beryl Roberts, D-Miami, one of those pressured to vote for the appeals bill, said Bush’s refusal to take up the racial justice provision sealed her decision to vote no. ‘He knows we need to address what is a recognized problem, and he should have gone ahead and addressed it,’ Roberts said. ‘Don’t study me any more,’ said Rep. Les Miller of Tampa, the House Democratic leader. ‘As an African American, I’m sick of being studied. African Americans have been studied since we got off the slave ship.’” [Miami Herald, 1/9/00]

Stand Your Ground

Jeb Bush signed Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” gun legislation into law. “With a National Rifle Association lobbyist looking on, Gov. Jeb Bush signed into law Tuesday a bill that will allow Floridians to use force on an attacker without first trying to escape. Bush signed into law a broad new expansion of the ‘castle doctrine’ — an old legal tenet giving residents the license to kill criminals while protecting their home. Under current Florida law, a person attacked in any public place — a supermarket, a bar, a library — must first attempt to retreat before using deadly force in self-defense. The new measure, which takes effect in October, removes the obligation to flee, allowing people to legally kill their attackers if they feel threatened.” [Orlando Sentinel, 4/27/05; SB 436, 12/08/04]

• Jeb Bush “did not waver in his support” of his “Stand Your Ground” legislation after Trayvon Martin’s killer was acquitted. “But Mr. Bush didn’t waver in his support for the underlying legislation. ‘Applied properly, I support the law,’ Mr. Bush said shortly after the incident.” [Wall Street Journal, 4/9/15]

Police Brutality

Jeb Bush denied there was “a systemic problem” with police brutality in the United States. “Bush, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, said ‘no’ when asked by Fox News’ Megyn Kelly if ‘policing is the problem’ in cities like Baltimore or in Ferguson, Missouri, which have both been rocked by violent protests following police-involved deaths of African-American men. ‘I don’t think it’s a systemic problem,’ Bush replied in the interview, which aired Monday night.” [Business Insider, 5/12/15]

Black Lives Matter

Jeb Bush on Black Lives Matter: “It’s a slogan, I guess.” “O’Malley came under fire for adding ‘white lives matter, all lives matter’ to the protesters’ calls – a statement he has since apologized for. But Bush said Thursday that O’Malley had nothing to be sorry about. ‘I mean, we’re so uptight and so politically correct now that we apologize for saying ‘lives matter?’’ Bush said. ‘Life is precious, it’s a gift from God. I frankly think that it’s one of the most important values that we have. I know in the political context, it’s a slogan, I guess. And should he have apologized? No.’” [MSNBC, 7/30/15]

Ted Cruz

Stand Your Ground

Ted Cruz defended Stand Your Ground laws. “Sen. Ted Cruz defended stand your ground laws today at a hearing on self-defense legislation, arguing that Washington should leave such decisions to the states. […] Cruz said opposition to the laws amounted to an attempt to take way individuals’ rights to defend themselves. He called self-defense rights a ‘bedrock liberty.’ ‘The notion that critics of these laws put forth, that if you’re attacked on the street by a violent attacker, you’re obliged to turn and run rather than defend yourself, is a notion contrary to hundreds of years of our jurisprudence,’ Cruz said.” [Dallas Morning News, 10/29/13]

Black Lives Matter

Ted Cruz said that the Black Lives Matter movement was “literally suggesting and embracing and celebrating the murder of police officers.” “When ThinkProgress asked Cruz if he’d be willing to sit down for a meeting with Black Lives Matter activists, he said ‘sure, I’m happy to meet with just about anybody.’ But then he elaborated that the activists were threatening police officers. ‘If you look at the Black Lives Matter movement, one of the most disturbing things is more than one of their protests have embraced rabid rhetoric, rabid anti-police language, literally suggesting and embracing and celebrating the murder of police officers,’ the Texas senator said. ‘That is disgraceful.’” [Think Progress, 10/14/15]

Mike Huckabee

Incarceration

Mike Huckabee said it “really would be” ideal to sell criminals into slavery rather than imprison them. “Host Jan Mickelson began by bemoaning that the ‘criminal justice system has been taken over by progressives.’ In order to fight back, he argued, conservatives should look to the biblical Book of Exodus. ‘It says, if a person steals, they have to pay it back two-fold, four-fold,’ Mickelson explained. ‘If they don’t have anything, we’re supposed to take them down and sell them.’ Mickelson went on to argue why jails, which he claimed are a ‘pagan invention,’ are inferior to slavery: ‘We indenture them and they have to spend their time not sitting on their stump in a jail cell, they’re supposed to be working off the debt.’ ‘Wouldn’t that be a better choice?’ the host asked. ‘Well, it really would be,’ Huckabee replied without missing a beat. ‘Sometimes the best way to deal with a nonviolent criminal behavior is what you just suggested.’” [Think Progress, 10/15/15]

Black Lives Matter

Mike Huckabee said Martin Luther King, Jr. would be “appalled” by the Black Lives Matter movement. “‘When I hear people scream, ‘black lives matter,’ I think, ‘Of course they do.’ But all lives matter. It’s not that any life matters more than another,’ Huckabee said in the interview aired on ‘The Situation Room.’ ‘That’s the whole message that Dr. King tried to present, and I think he’d be appalled by the notion that we’re elevating some lives above others,’ Huckabee said.” [CNN, 8/18/15]

Rand Paul

Police Brutality

Rand Paul on Baltimore: “I came through the train on Baltimore last night. I’m glad the train didn’t stop.” “On Tuesday, as Baltimore burned in the wake of the latest episode surrounding the alleged use of deadly excessive force, Paul’s response was notably off-key. ‘I came through the train on Baltimore last night,’ Paul told host Laura Ingraham. ‘I’m glad the train didn’t stop.’ The senator’s breezy response came just before he blamed the violent uprising there on ‘the breakdown of the family structure, the lack of fathers, the lack of sort of a moral code in our society.’ He also expressed his sympathy for ‘the plight of police,’ all without speaking to the circumstances surrounding the troubling death of Freddie Gray in the custody of Baltimore Police.” [Politico, 4/30/15]

John Kasich

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

John Kasich voted for NRA-backed legislation that imposed “a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for using a gun to commit a crime or for felons caught carrying guns.” “The bill, which passed 358-60, creates a $100 million project to expand Project Exile nationally. It offers grants to states that impose a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for using a gun to commit a crime or for felons caught carrying guns. […] ‘While Bill Clinton was performing in the theater of press conference politics, the House was passing legislation to take a proven, tough law enforcement program nationwide,’ said James Jay Baker, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. He said the House vote ‘highlights the difference between political theater and proven, effective public policy.’ […] Kasich, Y” [Washington Times, 4/12/00]

Chris Christie

Stop and Frisk

Chris Christie said he would bring back the stop-and-frisk program “in about five minutes” if he were Mayor of New York. “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that if he were mayor of New York City, he would bring back the stop-and-frisk program, slamming Mayor Bill de Blasio for the policies he’s implemented. ‘Stop-and-frisk would be back in about five minutes and we would empower the police, not undercut them,’ Christie told MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ on Tuesday. ‘And listen, if police officers step over the line, then they deserve to be taken care of and prosecuted. But this mayor presumes guilt on the part of the police officers before anything happens.’ The contentious police program allowed police officers to stop a pedestrian and search them for weapons and contraband, but was sharply criticized by criminal justice reform advocates who said it unfairly targeted African-Americans.” [CNN, 9/8/15]

War on Drugs

Chris Christie vowed to “crack down” on states that legalized marijuana. “New Jersey Gov. and potential Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said Tuesday that he would ‘crack down’ on states that have legalized marijuana if he were elected president. ‘Absolutely,’ Mr. Christie said on ‘The Hugh Hewitt Show’ when asked if he would enforce federal drug laws in states where marijuana is legalized, The Hill reported. ‘I will crack down and not permit it.’” [Washington Times, 4/15/15]

Black Lives Matter

Chris Christie claimed the Black Lives Matter movement was “calling for the murder of police officers.” “The Black Lives Matter movement is creating an environment that can put police officers at risk, Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said Sunday, accusing President Barack Obama of supporting the movement, encouraging ‘lawlessness’ and not backing up law enforcement. ‘I don’t believe that movement should be justified when they are calling for the murder of police officers,’ Christie said on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’ Told that some individual members have been recorded calling for the deaths of officers, Christie replied that the environment is ‘what the movement is creating.’” [Associated Press, 10/25/15]

Lindsey Graham

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

Lindsey Graham voted against allowing the full Senate to consider legislation that would weaken mandatory minimum sentencing requirements for lesser crimes. “Congress will also consider the Smarter Sentencing Act, which would cut in half mandatory 10 and 20 year terms for some lesser federal drug crimes. The law would give judges some discretion to impose sentences below the mandatory minimum. It passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in January and could be taken up by the full Senate as early as May. […] The Smarter Sentencing Act also has bipartisan support, but not everyone is on board. Several Republican Judiciary Committee members did not vote in favor of the bill when it was voted out of the Committee 13-5 in January. They included Grassley, Sens. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Cornyn of Texas and Orrin Hatch of Utah.” [MSNBC, 4/28/14]

Lindsey Graham voted for NRA-backed legislation that imposed “a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for using a gun to commit a crime or for felons caught carrying guns.” “The bill, which passed 358-60, creates a $100 million project to expand Project Exile nationally. It offers grants to states that impose a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for using a gun to commit a crime or for felons caught carrying guns. […] ‘While Bill Clinton was performing in the theater of press conference politics, the House was passing legislation to take a proven, tough law enforcement program nationwide,’ said James Jay Baker, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. He said the House vote ‘highlights the difference between political theater and proven, effective public policy.’ […] Graham, Y” [Washington Times, 4/12/00]

Rick Santorum

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

Rick Santorum cosponsored legislation to expand the use of mandatory minimum sentences. “Mandatory minimum sentences in drug crimes have proven to be ineffective and costly. They undermine the very concept of an independent judiciary by forcing judges to give predetermined jail terms without considering the individual circumstances. So, naturally, 14 U.S. senators, including Pennsylvania’s Rick Santorum, want to expand their use. The state’s other senator, Arlen Specter, should lead the fight to kill legislation called the ‘Drug Free Century Act’ when it comes before the Senate Judiciary Committee next month. These lawmakers apparently are unmoved by the overwhelming opposition to mandatory minimums by federal judges and the American Bar Association, and mounting criticism by corrections officials. They seem more interested in the political and intuitive appeal of long sentences – whether or not they fit the crime or curb addiction.” [Philly.com, 3/26/99; S.5, 1/19/99]

Bobby Jindal

Incarceration

Bobby Jindal vetoed legislation “that would reduce Louisiana’s nation-leading incarceration rate” and redirect financial savings into prisoner rehabilitation. “Gov. Bobby Jindal has vetoed legislation that would reduce Louisiana’s nation-leading incarceration rate by speeding up parole eligibility for violent criminals and then invest the financial savings in prisoner rehabilitation. The legislation, considered by some the most impactful piece of sentencing reform to emerge from the recent state legislative session, passed easily in the Louisiana Legislature with vocal bipartisan support and was backed by the state’s influential sheriffs and district attorneys associations.” [Times-Picayune, 6/20/14]

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

Bobby Jindal signed legislation that increased both the mandatory minimum and maximum terms of imprisonment for heroin distribution. “Gov. Bobby Jindal signed into law Friday (May 30) a bill that sets the maximum penalty for repeat offenses of heroin distribution at 99 years, up from 50. The new law also increases the mandatory minimum amount of time those convicted even once of dealing the drug must serve in prison to 10 years, up from five. [Times-Picayune, 5/31/14]

• Bobby Jindal signed legislation that reversed earlier drug sentencing reform legislation. “The virtual life sentence of the 99-year prison term also reverses, some noted, sentencing reform the Louisiana Legislature passed a few years ago that lowered the penalty for heroin distribution from an actual life sentence to 50 years. Rep. Pat Smith, D-Baton Rouge, said it took a decade to push that reform through successfully.” [Times-Picayune, 5/31/14]

Bobby Jindal signed legislation that increased the maximum penalty for fleeing from a police officer from 2 years to 5 years in prison. “Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a number of bills related to criminal justice and the treatment of convicts into Louisiana law Friday (May 16). […] Legislation that allows people who flee a law enforcement officer to be imprisoned for up to five years. Currently, they only be imprisoned for two years. If someone is hurt by a person trying to flee arrest, then the person fleeing could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.” [Times-Picayune, 5/17/14]

TO:                 Interested Parties
FROM:           Brad Woodhouse, President, Correct The Record 

Today, the Republican presidential candidates will meet for their one and only debate exclusively focused on the economy. However, if you’re hoping for the GOP to finally show support for the middle class and a growth and fairness economy, prepare to be disappointed. The only economic message these candidates are interested in parroting is the one fed to them by mega-donors like the Koch Brothers.

On issues from tax reform, to Medicare and Social Security, to demeaning programs that create economic opportunity for working class and middle class Americans, to opposing equal pay for women, the Republican candidates are all cut from the same cloth. We’ve seen what happens when a Republican president slashes taxes for the wealthy, goes on a spending spree, and ignores economic support for those who need it most, and America is not going back to Bush-style economics. Only Hillary Clinton has the forward-looking economic agenda America needs to raise the incomes of ordinary Americans, make the wealthy and CEO’s pay their fair share and create true and lasting growth and prosperity.

Look below for a sampling of the GOP’s out of touch, out of date and tried-and-failed economic policies. 

KOCH DEMAND #1:
END MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY AS WE KNOW THEM

AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.

Donald Trump: On phasing out Medicare with private savings accounts: “I’m OK with the savings accounts. I think it’s a good idea.”

 Ted Cruz: Cruz supported increasing the Medicare retirement age and transitioning it to a “premium support” voucher system.

Rand Paul: Paul introduced legislation that would end traditional Medicare and supported raising the Medicare retirement age to 70.

Chris Christie: Christie called for an increase in the Medicare retirement age and for means testing Social Security.

Bobby Jindal: Jindal presented a health care plan that proposed turning Medicare into a voucher system.

KOCH DEMAND #2:
A TAX PLAN THAT SOAKS THE MIDDLE CLASS AND HELPS THE RICH

AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.

Ted Cruz: Cruz has called for a national flat tax, a proposal that has been called a “colossal giveaway to the rich.”

Jeb Bush: Bush’s federal tax plan offered up a massive tax cut for the richest Americans. 

Carly Fiorina: Fiorina has, according to observers, espoused “more or less the official line of the Republican Party on taxation.”

Mike Huckabee: According to the New York Times, Huckabee favored “a tax plan that analysts say…disproportionately benefits the affluent.”

Rand Paul: Paul’s tax plan would most benefit incomes above $1 million.

Chris Christie: Christie pushed to cut the income tax rate for the wealthiest Americans by 11 percent and lower the corporate tax rate by 10 percent.

John Kasich: Kasich supported a plan that would cut taxes for the top 1 percent in Ohio while increasing the tax burden on the bottom 60 percent of earners.

Lindsey Graham: Graham said it was “stupid” to allow tax cuts for the wealthy to expire.

Bobby Jindal: According to Vox, Jindal’s tax plan would “eliminate the standard deduction and personal/dependent exemptions that currently let many working-class families avoid income taxes.”

KOCH DEMAND #3:
DEMEAN PROGRAMS THAT LEVEL THE ECONOMIC PLAYING FIELD AS “FREE STUFF”

AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.

Chris Christie: Christie suggested that raising taxes on the wealthy was part of a “gimme gimme gimme attitude.”

Rick Santorum: Santorum: “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”

KOCH DEMAND #4:
OPPOSE EQUAL PAY FOR WOMEN AT ALL COSTS

AND THE REST? THEY’RE ALL THE SAME.

Donald Trump: Trump said equal pay legislation could lead to “an economy where it’s no longer free enterprise economy.”

Ted Cruz: Cruz voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act multiple times. [S. 2199, 4/1/14; Senate roll call vote 260, 9/10/14; Senate roll call vote 262, 9/15/14]

Carly Fiorina: Fiorina called equal pay legislation “tokens” and “gestures.”

Rand Paul: Paul voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act multiple times and compared equal pay legislation to the Soviet Politburo. [Senate roll call vote 115, 6/5/12; Senate roll call vote 103, 4/9/14; Senate roll call vote 260, 9/10/14; Senate roll call vote 262, 9/15/14]

Chris Christie: Christie vetoed what the Star-Ledger called “two sensible reforms that would help prevent women from getting cheated in their paychecks.”

Lindsey Graham: Graham voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Pay Act. [Senate roll call vote 14, 1/22/09; Senate roll call vote 115, 6/5/12; Senate roll call vote 103, 4/9/14; Senate roll call vote 262, 9/15/14]

Rick Santorum: Santorum opposed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, calling it “a trial lawyer’s bill.”

Bobby Jindal: Jindal voted against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Both Jeb’s decision and his justification are flat wrong. In fact, since the 2010 midterm election, 21 states have enacted new laws to restrict voting rights. Over the past few years, Florida has passed voting laws that disenfranchised more than 1.3 million voters in the 2014 gubernatorial election–an election that was decided by only 72,000 votes.

Just this week, after the GOP’s long-waged war on voting rights continued in Alabama, Hillary Clinton expressed outrage, stating: “Just a few years ago, Alabama passed a law requiring citizens to have a photo ID to vote. Now they’re shutting down places where people get those photo IDs. This is only going to make it harder for people to vote.” As Hillary said, this is “a blast from the Jim Crow past.”

That is exactly what Jeb Bush and the entire Republican field represent—a dangerous blast from the past.

The 2016 GOP Record On Voting Rights

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush on the Voting Rights Act: “I don’t support reauthorizing it as is.” “Jeb Bush thinks the country’s landmark law to prevent discrimination against voters of color has run its course. […] To Bush, singling out states for their historic racism is no longer relevant. ‘If it’s to reauthorize it to continue to provide regulations on top of states as though we are living in 1960—’cause those were basically when many of those rules were put in place—I don’t believe that we should do that,’ he said. ‘There has been dramatic improvement in access to voting. I mean, exponentially better improvement. And I don’t think there is a role for the federal government to play in most places, could be some, but in most places where they did have a constructive role in the ‘60s. So I don’t support reauthorizing it as is.’” [Mother Jones, 10/8/15]

The Jeb Bush administration purged 12,000 eligible voters from the Florida voter rolls ahead of the 2000 presidential election. According to Rolling Stone, “Back in 2000, 12,000 eligible voters – a number twenty-two times larger than George W. Bush’s 537 vote triumph over Al Gore – were wrongly identified as convicted felons and purged from the voting rolls in Florida, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. African Americans, who favored Gore over Bush by 86 points, accounted for 11 percent of the state’s electorate but 41 percent of those purged.” [Rolling Stone, 5/30/12]

Jeb Bush attempted a similar voter purge ahead of the 2004 presidential election. “In May 2004, another presidential election year, Jeb Bush’s administration once again sought to purge its voter rolls of convicted felons. Owing to the previous controversy with DBT, the state Legislature decided that the Department of Elections should create its own list. Once again, the process was flawed. When the list became public in July 2004, a major error became readily apparent: Of the 48,000 people on the new purge list, 22,000 were African Americans but only 61 were Hispanic. African Americans vote heavily Democratic while Hispanics, at that time in Florida, largely voted Republican. This prompted speculation that Jeb Bush’s administration was at best incompetent and at worst, playing politics with its purge list. Facing widespread criticism, it agreed not to use the list.” [Mother Jones, 4/10/15]

Jeb Bush signed into law Florida legislation that restricted the hours and locations for early voting. “Bush and the GOP-led Legislature went the other way the next year, passing a law that capped the number of hours for early voting and confined it to election offices, city halls and libraries.” [Politifact, 11/8/12; House Bill 1567, 5/6/05]

Jeb Bush supported more stringent voter identification laws. In his book, Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution, Jeb Bush wrote, “Finally, states should be allowed to protect the integrity of the franchise with voter identification laws, which are supported by a large majority of Americans, including Hispanics. So long as states make it simple for citizens to obtain such forms of identification, they should have the latitude to require such identification for voting or to secure welfare benefits.” [Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution, pg. 38-39, 2013]

Ben Carson

Ben Carson said opponents of voter ID laws were “manipulators.” CARSON: “A classic example of this kind of manipulation is the effort to convince minority voters that anyone advocating officially recognized identification cards is racist, concocting tales of voter fraud. Manipulators will claim that their opponents are trying to suppress the vote by demanding identification cards in areas where they fear they won’t do well electorally.” [Ben Carson, One Vote: Make Your Voice Heard, pg. 38-39, 10/9/14]

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz called for the repeal of a provision of the Voting Rights Act that protected minority voters from discrimination. “It’s time to do away with the nearly 50-year-old federal rule that let U.S. officials block a new state law requiring Texans to show photo ID to vote. That’s what Republicans candidates running to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison in the U.S. Senate said during a forum Thursday night. They called for repeal of the Voting Rights Act provision that requires Texas and other Southern states with histories of discrimination to receive pre-clearance when changing election laws. ‘Right now, Texas is subjected to different standards than much of the country,’ former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz said during the forum, hosted by the Dallas Bar Association. ‘I think we need to be fighting to ensure the law is colorblind and fair to everyone.’” [Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3/16/12]

Ted Cruz’s Iowa campaign chair crusaded “to restrict voting under the guise of combating voter fraud.” “[Ted Cruz’s] best play so far has been snagging former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz to be his state chairman there, considering that three years ago Schultz was a prominent supporter of Santorum, who is about to announce his 2016 presidential bid. By tapping Schultz, Cruz also tied himself to Schultz’s leading cause: trying to restrict voting under the guise of combating voter fraud. During his four years as secretary of state, Schultz spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to unearth evidence of fraud but ended up finding little and being cited for the mismanagement of public funds.” [Mother Jones, 5/26/15]

Ted Cruz introduced federal legislation requiring voters to present “proof of citizenship” before casting ballots. “Ted Cruz didn’t wait long to mount a legislative response to the Supreme Court’s ruling against Arizona’s voter registration rule. An amendment submitted by the Texas senator on Monday afternoon to the Senate’s immigration bill would ‘permit states to require proof of citizenship for registration to vote in elections for federal office.’ Cruz’s measure would amend the National Voter Registration Act.” [Politico, 6/17/13; S. Amdt. 1295, 6/17/13]

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio supported cutting Florida’s early voting period in half, claiming it “was really not cost effective.”  RUBIO: “But we also know, for example, that in the early stages of the – of campaigns, we used to have a two-week voting period in Florida. The cost-benefit analysis of the first week of voting was really not – was really not cost effective. In essence, the number of people voting versus the cost to local governments to comply or to carry out that voting were – the turnout just didn’t justify the expenditure in the first week.” [Tampa Bay Times, 6/13/12]

As a member of the Florida House of Representatives, Marco Rubio voted in favor of a bill that restricted the hours and locations for early voting. “Bush and the GOP-led Legislature went the other way the next year, passing a law that capped the number of hours for early voting and confined it to election offices, city halls and libraries.” [Politifact, 11/8/12; House Bill 1567, 5/6/05; Vote #572, 5/6/05]

Marco Rubio on voter ID laws: “What’s the big deal? What is the big deal?” “During a campaign stop last month with Romney in Pennsylvania, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Cuban-American Republican, blew off what he sees as overhyped concerns about showing photo IDs. People have to show IDs for everything from boarding a flight to renting sports equipment, Rubio reasoned, so why not voting. ‘What’s the big deal? What is the big deal?’ Rubio asked.” [CNN, 5/29/12]

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee said that the idea that voter ID laws disenfranchise voters was “phony nonsense.” “When I go to vote, the people at my voting station recognize me, even call me by name, but I still gladly show them my photo ID just in case there is some unlucky chump who looks just like me. I don’t mind. And the president shows his ID even in his hometown of Chicago. He didn’t object either. So let’s stop the phony nonsense that requiring an ID disenfranchises voters who are old or black. I’m getting old, and Obama is black, and it didn’t disenfranchise either one of us.” [Huckabee, FOX News, 10/27/12]

Mike Huckabee supported voter ID laws that would make voting more difficult. “The former Arkansas governor told the crowd at an Americans for Prosperity conference last month that sometimes he thinks the United States has less freedom than North Korea. ‘When I go to the airport, I have to get in the surrender position. People put hands all over me. And I have to provide photo ID in a couple of different forms and prove that I really am not going to terrorize the airplane. But if I want to go vote, I don’t need a thing.’” [Washington Post, 5/12/14]

Mike Huckabee suggested supporters of an anti-union law deflate the tires of voters on the other side of the issue on Election Day. “Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has some advice for people who support the anti-union law passed in Ohio that faces a statewide repeal vote on November 8: Find out who’s voting to repeal the bill and block them from ballot box. The onetime Arkansas governor suggested deflating tires and giving these voters the wrong election date. ‘That’s up to you, how you creatively get the job done,’ Huckabee quipped.” [Mother Jones, 10/17/11]

John Kasich

John Kasich signed into law legislation “that cut early voting and eliminated same-day registration in his state.” “Kasich, the governor of Ohio – for years the most important presidential swing state – signed legislation this year that cut early voting and eliminated same-day registration in his state—making it harder for minorities to get to the polls. That law, too, drew charges that it violated the VRA, and a trial is likely later this year.” [MSNBC, 1/19/15; SB 205, 10/10/13; SB 238, 11/13/13]

Cleveland Plain-Dealer Editorial Board: John Kasich signed voter ID legislation that was “a breathtaking bid to suppress voting despite constitutional guarantees of voting rights.” “Ohio’s Republican-run General Assembly has now passed three bills aimed at holding down voting by black or low-income Ohioans, a breathtaking bid to suppress voting despite constitutional guarantees of voting rights. Unwisely, Republican Gov. John Kasich has signed all of them into law. Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, Kasich’s likely Democratic opponent for governor in the fall, has already announced he intends — if he can get County Council’s support — to test one of the new laws, Substitute Senate Bill 205. It forbids anyone but the secretary of state’s office from sending out unsolicited absentee ballot applications.” [Cleveland Plain-Dealer, 3/1/14; SB 205, 10/10/13; SB 216, 10/29/13; SB 238, 11/13/13]

Chris Christie

Chris Christie vetoed legislation that would have expanded opportunities for early voting. “Gov. Chris Christie today vetoed a bill that would allow early voting at polling places, prompting Democrats to brand it a politically motivated effort to suppress the vote months after Hurricane Sandy exposed vulnerabilities in the state elections system. The Republican governor called a proposal to let voters cast ballots at designated polling places during a 15-day period before Election Day ‘hasty, counterproductive and less reliable’ than the current system.” [Star-Ledger, 5/9/13; S. 2364, 11/29/12]

Chris Christie opposed same-day voter registration. “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed a voter registration method as a political ploy this week while speaking in Illinois. ‘Same-day registration, all of sudden, this year comes to Illinois. Shocking. It’s shocking. I’m sure it was all based on public policy, good public policy to get same-day registration here in Illinois just this year when the governor is in the toilet and needs as much help as he can get,’ Christie said Monday, according to The Chicago Tribune. He was campaigning for Republican Bruce Rauner, who is challenging Illinois’ Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn this November. Christie chairs the Republican Governors Association.” [MSNBC, 8/28/14]

Chris Christie suggested that the civil rights gains of the 1960s should have been decided by popular referendum. “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is under fire for suggesting white southerners should have been allowed to vote civil rights gains for blacks during the 1960s. His remark came as the State Senate Judiciary Committee was about to approve a bill this week that would move New Jersey a step closer to legalizing gay marriage. […] And then he said: ‘People would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South.’” [NBC New York, 1/26/12]

Rand Paul

Rand Paul failed to sign on to legislation that would restore key voter protection provisions of the Voting Rights Act despite claiming to support these protections. “Why doesn’t the Republican Party become the party that champions voting rights? It’s a good question. But the good follow-up question is, why doesn’t Rand Paul do actual work on the problem? In July, for example, the Kentucky senator boasted, ‘I’m a Republican who wants to restore a federal role for the government in the Voting Rights Act.’ Terrific. But there’s a bipartisan legislative proposal to repair the Voting Rights Act following last year’s Supreme Court ruling, and as of this morning, Paul has neither signed on as a co-sponsor nor introduced an alternative.” [MSNBC, 9/22/14; S. 1945, 1/16/14]

Rand Paul walked back “comments in which the senator appeared to urge Republicans to back off ‘crazy’ voting laws that minorities found offensive.” “Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) office is walking back recent comments in which the senator appeared to urge Republicans to back off ‘crazy’ voting laws that minorities found offensive. ‘At no point did Senator Paul come out against voter ID laws,’ Paul’s former chief of staff and current PAC director told Slate. ‘In terms of the specifics of voter ID laws, Senator Paul believes it’s up to each state to decide that type of issue.’ Such laws are popular with Republicans, who claim they are needed to address the issue of voter fraud, but critics say stringent measures like the one recently signed into law in North Carolina suppress the votes of minorities, seniors and young adults. Paul has been mindful of the issue as he reaches out to black voters on college campuses ahead of a possible presidential run in 2016.” [Huffington Post, 5/13/14]

Rand Paul supported making voter ID laws stricter. “Paul thinks the GOP needs to reach out to minorities if it is to win back the White House. He urges combining voter ID with moves to expand voting rights, such as legislation to restore voting rights to felons. ‘So I’m not really opposed to [voter ID]. I am opposed to it as a campaign theme,’ said Kentucky’s junior senator. In other words, he supports voter ID, but doesn’t want to talk about it. That’s the way Democrats saw it anyway, and many of them claimed Paul’s response showed he is willing to remake himself to appeal to core Republican voters in advance of the 2016 presidential race.” [Christian Science Monitor, 11/3/14]

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum on early voting: “I hate it.” “Speaking to Sean Hannity on his radio show on Wednesday, former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum claimed that letting citizens cast ballots in person before Election Day opens the door to corruption: Hannity: I don’t like this early voting -Santorum: I hate it. Hannity: It’s been going on forever -Santorum: I hate it. Hannity: And it opens up the door to corruption. Santorum: It does. And look, the race changed from a month ago. When Ohio was early voting, it was before the first debate and the people who went out and voted, really in my opinion, really didn’t know Governor Romney and what kind of candidate he really is and the real distinction between Romney and Obama.” [Huffington Post, 10/26/12]

Rick Santorum on voter ID: “In my opinion, the only reason you don’t have a voter ID is you want to continue to perpetrate fraud.” “KEYES: Voter ID has been a big issue here in Wisconsin. I know Lindsey Graham has proposed a national voter ID law. Is that something you would sign as president? SANTORUM: I think that’s a state issue. I support voter ID. In my opinion, the only reason you don’t have a voter ID is you want to continue to perpetrate fraud.” [Think Progress, 3/29/12]

Rick Santorum expressed support for voter ID laws, calling them “crucial electoral reforms.” In a statement, Rick Santorum said, “I commend Governor Perry, Texas, and the many states like Texas that are fighting to ensure voter fraud does not impede the electoral process. As President I will stand with them and support their efforts for crucial electoral reforms.” [Statement on the Obama Administration Blocking Texas Voter ID Law, 3/12/12]

Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal applauded the Supreme Court’s ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act. “The Supreme Court didn’t strike down the pre-clearance rule itself. The justices invalidated the formula that has required mainly Southern states to get Washington’s approval for voting laws, saying it does not account for racial progress and societal changes across the country. Gov. Bobby Jindal applauded the high court’s ruling.” [Associated Press, 6/25/13]

Bobby Jindal was sued by the NAACP for failing to reform alleged discriminatory voting systems in a Louisiana parish. “Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish has never elected a black judge, even though one in five parish residents is African-American. In fact, it re-elected a white parish judge who had been suspended for wearing black-face as part of a racist parody Halloween costume. Lawyers for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund say the problem is the discriminatory voting system the parish uses, and last year they sued Gov. Bobby Jindal under the Voting Rights Act to force a change. On Friday, they filed papers asking a federal judge for a summary judgment in their favor. […] The plaintiffs say they named Jindal as a defendant because he has the power to sign legislation into law that would change the system.” [MSNBC, 8/26/15]

The NAACP “took Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration to court over a statewide practice that prevented many low-income, minority Louisianans from registering to vote.” “Recently, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and other national voting rights groups took Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration to court over a statewide practice that prevented many low-income, minority Louisianans from registering to vote. Just last month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled partially in their favor, finding that Louisiana violated the National Voter Registration Act by failing to provide voter registration services at the state’s public service agencies — such as the departments where residents can sign up for Medicaid and food stamps.” [Think Progress, 12/6/14]

Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham praised the Supreme Court’s move to strike down a portion of the Voting Rights Act. “Voting is a fundamental right guaranteed to all United States citizens. I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure elections are free and fair for every South Carolinian. Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act was a necessary tool to preserve voting rights, but due to the reform and advances in South Carolina election law, it is no longer necessary. The Supreme Court noted this tremendous progress in South Carolina’s electoral system and it was the underpinning of their decision. I concur with the Court that our state has made tremendous progress.” [Senator Lindsey Graham press release, 6/25/13]

Lindsey Graham supported stricter federal voter identification laws. “Congress should follow in the footsteps of state legislatures and pass a federal voter ID law that requires voters to present photo identification at the polls, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Thursday. Graham defended South Carolina’s recently passed voter ID law, which is under review by the Justice Department. ‘I think what South Carolina did makes eminent sense to me,’ Graham said at a hearing on state voting laws chaired by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). Durbin called the incidence of voter fraud in America minimal and said reported fraud ‘is often anecdotal, unsubstantiated and contrived.’ Graham disagreed.” [Talking Points Memo, 9/8/11]

The wheels haven’t simply come off the GOP’s outreach effort to minority voters, the car has been totaled. In a new video, Correct The Record highlights how, from Mitt Romney in 2012 to Jeb Bush and others in 2016, Republican presidential candidates can’t stop obsessing over their belief that “free stuff” is the only thing African-American voters are interested in.

For those keeping score at home, here’s the Republican presidential candidate word association chart:

What will they think of next??

The contrast between the values His Holiness spoke about during his visit and those to be discussed at the Values Voter Summit is stark. These Republican hopefuls are expected to disagree with some of Pope Francis’ most emphasized values when it comes to the GOP’s positions on economic inequality, immigration reform, climate change and more. Perhaps Pope Francis should take the GOP back to Sunday School.

For more contrast in values between the Pope and Republican presidential hopefuls, see Correct The Record’s analysis below:

Economic Inequality

“I would encourage you to keep in mind all those people around us who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. They too need to be given hope.”

– Pope Francis, 9/24/15

Donald Trump

Donald Trump opposed letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire. “In 2010, Trump opposed President Obama’s plan to let the Bush-era tax cuts on the wealthy expire and months later he signed anti-tax lobbyist Grover Norquist’s pledge to veto any new taxes.” [Huffington Post, 1/2/13]

Donald Trump supported replacing the income tax with “either a fair tax…a flat tax or certainly a simplified code” and proposed repealing the corporate income tax. “Trump overcame his moral objections to the flat tax. On April 15, he told Fox News that he’d like to replace the income tax with ‘either a fair tax’ (i.e., a national sales tax), ‘a flat tax or certainly a simplified code.’ He also proposes repealing the corporate income tax because, he wrote in his 2011 book, it would ‘create an unprecedented jobs boom.’” [Politico, 7/26/15]

Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy: Donald Trump’s policies “would disproportionately hurt lower-income Americans.” ”Billionaire businessman, television personality and now presidential candidate Donald Trump is the latest candidate to jump into the race. He has made a number of tax proposals. His more recent proposals, in contrast to ones he proposed back around the 2000 election, would likely sharply increase the national debt and make the U.S. tax system substantially more regressive by both cutting taxes for the rich and creating a massive new tax that would disproportionately hurt lower-income Americans.” [Institute On Taxation And Economic Policy, 6/22/15]

Donald Trump said he would not increase the minimum wage. “Trump said he would not increase the minimum wage, adding that the U.S. needs to bring back jobs from places like Mexico, China and India.” [Politico, 6/18/15]

Ben Carson

Ben Carson supported eliminating progressive aspects of the tax code in favor of one flat rate for all incomes. “Carson’s big idea is to remove much of the progressivity from the tax system, imposing a single rate of about 10 to 15 percent. ‘The one that I’ve advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy,’ Carson said during August’s debate in Cleveland. ‘And He said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn’t matter how much you make.’ What the campaign hasn’t figured out yet, Rustici said, is whether it’s an income tax or a consumption tax and what deductions should vanish.” [Bloomberg, 9/8/15]

Fox News’s Chris Wallace: Ben Carson’s “flat tax” plan would raise income taxes on the poor while the wealthy “make like bandits.” “Dr. Ben Carson, now a Republican presidential candidate, has long proposed a ‘flat tax’ for the country, citing the Bible’s tithing as his inspiration. […] But on Sunday, host Chris Wallace confronted Carson with tax experts, who found that to raise the same amount of revenue the federal government currently takes in, the government would have to impose a 20 percent tax across the board. (The Tax Policy Center argues it would have to be at least 25 percent.) ‘Middle incomes would get a tax hike and wealthy families would get a tax cut,’ Wallace explained. Carson countered that he simply didn’t ‘agree with that assessment.’ […] Wallace followed up by asking about low-income families, who not only don’t pay taxes, but usually receive an earned income tax credit instead. ‘Now you’ll have them pay 10 to 15 percent of income they have — or 20 percent if my experts are right. A lot of independent studies say the people that make like bandits in this are the wealthy.’” [Think Progress, 5/10/15]

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush’s presidential tax plan offered up a massive tax cut for the richest Americans. “Like Romney, Bush offers up a massive tax cut for the richest Americans, calling in his op-ed to slash the top tax rate from 39.6 percent to just 28 percent. In an effort to simplify what Bush calls the burdensome complexity of the tax code, he says he’d eliminate some current deductions, like the one that allows companies to write off the cost of borrowing.” [Huffington Post, 9/8/15]

• Huffington Post: Jeb Bush’s tax plan “appears to be subject to similar mathematical problems as those that plagued the tax plan offered in 2012 by then-GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.” “Bush’s plan is vague, but appears to be subject to similar mathematical problems as those that plagued the tax plan offered in 2012 by then-GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Economists at the time dinged Romney for promising big tax cuts for the wealthy that would have required tax increases on those less fortunate to avoid swelling the deficit.” [Huffington Post, 9/8/15]

• MSNBC: Jeb Bush’s tax package “appears to be one big, gift-wrapped present to the rich.” “Indeed, the whole package, based on the former governor’s description, appears to be one big, gift-wrapped present to the rich: Bush not only intends to slash rates, he wants to scrap the Estate Tax and cut the corporate tax rate.” [MSNBC, 9/9/15]

Jeb Bush called for an end to the federal minimum wage. “We need to leave it to the private sector. I think state minimum wages are fine. The federal government shouldn’t be doing this. This is one of those poll-driven deals. It polls well, I’m sure – I haven’t looked at the polling, but I’m sure on the surface without any conversation, without any digging into it people say, ‘Yea, everybody’s wages should be up.’ And in the case of Wal-Mart they have raised wages because of supply and demand and that’s good.” [MSNBC, 3/18/15]

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio’s tax plan “includes a huge break that all-but bypasses the middle and greatly boosts the rich.” “If he wins his party’s nomination, though, Rubio will have to defend a tax plan that, while said to address the challenges of the middle class, includes a huge break that all-but bypasses the middle and greatly boosts the rich. It was a tax plan that was even too large for Romney himself to run on. The latest version of Rubio’s tax plan, which he released with fellow Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) in March, shrinks the income tax down to two rates, lowering the top rate in the process, and includes new tax breaks for working families. It also eliminates all taxes on dividends and capital gains. That’s where rich taxpayers cash in. They are overwhelmingly the ones in the economy who draw income from capital, such as holdings and sales of stocks.” [Washington Post, 4/14/15]

Brookings Institution budget expert explained that Marco Rubio’s proposed tax credits would do nothing for low-income earners. “Critics, like Isabel Sawhill, a budget expert at the Brookings Institution, argue that the credit may help some middle- and upper-income families but it would do nothing for low-income earners. The credits are only refundable against income tax and payroll taxes. Low-income workers that already collect the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit typically already get breaks above and beyond the taxes they pay so the Rubio and Lee plan wouldn’t add anything to their refund. ‘It is a big increase in the child tax credit for middle-class families and above but doesn’t help anyone at the bottom,’ Sawhill said. ‘Low-income families don’t have enough payroll and income tax liability to make them eligible for it.’” [Politico, 3/3/15]

Marco Rubio sought to slash the corporate tax rate to 25%. “First, by consolidating the corporate tax system into a single layer and lowering the maximum rate to 25% on both corporate and pass-through entities, our plan eliminates double taxation of capital gains and dividends, and establishes parity among large and small businesses.” [Marco Rubio and Mike Lee, Wall Street Journal, 3/3/15]

Marco Rubio voted against legislation to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. In January 2013, Rubio voted against a deal permanently extending the 2001 and 2003 Bush income, capital gains and dividend tax cuts for the first $400,000 (or $450,000 for joint-filers) of income. Rates on income above those thresholds reverted back to their Clinton-era rates. The bill passed by a vote of 89 to 8; President Obama signed the bill the next day. This vote occurred on January 1, 2013, but is part of the 2012 session. [Senate Vote 251, 1/1/13; CQ Weekly, 1/05/13]

Marco Rubio opposed increasing the minimum wage. “Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who gave the Republican response to the State of The Union Tuesday, came out in opposition to minimum wage laws Wednesday, following President Barack Obama’s proposal in Tuesday night’s address to raise the minimum wage to $9 per hour. ‘I support people making more than $9 an hour. I want people to make as much as they can,’ Rubio responded to Charlie Rose on CBS’ ‘This Morning.’ But he continued, ‘I don’t think a minimum wage law works.’ ‘I want people to make a lot more than $9,’ he said. ‘Nine dollars is not enough. The problem is that you can’t do that by mandating it in the minimum wage laws. Minimum wage laws have never worked in terms of helping the middle class attain more prosperity.’” [Huffington Post, 2/13/13]

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz: “Big picture, I’m a flat tax guy.” ”CRUZ: Big picture, I’m a flat tax guy. Low and simple. Now, that’s not easy to do. A lot of forces in Washington, a lot of lobbyists don’t want it.” [MSNBC’s Morning Joe, 3/17/15]

Wonkblog: Ted Cruz’s “flat tax” proposal was a “colossal giveaway to the rich.” “Imagine there’s no IRS. It isn’t hard to do. No Obamacare to pay for. And no budget deficits too. Imagine all the people, living with a flat tax. You may say Ted Cruz is a dreamer, but he’s not the only one. He hopes some day—especially if you live in Iowa—you’ll join him, and, well, he’ll be president. […] But reality is a lot tougher than some tax models. A flat tax would just be a colossal giveaway to the rich—and maybe even take away for the poor—and that doesn’t help the economy much.” [Washington Post, 3/24/15]

Ted Cruz opposed raising the minimum wage. According to CBS News, “Students asked Sen. Cruz for his thoughts on immigration reform, Russia, ways to get the GOP vote and minimum wage. On the subject of minimum wage Sen. Cruz says that he feels jobs would be eliminated by the minimum wage hike. He says he doesn’t think it’s a good idea.” [CBS News, 4/2/14]

Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina opposed raising the federal minimum wage. “Ms. Fiorina generally believes that reducing government regulations helps to spur the economy, and she opposed the 2009 federal stimulus program as a wasteful use of taxpayer money. She opposes raising the federal minimum wage, saying doing so ‘will hurt those who are looking for entry-level jobs.’” [New York Times, 5/4/15]

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee: Trickle-down economics were “largely true.” “One often hears of ‘trickle-down economics,’ a popular conservative notion that when the economy for the top earners in our society gets better, the effect will ‘trickle down’ to the rest of the people. That’s largely true.” [God, Guns, Grits and Gravy, p. 145, 2015]

Mike Huckabee’s tax plan was criticized by economists for potentially raising rates on the poor. “Mike Huckabee has a counter offer to Jeb Bush’s promise to bring the economy back to 4% growth: 6%. ‘I believe we can get it to 6 or higher with a fair tax. I’m convinced,’ Huckabee told a crowd of potential caucus-goers at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday. ‘I guarantee you we will goose the economy if you bring $11 trillion of working capital back to this country.’ The former Arkansas governor and GOP presidential candidate has argued for overhauling the tax code by abolishing the IRS, which he called on Sunday a ‘criminal enterprise,’ and establishing a single, flat sales tax across the board — a proposal that has drawn heat from some economists who say it would unfairly burden the poor, a claim Huckabee rejects.” [CNN, 8/13/15]

Mike Huckabee called the minimum wage “a government intrusion.” “Many of the Republican candidates for president have spoken out against raising the minimum wage… Mike Huckabee, considered something of an economic populist for his support of preserving entitlements, has come out against an increase, calling it a government intrusion.” [New York Times, 5/8/15]

Rand Paul

Rand Paul’s tax plan “would raise taxes on those at the bottom, unless they’re married with a couple of kids, and dramatically reduce taxes on the top.” “Paul would apply a 14.5% flat tax to everything: ‘personal income, including wages, salaries, dividends, capital gains, rents and interest,’ as well as corporations. It would do away entirely with the gift and estate taxes, all tariffs, and payroll taxes. On the plus side, he would exempt the first $50,000 in income for families of four and retain the earned-income tax credit. […] The plan would raise taxes on those at the bottom, unless they’re married with a couple of kids, and dramatically reduce taxes on the top. Yes, corporations and rich people use all sorts of loopholes and deductions to pay lower effective tax rates. But responsible tax reform proposals that lower rates while simplifying the tax code generally try to come up with a number in the middle. This one just brings the marginal rates all the way down to Mitt Romney’s effective tax rate, which was pretty clearly determined in the 2012 election to be too low.” [Salon, 6/18/15]

Rand Paul opposed increasing the minimum wage. “Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio oppose the president’s plan to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 from the $7.25 it’s at now. But should the federal government set a minimum wage at all? […] The line drew big applause but didn’t answer the question—which Karl tried to call him on. So should there be any minimum wage? Paul said, ‘Minimum wage is only harmful when it’s above the market wage.’” [Bloomberg, 1/26/15]

John Kasich

John Kasich pushed an Ohio tax plan that a Republican lawmaker described as a “regressive” proposal that raised “taxes on the poor and middle class.” “Gov. John Kasich touted his budget plan in Dayton on Tuesday, saying that income tax cuts and exempting some small businesses from income taxes will drive innovation in Ohio and create jobs. […] Meanwhile, lawmakers in Columbus began taking aim at some of Kasich’s tax proposals, which calls for offsetting a huge income tax cut with increases in sales taxes, cigarette taxes, oil and gas drilling taxes and the Commercial Activities Tax on businesses’ gross receipts. Ohio House Rep. Niraj Antani, R-Miamisburg, said much of Kasich’s plan is ‘laudable’ but he called the sales tax ‘regressive’ and said the severance tax increases could lead to job losses at oil companies already coping with declining oil revenue. Antani also said he is concerned about ‘tax shifting,’ where one tax goes down but others go up. ‘To pay for (a tax cut) we don’t raise taxes on the poor and the middle class,’ said Antani. ‘We do it by cutting spending.’” [Dayton Daily News, 2/3/15]

John Kasich pushed an Ohio budget plan that a Republican lawmaker described as a “regressive” proposal that raised “taxes on the poor and middle class.” “Gov. John Kasich touted his budget plan in Dayton on Tuesday, saying that income tax cuts and exempting some small businesses from income taxes will drive innovation in Ohio and create jobs. […] Meanwhile, lawmakers in Columbus began taking aim at some of Kasich’s tax proposals, which calls for offsetting a huge income tax cut with increases in sales taxes, cigarette taxes, oil and gas drilling taxes and the Commercial Activities Tax on businesses’ gross receipts. Ohio House Rep. Niraj Antani, R-Miamisburg, said much of Kasich’s plan is ‘laudable’ but he called the sales tax ‘regressive’ and said the severance tax increases could lead to job losses at oil companies already coping with declining oil revenue. Antani also said he is concerned about ‘tax shifting,’ where one tax goes down but others go up. ‘To pay for (a tax cut) we don’t raise taxes on the poor and the middle class,’ said Antani. ‘We do it by cutting spending.’” [Dayton Daily News, 2/3/15]

John Kasich opposed raising the minimum wage. “KASICH: […] I am not personally in favor of raising the minimum wage for this reason: If you talk to business people, people who put a payroll together — I’ve never put a payroll together, that’s why I’m leaving politics, so I can do it — they say that if the minimum wage goes up they’re going to have to raise all other wages in their businesses, and the people it’s going to hurt the most are the poorest people, are the least skilled people that work for them.” [CNN, 9/2/00]

Chris Christie

Chris Christie pushed to cut the income tax rate for the wealthiest Americans by 11 percent and lower the corporate tax rate by 10 percent. “Christie suggested halving the number of income tax brackets down to three from six rates and lowering the top tax rate to 28% down from the current maximum rate of 39% for the wealthiest Americans. […] The New Jersey governor also proposed reducing the corporate tax rate to 25% from today’s 35% high, arguing that reducing the rate will attract businesses and incentivize companies to stay in the U.S.” [CNN, 5/12/15]

As governor, Chris Christie pushed tax cuts that “would largely benefit [New Jersey’s] wealthier residents.” “Gov. Chris Christie’s proposal to cut income taxes by 10 percent would provide only modest financial relief to middle-class families who are struggling more under the weight of their property taxes, according to analysis by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services. The governor’s plan would largely benefit the state’s wealthier residents, who pay a significantly higher rate under the state’s current progressive tax system, and so they would see greater savings, the analysis shows.” [Star-Ledger, 1/31/12]

Chris Christie said he was “tired of hearing about the minimum wage.” “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Tuesday that he’s ‘tired’ of hearing discussion on the minimum wage and seemed to suggest that a higher minimum wage isn’t something to ‘aspire to.’ ‘I gotta tell you the truth, I’m tired of hearing about the minimum wage, I really am,’ Christie said during an event at the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, according to a recording of his remarks by the liberal opposition research group American Bridge. ‘I don’t think there’s a mother or father sitting around a kitchen table tonight in America who are saying, ‘You know honey, if my son or daughter could just make a higher minimum wage, my God, all our dreams would be realized,’ he added. ‘Is that what parents aspire to for their children?’” [Talking Points Memo, 10/21/14]

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum proposed a tax plan that cut taxes for the top one percent by an average of 13.6%, while the bottom 20 percent would only receive a 0.3% cut on average. “Under the Santorum plan, the richer you are, the more you save. Taxpayers in the lowest 20% of earners would receive an average tax cut of $255, a tax rate reduction of 0.3%. Meanwhile, individuals in the top 20% of earners would get a tax cut averaging more than $29,000, a rate reduction of almost 10%. And the 1%? They’d get an average cut of $263,000, or 13.6%.” [CNN Money, 1/18/12]

Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal opposed raising the minimum wage nationally and in Louisiana. “Jindal said he would not be in favor raising the minimum wage nationally or in Louisiana at this time because the country’s economy isn’t strong enough. Both the U.S. Congress and the Louisiana State Legislature are considering increases to the lowest possible wage this spring.” [Times-Picayune, 2/26/14]

Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham said it was “stupid” to allow tax cuts for the wealthy to expire. “South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday said President Barack Obama’s plan to let tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire was ‘stupid.’ During an interview on CNN, host Candy Crowley asked Graham if he would be willing to raise taxes on the middle class if Democrats refused to extend tax cuts for people making over $250,000. ‘I’m not going to do a short-term thing that’s stupid,’ the South Carolina Republican remarked.” [Raw Story, 8/5/12]

Immigration

“As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families.” 

– Pope Francis, 9/23/15

Donald Trump

Donald Trump opposed a pathway to citizenship. “Trump said Wednesday in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash that as president he would deport all undocumented immigrants and then allow the ‘good ones’ to reenter the country through an ‘expedited process’ and live in the U.S. legally, though not as citizens. ‘Legal status,’ Trump suggested. ‘We got to move ‘em out, we’re going to move ‘em back in if they’re really good people.’” [CNN, 7/30/15]

Donald Trump on undocumented immigrants: “They have to go.” “Donald Trump would reverse President Obama’s executive orders on immigration and deport all undocumented immigrants from the U.S. as president, he said in an exclusive interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd. ‘We’re going to keep the families together, but they have to go,’ he said in the interview, which aired in full on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday. Pressed on what he’d do if the immigrants in question had nowhere to return to, Trump reiterated: ‘They have to go.’ ‘We will work with them. They have to go. Chuck, we either have a country, or we don’t have a country,’ he said.” [NBC News, 8/16/15]

Donald Trump made ending birthright citizenship a pillar of his immigration plan, calling it “the biggest magnet for illegal immigration.” “End birthright citizenship. This remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration. By a 2:1 margin, voters say it’s the wrong policy, including Harry Reid who said ‘no sane country’ would give automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.” [“Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again,” accessed 8/20/15]

Donald Trump: “I’ll use the word anchor baby.” REPORTER: Anchor baby, that’s an offensive term, people find that hurtful TRUMP: You mean it’s not political correct and yet everybody uses it? REPORTER: Look it up in the dictionary, it’s offensive. TRUMP: Give me a different term, give me a different term. What else would you like to say. REPORTER: A child, an American born child of an undocumented immigrant. TRUMP: You want me to say that, okay, I use the word anchor baby. Excuse me, I’ll use the word anchor baby.” [ABC News, 8/19/15]

Ben Carson

Ben Carson opposed a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. “People already here illegally could apply for guest-worker status from outside of the country. This means they would have to leave first. They should in no way be rewarded for having broken our laws, but if they are wise, they will arrange with their employer before they leave to immediately offer them a legal job as soon as their application is received.” [Ben Carson, National Review, 11/12/14]

Ben Carson on the term “anchor babies” and birthright citizenship: “It doesn’t make any sense to me that people could come in here, have a baby and that baby becomes an American citizen.” “The neurosurgeon outlined his views on the topic at a rally in Phoenix on Tuesday. ‘I know the 14th Amendment has brought up recently, about anchor babies—and it doesn’t make any sense to me that people could come in here, have a baby and that baby becomes an American citizen. There are many countries in the world where they simply have recognized that and don’t allow that to occur,’ Carson said.” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush, when asked if he supported a pathway to citizenship: “No.” “During an interview Wednesday with the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, Mr. Bush was asked whether he supported a pathway to full citizenship. He replied, ‘No.’ ‘What do we do with the 11 million people here? I think the answer is earned legal status,’ he said.” [Washington Times, 7/8/15]

Jeb Bush said Pres. Obama’s executive order stopping the deportation of DREAMers was “way beyond the purview of executive power.” “Bush also offered a stern rebuke to Obama on immigration, and accused him of playing politics. Earlier this summer, the president signed an executive order that stopped the deportation of certain young illegal immigrants. Bush said he saw Obama’s action as a way of undercutting Romney and winning good will from Hispanic voters, not as an effective piece of policy. ‘This is so cynical. And he – I mean, if you’re, if you, if the law says clearly that you have a case-by-case right to review cases, and you blanket say 800,000 people comply, that is way beyond the purview of executive power,’ Bush said.” [Washington Post, 8/30/12]

Jeb Bush called American citizens born to undocumented immigrants “anchor babies.” “Jeb Bush doesn’t want birthright citizenship to go away, but he is calling for stronger enforcement for people who abuse it. ‘If there’s abuse, if people are bringing — pregnant women are coming in to have babies simply because they can do it, then there ought to be greater enforcement,’ Bush said on Bill Bennett’s conservative radio show, ‘Morning in America’ Wednesday. ‘That’s [the] legitimate side of this. Better enforcement so that you don’t have these, you know, ‘anchor babies’, as they’re described, coming into the country.’ ‘Anchor babies’ is a derogatory term used to describe children who are born in the United States to undocumented parents.” [Politico, 8/19/15]

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio flip flopped to oppose his own comprehensive immigration reform bill. “Back in April, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., stood before cameras with the bipartisan ‘Gang of Eight’ and joked he wasn’t quite sure he was ready to sign onto their comprehensive immigration reform plan. ‘Actually, I changed my mind,’ Rubio joked to laughter as he pretended to walk away from the podium. ‘No, I’m kidding.’ But fast forward four months after the bill he helped craft passed the Senate, and Rubio’s not joking anymore. Instead of advocating for the comprehensive bill he signed onto, Rubio’s now saying a piecemeal approach is more ‘realistic.’ As first reported by Breitbart News, a spokesman for Rubio said ‘a series of individual bills’ on immigration reform may be more practical than comprehensive immigration reform at this time.” [ABC News, 10/28/13]

Marco Rubio opposed the DREAM Act and said it went too far. “Senator Rubio went as far as to address the DREAM Act that protested him moments earlier. He even appeared, somewhat surprisingly, sympathetic to them. He said he understood their circumstances and agreed that something should be done to address the plight of those who came to this country as children and have excelled in either education or the military. This observer, was virtually holding his breath, as some might have expected Rubio to then proclaim his support for the DREAM Act, but alas, he did not. He stated that the current bills before Congress, i.e., the DREAM Act, went too far.” [The Huffington Post, Ediberto Roman, 1/27/12]

Marco Rubio said he was “open to exploring ways” to limit birthright citizenship in the United States. “Marco Rubio, who is running for president thanks to birthright citizenship, says he is open to the idea of ending it for children who were born in the United States to foreign parents. ‘I’m not in favor of repealing the 14th Amendment,’ Rubio said during a Tuesday news conference at the rain-soaked Iowa State Fair. ‘But I am open to exploring ways of not allowing people who are coming here deliberately for that purpose to acquire citizenship.’” [National Journal, 8/18/15]

Flip-flopped on a path to citizenship

2010: Marco Rubio said a path to citizenship was “code for amnesty.” “As in previous debates, Rubio differed with Crist and Meek on immigration. He said the ‘pathway to citizenship’ favored by Meek and ‘earned path’ favored by Crist are ‘basically code for amnesty.’ Rubio said he doesn’t favor mass deportations of people in the country illegally. He said that after the U.S. secures its borders it can set up a system, and then people without documents ‘will be able to leave this country, return to their homeland, and try to reenter through our system that now functions, a system that makes sense.” [Palm Beach Post, 10/25/10]

2013: Marco Rubio: “What I’ve never been for is a special pathway to citizenship.” “What I’ve never been for is a special pathway to citizenship. Let me just remind everybody there is no such thing as a path to citizenship. You can’t go from being an immigrant to a citizen. You have to go to get a green card first. […] That’s been my position. It’s not to have a special pathway to green card citizenship or anything else because it is unfair to the people that are doing the right way and it would incentivize illegal immigration in the future. That’s been my position all along. We’re not going do special pathways that discourage people from doing it the right way.” [The Lead with Jake Tapper, 3/19/13]

June 2015: Marco Rubio: “I do” support a pathway to citizenship. “Many conservatives — and, indeed, many people — have been confused about what, exactly, Marco Rubio’s position is on immigration now that he’s said he regrets his support for the failed Gang of Eight bill. In an interview with New Hampshire’s local ABC station on Friday, Rubio made clear that he remains a supporter of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. ‘I do,’ Rubio said, when asked if he supports a path to citizenship for those currently in the United States illegally. First, though, Rubio said lawmakers have to ‘prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control,’ implement an e-verify system, and modernize our legal immigration system.” [National Review, 6/30/15]

September 2015: Marco Rubio ruled out a path to citizenship during his presidency. “Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio has effectively ruled out granting legal status to undocumented immigrants if he makes it to the White House, even for a second term. Pressed by conservative host Sean Hannity during a Monday night interview on Fox News, the Florida senator said he’s open to a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally, but only a decade or more after passage of bills to secure the border and modernize the legal immigration system. ‘I don’t think it’s a decision you have to make on the front end. The first two things you have to do is stop illegal immigration, then second you have to modernize our legal immigration system, and then third you can have a debate about how to even legalize people to begin with,’ Rubio said. ‘And then ultimately in 10 or 12 years you could have a broader debate about how has this worked out and should we allow some of them to apply for green cards and eventually citizenship.’” [Bloomberg, 9/22/15]

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz opposed the DREAM Act. “Let’s start with how Cruz, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, stands on the cited act. We didn’t have to look far. In a transcribed interview with blogger Sonja Harris of Conservatives in Action that Cruz has on his campaign website, the candidate says: ‘I do not support the DREAM Act and categorically oppose amnesty. I categorically oppose amnesty, and I strongly support legal immigration for those that have followed the rules and come here to pursue the American dream.’” [PolitiFact, 2/21/12]

Ted Cruz: “I think a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally is profoundly unfair.” “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said Sunday that a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants would be unfair to those who have legally immigrated to the United States. ‘I think a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally is profoundly unfair to the millions of legal immigrants who followed the rules,’ Cruz said during an interview for ABC’s ‘This Week.’ Cruz added that he does not think a bill with such a path can pass the Republican-controlled House.” [Washington Post, 7/21/13]

Ted Cruz opposed comprehensive immigration reform, saying it would be “kicking millions of Americans in the teeth.” “Speaking with Houston-based radio host Michael Berry, Cruz said he hopes that Speaker John Boehner will not take on immigration reform next year. Doing so, Cruz argued, would diminish the ‘incredible opportunity to retake the Senate in 2014.’ Cruz emphasized that he is focused on winning the Senate majority from Democrats, and said passing immigration reform legislation would be the ‘number one thing Republicans could do to mess that up.’ Cruz also said comprehensive immigration would amount to ‘kicking millions of Americans in the teeth.’” [The Nation, 12/23/13]

Ted Cruz said the Constitution should “absolutely” be changed to end birthright citizenship. “When the Texas senator was asked Wednesday on the Michael Medved show if the 14th Amendment should be changed, Cruz answered ‘absolutely.’ ‘We should end granting automatic birthright citizenship to the children of those who are here illegally,’ he said.” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]

Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina opposed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. “If Carly Fiorina becomes president, the immigrants currently in the country illegally would face an additional hurdle in their quest for U.S. citizenship. During a wide-ranging interview with Yahoo’s Katie Couric, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO was asked if she favored providing a path to citizenship for the roughly 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. ‘I do not. Not for those who came here illegally and who have stayed here illegally,’ said Fiorina, who announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination earlier in the day.” [Bloomberg, 5/4/15]

Carly Fiorina did not support comprehensive immigration reform. “But [Fiorina] also broke with members in both parties who believe a comprehensive immigration package is needed to address the problem. ‘So then Barbara Boxer, President Obama, say, ‘oh my gosh, we have to have comprehensive immigration reform.’ You don’t need comprehensive immigration reform to secure the border. And you don’t need comprehensive immigration reform to have a temporary worker program that works. Those are responsibilities of the federal government that they have today and they are failing at those responsibilities,’ she said.” [Politico, 5/1/10]

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee said he was open to ending birthright citizenship. “Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said Friday that he was open to laws that would end the ‘birthright’ citizenship granted to children by the 14th Amendment, joining several other GOP candidates in endorsing the idea. The comments came in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who asked the question twice to be clear that Huckabee really would ‘abrogate’ that right. ‘I would,’ said Huckabee, ‘because I think that when we see advertisements in China, advertising essentially ‘birth tourism,’ where people are able to purchase packages so they fly to the U.S., have their baby in the U.S. so it has dual citizenship – these aren’t people who are impoverished, looking for a Medicaid payment. These are very wealthy people who are coming here so their child will in essence be put a foot down and say ‘I have American citizenship.’” [Washington Post, 8/28/15]

Mike Huckabee on immigration: “If you’re rewarding people who play outside the rules, and punish people who live within the rules, pretty soon nobody is going to play by the rules.” “In April, during the lead up to the launch of his presidential bid, Mike Huckabee’s political action committee released a web ad on immigration. The ad features a farmer from Texas, who warns that an open border has let in ‘the drug runners, the terrorists, the human traffickers.’ In the video, Huckabee says, ‘We’ve got to repeal Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders, oppose amnesty and secure the border. You don’t punish people for living by the rules. If you’re rewarding people who play outside the rules, and punish people who live within the rules, pretty soon nobody is going to play by the rules.’” [Buzzfeed, 7/28/15]

Rand Paul

Rand Paul supported legislation ending the President’s program to defer deportation for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. “Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in an interview published Thursday that he supports legislation ending the president’s program to defer deportation for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. Speaking to Breitbart News during a medical mission in Guatemala, Paul lent his backing to House Republican efforts to address the crisis of unaccompanied minors crossing the southern U.S. border. ‘I’m supportive of the House bill and I think it will go a long way to fixing the problem,’ Paul said. ‘But like everything else, nothing good has happened because Sen. Reid has decided that he’s not going to allow any votes on any bills this year because he’s protecting his members who are vulnerable in the election — he’s protecting them from any kind of votes. So I think there’s a very good chance the House bill could pass in the Senate, but it won’t ever pass if it doesn’t ever see the light of day.’” [Huffington Post, 8/21/14]

Rand Paul introduced an amendment to remove a pathway to citizenship from immigration reform legislation. “Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced an amendment Thursday to the Senate immigration bill that would effectively strip the bill’s path to citizenship and require illegal immigrants to apply through regular channels. The ‘No New Pathway to Citizenship Act’ amendment would allow illegal immigrants to remain in the United States as Registered Provisional Immigrants — a new work visa category — but force them to apply as though they were still in their home country.” [Washington Post, 6/20/13]

Rand Paul introduced legislation to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. “In 2011, the Kentucky senator joined forces with Louisiana Senator David Vitter to introduce a resolution to ensure ‘a person born in the United States to illegal aliens does not automatically gain citizenship.’ ‘Citizenship is a privilege, and only those who respect our immigration laws should be allowed to enjoy its benefits,’ Paul said at the time. ‘This legislation makes it necessary that everyone follow the rules, and goes through the same process to become a U.S. citizen.’” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]

John Kasich

John Kasich was a longtime supporter of amending the constitution to end birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants. “While Strickland and Kasich agree that Ohio should not enact an immigration law similar to Arizona’s, they clash on related issues. The governor would maintain birthright citizenship for children born here to illegal immigrants. Kasich, a former Fox News commentator, has been a longtime supporter of amending the Constitution to end the automatic right.” [Columbus Dispatch, 9/26/10]

Chris Christie

Chris Christie: “This path to citizenship stuff is garbage.” ”New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said on Tuesday the idea of granting undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship — one he supported in 2010 — ‘is garbage.’ Instead, the 2016 candidate said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, cracking down on businesses that hire immigrants who are here illegally is the best way to solve the problem. ‘I met lots of undocumented folks in my state over the course of my time as governor, I can tell you not one of them has ever said to me that they had come here to vote. This path to citizenship stuff is garbage,’ Christie said. ‘That’s not why they’re coming. They’re coming to work and support their family.’” [Talking Points Memo, 8/4/15]

Chris Christie: Birthright citizenship “may have made sense at some point in our history, right now, we need to relook at all that.” “Christie, speaking on Aug. 12—about a week before Trump’s proposal —was asked about birthright citizenship during a radio appearance with conservative host Laura Ingraham and said the matter deserves another look. ‘I think all this stuff needs to be reexamined in light of the current circumstances,’ New Jersey’s governor said. ‘The fact is the American immigration system is not working right now, it’s not working for the American people, it’s not working for our economy, and all these things need to be reexamined in light of the current circumstances. And while [birthright citizenship] may have made sense at some point in our history, right now, we need to relook at all that. And it has to be relooked at in respect to the rule of law.’” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]

Chris Christie pulled “support for a bill that would grant in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants” after he was re-elected. “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie denied Monday that he flip-flopped on his position before and after his landslide re-election victory on an important immigration issue in the state. The New Jersey Star-Ledger hit Christie in a scathing op-ed for pulling support for a bill that would grant in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, but Christie said he has not, instead it is just aspects of the legislation that he disagrees with. ‘I said the legislature should move in the lame duck session towards tuition equality in New Jersey. Period,’ Christie said at a news conference. ‘That’s what I said. I didn’t support any particular piece of legislation. And I still support tuition equality.” [ABC News, 12/2/13]

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum opposed a path to citizenship. “Along with Cruz, Rick Santorum is a strident opponent of a general pathway to citizenship. ‘The idea that there are Republicans in Washington, D.C., who are going to say, ‘Well, the rule of law isn’t that important, the idea of people coming into this country who have done so illegally and we’re going to basically treat them the same as people who came here legally,’ is just not going to go over well in a Republican primary,’ Santorum told Fox’s Andrea Tantaros in 2013.” [National Journal, 2/23/15]

Rick Santorum: “Enticements to illegal immigration, such as birthright citizenship, should be ended.” “Other enticements to illegal immigration, such as birthright citizenship, should be ended. Only children born on American soil where at least one parent is a citizen or resident aliens is automatically a U.S. citizen. Of developed countries other than the United States, only Canada has birthright citizenship.” [Rick Santorum op-ed, Breitbart, 5/6/15]

Rick Santorum labeled immigration reform legislation as “amnesty.” “‘We don’t have to talk about immigration. If we do, you know what we should talk about? How immigration is suppressing their wages and keeping their wages down and not allowing them and their family the opportunity to rise in America,’ he added. He said the GOP doesn’t have to endorse ‘bringing in two and a half million people a year and give amnesty to 13 million people,’ alluding to the reforms of the comprehensive legislation that passed the Senate last year.” [The Hill, 7/14/14]

Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal supported ending birthright citizenship in the United States. “Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has joined front-running GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump in calling for an end to automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to illegal immigrants. ‘We need to end birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants,’ Jindal tweeted Monday night, a day after Trump offered a tough plan to combat what he calls the negative economic consequences of illegal immigration. Jindal is also running for president, though he remains near the bottom of the 17-person GOP field.” [Times-Picayune, 8/18/15]

Bobby Jindal said he was “happy” to use the term “anchor baby” and that “folks today are too easily offended.” “HEMMER: But, you’ll use anchor baby, right, as a phrase? JINDAL: Yeah look, I think folks today are too easily offended. They are too politically correct. The real issue here is, yeah I’m happy to use the term, but the reality is, the real issue here is when you secure our border. The bigger frustration from the American people. It doesn’t seem to matter who is in charge in D.C. secure the borders. Stop illegal immigration.” [Fox News, 8/20/15]

Bobby Jindal said the U.S. did not need comprehensive immigration reform. “Jindal, making his third trip to Iowa in the past year, spent the majority of his speech focusing on the American dream, and linking it to his personal story. He drew laughs at several points during his remarks as he made jabs at President Barack Obama. ‘How many moms and dads have told their little children, ‘anybody can grow up to become President of the United States’? Now, unfortunately, we learned how true that was in 2012 and 2008,’ the Louisiana governor said. Jindal, who is from the South, also had harsh words about the ongoing immigration problem. ‘I have a very simple message for the president of the United States: We don’t need a comprehensive bill, we don’t need another thousand page bill. He simply needs to man up. He needs to secure the border; he needs to get it done today. No more excuses. No more delays,’ Jindal said.” [NBC News, 8/10/14]

Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham: “I think it’s a bad practice to give citizenship based on birth.” “Graham, one of Trump’s most outspoken critics, took a more nuanced approach on Monday to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. ‘I don’t mind changing the law,’ the South Carolina senator said. ‘I think it’s a bad practice to give citizenship based on birth. We have evidence of people buying tourist visas for the express purpose of coming over here and having a child as birth tourism. I don’t think that’s a good idea. But that’s not going to happen until we fix a broken immigration system.’” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]

Lindsay Graham: “We should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen.” “Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says that the United States should end its policy of guaranteeing citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants as ensured by the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The South Carolina Senator defined his stance on the immigration issue on Wednesday in an interview with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren. ‘Birthright citizenship I think is a mistake,’ explained Graham. ‘We should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen.’” [Huffington Post, 7/29/10]

Climate Change

“Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.”

– Pope Francis, 9/23/ 15

Donald Trump

Donald Trump: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese.” “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” [@realDonaldTrump, 11/6/12, 2:25 p.m. EDT]

Ben Carson

Ben Carson: The Earth “may be warming” or “may be cooling.” “Carson, a retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon, often talks about his medical background and science during his speeches. Pressed on the fact that the bulk of the scientific community believes the Earth is indeed warming, Carson pivoted. ‘You can ask it several different ways, but my answer is going to be the same,’ he said. ‘We may be warming. We may be cooling.’” [Bloomberg, 11/26/14]

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush said he was “tired” of the idea that “science has decided” that climate change is manmade. “It is not unanimous among scientists that it is disproportionately manmade. What I get a little tired of on the left is this idea that somehow science has decided all this so you can’t have a view.” [Huffington Post, 8/24/11]

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio denied that human activity was causing climate change. “Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a GOP star and possible 2016 presidential contender, does not believe human activity is causing climate change, he said Sunday. ‘I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it,’ Rubio said on ABC’s ‘This Week.’ ‘I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy,’ he added.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/11/14]

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz said people who believe global warming is real are “the equivalent of the flat-Earthers.” “Cruz, the red-meat Texas senator with an army of conservative followers, raised eyebrows on Tuesday when he told the Texas Tribune that people who believe global warming is real are ‘the equivalent of the flat-Earthers’. ‘It used to be it is accepted scientific wisdom the Earth is flat, and this heretic named Galileo was branded a denier,’ Cruz said.” [Guardian, 3/27/15]

Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina: “Companies shouldn’t cave in to the demands of climate-change scientists.” “‘Companies shouldn’t cave in to the demands of climate-change scientists,’ says Fiorina, probably hoping that nobody will point out that she nearly destroyed the last company she led.” [The Stranger, 6/3/15]

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee mocked the Obama Administration’s elevation of climate change as a critical issue. “Huckabee appeared before the Iowa Freedom Summit on Saturday to deliver a biting assessment of President Barack Obama’s policies and make a pitch for his potential candidacy. He recently left a cable news show and is on a book tour. The former Arkansas governor mocked Obama’s elevation of climate change as a critical issue. Huckabee says a greater threat is violent radical elements stoking fear around the world. He says America hasn’t done enough to strike those terror groups.” [Associated Press, 1/25/15]

Rand Paul

Rand Paul claimed that the science behind climate change was “not conclusive.” “Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in a recent interview that the science behind climate change is ‘not conclusive,’ calling people who tie extreme weather to a changing climate ignorant.” [The Hill, 4/23/14]

John Kasich

John Kasich said he was not “laying awake at night worrying” about climate change. “‘We are going to continue to work on cleaning coal, but I want to tell you, we are going to dig it, we are going to clean it, and we are going to burn it in Ohio, and we are not going to apologize for it,’ he said during wide-ranging remarks on energy at the conference. Ohio is a coal-producing state and home to American Electric Power, a major coal-burning utility. Asked in a subsequent interview if he was concerned about the GOP’s efforts to kill EPA rules, he said, ‘I believe there is something to [climate change], but to be unilaterally doing everything here while China and India are belching and putting us in a noncompetitive position isn’t good, but some of that is the presidential leadership,’ Kasich said. ‘I am just saying that I am concerned about it, but I am not laying awake at night worrying the sky is falling. I just have a concern about it,’ he added.” [The Hill, 5/2/12]

Chris Christie

Chris Christie refused “to rejoin a regional cap-and trade program to combat climate change.” “Gov. Chris Christie is coming under fire for refusing to rejoin a regional cap-and trade program to combat climate change that his state withdrew from three years ago. The move — highlighted last week by The New York Times — has opponents charging that the Republican governor doesn’t want to alienate conservatives in advance of a potential 2016 presidential bid. ‘It’s all because of a four letter word: K-O-C-H,’ said Democratic state Sen. Bob Smith, the chairman of the state’s Environment and Energy Committee, referring to the billionaire Koch brothers who bankroll many GOP campaigns, and who favor conservative stances on environmental issues. ‘They don’t want to see any candidates for president who have the slightest green tint to them. If the governor was green at all, he would lose their support.’” [MSNBC, 9/23/14]

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum called the idea that humans are causing climate change “patently absurd.” “Appearing Wednesday on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, the former Pennsylvania GOP senator jumped at the chance to distinguish himself from his Massachusetts rival by displaying his climate skeptic credentials. ‘I believe the earth gets warmer and I also believe the earth gets cooler,’ Santorum said. ‘And I think history points out that it does that and that the idea that man, through the production of CO2 — which is a trace gas in the atmosphere, and the man-made part of that trace gas is itself a trace gas — is somehow responsible for climate change is, I think, just patently absurd when you consider all the other factors, El Niño, La Niña, sunspots, moisture in the air. There’s a variety of factors that contribute to the Earth warming and cooling.’” [Politico, 6/9/11]

Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal took positions “directly at odds with environmentalists” on climate change. “On climate change, Mr. Jindal takes positions directly at odds with environmentalists—and, likely, with whoever becomes the Democratic presidential nominee—by questioning the role humans play in global warming and calling on the U.S. to withdraw from climate talks led by the United Nations.” [Wall Street Journal, 10/15/14]

Cuba

“The efforts which were recently made to mend broken relationships and to open new doors to cooperation within our human family represent positive steps along the path of reconciliation, justice and freedom.”

– Pope Francis, 9/23/15

Ben Carson

Ben Carson said he would roll back Pres. Obama’s agreement to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba. “Senator Rubio says he will block the confirmation of an ambassador to Cuba by the Senate. Both he and Governor Bush (along with fellow presidential candidates Ben Carson and Mike Huckabee who now also live in Florida), say that if they are elected president they will seek to roll back President Obama’s agreement with Cuba.” [Baltimore Sun, 8/23/15]

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush said that normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba was “capitulating to our adversaries.” “Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is blasting the Obama administration’s decision to formally remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. ‘Neither continued repression at home nor Cuba’s destabilizing activities abroad appear sufficient to stop President Obama from making further concessions to the Communist regime in Havana,’ Bush said in a statement Friday. ‘Today’s news is further evidence that President Obama seems more interested in capitulating to our adversaries than in confronting them. Iran’s leaders are surely taking note.’ ‘The removal of Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List and the unilateral concessions to Havana, before it changes its authoritarian ways and stops denying the Cuban people their basic human rights, is a mistake,’ he added. ‘I call on Congress to keep pressure on Cuba and hold the Administration accountable.’” [Washington Post, 5/29/15]

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio opposed the restoration of diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba. “The addition of Rubio to the Republican race would bring President Barack Obama’s ongoing thaw in relations to the center stage of American presidential politics. The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio is opposed to the restoration of diplomatic ties between Washington and Havana. It’s perhaps no accident that his announcement comes just days after Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro shook hands at the opening of the Summit of the Americas last Friday, an important symbolic gesture as the two sides try to normalize formal relations.” [Foreign Policy, 4/13/15]

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz opposed normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba. “Hours after his Senate colleague and fellow Cuban-American Marco Rubio criticized President Obama’s change in U.S. policy on Cuba, Ted Cruz broke his silence on the news with a bang, calling the decision ‘a tragic mistake.’ The Republican senator from Texas told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on Wednesday afternoon that because of the American embargo and diplomatic freeze-out, Cuba had been ‘gasping for air.’ Now, though, Obama’s policy shift would have devastating effects. ‘Just like the administration did with Iran, right when the [Iranian] administration was feeling the maximum pain, [Obama] throws them an economic lifeline and continues the brutal repression and dictatorship of the Castro brothers,’ said Cruz, whose father emigrated from Cuba in 1957, four years before the U.S. imposed a strict trade embargo on the country. When Cavuto pointed out that more than five decades of the same policy hadn’t been very effective, Cruz demurred. ‘What it has wrought is limiting the impact and harm of Cuba,’ he said.” [National Journal, 12/17/14]

Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina opposed the agreement to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba. “Fiorina also took time to jab President Obama on foreign policy, suggesting that he has continued to reward bad behavior in his nuclear negotiations with Iran and by removing Cuba from the terror watch list. She said Cuba hasn’t done anything to deserve this, adding that oppression and suppression have gotten worse.” [Breitbart, 4/20/15]

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee opposed normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba. “GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee gave the Obama administration a kick in the pants over Cuba — and warned the Castro regime would do a lot worse. […] ‘I think we ought to quit pretending that Cuba is some wonderful nation with whom we can sit down and visit with. … They’re not,’ the former Arkansas governor declared.” [New York Daily News, 3/7/15]

Chris Christie

Chris Christie said that normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba was a “national disgrace.” “A day after the Obama administration recommended that the U.S. government reverse its long-standing policy designating Cuba a state sponsor of international terrorism, Chris Christie called the move a ‘national disgrace.’ In an appearance today at a town hall meeting in Londonberry, New Hampshire, Christie took aim at President Obama’s diplomatic warming with the Communist nation. ‘It is a national disgrace that the president is engaged in those conversations and even considering taking that country off the terrorist watch-list,’ Christie said.” [ABC News, 4/15/15]

Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal denounced the normalization of U.S.-Cuban relations and called on Congress to “do everything it can to stop” it. “With today’s announcement, the President is appeasing a Communist dictatorship headed by the Castro brothers that takes political prisoners and completely disregards basic human dignity. Taking steps to normalize relations with Cuba only serves to reward them, and it is a disservice to those in Cuba who wish to be free and who live in fear of a dictatorial regime. […] Congress should do everything it can to stop the President’s plan of appeasement toward Cuba. We must be willing to stand for freedom around the globe. The safety of the American people depends on it.” [Office of Governor Jindal Press Release, 12/18/14]

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum opposed normalizing relations with Cuba, calling it “reckless and not in our nation’s best interest.” “Former Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, said he opposed normalizing trade with Cuba and was ‘extremely concerned with how his release was negotiated.’ He called the president’s foreign policy actions ‘reckless and not in our nation’s best interest.’” [CBS News, 12/18/14]

Lindsey Graham 

Lindsey Graham said he would roll back the agreement to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba. “Graham also said he would roll back another of Obama’s major second-term foreign policy achievements: the normalization of diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba after nearly six decades of estrangement.” [Yahoo News, 7/15/15]

Lindsey Graham vowed to block funding for an embassy in Cuba. In a tweet, Senator Lindsey Graham wrote, “I will do all in my power to block the use of funds to open an embassy in Cuba. Normalizing relations with Cuba is bad idea at a bad time.” [12/17/14, 12:26 p.m. EDT]

The Republican presidential field is riddled with candidates who have taken extreme and out of touch positions on immigration reform.

Pathway to Citizenship

Marco Rubio

2010: Marco Rubio said a path to citizenship was “code for amnesty.” “As in previous debates, Rubio differed with Crist and Meek on immigration. He said the ‘pathway to citizenship’ favored by Meek and ‘earned path’ favored by Crist are ‘basically code for amnesty.’ Rubio said he doesn’t favor mass deportations of people in the country illegally. He said that after the U.S. secures its borders it can set up a system, and then people without documents ‘will be able to leave this country, return to their homeland, and try to reenter through our system that now functions, a system that makes sense.” [Palm Beach Post, 10/25/10]

2010: Marco Rubio said it was “unfair to create an alternate pathway for individuals who entered illegally.” “It was December 2012. The Senate gym. Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) was making the ask. ‘You ought to be a part of this,’ Durbin told Rubio (R-Fla.), as Rubio rode a stationary bike. Durbin and six other senators wanted to rewrite U.S. immigration laws. In the process, they wanted to give illegal immigrants a way to become legal residents and — eventually — citizens. Just two years earlier, Rubio had been against doing that. ‘It is unfair,’ he had said, as a tea party candidate for Senate, ‘to create an alternative pathway for individuals who entered illegally.’” [Washington Post, 4/24/15]

2013: Marco Rubio: “What I’ve never been for is a special pathway to citizenship.” “What I’ve never been for is a special pathway to citizenship. Let me just remind everybody there is no such thing as a path to citizenship. You can’t go from being an immigrant to a citizen. You have to go to get a green card first. What efforts (ph) in the past has done is they’ve awarded people green cards. It’s basically says if you’ve been here for x number of years, we’ll give you a green card. And then once you get a green card, in three to five years, you can apply for citizenship in three to five years. I’m not saying we should do that. On the contrary, I’m saying that all we do is we allow people to earn, to basically apply for and if they qualify, receive a legal status. And then at some point in the future, when some time has elapsed and the security measures are in place, then the only thing people would get is the opportunity to apply for a green card. We wouldn’t award one, either. And then if they were to receive the green card, then of course they can apply for citizenship at some point in the future after that. That’s been my position. It’s not to have a special pathway to green card citizenship or anything else because it is unfair to the people that are doing the right way and it would incentivize illegal immigration in the future. That’s been my position all along. We’re not going do special pathways that discourage people from doing it the right way.” [The Lead with Jake Tapper, 3/19/13]

June 2015: Marco Rubio: “I do” support a pathway to citizenship. “Many conservatives — and, indeed, many people — have been confused about what, exactly, Marco Rubio’s position is on immigration now that he’s said he regrets his support for the failed Gang of Eight bill. In an interview with New Hampshire’s local ABC station on Friday, Rubio made clear that he remains a supporter of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. ‘I do,’ Rubio said, when asked if he supports a path to citizenship for those currently in the United States illegally. First, though, Rubio said lawmakers have to ‘prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control,’ implement an e-verify system, and modernize our legal immigration system.” [National Review, 6/30/15]

September 2015: Marco Rubio ruled out a path to citizenship during his presidency. “Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio has effectively ruled out granting legal status to undocumented immigrants if he makes it to the White House, even for a second term. Pressed by conservative host Sean Hannity during a Monday night interview on Fox News, the Florida senator said he’s open to a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally, but only a decade or more after passage of bills to secure the border and modernize the legal immigration system. ‘I don’t think it’s a decision you have to make on the front end. The first two things you have to do is stop illegal immigration, then second you have to modernize our legal immigration system, and then third you can have a debate about how to even legalize people to begin with,’ Rubio said. ‘And then ultimately in 10 or 12 years you could have a broader debate about how has this worked out and should we allow some of them to apply for green cards and eventually citizenship.’” [Bloomberg, 9/22/15]

Donald Trump 

Donald Trump opposed a pathway to citizenship. “Trump said Wednesday in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash that as president he would deport all undocumented immigrants and then allow the ‘good ones’ to reenter the country through an ‘expedited process’ and live in the U.S. legally, though not as citizens. ‘Legal status,’ Trump suggested. ‘We got to move ‘em out, we’re going to move ‘em back in if they’re really good people.’” [CNN, 7/30/15]

Donald Trump on undocumented immigrants: “They have to go.” “Donald Trump would reverse President Obama’s executive orders on immigration and deport all undocumented immigrants from the U.S. as president, he said in an exclusive interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd. ‘We’re going to keep the families together, but they have to go,’ he said in the interview, which aired in full on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday. Pressed on what he’d do if the immigrants in question had nowhere to return to, Trump reiterated: ‘They have to go.’ ‘We will work with them. They have to go. Chuck, we either have a country, or we don’t have a country,’ he said.” [NBC News, 8/16/15]

Ben Carson

Ben Carson opposed a pathway to citizenship. “People already here illegally could apply for guest-worker status from outside of the country. This means they would have to leave first. They should in no way be rewarded for having broken our laws, but if they are wise, they will arrange with their employer before they leave to immediately offer them a legal job as soon as their application is received.” [Ben Carson, National Review, 11/12/14]

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush, when asked if he supported a pathway to citizenship: “No.” “During an interview Wednesday with the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, Mr. Bush was asked whether he supported a pathway to full citizenship. He replied, ‘No.’ ‘What do we do with the 11 million people here? I think the answer is earned legal status,’ he said.” [Washington Times, 7/8/15]

Jeb Bush reversed from his past support for a pathway to citizenship. “In an apparent reversal from his past statements, former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday that his immigration reform plan would ‘fall short’ of offering a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants living in the United States — a key provision being put forward by the bipartisan group leading reform efforts on Capitol Hill.” [NBC’s First Read, 3/4/15]

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz: “I think a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally is profoundly unfair.” “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said Sunday that a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants would be unfair to those who have legally immigrated to the United States. ‘I think a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally is profoundly unfair to the millions of legal immigrants who followed the rules,’ Cruz said during an interview for ABC’s ‘This Week.’ Cruz added that he does not think a bill with such a path can pass the Republican-controlled House.” [Washington Post, 7/21/13]

Ted Cruz sponsored an amendment that would prevent undocumented immigrants from gaining citizenship. “Cruz 1322: Ensure that illegal immigrants who are given legal status under this bill are not given a path to citizenship. Providing a path to citizenship undermines the rule of law and is an insult to the millions who have immigrated to the U.S. legally. This Amendment prevents those currently here illegally who are offered legal status under this Act from obtaining citizenship.” [Press Release, Office of Senator Cruz, 6/19/13]

Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina opposed a path to citizenship. “If Carly Fiorina becomes president, the immigrants currently in the country illegally would face an additional hurdle in their quest for U.S. citizenship. During a wide-ranging interview with Yahoo’s Katie Couric, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO was asked if she favored providing a path to citizenship for the roughly 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. ‘I do not. Not for those who came here illegally and who have stayed here illegally,’ said Fiorina, who announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination earlier in the day.” [Bloomberg, 5/4/15]

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee on immigration: “If you’re rewarding people who play outside the rules, and punish people who live within the rules, pretty soon nobody is going to play by the rules.” “In April, during the lead up to the launch of his presidential bid, Mike Huckabee’s political action committee released a web ad on immigration. The ad features a farmer from Texas, who warns that an open border has let in ‘the drug runners, the terrorists, the human traffickers.’ In the video, Huckabee says, ‘We’ve got to repeal Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders, oppose amnesty and secure the border. You don’t punish people for living by the rules. If you’re rewarding people who play outside the rules, and punish people who live within the rules, pretty soon nobody is going to play by the rules.’” [Buzzfeed, 7/28/15]

Chris Christie

Chris Christie: “This path to citizenship stuff is garbage.” ”New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said on Tuesday the idea of granting undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship — one he supported in 2010 — ‘is garbage.’ Instead, the 2016 candidate said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, cracking down on businesses that hire immigrants who are here illegally is the best way to solve the problem. ‘I met lots of undocumented folks in my state over the course of my time as governor, I can tell you not one of them has ever said to me that they had come here to vote. This path to citizenship stuff is garbage,’ Christie said. ‘That’s not why they’re coming. They’re coming to work and support their family.’” [Talking Points Memo, 8/4/15]

Chris Christie said providing a pathway to citizenship was “an extreme way to go.” “Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) is rejecting the idea of providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants as ‘extreme,’ reversing his stance ahead of a likely bid for president. ‘That’s an extreme way to go,’ Christie said Monday night in an interview on Fox News’s ‘The Kelly File.’ ‘I don’t believe that’s the way to go and I don’t believe that’s where the American people are.’” [The Hill, 3/19/15]

Rand Paul

Rand Paul introduced an amendment to remove a pathway to citizenship from immigration reform. “Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced an amendment Thursday to the Senate immigration bill that would effectively strip the bill’s path to citizenship and require illegal immigrants to apply through regular channels. The ‘No New Pathway to Citizenship Act’ amendment would allow illegal immigrants to remain in the United States as Registered Provisional Immigrants — a new work visa category — but force them to apply as though they were still in their home country.” [Washington Post, 6/20/13]

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum opposed a path to citizenship. “Along with Cruz, Rick Santorum is a strident opponent of a general pathway to citizenship. ‘The idea that there are Republicans in Washington, D.C., who are going to say, ‘Well, the rule of law isn’t that important, the idea of people coming into this country who have done so illegally and we’re going to basically treat them the same as people who came here legally,’ is just not going to go over well in a Republican primary,’ Santorum told Fox’s Andrea Tantaros in 2013.” [National Journal, 2/23/15]

Birthright Citizenship

Donald Trump

Donald Trump made ending birthright citizenship a pillar of his immigration plan, calling it “the biggest magnet for illegal immigration.” “End birthright citizenship. This remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration. By a 2:1 margin, voters say it’s the wrong policy, including Harry Reid who said ‘no sane country’ would give automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.” [“Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again,” accessed 8/20/15]

Donald Trump: “I’ll use the word anchor baby.” REPORTER: Anchor baby, that’s an offensive term, people find that hurtful TRUMP: You mean it’s not political correct and yet everybody uses it? REPORTER: Look it up in the dictionary, it’s offensive. TRUMP: Give me a different term, give me a different term. What else would you like to say. REPORTER: A child, an American born child of an undocumented immigrant. TRUMP: You want me to say that, okay, I use the word anchor baby. Excuse me, I’ll use the word anchor baby.” [ABC News, 8/19/15]

Donald Trump: “Some four million anchor babies are now officially U.S. citizens. This has to stop.” “Some four million anchor babies are now officially U.S. citizens. This has to stop. The only other major country in the world that issues citizenship based on where one’s mother delivers her child is Canada. The rest of the world bases citizenship on who the kid’s parents are, which is of course the only sane standard.” [Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again, pg. 141, 2011]

Ben Carson

Ben Carson on the term “anchor babies” and birthright citizenship: “It doesn’t make any sense to me that people could come in here, have a baby and that baby becomes an American citizen.” “The neurosurgeon outlined his views on the topic at a rally in Phoenix on Tuesday. ‘I know the 14th Amendment has brought up recently, about anchor babies—and it doesn’t make any sense to me that people could come in here, have a baby and that baby becomes an American citizen. There are many countries in the world where they simply have recognized that and don’t allow that to occur,’ Carson said.” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush called American citizens born to undocumented immigrants “anchor babies.” “Jeb Bush doesn’t want birthright citizenship to go away, but he is calling for stronger enforcement for people who abuse it. ‘If there’s abuse, if people are bringing — pregnant women are coming in to have babies simply because they can do it, then there ought to be greater enforcement,’ Bush said on Bill Bennett’s conservative radio show, ‘Morning in America’ Wednesday. ‘That’s [the] legitimate side of this. Better enforcement so that you don’t have these, you know, ‘anchor babies’, as they’re described, coming into the country.’ ‘Anchor babies’ is a derogatory term used to describe children who are born in the United States to undocumented parents.” [Politico, 8/19/15]

Jeb Bush on the term “anchor babies”: “You give me a better term and I’ll use it.” “A feistier, combative Jeb Bush said Thursday that he doesn’t believe the term ‘anchor babies’ is offensive and blamed Democrats for perpetuating the idea that it’s a loaded term. In one of his most aggressive exchanges with reporters to date, Bush dismissed suggestions that the two-word term deemed offensive by many Hispanics and denounced by Democrats is improper. ‘Do you have a better term? You give me a better term and I’ll use it,’ he snapped at a reporter who asked him.” [Washington Post, 8/20/15]

Jeb Bush on the term “anchor babies”: “Frankly it’s more related to Asian people.” “Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush attempted to clarify his remarks about ‘anchor babies’ during a stop near the U.S. border with Mexico on Monday, saying Asian immigrants are really more of the problem. When asked if he thought his repeated use of the term ‘anchor babies’ – a derogatory term for children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrant parents – Bush said: ‘What I was talking about was the specific case of fraud being committed where there’s organized efforts, and frankly, it’s more related to Asian people coming into our country and having children in that organized effort.’” [Talking Points Memo, 8/24/15]

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz said the Constitution should “absolutely” be changed to end birthright citizenship. “When the Texas senator was asked Wednesday on the Michael Medved show if the 14th Amendment should be changed, Cruz answered ‘absolutely.’ ‘We should end granting automatic birthright citizenship to the children of those who are here illegally,’ he said.” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio said he was “open to exploring ways” to limit birthright citizenship in the United States. “Marco Rubio, who is running for president thanks to birthright citizenship, says he is open to the idea of ending it for children who were born in the United States to foreign parents. ‘I’m not in favor of repealing the 14th Amendment,’ Rubio said during a Tuesday news conference at the rain-soaked Iowa State Fair. ‘But I am open to exploring ways of not allowing people who are coming here deliberately for that purpose to acquire citizenship.’” [National Journal, 8/18/15]

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee, according to his top immigration surrogate, proposed amending the Constitution to prevent children of undocumented immigrants from automatically receiving U.S. citizenship. “Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens, according to his top immigration surrogate — a radical step no other major presidential candidate has embraced. Mr. Huckabee, who won last week’s Republican Iowa caucuses, promised Minuteman Project founder James Gilchrist that he would force a test case to the Supreme Court to challenge birthright citizenship, and would push Congress to pass a 28th Amendment to the Constitution to remove any doubt.” [Washington Times, 1/8/08]

Chris Christie

Chris Christie: Birthright citizenship “may have made sense at some point in our history, right now, we need to relook at all that.” “Christie, speaking on Aug. 12—about a week before Trump’s proposal —was asked about birthright citizenship during a radio appearance with conservative host Laura Ingraham and said the matter deserves another look. ‘I think all this stuff needs to be reexamined in light of the current circumstances,’ New Jersey’s governor said. ‘The fact is the American immigration system is not working right now, it’s not working for the American people, it’s not working for our economy, and all these things need to be reexamined in light of the current circumstances. And while [birthright citizenship] may have made sense at some point in our history, right now, we need to relook at all that. And it has to be relooked at in respect to the rule of law.’” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]

Rand Paul

Rand Paul introduced legislation to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. “In 2011, the Kentucky senator joined forces with Louisiana Senator David Vitter to introduce a resolution to ensure ‘a person born in the United States to illegal aliens does not automatically gain citizenship.’ ‘Citizenship is a privilege, and only those who respect our immigration laws should be allowed to enjoy its benefits,’ Paul said at the time. ‘This legislation makes it necessary that everyone follow the rules, and goes through the same process to become a U.S. citizen.’” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum: “Enticements to illegal immigration, such as birthright citizenship, should be ended.” “Other enticements to illegal immigration, such as birthright citizenship, should be ended. Only children born on American soil where at least one parent is a citizen or resident aliens is automatically a U.S. citizen. Of developed countries other than the United States, only Canada has birthright citizenship.” [Rick Santorum op-ed, Breitbart, 5/6/15]

Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal said he was “happy” to use the term “anchor baby” and that “folks today are too easily offended.” “HEMMER: But, you’ll use anchor baby, right, as a phrase? JINDAL: Yeah look, I think folks today are too easily offended. They are too politically correct. The real issue here is, yeah I’m happy to use the term, but the reality is, the real issue here is when you secure our border. The bigger frustration from the American people. It doesn’t seem to matter who is in charge in D.C. secure the borders. Stop illegal immigration.” [Fox News, 8/20/15]

Bobby Jindal supported ending birthright citizenship in the United States. “Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has joined front-running GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump in calling for an end to automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to illegal immigrants. ‘We need to end birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants,’ Jindal tweeted Monday night, a day after Trump offered a tough plan to combat what he calls the negative economic consequences of illegal immigration. Jindal is also running for president, though he remains near the bottom of the 17-person GOP field.” [Times-Picayune, 8/18/15]

Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham: “I think it’s a bad practice to give citizenship based on birth.” “Graham, one of Trump’s most outspoken critics, took a more nuanced approach on Monday to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. ‘I don’t mind changing the law,’ the South Carolina senator said. ‘I think it’s a bad practice to give citizenship based on birth. We have evidence of people buying tourist visas for the express purpose of coming over here and having a child as birth tourism. I don’t think that’s a good idea. But that’s not going to happen until we fix a broken immigration system.’” [Bloomberg, 8/19/15]

Lindsay Graham: “We should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen.” “Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says that the United States should end its policy of guaranteeing citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants as ensured by the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The South Carolina Senator defined his stance on the immigration issue on Wednesday in an interview with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren. ‘Birthright citizenship I think is a mistake,’ explained Graham. ‘We should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen.’” [Huffington Post, 7/29/10]

This week, leading Republican presidential candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump continued Republican efforts to foster a culture of Islamophobia in America – Carson stated that he would “not advocate” electing a Muslim as president and Trump refused to correct hateful and inaccurate comments made to him at a town hall about President Obama. Carson and Trump are not alone – the Republican presidential field is composed of candidates who have encouraged religious hatred that is a direct contradiction to bedrock American values, including freedom of religion.

Dr. Ben Carson

Ben Carson said Islam is incompatible with the U.S. Constitution and he would “not advocate” electing a Muslim as President. “Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson said he would not support a Muslim as President of the United States. Responding to a question on ‘Meet the Press,’ the retired neurosurgeon said, ‘I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.’ He also said that Islam, as a religion, is incompatible with the Constitution. Carson, who is near the top of several early presidential polls, said a president’s faith should matter depending on what that faith is. ‘If it’s inconsistent with the values and principles of America, then of course it should matter,’ he clarified.” [NBC, 9/20/15]

Donald J. Trump

Donald Trump did not take issue with a man who said Muslims were a “problem” and asked him “when can we get rid of them?” “At a town hall in New Hampshire, a man stood up and asked the billionaire businessman this question: ‘We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims. We know our current president is one. You know he’s not even an American. We have training camps growing when they want to kill us. My question: When can we get rid of them?’ Trump, who had even interrupted the man to say, ‘We need this question,’ didn’t knock down the premise of his question at the end. Here’s how he responded: ‘We are going to be looking at a lot of different things. And a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We are going to be looking at that and plenty of other things.’” [NPR, 9/18/15]

Donald Trump told Bill O’Reilly, “absolutely” there was a Muslim problem, adding “I don’t notice Swedish people knocking down the World Trade Center.” “O’Reilly asked Trump whether there is a Muslim problem in the world. ‘Absolutely, absolutely — I don’t notice Swedish people knocking down the World Trade Center,’ Trump said. ‘I came out very strongly against the mosque being built virtually across the street. ‘The fact is, it was so insensitive when they announced the mosque in that location,’ he said. ‘Don’t forget, that’s my territory — Manhattan. When they announced the mosque in that location, I couldn’t believe it.’” [Newsmax, 3/30/11]

Donald Trump on the Quran: “there’s something there that teaches some very negative vibe.” “Brody: With some evangelicals there are some problems with the teachings of the Koran. Do you have concerns about the Koran?” Trump: Well, I’ll tell you what. The Koran is very interesting. A lot of people says it teaches love and there is a very big group of people who really understand the Koran far better than I do. I’m certainly not an expert, to put it mildly. But there’s something there that teaches some very negative vibe.” [CBN News, 4/12/11]

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee called Muslims “uncorked animals” and said Islam is “a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet.” “Speaking on his radio program on Monday, Huckabee prefaced his remarks by saying that he understood it was ‘politically incorrect’ to ‘say anything unkind about Islam.’ He then went on to suggest that Islamic teachings were to blame for recent unrest during the holy month of Ramadan. ‘Can someone explain to me why it is that we tiptoe around a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet in their so-called ‘holiest days,’’ Huckabee said. ‘You know, if you’ve kept up with the Middle East, you know that the most likely time to have an uprising of rock throwing and rioting comes on the day of prayer on Friday. So the Muslims will go to the mosque, and they will have their day of prayer, and they come out of there like uncorked animals — throwing rocks and burning cars.’” [Huffington Post, 8/9/13]

Mike Huckabee referred to Islam as “the antithesis of the gospel of Christ.” “‘If the purpose of a church is to push forth the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then you have a Muslim group that says that Jesus Christ and all the people that follow him are a bunch of infidels who should be essentially obliterated, I guess I have a hard time understanding that,’ said Huckabee, who has his own show on Fox News. ‘Is there a reason to say that the people who donated, who gave, who sacrificed to give that facility really ever intended it to be a place where something that is the antithesis of the gospel of Christ would be presented?’ he added.’”   [The Hill, 2/21/11]

Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal refused to back down from calling certain areas in European cities “no-go zones” because of Muslim fundamentalists. “Bobby Jindal refused to apologize Wednesday for calling certain areas in Europe ‘no-go zones’ due to influence from fundamentalist Muslims. Appearing on Fox News’ ‘Your World with Neil Cavuto,’ the Louisiana governor, who is eyeing a run for the presidency, reiterated recent comments he’d made in London and to CNN about supposed areas, where ‘women don’t feel comfortable going in without veils’ and ‘where police are less likely to go in.’ Over the past week, Fox News issued apologies after multiple commentators and hosts referred to various locations across Europe, including in France and Britain, as ‘no-go zones.’ Pundit Steve Emerson, in particular, claimed that the British city of Birmingham was ‘totally Muslim, [a city] where non-Muslims simply don’t go in,’ and that it had ‘Sharia courts’ that enforce Islamic law.” [Politico, 1/21/15]

Bobby Jindal: “Islam has a problem [with violent extremism].” “As Islamic terrorists launch attacks across the globe, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal plans to call on Muslim leaders to publicly condemn these ‘acts of barbarism,’ declaring: ‘Let’s be honest here, Islam has a problem.’ ‘If Islam does not support what is happening in the name of Islam, then they need to stand up and stop it,’ Jindal says in prepared remarks released by his office ahead of his Monday speech in London. ‘Many Islamic leaders argue that these are the acts of a radical few.’ ‘I will warn you in advance that I’m going to say some things that are not politically correct, so brace yourselves,’ Jindal, a potential Republican candidate for president, will say at the Henry Jackson Society on Monday. ‘To be clear, I have no interest in defaming any religion, nor do I have any interest in assigning the maniacal acts of radical Islamists to millions of Muslims worldwide,’ Jindal says. ‘I’m interested only in dealing with reality and facts.’” [Daily Caller, 1/15/15]

Bobby Jindal said “non-assimilationist Muslims” threaten Western society because they support acts of violence, adhere to Islamic law, and refuse to embrace Western culture. “If Bobby Jindal runs for president, he will likely campaign on two major themes. The first, which he outlined last February at the Reagan Library and last May at Liberty University, is that Christians are at war with a liberal elite that is trampling religious liberty and secularizing American culture. The second, which he laid out this month at London’s Henry Jackson Society, is that ‘non-assimilationist Muslims’ are endangering America and Europe. In London, Jindal said ‘non-assimilationist Muslims’ threaten the West not merely because they support acts of violence, and not merely because they adhere to Islamic rather than national law. Most fundamentally, they pose a threat because they refuse to embrace the cultures of the countries to which they immigrate.” [The Atlantic Magazine, 1/29/15]

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush hired as his political adviser a lawyer who called supporters of the Ground Zero Mosque “terrorists.”   “Lawyer and political adviser Jordan Sekulow is the Saul Goodman of social conservatism. He frequently appears on right-wing television to pontificate—his face caked with makeup, hair gelled back, suit shining, and double chin taking on a life of its own—about a wide range of topics, from Christian persecution to conservative persecution. On social media, he branded those behind the proposed Ground Zero Mosque ‘terrorists.’ And in his capacity as executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, televangelist Pat Robertson’s snake oil mega-mall of right-wing legal causes, he has lobbied foreign governments to ban homosexuality and fought efforts to allow exceptions to anti-abortion laws when the life of the mother is at risk. And on Friday, he announced he’s going to work for Jeb Bush. That’s right, Sekulow will be a senior adviser to the political action committee of the likely Republican presidential candidate most often labeled a moderate.” [Daily Beast, 3/15/15]

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz appointed an anti-Islamic politician as his Tennessee campaign chair, who once condemned Tennessee’s governor for hiring a Muslim and creating a council on Islamic affairs. “Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign is pushing back against criticism that the Texas senator named an anti-Islamic politician as his state chairman in Tennessee. On Wednesday, Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler called the reaction to the appointment ‘absurd.’ Tyler’s comments came in response to a prominent Muslim-American advocacy group’s complaints about the Cruz campaign’s new state chairman, Kevin Kookogey. Announcing the move, Cruz hailed Kookogey’s ‘experience and knowledge of both the landscape in Tennessee and the issues that matter to Tennesseans,’ such as ‘American sovereignty, defense, and religious liberty.’ As chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party in 2012, Kookogey pushed a resolution condemning Republican Gov. Bill Haslam for hiring Samar Ali, a practicing Muslim, and for appointing a council on Islamic affairs in the state.” [Politico, 6/11/15]

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum said there is “a fundamental foundational problem in Islam of embracing issues of freedom of conscience and religious persecution,” adding “you don’t have any Baptist ministers going on jihad.” “During his speech on Friday at the Values Voter Summit, former Senator and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum claimed that ‘the West’ was in an ‘existential fight’ against the forces of ‘radical Islam.’ Unlike fellow Values Voter Summit speaker Michele Bachmann (R) — who urged President Barack Obama to go to war with all of Islam — Santorum limited his criticism to those Muslims who were rightly hesitant about modernity. Still, he noted, there is ‘a fundamental foundational problem in Islam of embracing issues of freedom of conscience and religious persecution.’ ‘Christendom [once] expanded by the sword, that doesn’t happen anymore,’ he continued, but ‘you don’t have any Baptist ministers going on jihad.’ ‘The Western world,’ Santorum said, ‘has come to terms with religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and that persuasion is the way to spread the faith.’” [Raw Story, 9/28/14]

Rick Santorum endorsed profiling of Muslims. “In a discussion over balancing national security and privacy, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Tuesday he would endorse profiling, specifically of Muslims and young men, in order to enhance security at airports. ‘We should be trying to find the bomber, not the bomb,’ the former Pennsylvania senator said at the CNN debate, explaining his support for profiling. He cited the use of profiling in Israel as an example of how it would work. Asked to explain by debate moderator CNN’s Wolf Blitzer who would be profiled, Santorum said, ‘The folks who are most likely to be committing these crimes.’ ‘Obviously, Muslims would be someone you’d look at,’ he said, adding that ‘the radical Muslims are the people that are committing these crimes, by and large, as well as younger males.” [CBS News, 11/23/11]

Rand Paul

Rand Paul told a reporter that individuals coming into the country from predominantly Muslim countries should receive extra scrutiny.  “Breitbart News is reporting that GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul told one of its reporters backstage at a speech in Houston last night that the U.S. should provide extra scrutiny of people coming into the country from predominantly Muslim countries after the Chattanooga, Tenn., terrorist attack on Friday. ‘I’m very concerned about immigration to this country from countries that have hotbeds of jihadism and hotbeds of this Islamism,’ Paul told Breitbart. ‘I think there does need to be heightened scrutiny. Nobody has a right to come to America, so this isn’t something that we can say ‘oh, their rights are being violated.’ It’s a privilege to come to America and we need to thoroughly screen those who are coming.’” [USA Today, 7/18/15]

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio entertained the notion of putting a stop to visas for Muslim students. “CAVUTO: Senator, there are some getting leery of all the Muslim students in America. Bob Beckel is among those saying stop grants visas, others speaking about slowing down the number getting into the country. What do you think? RUBIO: We need to be open to changes that provide more security. I don’t like profiling anybody or singling or generally leading, on the other hand student visas are something this country does because it’s in our national interest but you don’t have a right to a student visa. I’m not prepared to take a firm position on restriction. I want to learn about what might have worked to prevent past attacks.” [Fox News, 4/24/13]

George Pataki

Geroge Pataki, in opposing the Ground Zero Mosque, conflated Islam with the 9/11 attack. “Pataki: No… no, no. Dylan of course not. If this were a corner mosque for a local community, I don’t think you would hear this reaction at all, but this is supposed to be a major center of Islamic… ah… whatever… tolerance… it’s 12 to 15 stories high. This is not the neighborhood mosque… (crosstalk) Ratigan: But what’s the difference with it being Muslim? Pataki: This is a symbol of Islam being built two blocks… (crosstalk) Ratigan: What’s wrong with that? Pataki: Let me tell… the point is that it was Islamist terrorists who attacked us on September 11th they weren’t Buddhists, they weren’t Episcopalians (crosstalk)…” [MSNBC, 8/16/10]

Lindsey Graham

Lindsay Graham on the Arabic call to prayer: “Allahu Akbar” is a “war chant.” “‘It’s not like, ‘Hey, how you doing Lindsey,’’ he said on Fox News radio. Graham was asked about the phrase, which translates to ‘God is great,’ in light of Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) remark that people shouldn’t find the phrase offensive. ‘For someone to say ‘Allahu akbar,’ it’s about as offensive as someone saying, ‘Thank God,’’ McCain said earlier this month. But Graham, who is a friend and ally of McCain’s, said he’s sees it differently. ‘‘Allahu akbar,’ I associate with a war chant,’ Graham told host Brian Kilmeade. ‘It’s not exclusively owned by al Qaeda. I’ve seen people kill al Qaeda guys and yell, ‘Allahu akbar.’’ The Arabic phrase is used often; it’s said during every call to prayer in the Muslim tradition.” [The Hill, 9/23/13]

Lindsay Graham said Charleston shooting reminded him of “Mideast hate.” “Last week’s horrific shooting in a black church in Charleston, South Carolina reminded Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) of violence in the Middle East. ‘I don’t know how you can sit with somebody for an hour in a church and pray with them and get up and shoot them. That’s Mideast hate,’ Graham said Wednesday on the Senate floor. ‘That’s something I didn’t think we had here, but apparently we do.’ Asked by a reporter after his speech to clarify his comments, Graham told NBC’s Frank Thorpe, ‘What ISIL is doing, that kind of hate. It’s kind of that hard-heart, that, you know, heart that has been hardened after generations of hate.’ Graham made a similar comment last week in an interview the morning after the shooting. ‘To go into God’s space and do this, I don’t know,’ he told ABC News. ‘You can’t explain it. … I go to the Middle East a lot. I’ve seen hate up close. I’ve seen communities where everybody has been killed because they’re a different religion, and you think that’s just over there. Sometimes it’s not just over there.’” [Huffington Post, 6/25/15]