On her 12 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Friday, host Andrea Mitchell asserted that President Obama's executive order blocking deportation of millions of illegal immigrants was somehow "not amnesty": "...what this is not, as the President said, this is not amnesty. People have to apply, the applications won't be taken until the spring. There's a window where Republicans could act. So it's not what people are describing, the critics."
Even Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd couldn't quite swallow that spin: "It is a temporary amnesty as far as these people are concerned." Mitchell countered: "Well, it's a relaxation on deportations." Todd observed: "But obviously the definition of amnesty's been perverted so much in different ways." Mitchell declared: "It's not amnesty in the sense that you get citizenship and the past is forgiven." Todd agreed: "That's right."
Minutes later, Mitchell wondered: "...has the President in some way put the burden now on Republicans?" Without hesitation, Todd replied: "A hundred percent." Mitchell continued: "Because now they have to take – if they take a really tough stand, what does that mean for 2016?"
Todd argued:
They have to make a decision about how they're going to fight the President on this. Are they going to do it on process or are they going to do it on policy? Because the policy is popular – popular is not the right word. The policy, the public accepts....has majority support....the vast majority of the country is saying, "You know what? That makes sense."
He concluded: "I agree, I think the burden is on the Republicans. They can fight the process, but then they look like they're fighting process against a policy that most of them would end up supporting in a compromised bill."
Todd then hailed Obama's power grab: "I think that the burden is on them [Republicans]. This is the most powerful part of the President last night, which was, 'You have control of Congress, Republican Party, both the House and the Senate. You don't like it, the easiest way to do it is pass a bill.'"
Later in show, Mitchell talked to left-wing illegal immigration activist Maria Teresa Kumar and praised the President's unilateral action: "Maria Teresa, it's like awakening a sleeping giant, or you know, bringing people out of this – the shadows, to mix metaphors." Kumar proclaimed: "And the fear. All of a sudden they wake up – yesterday they woke up anguished and today they wake up fearless."
Wrapping up that exchange, Mitchell put the same question to Kumar that she had put to Todd: "What do you think the pressure is on the Republicans if they act too aggressively against the President over the procedures that he's done, over taking executive action? Will this hurt them down the road politically?"
Kumar responded: "I think the fact that [John] Boehner right now really doesn't have a choice. He has to recognize that this moment in time is not about the President, it's about a broken immigration system of where 11.5 million people are caught in the system."
Here are excerpts of Mitchell's November 21 exchange with Todd and fellow MSNBC host Jose Diaz-Balart:
12:01 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: And joining me now here on the set, Jose Diaz-Balart, host of The Rundown here on MSNBC, and Chuck Todd, NBC News political director and the moderator of Meet the Press. Welcome both.
Jose, first to you. Was this what people wanted to hear in the community, among activists? Is it too little?
JOSE DIAZ-BALART: Yeah, that's an interesting question. Yeah, there are about eleven and a half million undocumented people living in the United States of America and this is going to really make a difference for about 5 million, that's more than 40%. Now obviously there are a lot of people that wish that they were included, but I've got to tell you, this is very – this is vast. This is a lot – these are a lot of people being – being helped. There's a lot of people who have children born in the United States of America and that fear everyday the possibility of being deported and those families being separated. This is a big, big deal.
MITCHELL: Chuck Todd, what this is not, as the President said, this is not amnesty. People have to apply, the applications won't be taken until the spring. There's a window where Republicans could act. So it's not what people are describing, the critics.
CHUCK TODD: Well the word amnesty is getting redefined all the time. It is a temporary amnesty as far as these people are concerned.
MITCHELL: Well, it's a relaxation on deportations.
TODD: Right, which is – certainly fits that definition. But obviously the definition of amnesty's been perverted so much in different ways.
MITCHELL: It's not amnesty in the sense that you get citizenship and the past is forgiven.
TODD: That's right.
(...)
12:04 PM ET
MITCHELL: Has the President – in one regard a lot of criticism, and I've talked to Democratic red state senators who are angry at him because now they say any Republicans who were going to make deals, any Republican senators who have in the past been willing or might have in the future are now done. However-
TODD: I think that's just silly. That's silly if they end up doing that.
MITCHELL: But that said, has the President in some way put the burden now on Republicans?
TODD: A hundred percent.
MITCHELL: Because now they have to take – if they take a really tough stand, what does that mean for 2016?
TODD: They have to make a decision about how they're going to fight the President on this. Are they going to do it on process or are they going to do it on policy? Because the policy is popular – popular is not the right word. The policy, the public accepts.
MITCHELL: Has majority support.
TODD: Okay, has majority support. I don't want to define it, is that popular? But it seems like there's a middle – the vast majority of the country is saying, "You know what? That makes sense. We're not deporting these folks and all this stuff." So the question is, do the – I agree, I think the burden is on the Republicans. They can fight the process, but then they look like they're fighting process against a policy that most of them would end up supporting in a compromised bill. Right, Jose?
DIAZ-BALART: Absolutely.
TODD: Most of them would end up supporting. So I think you're going to see a lot more responses. I mean, think about the way Jeb Bush criticized the President and then said to Congress, "Now go pass a bill." Right? And I think that the burden is on them. This is the most powerful part of the President last night, which was, "You have control of Congress, Republican Party, both the House and the Senate. You don't like it, the easiest way to do it is pass a bill."
MITCHELL: One leading Democratic-
TODD: They don't even have a small bill. Right? They don't even have the border first – border security first bill that they always talk about. House Republicans, that's – that's why they're not in as high of a political ground as they could be.
MITCHELL: But one leading Democratic senator said to me after the President's speech, "Why doesn't he just go out and sell it?" Like he's selling it today in Las Vegas.
TODD: He should have done it six months ago. Exactly.
MITCHELL: And why didn't he just do that? Sell it and put the burden on Congress. But why take this step now to give the Republicans the ammunition of-
TODD: They gave them a little bit more ammunition than they should have.
(...)
