On John Gibson’s Fox News Radio show on Monday, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called for primary challenges against two prominent Republican backers of immigration reform.
Gibson asked Palin for her thoughts on Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who has been a vocal proponent of Congress’ pending immigration overhaul. Palin said Rubio has betrayed the American public’s trust by embracing the bill.
“[I] thought that he was an honest politician,” Palin said. “Though, I know, that sounds like an oxymoron. But Rubio has said in campaigns prior to all of this hogwash that we’ve seen come down the pike with amnesty — he has said that he would never support legalization of illegals, of those who entered and stayed in the U.S. illegally. He promised that he wouldn’t support such a thing as amnesty and that border security would come first. But instead, he’s reneged on that promise.”
“And I think it makes the public — the segment of the public paying attention to what’s going on — gives us more reason not to trust politicians, not to trust our government, unfortunately, which is a scary place for our republic to be.”
Later, Ayotte turned her sights on New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who also backs the sweeping immigration bill.
“I think every politician should be held accountable for breaking their campaign promise,” she said. “Kelly Ayotte, bless her heart, she had on her website as a candidate that her top immigration priority would be to secure the border. ‘No excuses’ is her quote, ‘no excuses.’ And she’s absolutely against amnesty and yes, Kelly Ayotte and Marco Rubio and all the others who had said that border security must come first before any talk about immigration reform — they turned their back on the American public, so why should they not be held accountable?”
“I think that they should be challenged,” she added. “I don’t have a problem with a heated debate and contested primaries where they have to answer to constituents regarding their flip-flopping on such a fundamental position as amnesty for illegal immigrants. I don’t have a problem at all with contested primaries. In fact, competition makes us all better and makes us be held accountable. So I’d like them to be held accountable and have to answer to why it is they flip-flopped.”
(h/t The Right Scoop)