The GOP Presents: The "Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act" (Not a Joke) [View All]

[HopeOverFear]

A House GOP staffer sends over a summary of the “Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act,” which the GOP leadership plans to unveil later today at a press conference, in keeping with the stepped-up national security attacks on Obama I noted here yesterday.

The bill attempts to place restrictions on transfers of Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States, and has two primary features:

* It prohibits the Obama administration from transferring any Guandetainee to any state without approval from that state’s legislature and governor

* Before transferring any detainee to any state, it requires the administration to notify Congress of the name of the detainee, and to stipulate to Congress that the release would not hamper continued prosecution of the detainee and wouldn’t negatively impact the state’s population.

The political game plan, obviously, is to tie Obama’s closure of Guantanamo to the idea that its detainees could come to a community near you, in order to sow fears more broadly about Obama’s foreign and anti-terror policies. It’s also designed to pressure Congressional Dems, particularly in red states, to distance themselves from Obama’s policies or risk being painted weak on terror.

What’s interesting is that the GOP leadership keeps forging ahead with this strategy despite private worries among some Congressional GOP staffers and strategists that it makes the party look like its reverting to old fearmongering tactics. In an interview with me the other day, GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio responded to the new GOP strategy by asking: “What are we, in a time machine?”

The full summary of the “Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act,” to be introduced by GOP Reps Pete King and Pete Hoekstra, is right here.