Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of May 1, 2013. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am.

Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images
Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images
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1. Rubio Knows Immigration Bill Can't Pass (link

Senator Marco Rubio has staked a lot on immigration reform and he's taken a hit for it. The question is why, especially when he knows the bill can't pass the House. On Tuesday he told talk show host Mike Gallagher that bill as it's written now can't pass.

Sen. Marco Rubio acknowledged Tuesday on a conservative radio talk show that the Gang of Eight’s comprehensive immigration reform bill won’t likely pass the Republican-led House.

The comments from Rubio, perhaps the most influential congressional Republican on immigration, illustrate the challenges facing the prospects for reform after months of private negotiations by a bipartisan coalition of senators produced a wide-ranging, 844-page bill.

“The bill that’s in place right now probably can’t pass the House,” Rubio told Mike Gallagher, a nationally syndicated talk show host. “It will have to be adjusted, because people are very suspicious about the willingness of the government to enforce the laws now.”

 

He continued: “That is a very legitimate suspicion, it’s one that I share, and if there’s anything we can do to make [the bill] even tighter … that’s exactly what we should be working on.”

The Florida Republican called the Gang of Eight bill a “starting point” and urged opponents to propose changes to the bill, not try to kill it altogether.

 

“Let’s try to fix it,” Rubio said. “Let’s try to change it, but to just say let’s defeat the whole thing, I don’t think that’s a productive approach either.”

In my opinion, the only thing that gives this bill any legitimacy is the fact that Rubio has been working on it. However, with everything that is coming out about the bill it's getting harder to give it a chance.

2. Bloomberg Throws Down the Race Card (link)

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues to show just how stupid he is. On Tuesday, Bloomberg accused the NY Times of racial bias.

“Last week, a Bronx resident named Alphonzo Bryant was shot and killed while standing with friends near his home,” Bloomberg said during a speech at the New York Police Department’s headquarters. “He was 17. Like most murder victims in our city, he was a minority. As I said earlier, about 90 percent of all murder victims in our city are black and Latino. But we cannot allow Alphonzo to become a statistic. Alphonzo was a person. He had a loving mother, family, friends. It does not appear he was even the intended target of the shooters. He was just a victim of too many guns in our streets.”

In the speech, as reported by Capital New York, Bloomberg singled out The New York Times for failing to mention the death of a minority when the paper would never ignore the death of a white 17-year-old.

“But after his murder, there was no outrage from the Center for Constitutional Rights or the NYCLU [New York Civil Liberties Union]. There was not even a mention of his murder in our papers — our ‘paper of record,’ The New York Times. ‘All the news that’s fit to print’ did not include the murder of 17-year-old Alphonzo Bryant,” Bloomberg said.

“Do you think that if a white, 17-year-old prep student from Manhattan had been murdered, the Times would have ignored it?” Bloomberg asked rhetorically. “Me neither.”

Give me a break Bloomberg. Where was your outrage about guns before Sandy Hook? Why haven't you been outraged about the deaths of black youth in Chicago? Why hasn't Bloomberg accused the President of racial bias? You never heard Obama speaking about the youth in Chicago.

3. 2016 (link)

Sure, it may be early for a Presidential Poll but they sure are fun to look at. Right now, Senator Marco Rubio is the choice of more Republicans than anyone else. Behind him? NJ. Governor Chris Christie, which is a surprise but again it's very early.

As far as Democrats go, it's all Hillary and no one is close.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to demolish her potential 2016 Democratic primary competitors, while the GOP field is significantly tighter, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is playing a leading but risky role in shaping a comprehensive immigration reform overhaul, has 18 percent of the Republican primary vote, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll out Tuesday. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose occasional praise of the Obama administration has alienated the right, is in second with 16 percent. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who Republicans worry will be dragged down by his famous name, is in third with 14 percent.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum gets a mere 9 percent. Twenty-one percent of Republicans would pick another candidate and another 21 percent are undecided.

The poll also found that Republicans who watch late-night comedy programs like “The Daily Show” are likely to pick Christie, who earns 30 percent of their vote. Talk radio listeners are more likely to back Rubio (19 percent) or Bush (17 percent). Fortunately for the Floridians, talk radio listeners outnumber comedy watchers more than four-to-one among the GOP.

A whopping 63 percent of Democratic primary voters are backing Clinton at this point, compared with 12 percent for Vice President Joe Biden and 3 percent for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Ten percent are unsure and 12 percent would back another candidate.

Again it's early, but the Democratic side of things could worry some Republicans. The Democrats are lining up behind Hillary as their next leader. The best thing that could happen for Republicans is Hillary deciding not to run.

Other Top Stories:

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.

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