Have you ever read a paragraph, then, realizing you didn't understand it, read it again, and still didn't understand it?  That's how I felt when I read Jeb Bush's, shall we say, nuanced position on birthright citizenship and 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[.]”

What does that mean?  I really don't know.  Enforcement of what, people coming in just to give birth to babies?  But Bush doesn't want to deport illegals.  Is he suggesting that the Border Patrol stop pregnant women but let everyone else through?  There is simply no further elaboration.

Bush has been a supporter of the 14th Amendment, which allows for children born in the United States to become citizens, regardless of their parents’ legal status. He said this week that the proposals in the immigration plan released by Donald Trump — which called for an end to birthright citizenship — “aren’t practical.”

“This is a right of the 14th Amendment. I just don’t think it’s legitimate to say that we’re going to change our Constitution and that’s going to solve our problem,” Bush said.

That's ignorance.  The 14th Amendment doesn't give children of illegal instant citizenship.  Congress has carved out exceptions to the 14th Amendment before and can do so again, if it wishes, refusing to grant citizenship to anchor babies (which it unfortunately never will).

So why is Bush calling for greater "enforcement" of...something now?  I think he's feeling squeezed by Donald Trump.  He held a rally in New Hampshire next to Donald Trump.  New Hampshire is supposed to be the best Jeb Bush territory – full of moderates, refugees from Massachusetts who want to turn New Hampshire into another Massachusetts (because that's what happens).

But Bush's rally was much smaller than Trump's, and Trump even taunted him.

“Jeb Bush is a low-energy person. For him to get things done is hard,” a feisty Trump said. “Right down the road we have Jeb, very small crowd,” he said. “You know what’s happening to Jeb’s crowd right down the street? They’re sleeping now.”

It's comical to watch Bush, who has been strongly pro-illegal alien, see his poll numbers slip and tentatively pander to Republicans by throwing out words like "enforcement" that are unconnected to coherent sentences.  I admired Bush for only one thing: that he was at least honest about what he stood for.  Now, feeling the heat, he's trying to sound tougher on immigration when his signature issue has been a nation effectively without borders.

This article was produced by NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.