The President’s Immigration Speech

So I just watched the President’s speech and came away mildly impressed. The things he purposes are steps in the right direction:

• Tonight I am calling on Congress to provide funding for dramatic improvements in manpower and technology at the border. By the end of 2008, we will increase the number of Border Patrol officers by an additional 6,000. When these new agents are deployed, we will have more than doubled the size of the Border Patrol during my Presidency.
• We will construct high-tech fences in urban corridors, and build new patrol roads and barriers in rural areas. We will employ motion sensors ? infrared cameras ? and unmanned aerial vehicles to prevent illegal crossings. America has the best technology in the world – and we will ensure that the Border Patrol has the technology they need to do their job and secure our border.
• So in coordination with governors, up to 6,000 Guard members will be deployed to our southern border. The Border Patrol will remain in the lead. The Guard will assist the Border Patrol by operating surveillance systems ? analyzing intelligence ? installing fences and vehicle barriers ? building patrol roads ? and providing training. Guard units will not be involved in direct law enforcement activities ? that duty will be done by the Border Patrol. This initial commitment of Guard members would last for a period of one year. After that, the number of Guard forces will be reduced as new Border Patrol agents and new technologies come online.
• This practice, called “catch and release,” is unacceptable ? and we will end it. We are taking several important steps to meet this goal. We have expanded the number of beds in our detention facilities, and we will continue to add more. We have expedited the legal process to cut the average deportation time. And we are making it clear to foreign governments that they must accept back their citizens who violate our immigration laws. As a result of these actions, we have ended “catch and release” for illegal immigrants from some countries. And I will ask Congress for additional funding and legal authority, so we can end “catch and release” at the southern border once and for all.
• I support a temporary worker program that would create a legal path for foreign workers to enter our country in an orderly way, for a limited period of time. This program would match willing foreign workers with willing American employers for jobs Americans are not doing. Every worker who applies for the program would be required to pass criminal background checks. And temporary workers must return to their home country at the conclusion of their stay.
• I believe that illegal immigrants who have roots in our country and want to stay should have to pay a meaningful penalty for breaking the law ? to pay their taxes ? to learn English ? and to work in a job for a number of years. People who meet these conditions should be able to apply for citizenship ? but approval would not be automatic, and they will have to wait in line behind those who played by the rules and followed the law.

Of course we still continue to hear the shrill cry from the right:

President Bush is continuing the homeland security dog-and-pony charade in his quest to deliver a massive “guest worker”/amnesty plan to the open-borders lobby.

Bush?s boy Vicente Fox, all frantic about our country?s alleged plan (and right) to guard its own borders, called Bush, who assured him the border beef up is only temporary and will not be a ?militarization.? What a thoughtful man, our president

Deal! I predict that his speechwriters will insult our intelligence and present unsustainable and bad argumentation supporting amnesty for border jumpers, including the straw man ?We are a nation of immigrants!? and the claim that deporting millions of illegal criminals is impractical. He?ll toss us a half-chewed border enforcement bone to throw us off the trail.

The president better get used to his lame duck status and low polling numbers if this is his “big response” to illegal immigration, ‘cuz this is gonna be ugly.

I am glad that I did not get excited for it seems that President Bush has learned much from President Clinton?s second term.

It just seemed to good to be true, being that I am a conservative and I assert that issue is a ?no-brainer,? that our borders should be protected. Is that not a cornerstone of our sovereignty? Nevertheless, it seems that this ?bold? move by President Bush is nothing short of Clintonesque in its effort.

I believe George Bush?s failure to enforce immigration law and stop the foreign invasion, which he has the power and authority to do, warrants impeachment. Because of Bush, illegal invaders are emboldened, demanding that which they have no legal right to obtain.

Bushito?s Border Patrol, protecting the rights of illegal border crossers in, er, Illinois?

If Bullshito knew about this, or if he doesn?t do something about it now that he does, and does it yesterday, there can only be one logical conclusion to this undermining of the sovereignty of the United States, undermining of the Constitution and providing intelligence to a foreign government:

Impeachment.

And so on and so on. I’m curious….where we’re these folks when Reagan granted Amnesty? Did they talk about impeachment?

Is illegal immigration a new phenomenon all of a sudden? As The Anchoress said very eloquently:

I just have to ask all of you people – on every side – who have decided that immigration is one man?s burden, and that every good thing President Bush has done is to be negated because he hasn?t snapped his fingers and done what YOU think is the solution to the immigration problem?what did Clinton do about immigration, what did Bush 41 do? What did St. Reagan do? What did Carter do? What has any president, congressperson or senator done about immigration for the last 30 years, except kick the issue down the road for someone else to deal with?

Reagan, if you remember, was the amnesty president. Clinton was the ?borders? What?s borders, everyone is our pal? president.

Lots of bills that were ignored by past presidents, particularly during our ?vacation from history? have come due on Dubya?s watch. The whole world seems to be coming due on his watch, and damn him for not handling everything perfectly. What a loser, eh? And it?s easy to kick a guy when he?s down, isn?t it?

[…]And now, immigration?one man is to blame, one man is at fault, one man must find the Solomonic solution. And if he doesn?t, he?s a bum no matter what else he?s done.

[…]When Clinton was being waylaid, his party closed ranks. Now Bush – a good man despite his flaws, (and what president is not flawed) is being attacked on all sides, and his party just jumps in with both feet and kicks away. It just doesn?t seem right to me. And I know, I KNOW?he?s been a job to defend for all these years against unprecedented attacks – I?m tired, too. But I cannot go along with the ?get Bush? mentality from the right.

So now the left is giddy with the anticipation of their takeover in Congress and hell, it looks like they won’t have to fight too hard since the right is going batty with nonsensical solutions to a problem we have had for decades.

The wingnuts, after leaving thousands dead in Iraq like so much used toilet paper, now lust for some easy targets at the border. I am a little surprised at their distaste at Bush’s speech before he gives it; it sounds – dare I say it – a little liberal.

It just shows how batshit crazy the wignuts are. They now want to impeach their savior because of a few illegal immigrants? Lying us into a war, torture, running rough shod over the Constitution and spying on average Americans wasn’t reason to impeach but this apparently is. I say it again: they are all batshit crazy.

It is fun to watch BushCo hoisted by their own petard though. This whole immigration thing is such a joke. They were looking for an issue to deflect attention and man did they apparently pick the wrong one.

All this time I thought the torture scandal or the failures in Iraq or the shredding of the 4th amendment would be enough for the hard right to abandon Bush.

Who would’ve thought that they’d abandon him in a second if they thought he wasn’t racist enough.

First, I’ll be the first to say that I enjoyed this post quite a bit, both because of the contradictions it reveals and because of the damage it’s doing to the Republican Party. There’s a certain poetic justice in the party being torn apart by the ignorance and racism they’ve been fanning over the decades.

Bush is offering a common sense approach to this problem but some on the right are going to stamp their feet until they get what they want, damn the consequences.

Have I agreed with his take on this issue, no. But I will not jump in with both feet and help destroy everything he has done and will do in the next few years because I don’t get my way. There is no such thing as a President who pleases all sides on every issue.

Being a cop in South Central Los Angeles I see the illegal immigration issue firsthand daily. But I also see this is a problem that will not be solved overnight. He is asking the Congress to do their job and send him a bill which will help start the process of solving the problem.

What the flying hell is wrong with that?

UPDATE

Yes, it is possible to find some on the right who can have a reasoned disagreement with the President and still not act like a lefty (IMPEACHMENT NOW!)

BoghieOnYourSix:

Even though I don’t agree with about 20% of Bush’s programs and beliefs (all of them, not just border control) I am very happy I held my nose and voted for him in 2000 – rather than staying home in a silly Kerryesque protest vote.

Blogs For Bush:

At the end of the day, the President rejects both amnesty and ‘know-nothingism” – his plan is the right plan in all respects, and we’ll now see whether or not the rest of our political class has the courage, generosity and simple human decency the President has shown tonight.

California Yankee:

I have been a big supporter of President Bush, but I disagree with him on how to reform immigration. We simply must demonstrate that we can control the border before we can talk about rights for the 12 million illegal aliens already in the country. Nevertheless, I give President Bush credit for his willingness to take on this very difficult issue.

Blackfive:

I score that speech an A for content and for maybe the first time an A for delivery. I have no quibbles with any of the action items because he made the first one securing the borders. And since nobody other than Chuck really believes we would round up millions of people, some amnesty lite was gonna come, plus I like bio-metric IDs.

He admitted we do not control our borders, and said we will fix that, good. Let’s see what Congress does.

Decision ’08:

I must say I the President?s immigration speech hit just about every note I wanted to hear. He talked about concrete steps to stop the flow of illegal immigration, but stopped short of being draconian; he talked of needed steps to end ?catch and release?; he talked of the welcoming spirit we must have for immigrants who play by the rules; and he resisted calls to round up 11 million people and drag ?em away in front of the whole world.

UPDATE II

AJStrata has a great post about everything he is thankful for what Bush has accomplished:

Today conservatives and Americans across this nation, especially those who voted for George W Bush, should be thankful for what we have accomplished and for having George Bush as President. My tolerance for the whiners who don?t get all they want, or who say the pace of getting America to become more responsive to conservative ideas is too slow, is totally used up.

[…]I want to give thanks to W for taking the war to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and for not shrinking from his course when the French and Germans bawked, when the UN whimpered, when the left wailed and when the right ran away.

I want to thank him for protecting all our families and neighbors since 9-11.

I want to thank him for reducing taxes and pulling this economy together since my family just about went under due to the economic hits from 9-11, and now I am working a dream job exploring the solar system.

[…]I have no words of thanks to those who are so frustrated they have turned on Bush when he needs our support, and threaten to sit out elections. Why would I have any thanks for that kind of action? I am thankful we avoided a President Gore and President Kerry. Gore would have lost his mind after 9-11 (look at how he handled the 2000 election). And Kerry would have been so confused about what to do he would have signed legislation beforing vetoing it.

UPDATE III

Call me unsurprised:

CNN AIRS BUSH REHEARSAL LIVE; NETWORK CALLS MISTAKE

CNN aired President Bush rehearsing his immigration speech from the Oval Office on Monday night!

The embarrassing images and audio [16 seconds total] captured the president starting and stopping his message, then looking at the White House media advisor for direction.

[Click for video capture]

“The president is rehearsing and the network pool inadvertently went to the president as he is rehearsing,” anchor Wolf Blitzer explained.

FOXNEWS, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and other outlets did not air the rehearsal.

The slip comes just six months after CNN mistakenly placed a bold black ‘X’ mark over Vice President Cheney’s face as he gave a speech.

Another example of how much the MSM hates this President and will stop at nothing to bring him down. What pathetic stunt.

UPDATE IV

The Anchoress has a great rundown of reactions to the speech but what I really want to highlight is this she found at WorldNetDaily, something I missed:

If it took the Germans less than four years to rid themselves of 6 million Jews, many of whom spoke German and were fully integrated into German society, it couldn?t possibly take more than eight years to deport 12 million illegal aliens, many of whom don?t speak English and are not integrated into American society.

You have got to be kidding me? Is this what has become of the hard right…my god, do you not see how deplorable this is?

Un-Freakin-Believable.

But sadly, judging from some of the comments left by some Conservatives left on previous posts about immigration, I can believe it.

UPDATE V

As usual The Anchoress is able to write exactly how I feel about this issue, but with much more gusto…not too mention better writing also:

I cannot help but notice that a number of conservative bloggers – some of whom I have long-respected – have already decided that President Bush?s speech tonight will be insufficient to the task of undoing 30 years of neglect. They?ve heard a whisper here, an idea there, and decided that if he?s not going to do precisely what they want him to do – and only that – then he needn?t even be listened to. They?ve already pre-empted him.

Attention, my conservative friends – please pull back from the edge. Please take a moment to consider what has become of you: When you have reached the point that you will not even allow a man to make his speech and put his ideas out there – if you have already decided that nothing he says can be of value (or if you fear that too many might actually listen to the man and be persuaded) then you have become part of the problem.

If you cannot stop down-shouting long enough to take a breath and let a man speak, then you?ve moved beyond thoughtful analysis and constructive criticism. You have become the very sort of person you?ve said you despised – you?ve embraced the tactics of those you hate. What was it St. Paul said? ?All that I hate I find I am become??

If all you can do is scream loudly, work to drown out the president?s thoughts before he even expresses them and jumpstart the Caravan of Rage & Ultimate Defeat that you?ve been riding for a while, now?well, there is going to be a tragedy. The man has earned the right to be heard before you start stomping on him and tearing about in wild, reactionary frustration.

Other’s Blogging:

• Bookworm Room
• Debbie Schlussel
• Gateway Pundit
• Gay Patriot
• A Blog For All
• Evil Conservative Blog
• Confederate Yankee
• Captain’s Quarters
• Ed Driscoll
• The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
• California Conservative
• Darleens Place
• Betsy’s Page
• Big Dog’s Weblog
• American Future
• California Conservative
• Captain’s Quarters
• The Sandbox
• Blue Crab Boulevard
• Macsmind
• Hot Air

So now the left is giddy with the anticipation of their takeover in Congress and hell, it looks like they won’t have to fight too hard since the right is going batty with nonsensical solutions to a problem we have had for decades.

Curt

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