Posted on 05/12/2006 6:31:09 AM PDT by Severa
You may be right that he later clarified his remarks, I don't know, Peach. But whether he did or didn't, this was mischaracterized from the beginning.
When the minutemen first popped onto the scene, there were lots of predictions and fears expressed in the Media and by Hispanic groups that they were going to the border to take actions enforcing the border that the Feds weren't taking. Before they even went, the noise against them was deafening.
Bush was asked about them going to the border, and he was sandbagged. From what little he knew, he mistakenly said "we don't need vigilanteism". I heard and saw him. I think he was genuinely worried that something violent would happen between Americans and the illegals, and it would escalate out of control and be outside the law or anyone's efforts to do anything other than watch in horror. He never accused them of being vigilantes, but he warned against vigilanteism, out of concern that they were going to take the law into their own hands. It turned out their plans were peaceful and they were trying to assist law enforcement, not take it into their hands.
But he has been tarred with this ever since. It has hurt him, and hurt him very badly.
I think it is totally unfair. But by now these antiBush people don't care and have totally accepted that he is pro-Mexico and against his own country.
I think we're going to start putting more people on the border; the articles you've probably seen regarding the Pentagon getting involved makes that likely. That's a good first step.
Stopping catch and release. That's a good second step.
Sending 6 million back under Bush's watch? That's a huge number and I'd be willing to bet no other president has done as well sending people back as this president.
Also, the requirement that they learn the language is vital and a good step.
Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But it's moving in the right direction and the thread jumpers whipping everyone into a frenzy over an issue that isn't easily solvable is really hurting the forum and the movement.
Let's get back to activism and calling/writing our Congressmen.
Exactly correct. There are a lot of "root causes" for illegal immigration, a great many of which are of domestic origin, and politically very uncomfortable to boot.
For example: the strong demand for illegal labor indicates that American laborers are probably overpriced -- government-imposed overhead plays a large role here, but so do the the wage/benefit expectations of American workers.
Or: the welfare costs associated with illegal immigrants have been imposed on us by our own elected officials.
In real-life politics, the folks who really benefit from making it impossible to discuss this issue are .... the Democrats, who see it as a way to weaken Republicans.
Reagan had an amnesty program. Blanket amnesty.
This isn't blanket amnesty, no matter how many times or how insultingly you want to keep repeating yourself.
Reagan granted amnesty instead of dealing with the issue of people coming over in the first place.
Uh you better do a little research before you make such a silly statement. Reagan delt with the issue, Kennedy and Congress thwarted it down the road. Now you are watching our President demand amnesty with no enforcement where Reagan Demanded enforcement and compromised on amnesty. What do you think we will get this time around?
fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me. Enforcement without amnesty is the only acceptable solution. Amnesty will be a magnet to millions more who will demand the same like those you saw in the streets.
How about this- Americans are doing those jobs right now for the same wages, every day. Over 90% of those in the work force in American today- even in agriculture, construction, and service jobs are AMERICANS.
Americans will and are doing those jobs.
There may not be enough Americans to do all the jobs that need to be done, I honestly don't know the answer to that. No one will really know the answer until we get a grip on the illegal situation. If we need workers from other countries it is NOT because Americans won't do the work. Americans do hard, nasty jobs every day. To say otherwise is nothing more than an insult to those Americans who are doing those jobs right now.
Math schmath.
What has he done? The very fact that it has reached these proportions demonstrates that he has done little and is just reacting to a de facto reality. He has no choice but to deal with it. Unfortunately, he has chosen to solve the problem by legalizing the illegals. Reagan did it in 1986 and it didn't work. It just exacerbated the problem.
I know this may seem strange to you, but I support the President. I do this of my own free will, and no one pays me. I am proud to support him, and consider myself someone who is LOYAL to a man who has done so much to save this nation during the past 5 years.
I suppose I could start in questioning YOUR bonafides, but I won't. People like you are, however, the reason I don't post too much anymore. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't raining outside; otherwise I would be occupied in pulling weeds in my garden.
Name me one other president who has turned back as many illegals. Name me one other president who has stoppped catch and release.
I won't bother to wait for an answer because the answer is: None.
There is no more room on these threads for reasoned debate. Unless you bash the Prez and threaten to castrate every Mexican that illegally crosses the border, you ain't a conservative.
You can't deny that this president has done more to deal with illegal immigration than Reagan. Reagan signed a blanket amnesty bill.
Name me one president who has done more. One name will do.
BUMP!
That's flat-out false. He's the one who brought this issue to the forefront, just like he did with Social Security's woes.
I believe that the solution is to annex Mexico and make it a U.S. territory.
I keep hearing that argument and I don't understand why anyone believes it has any merit.
Kennedy's amnesty, which was signed into law by President Reagan, was coupled with promises of enforcement. Those enforcement promises were not kept. That's not Reagan's fault. And, certainly, it was a huge mistake. That much is obvious as the numbers of illegal aliens have multiplied and mushroomed.
We learn from our mistakes if we're not stupid. Yet, the President keeps promoting the new Kennedy amnesty and refusing to listen to those who are trying to tell him that it AGAIN is a mistake.
We'll see what he has to say Monday night. Given the Pentagon is going to get involved, I think it will be a more fully fleshed out program than people expect.
I'm not arguing it isn't a problem; I'm arguing that the thread jumpers who gleefully condemn the president are either trolls or paid opinion shapers.
We live in a primarily retirement area and quite a few of us are very, very interested in politics. We are nearly all Republicans. Only one person I know in real life is even close to being as upset as these thread jumpers seem to be.
Reagan had an amnesty program. Blanket amnesty.
This isn't blanket amnesty, no matter how many times or how insultingly you want to keep repeating yourself.
LOL Reagan did not have a blanket amnesty read about it. What is currently proposed is far worse, it will be wrought with fraud worse than Reagan's amnesty and is a complete joke. No illegal alien left behind. You don't want to be "insulted" then do some research before you miss state facts.
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