Posted on 09/14/2007 9:24:44 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Outgoing White House press secretary Tony Snow said today that the Bush administration had underestimated the ferocity of opposition to White House-backed immigration legislation.
"I freely admit that we underestimated the (public) skepticism," Snow said over breakfast with a group of reporters on his final day on the job.
Snow said that the White House was not prepared for the anger of foes of illegal immigration, who believed that government at all levels had failed to secure the nation's borders. While the public backlash is aimed "not merely (at) the Bush administration," he conceded that the White House "made some miscalculations, as well."
The president's chief spokesman, who has waged a very public battle with cancer during his two years in the high-profile job, said that though a compromise immigration bill came close to passage, the process now "requires a much longer debate."
"We should have gotten it through last time," he said. "This is an issue that will be with us -- it will not go away."
After the 2007 debacle, he said, the government must demonstrate that the federal government can secure the border "in a competent way" before legislation that would allow American companies to hire more immigrants and permit the legalization of illegal workers can gain traction on Capitol Hill.
But Snow argued strongly for a flow of immigrant workers. "We have this big, booming economy," he said, "and we don't have enough workers."
Calling America "a nation of immigrants," he said Congress and the president needed to come up with a plan to deal with the about 12 million people who are illegally in the country today. "A lot of these people really are pursuing the traditional path to the American dream," he said.
To win political support for comprehensive legislation, Snow said the government needed to re-establish "the credibility of the rule of law" by protecting the border and requiring illegal immigrants to pay substantial penalties -- "not just a wrist slap, but something significant" -- before taking their place "at the back of the line" to citizenship. While awaiting legal status, they should not be permitted to collect welfare and should be required to maintain continuous employment and crime-free lives.
Despite the passionate opposition to illegal immigration on the Republican right and populist left, Snow said that both political parties should be sensitive to the feelings of Hispanic voters.
"No political party is going to be able to survive (without the) fastest-growing voting bloc in America," he said.
Asked what he thought of the 2008 Republican presidential candidates' repeated attacks on President Bush's immigration record, Snow uncharacteristically demurred.
"Ask me that question in a week -- or even tomorrow," he said. "As the president's press secretary, I'm not going to step into that one."
Adios, Tony.
Wow, there are a lot of Americans who don’t want to lose their jobs to illegal immigrants who work for half the price. Whodathunkit.
NO LEGALIZATION OF ILLEGALS!! NONE!! NEVER!! What don’t they understand?! We will get rid of ANYONE that makes these law-breakers into legal aliens or citizens! Comprende?!
No respect left here for Tony Snow-job...he continues the lies and fails to understand the difference between LEGAL & ILLEGAL....the Repubs & Demorats had better wake up...we LEGAL Americans will not put up with this any longer!
NO immigrant should EVER collect welfare.
We need to go back to the sponsorship system.
Of course, many or most of our homegrown bums need to get kicked off, as well.
“I freely admit that we underestimated the (public) skepticism,” ...
Calling America “a nation of immigrants,”
It's not a question of "belief," Tony. It's plainly obvious to most Americans that the Bush admin. has been worse than negligent on this issue. Man, talk about tone deafness.
Well, duh. This reveals how out of touch the DC establishment is to anyone who isn’t a lobbyist (i.e. WE THE PEOPLE).
Calling America “a nation of immigrants,” he said Congress and the president needed to come up with a plan to deal with the about 12 million people who are illegally in the country today. “A lot of these people really are pursuing the traditional path to the American dream,” he said.
Come on Tony, I’m sure you were lurking during this juncture. The writing was on the wall, you had to have known.
NO. America is NOT and NEVER HAS BEEN a "nation of immigrants. Throughout our history we have been a nation of native born citizens.
Only in the past 15 years or so has this suicidal insanity of letting the trash of the globe invade this nation and with a retarded smile on the faces of politicians call it "immigration."
Jumping a fence or swimming a river at midnight is NOT immigration.
The only this that does not seem to be leaving us is the ignorant politicians that are too STUPID to recognize communism when it is dribbling down their bibs and staining their highchair.
Fred should do a very aggressive public smackdown of the current administration’s immigration shenanigans. He could probably pick up another 5 points.
Sure we do. Fix the problems in K-12 schools so they actually turn out literate, educated Americans who can read and do 6th grade arithmetic, and we'd have plenty of workers. Right now a lot of employers specify a college degree just to assure themselves that they will be getting someone who can at least read on a 10th grade level. We're sending kids to college who should actually be working instead.
The roar of hundreds of millions of real American Citizens shouting HELL NO! is not "skepticism" Tony.
The "process" does not require debate. It "requires" a sh1tcan.
"populist left?" I am begining to think that the Bush administration is a lot more left wing than even I thought.
Problem is that Bush's plan didn't require them tot follow the traditional path but gave them a 'cut in line' ticket.
And that is called "being deported."
And in spite of that they pulled out all the stops to get it rammed through. What he is really saying is that they didn't believe that the people would have as much influence on legislators as they did.
At one point I could have accepted his explanation as displaying their ignorance. It looks more like something between arrogance and stupidity now.
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