Posted on 01/13/2004 5:54:13 AM PST by JustPiper
Conservative talk-radio star, author says amnesty is betrayal of country
In the latest indication President Bush is having problems with his conservative core political constituency, Michael Savage, one of talk radio's biggest stars, tonight called for the impeachment of President Bush over his plans to legalize millions of illegal aliens.
"This is the worst betrayal of our country in my lifetime," said Savage, whose program is heard on more than 350 stations with an audience reaching some 6 million. His book, "The Savage Nation," last year was No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller's list for five weeks. His follow-up, "The Enemy Within," out just one week, is already No. 8 on the list. Both were published by WND Books.
President Bush
Tonight Savage called Bush a liberal and described him as part of the "enemy within" that is destroying the nation.
Savage created the phrase "compassionate conservative" in 1994, a term picked up by Bush during his presidential campaign – a campaign supported by Savage.
"This is much more serious than dropping your pants for an intern," said Savage. "This is a policy that represents a danger to national security."
Savage is hardly alone in his strong feelings of opposition to Bush's proposal to offer legal status to illegal immigrants. A new ABC News poll finds 52 percent of the nation opposes an amnesty program for illegal immigrants from Mexico, while 57 percent oppose one for illegal immigrants from other countries. Both results are roughly the same as when the administration floated the idea two-and-a-half years ago.
But today in Monterrey, Mexico, Bush reaffirmed his support of the proposal, despite its unpopularity at home. He said it could help illegal immigrants "leave the shadows and have an identity."
At a joint press conference with Mexican President Vicente Fox, Bush warned that his government will not allow the existence in the United States of an underclass of illegal immigrants, but claimed again his proposal is not an amnesty. Amnesty, he said, would only promote the violation of the law and perpetuate illegal immigration.
Bush said his immigration proposal would benefit both the United States and Mexico as it recognizes the contribution of thousands of honest Mexicans who work in the United States.
For his part, Fox embraced Bush's proposal.
"What else can we wish?" Fox said at the news conference with the president.
In the U.S., the latest poll on the controversy shows at least twice as many Americans "strongly" oppose the proposal as strongly support it.
Opposition peaks in Bush's own party: Fifty-eight percent of Republicans oppose his immigration proposal for Mexicans, compared with 50 percent of Democrats. For illegal immigrants other than Mexicans, 63 percent of Republicans are opposed.
Bush reportedly will disclose more details of the plan in his State of the Union address Jan. 20.
Meanwhile, the National Border Patrol Council, which represents all 9,000 of the Border Patrol's non-supervisory agents, has told its members to challenge President Bush´s proposed guest-worker program, calling it a "slap in the face to anyone who has ever tried to enforce the immigration laws of the United States," the Washington Times reported today.
The agents were told in a letter from Vice President John Frecker that the proposal offered last week during a White House press conference "implies that the country really wasn't serious about" immigration enforcement in the first place.
"Hey, you know all those illegal aliens you risked 'life and limb' to apprehend? FAH-GED-ABOWD-IT," said Frecker, a veteran Border Patrol agent. "President Bush has solved the problem. Don't be confused and call this an 'amnesty,' even though those who are here illegally will suddenly become legal and will be allowed to stay here. The president assures us that it's not an amnesty," he said.
Last week Bush proposed the sweeping immigration changes that would allow the 8 million to 12 million illegal aliens thought to be in the United States to remain in the country if they have a job and apply for a guest-worker card. The immigrants could stay for renewable three-year periods, after which they could apply for permanent legal residence.
Savage cited a new report published in the City Journal by the Manhattan Institute suggesting there is a major crime wave in the U.S. caused by illegal immigration.
"Some of the most violent criminals at large today are illegal aliens," the report charges. "Yet in cities where the crime these aliens commit is highest, the police cannot use the most obvious tool to apprehend them: their immigration status. In Los Angeles, for example, dozens of members of a ruthless Salvadoran prison gang have sneaked back into town after having been deported for such crimes as murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and drug trafficking. Police officers know who they are and know that their mere presence in the country is a felony. Yet should a cop arrest an illegal gang-banger for felonious reentry, it is he who will be treated as a criminal, for violating the LAPD’s rule against enforcing immigration law."
The situation is similar, the report says in New York, Chicago, San Diego, Austin and Houston. These "sanctuary policies" generally prohibit city employees, including the cops, from reporting immigration violations to federal authorities, says the report.
"These people are destroying America," said Savage. "That's all I have to say on the subject. But you can talk about it. Talk about it while you can – while America is still a free country, because it's not going to last."
Isn't it? And no place when I posted this did I state in the headliner that I was a Savage fan. Couldn't understand what all the ruckus was about...was simple as the nose on Bush's face to me {{{joke folks , don't get all bent out of shape}}}
Haha. You clearly don't know what it means to be a Christian. John Adams, sure... I wouldn't debate you on that one. John Adams was a true Christian like GWB. George Washington? Haha. You're joking, right? A great leader and one of our greatest Presidents ever. But not a Christian by any means (especially his own admission). Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I won't and I'm taking as many people with me as I can. And I will expose their liberal policies to everyone I see. I know I will sway some votes. Their hypocrisy must be exposed. Liberalism is even more ugly in the GOP than it is in the donkey party.
Yeah, judging by how happy you clearly are I can't see why everyone wouldn't want to do exactly as you do. Misery does love company though. Oh well, at least you aren't pretending to be a conservative anymore. Radical reactionary? Sure. But the GOP doesn't need or want you in the party, fwiw. Too many elections to win (as we have been) to let a bunch of isolationist wack-jobs ruin everything for true conservatives.
I think you are not prepared to argue your position. I am, however. First of all, John Adams was a Puritan. As for Washington, I invite you to read Washington's inaugural and farewell addresses. I can provide quotes if you like, in which he gave God the credit for the victory of the revolution. He also had a prayer book (still exists) full of prayers to Jesus Christ. He also wrote a letter to the Delaware Indians in which he invited them to learn the religion of Jesus Christ. His granddaughter said that his Christian faith was beyond doubt. The earliest biographers (David Ramsay) also said so, and many of the other founders - John Marshall, et al. There is no question whatsoever that Washington was Christian. I got quotes. Need em?
Let's see them. (You and I probably have a very different interpretation of what is meant by the word "Christian" though, fwiw.)
One more insult will be your last.
Yawn...
Haha. Hilarious.
"I should have thought it the greatest heresy to doubt his firm belief in Christianity." Washington's adopted daughter.
"It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first offical act, my fervent supplications to that Almight Being who rules over the universe...and whose providential aid can supply every human defect...No people can be found to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States." George Washington, 1st Inaugural Address.
What Almight Being is that? Allah? Krishna?
"You do well to wish and learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ...Congress will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention." Washington, 1779 letter to Delaware Indian Chiefs.
And there are many other quotes I could cite from his farewell address, his proclaimation of fasting and prayer, 1st Thanksgiving proclamation, etc. etc. It seems you are misinformed about Washington. Primary sources are the best sources and they are very reliable. What do you have?
I have yet to read a quote from Washington where he proclaimed to be a believer that Jesus Christ is God and the only Savior of Man. I've read plenty of others with quotes (like the 2 from Washington you listed) that would put him right in line with other Deists of his age (such as Jefferson, a more outspoken Deist who wrote a book praising the "religion" of Jesus Christ as well, as you know).
For someone claiming to be a Christian, you sure are angry. I wonder why.
Not of Washington's being a Christian, you didn't. And I said John Adams (and GWB) are Christians.
What an absurd statement by you. Did you even read the quotes. If you did, then you know they SPECIFICALLY mention Christianity, Christian Faith, Jesus Christ. You lost the argument but don't have the honesty to admit it. Washington's contemparies (that would be those who knew him) say he was a Christian. The evidence couldn't be any better than it is. You lost the point. Move on to avoid further embarrassment.
Ummm... sorry, but mentioning Christianity and even praising it does not, by any means whatsoever, mean someone has been eternally saved by Jesus Christ.
Here are some other contemporaries of his though:
"Sir, Washington was a Deist."
-- The Reverend Doctor James Abercrombie, rector of the church Washington had attended with his wife, to The Reverend Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister in Albany, New York, upon Wilson's having inquired of Abercrombie regarding Washington's religious beliefs, quoted from John E. Remsberg, Six Historic Americans
"I know that Gouverneur Morris, who claimed to be in his secrets, and believed himself to be so, has often told me that General Washington believed no more in that system [Christianity] than he did."
-- Thomas Jefferson, in his private journal, February, 1800, quoted from Jefferson's Works, Vol. iv., p. 572 ("Gouverneur Morris was the principal drafter of the Constitution of the United States; he was a member of the Continental Congress, a United States senator from New York, and minister to France. He accepted, to a considerable extent, the skeptical views of French Freethinkers." -- John E. Remsberg, Six Historic Americans.)
"I never witnessed his private devotions. I never inquired about them."
-- Nellie Custis, Martha Washington's granddaughter from a previous marriage, quoted from Sparks' Washingon, also from Franklin Steiner, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents, p. 22
Personally, I don't really care whether George Washington was a Christian or not. Jefferson most definitely wasn't either but I think both of them were great leaders and did great things. I hope Washington, for his sake, was chosen by Christ for salvation, but I've yet to see anything from his earthly life to make me think he was. Ulitimately, it's still up to Jesus though, so hopefully it will turn out that he was still saved despite his earthly disbelief.
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