Rush: Like It or Not, Bush Leads

Rush Limbaugh ^ | January 8, 2004 | Rush Limbaugh

[ejdrapes]

Like It or Not, Bush Leads

January 8, 2004

Listen to Rush...
(…discuss the substance and politics of the immigration disagreement)

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT 12:10 PM ET

RUSH: What's still on everybody's mind out there is this immigration business. And we've got some audio sound bites on this and some stories. I want to start out though with a little ditty, if you will, how should I phrase this? I guess I could call it leadership.

And I do to want contrast some things going on here, President Bush with recent Democratic presidents, or a recent Democrat president, in the current crop of Democrat candidates. It's about this immigration business. I know there's outrage and anger out there and I think it's real, and, by the way, I know it's real and I know that there are many of you that are beside yourselves you don't understand this and you're just fed up and you think, "My gosh just being taken for granted and forgotten." And many of you are saying that this is pure politics, I don't like this, this is trying to secure the Latino vote, and there is no Latino vote, and they already got 30% of the Latino vote in the 2000 election, so what's the deal?

But let me ask you something. For those of you who think that this is a purely political maneuver on the part of the White House, do you disagree with the politics of it or do you disagree with the substance of it? I mean, you may say both, but you can't ignore the substance in this, can you? You disagree with the substance of this as much as you do the politics. In fact, some of you probably, I would venture to say that the vast majority of you who disagree with the announced immigration policy yesterday disagree more so with the substance of it than you do with the politics. The politics of it maybe you could somewhat understand, might disagree with it, but you don't understand the substance. And so the key is, to me here, we are in a futile disagreement over substances here as well as, if not more so, than politics.

But aside from the outrage and the anger on the right, there is something important to note here. Now I'm just going to throw it out there, and you're free to accept it and absorb it and process it and deal with it or you can reject it but I still want to throw it out there, because for better or worse what has happened here is the first Bush salvo of 2004. And it's not random. This is not throwing it up against the wall and hoping it sticks. This is not saying, "Hey, what we can do to make people like us today, hey, throw that out there, see if they like that, poll on where I should go on vacation." We're dealing with somebody who is coming up with substantive proposals here, whether you disagree with them or not, it's a planned, coordinated, timed announcement.

Now, the consensus seems to be that Bush is risking his base in order to gain Hispanic votes. The New York Times today theorizes that Bush is simply trying to be nice. This is just the new version of compassionate conservatism, that he's again seeking the votes of people that pay scant attention, who don't like stridency. New tone, think new tone, that this is just an outgrowth of the new tone. We're just going to be nice to people! And that it's a pitch for that group of people. But regardless of what it is, it is a planned and coordinated and timed announcement. As I say, the consensus seems to be that Bush is saying [raspberry sound] to the base in order to gain Hispanic votes. Now, oftentimes the consensus is right, but oftentimes it's wrong. Consensus opinion sometimes has a tendency to be way wrong.

Here's some things to consider about this as you stew in it, some things to consider as you consider to fume about this. What Bush has proposed is legal status, proposed, and I want to emphasizes proposed and this is something I began with yesterday. This is all going to be up for debate. He did not issue an executive order, he's not using the Clinton MO, he's not pardoning all Mexicans on the last day of his administration, he's not pardoning all illegals and then flying the coop with the White House silverware while Janet Reno makes a speech in some hangar. He is doing this out in the open. He's not using a judicial MO, there's no executive order, there's no fiat here, there's going to be debate about this. Debate has already begun. And the president, for better or worse, in terms of the substance of this, is taking on another leadership challenge. I mean it would be much easier to duck this. It would be much easier to duck it and wait for somebody in Congress to come up with their own version, or say, "You know what, I'd be safer if I don't do this. I mean, it's an election year, I've got a dunderhead out there named Dean who is screwing up every day. What do I have to do? I'll just sit back and relax at the ranch and play golf, I'll advance a couple tax proposals, but I'll take it easy." He's not doing that!

Here he is in the midst of an election year, this is a true substantive issue, and this is, he thinks, and the substance is something I want to focus on, because I've been thinking about that this morning because the debate has been going back and forth about whether this is wholly political. As I say, you can't take the politics out of it, but there's substance here, and admit it, folks. It's the substance of this that has you mad, not the politics. As I say the politics may have you upset - it's the substance of it that you just don't understand and you're just trying to figure it out. It doesn't make any sense so why do this, you know, why do this now? This is the kind of thing you do in an off year, this is the kind of thing do you when nobody will notice, this is the kind of thing you sign at two o'clock in the morning when even the press corps is still in the bars and they're not even going to be sober enough to write the story right in the first place once they hear about this. They did this under the full morning sunshine, well, afternoon sunshine yesterday. After a whole day of the nation talking about it, the president goes on interrupting 15 minutes of this program, a communication breakdown there, to announce the policy. And I'm struck buy this.

He could have said, "You know what, I think on this immigration thing we need to mend it but not end it," which is what Clinton said about what? Mend it - affirmative action. Yeah, we need to mend that but not end it. This is not that, this is not avoiding the issue, this is not sweeping it underneath rug, this is not letting somebody else deal with it, this is taking it on. And it strikes me that whether you agree with it or not, you've got some leadership going on here. You know, real leaders lead in the war on terrorism. The whole world thought that was a mistake. The whole world was lined up against us ostensibly, and the whole world said we shouldn't do it and everybody, the Democrats were aligning with the world in trying to talk to the president, he wouldn't be dissuaded, would he? Went ahead, stimulate the economy, tax cuts, going to do it, doesn't matter what people say, going to tackle it, needs to be done, coming out of a recession, when he takes office. And yeah, that's right, he ran touching the third rail of Social Security, risking political electrocution. You just don't do that, but he's talking about privatizing Social Security and that's going to be brought up, that's going to happen.

Now, for those of you - I know a lot of you think he's out there pandering for votes but remember his sister-in-law is Hispanic, his nephew is Hispanic. I mean, he's got Hispanics throughout his family. This business of pandering is, you know, if you want to think it, go ahead, I'm not going to try to talk you out of anything I just want to throw something out there else for you to consider.

Now, amidst all of this, we got the Democrats, we got the MoveOn.org crowd, we've got Wesley Clark and Howard Dean all these other guys are calling Bush an extremist. Now, if you look at the domestic agenda of this administration the last thing any Democrat would call it is extremist it's been pretty much what they want in a lot of ways, so why do these Bush-haters hate Bush? And I've advanced this theory once before, and I think it really comes home here in this issue again. One of the reasons Bush-haters hate Bush is because he's actually doing something he's actually leading. I mean these guys are trying to construct a legacy for their boy, Bill Clinton, and their boy doesn't have a legacy, that's why they're having to manufacture one out of whole cloth and thin air.

By comparison, regardless of what he is doing, Bush is leading. It is a matter of substance from issue to issue to issue and Bush by an A-B, side-by-side comparison is making their boy look really bad, and they love their boy, their boy is the greatest thing that ever happened to the country, if they could only get him back. And Bush is making this guy look as inconsequential as a president has ever looked. I mean, Bill Clinton said out there, "You know I worked harder than I ever have on this" on about 14 things that he never got done, and Bush is not talking about how hard he's working. He's getting things done. You could say that Clinton was all talk and no leadership. Bush is all leadership and no talk.

So, like this or not, we've got a problem here in immigration, and he's facing it, and he's doing what he thinks is right about it. Now, we're free to disagree with it, but it is an issue of substance, and again I'm going to admit and acknowledge that there's a political component to here to it, but the disagreement is primary on substance. And, remember now, this is up for debate. It may not ever happen. He did not demand this, and he did not put it on us with an executive order, he's throwing it up to the Congress, our elected officials, and I might say that in that very Congress, there are 180 Democrats who want every illegal given a green card today.

Now, let me give you this possibility. Let's say that you are the president, you are the president's team and you know that you've got 180 Democrats in the House, maybe more, who want this issue so badly because they, too, want the Latino vote, and they want to give every illegal a green card, amnesty, and citizenship today, nothing less. Well, you don't like that, you can't do that, how do you stop that? So you come up with your own plan that slows down what the Democrats are trying to do. Maybe doesn't stop them and maybe is not conservative enough but you know that that's going on, and you have to stop it somehow because that's not what you intend with this. There is no blanket amnesty here, and there is no blanket citizenship here, folks. All there is, as I said yesterday, is hope. All there is some opportunities for some of these people. But it is not a blanket amnesty, and it is not granting illegals automatic citizenship or legal status right off the bat in mass in toto.

Anyway, in the Washington Post today, I know I'm a little long here, "Democratic strategerist speaking on a not-for-attribution basis described the proposal as brilliant politics that could help to refurbish Bush's compassionate conservative credentials, appeal to moderate swing voters and make it much harder for Democrats to win several states on their target list." Quote from this guy who didn't want his name used, "They've done a lot to try to put the general election away, and at a minimum they may have taken Arizona and New Mexico off the table," and it's no coincidence that Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico is fit to be tied over this. At any rate, so what - Arizona, New Mexico, big deal. Folks, I'm not trying to persuade you of anything here. Throwing it out. You're going to make up your own minds on this anyway.

END TRANSCRIPT

[Cultural Jihad]

Normally we don't like seeing people killed over misdemeanor infractions. That is because we live in a Christian society which honors the inalienable right to life.

[Stallone]

The 55 mph speed limit was ignored by the vast majority of Americans. All were BREAKING THE LAW. It was a stupid and unworkable law.

The newly-revised speed limit acknowledges something else - REALITY.

For decades, illegal aliens have entered America and lawmakers looked the other way. Americans have embraced them, hired them and protected them. Without their support, they would have withered on the vine.

Now Bush alone did not cause this. YOUR MANY FELLOW AMERICANS DID.

You are asking George Bush to deport them all, right now. Or, just pass the buck and ignore it like everyone else. It is preposterous, but maybe you don't know it - yet.

This principled stand of suicide, the kind of tin-eared McClintock nonsense that put us into the margins for nearly a decade, is sheer political stupidity. Yeah, yeah, it is better to die than compromise...give it up.

Instead, Bush challenges the conventional thinking and saves the best of them, and loses the worst.

He has established a datum reference line, and can be hardcore on those that don't follow the rules from now on. Like raising the speed limit to a more workable level, Bush has accepted the reality that VOTING AMERICANS LIKE YOU hire these people. HE IS DEALING WITH THAT REALITY.

It is BRILLIANT, and GOP'ers failing to see this is not only expected, because most blind Conservatives could not understand the concept of an Arnold vs. the unelectable McClintock, but rather it is the ONLY likely initial response I would have expected.

I would be truly stunned if even 10% of Republicans understood the rationale now. That there is one other person on this board that 'gets it' absolutely astonishes me.

But I believe that in time this initiative will be seen as yet another stroke of bold strateregy by this remarkable President.

Thank God for President Bush.

[woodyinscc]

at this point, it's called self-preservation.

No! It is called self immolation.!!

[woodyinscc]

And thank God for your post.!

[nopardons]

I understand politics far better than you ever shall. I also understand that voting against someone who will give 50% of what you want, helping to elect someone who will give you not only 0% of what you want, but close to 100% of what you don't want,is akin to insanity.

Yolu havedn't a clue, not even a smidgen of an idea what thesd " blue card " thing is about. The ONLY way you'd be pleased,is if President Bush would set up a new army, of sorts, went from house to house, dragged every illegal out, deported them, and built a 50 foot wall on every border, topped with AK47s, who shot to death, anyone and everyone, who ventured near it. Right ?

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

It seems to me that it is the middle that decides the election ONLY if the parties can maintain their base. Bush seems to be pissing all over his base. How will going after the middle help if his base stays home?
What is this cult of leadership anyway? If I have to suffer a leader, I want somebody that can articulate a reasonable set of policies and convince me that these policies will work to accomplish their stated goals. Bush simply fails in this.

[Destro]

Rioting is a misdemeanor infaction? AS one of the callers pointed out today in Rush's show, imagine when we are "Hunting" down the illegals and one or two of them get killed. God forbid there are children involved. Can anyone say, Rodney King type riots, paralysis of entire cities and all the rest. People seem to live in glass houses and throw out stones not realizing that some might come back and hit them.

And my reply: So fear of riots by a population of criminals holds us hostage to enforcing the law?

Where did you get that I want to kill people for being illegals? Or even that I want to kill rioters?????

Should I add shame on you??

[dagnabbit]

Doesn't matter one whit to me who is in the lead.. my loyalty to the Republican Party or to Bush won't supercede my loyalty to the US...

Well said. For some reason, that seems to a difficult concept for a few folks around here.

[woodyinscc]

Bush simply fails in this.

It's been one day, Get your knees out from under your chin, and give this time to play out.

The dims were going to spring all out amnesty, in a couple of months. When the conservatives started hollering no way, here comes the race card. Bush has beaten them to the punch, offered no amnesty, and the dims cannot say he has, in fact they are positioned to argue he hasn't. Just watch and see how this plays out, Bush's political acumen makes the so called political prowess of clinton into a myth.

[Cultural Jihad]

Nonsense. Crossing the border without governmental permission is what is in the vast majority of cases a misdemeanor, and no one said or implied anything whatsoever about you or your beliefs.

[Destro]

How about routine police pickups of illegals and prosecution of Americans who hire them as slave labor to the fullest extent of the law? Dry up the job market as you cut off the supply of illegals.

I have no pity and in fact would love to see Americans who hire illegals doing lengthy jail time or paying expensive fines.

Why do your kind think we need Nazi SS like force to solve this problem? Is it to stain those that want to deport illegals as blood thirsty bigots so as to silence us?

[Destro]

And my reply is: Why do your kind think we need Nazi SS like force to solve this problem? Is it to stain those that want to deport illegals as blood thirsty bigots so as to silence us?

How about routine police pickups of illegals and prosecution of Americans who hire them as slave labor to the fullest extent of the law? Dry up the job market as you cut off the supply of illegals.

I have no pity and in fact would love to see Americans who hire illegals doing lengthy jail time or paying expensive fines.

Only your side brings up the spector of a Berlin like wall of death where blood thristy gringos shoot Mexicans for sport in an attempt to smear and silence those that are against ILLEGAL immigration.

[nopardons]

How are you going to KNOW who has hired the ILLEGALS ?

My " kind " ? I just talk about what YOUR KIND has already posted, as what they want.If the " bloody stain " fits...you're welcome to it. ;^)

[Stallone]

Your comment is appreciated!

The whole world is a tuxedo and we're a pair of brown shoes!

NOT!

[Destro]

The same way the Justice Dept KNOWS Walmart hired contractors that used illegal immigrant labor who were payed slave wages. Forgot about that did you?

[Cultural Jihad]

Well, there have been instances of border vigilantes committing felony kidnapping and assault against people they speculated and conjectured had committed some misdemeanor infractions miles away. Those who want to become apoplectic over the rule of law are now sitting in jail thinking about the rule of law they violently broke.

Are they 'gringos'? Who knows and who cares. There are as many Hispanics who are opposed to undocumneted immigration as there are Anglos. But I suspect they would not be supportive of smears against their culture or language which the bigots like to present.

Would we need to mine or militarize the border with shoot-to-kill orders against this "titanic and epic enemy invasion" or cruelly advocate the Three S's (shoot-shovel-shutup)? Probably not. Yet that is what we hear being said much too often by the apoplectic, and frankly the advocacy of violence should not be tolerated by anyone. People speed on freeways and commit misdemeanors for doing so, and yet you don't hear calls to shoot the offenders.

The rule of law was designed to promote justice, not the other way around. One is a relative good, the other an absolute good.

[nopardons]

Nope, but that was a RARE incidence. What about all of the other ILLEGALS working here ? Hmmmm....and just WHY haven't ALL of them been found and deported, like the Walmart ones ? It's SO easy to find them, isn't it ?

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

You are the one who keeps apologizing for each and every time Bush has screwed his base. Do you think the people on this site are angry because this is the only time it has happened? How much time will it take for you to understand the enormous damage he is doing to this country? I am glad it was you who compared Bush to Clinton. You seem to enjoy the political game playing involved. I am not playing a game and I don't give a damn about Bush's Stratergery. Bad IS bad and it doesn't matter one bit to me if the label on the can says Republican or Democrat. It still stinks and you aren't going to kill the sour taste of it by holding your nose and eating it anyway.

[MissAmericanPie]

Rush knows that Bush has dug himself a very deep hole and is trying to keep it from caving in on him, but it's too late. That hole is too deep and the sides are made of sand.
Rush needs to read again about the straw that broke the camel's back.

While everyone has their eyes open and before ya'll go back to sleep, let me also give you something to consider.
Bush would not issue and EO granting amnesty to illegals in an election year, so for Rush to imply that Bush has done us any favors or acted above board, is really lame.

Some of us have not been asleep these past three years. We have watched Bush fly back and forth to embrace Fox and promise Fox that he would get Fox what he wanted at all costs. We have watched Bush practically tear his hair out trying to sneak amnesties by the survivors of 9-11 that constitute the rest of the nation. It took Freepers launching calls to block 245i not once but twice.

He's tried everyway he can to inflict more and more illegals on the nation, underhanded or in broad daylight. Bush is a globalist. Everyone knows that sometimes scoundrels think being bold is more likely to bring the suckers to heel because they refuse to believe anyone could be that bold. It certainly worked for Clinton.

I ask you all to consider this. If any of you think for one second this is the last of Bush's betrayals guess again. When this man is not facing re-election, when there are no constraints on him whatsoever, he will attempt to ram the FTA treaty through congress, and in case you havn't given alot of study to that treaty, he may as well open up that black suitcase and nuke the entire country. The damage will be just as great. Bush hasn't lied about it, he has said he wants "to see a Free Trade Zone from the north of Canada to the tip of Cape Horn". He just hasn't said that that entails totally open borders or no borders.

I came to Free Republic in Oct. of 2,000 telling Freepers that the U.N. was a bad deal, full of our enemies, and I was toasted a golden brown. Now there is no doubt anymore. I told Freeper's that France and Germany were some of our worst enemies, I was toasted a golden brown. Now there is no doubt anymore.

Before we launched our war on terror I told Freepers that Syria bears watching, that Saddam would hide his WMD's there, now it is coming to light that this is the case. Soon there will be no doubt anymore. And now I am telling you that if re-elected Bush's entire focus will be on getting the FTA treaty, if not passed, then as far down the road as he can push it. And I'm telling you that treaty is a nation killer, it's a real bad deal. Bush has been able to do damage that I have serious doubts that any demonrat would have dared to attempt.

I have alot of confidence that if re-elected he can manage much more.

[staytrue]

Would a society survive if all laws are broken?

No, but a society would not survive if all laws were rigorously enforced either. We would all be in jail for something.