Posted on 01/09/2004 8:39:23 PM PST by quidnunc
President George W. Bush's proposed immigration reform plan may prove to be a masterstroke from a maestro political strategist playing at the top of his game. It may backfire on him, but it probably won't.
The reform plan has already provoked strong attacks from Democrats and Latino activists who say it does not go far enough and the critical voices have been particularly loud in crucial California. It will also increase strains the president's policies have already generated in the Rocky Mountain libertarian West, his archrival John McCain's stronghold in the 2000 Republican primary race.
But at the end of the day, unless the two huge decisive issues of the economy and national security turn catastrophically sour on the president, these critiques will probably bounce off him like any criticism off the Teflon back of Ronald Reagan.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Which unions think this goes to far ? Back in Sept., the AFL-CIO was going around to all the local unions here in Missouri trying to shake us down and give money to the Illegal Immigrant Freedom Ride that came through our state. Union leadership is all for amnesty. It make recuitment much easier. Thus more democratic voters.
So conservatives get to bend over and hold onto their ankles. Sheesh . . .
Thank you, someone agrees with me here. It's not just the minimum wage. Many employers want off-the-books labor. They prefer to pay, say, $7 an hour off the books (and let the taxpayer provide services such as healthcare) rather than $12 an hour (and provide the legally-mandated benefits such as social security and unemployment themselves). I suspect that they would fire any newly-legalized immigrant who demanded to be paid on the books and refused to take a pay cut. I suspect many immigrants would quit rather than see their pay drop from $7 down to minimum wage in order to cover legally-mandated benefits such as social security. The immigrant would probably go on welfare and be economically better off.
Paul Mulshine, a columnist for the big New Jersey paper, The Star-Ledger, quoted someone as saying that the Republicans aren't foolish enough to believe that they will gain any hispanic votes because of an amnesty -- it's all about pandering to Wall Street's desire for cheap labor.
Personally, I would prefer the status quo over any major changes.
You're right again. As bad as the status quo is, the amnesty is worse. I am just boiling over this.
I remember this and I voted for him anyway. Gores plan would be alot worse.
I did think 9-11 might change his mind since this woke up alot of the American people.
We have two major Republican clubs here in Cochise County, Arizona. Both fought hard for Bush in 2000. Many of those same people now plan to leave the top portion of their ballot blank. This is a meltdown at grassroots level.
This county is right on the border, so we have to deal personally with the damages from illegal immigration every day. It isn't a hypothetical situation or something we see in passing on Fox News. To us, this proposal is a complete sell out on the one issue that most directly affects us and we don't care what "strategerie" reasons were behind it.
By the way, 30% of the local population is of Mexican descent and they are not thrilled with this proposal. Their take is that it is either an empty shot at vote pandering or an attempt at assuring an endless supply of semi-indentured servants.
On Saturday, January 17th, both clubs are holding a combined dinner meeting. The speaker and guest of honor is Tom Tancredo.
how about the Big Business contributors to the DNC ?
I also remember him discussing this before 9-11, which put any discussion of amnesty on the backburner, for a while.
I wish people would slow down, count to ten, learn more about the proposal, and then contact their Senators and Reps with their thoughts and concerns. I'll admit I don't know or understand all the details of the President's proposal.
I don't intend to salt my food before tasting it. No one can do my tasting for me. That's my job. Many times in the past, I have over reacted, and been ashamed of my wailing and gnashing of teeth. I'd like to think I've learned some lessons along the way.
will they just stay home and not vote? or will they debate the issue and make suggestions to their elected officials who probably know less than they do about the issue?
All of here have the same choices to make, but flame wars will never get us anywhere. As we speak there is legislation in Congress written by John McCain, It will never see the House floor for debate, Delay has said as much, What the Senate does is a coin toss, most of them 100 losers do not have a spine.
I see this whole thing as an opportunity to get involved early before those lobbyist whores have a chance to get bought off.
If and when a piece of legislation heads to the floor for debate we need to act as a team to influence that debate, but irrational calls for mass deportation will never see the light of day, because it's not a rational approach to a problem this large.
You and whoever can flame me if you like, but winning a flame war on the INTERNET is much like winning a gold medal at the special Olympics, in the end you're still a retard :-)
8. Later this month President Bush will give his State of the Union Address to the nation. What topic are you most interested in hearing the president talk about during his speech? (OPEN ENDED)
| The economy/jobs | 35% |
| Iraq | 17 |
| Terrorism | 10 |
| Health Care | 4 |
| Medicare/ prescription Drugs |
4 |
| Education | 3 |
| Immigration/ illegal aliens |
2 |
| Social Security | 2 |
| Taxes | 2 |
| Budget Deficit | 1 |
| Other | 5 |
| None | 6 |
| Not sure | 9 |
That grass don't have very deep roots.
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