Posted on 01/14/2004 4:08:57 PM PST by Federalist 78
Now, however, the President has come up with a policy decision that may cause enough of his coalition to vote for a third party or to stay at home. I believe his re-election is endangered if the race turns out to be close.
Every single e-mail I got focused on the national security aspect of this question. A few also mentioned the abandonment of the rule of law.
Whatever his motivation, he is making the oldest mistake in politics. He is abandoning his base.
The greatest concern of his base is over national security.
(Excerpt) Read more at aim.org ...
"I think George Bush is going to win in a walk," Robertson said, explaining that the Lord has been speaking to him a lot recently about the upcoming presidential election.
He added, "I really believe I'm hearing from the Lord it's going to be like a blowout election in 2004. It's shaping up that way."
Robertson stated that Bush has found favor with God and that the president is reaping the benefits as a result of his dedication to and faith in the Lord.
"The Lord has just blessed [Bush]," Robertson explained.
In fact, Robertson asserted that Bush is virtually unbeatable because of God's favor on him.
"I mean, [Bush] could make terrible mistakes and come out of it," Robertson continued.
Plan For Immigration Reform Dismays Many Conservatives
"As we speak, our borders are being inundated with people who think they might get an amnesty," said Rep. Tom Tancredo (R.-Colo.), chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus. Tancredo predicted the plan would not pass the House and contested the President's suggestion that America's current immigration laws are the cause of the immigration crisis. "Mr. President," he said, "the executive branch has chosen not to enforce the law."
"For whatever reason, the federal government hasn't enforced the laws on the books," said Rep. J. D. Hayworth (R.-Ariz.).
In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.
Immigration politics have similarly harmed New York. Former mayor Rudolph Giuliani sued all the way up to the Supreme Court to defend the city’s sanctuary policy against a 1996 federal law decreeing that cities could not prohibit their employees from cooperating with the INS. Oh yeah? said Giuliani; just watch me. The INS, he claimed, with what turned out to be grotesque irony, only aims to "terrorize people." Though he lost in court, he remained defiant to the end. On September 5, 2001, his handpicked charter-revision committee ruled that New York could still require that its employees keep immigration information confidential to preserve trust between immigrants and government. Six days later, several visa-overstayers participated in the most devastating attack on the city and the country in history.
But enforcing laws against illegal labor is among government’s lowest priorities. In 2001, only 124 agents nationwide were trying to find and prosecute the hundreds of thousands of employers and millions of illegal aliens who violate the employment laws, the Associated Press reports.
Of the incalculable changes in American politics, demographics, and culture that the continuing surge of migrants is causing, one of the most profound is the breakdown of the distinction between legal and illegal entry. Everywhere, illegal aliens receive free public education and free medical care at taxpayer expense; 13 states offer them driver’s licenses. States everywhere have been pushed to grant illegal aliens college scholarships and reduced in-state tuition. One hundred banks, over 800 law-enforcement agencies, and dozens of cities accept an identification card created by Mexico to credentialize illegal Mexican aliens in the U.S. The Bush administration has given its blessing to this matricula consular card, over the strong protest of the FBI, which warns that the gaping security loopholes that the card creates make it a boon to money launderers, immigrant smugglers, and terrorists. Border authorities have already caught an Iranian man sneaking across the border this year, Mexican matricula card in hand.
Illegal aliens and their advocates speak loudly about what they think the U.S. owes them, not vice versa
Clear Law Enforcement For Criminal Alien Removal Act Of 2003 (Clear Act)
Despite the voices of those who naively believe that the influx of this estimated 9 to 13 million illegal aliens into the United States is a positive thing, the fact of the matter is that illegal immigration is having an extremely negative impact upon America at many levels. Unfortunately, the majority of illegal aliens who are here are engaged in criminal activity. Identity theft, use of fraudulent social security numbers and green cards, tax evasion, driving without licenses represent some of the crimes that are engaged in by the majority of illegal aliens on a daily basis merely to maintain and hide their illegal status. In addition, violent crime and drug distribution and possession is also prevalent among illegal aliens.
In summary, let me therefore state unequivocally that as a state prosecutor, I believe that this legislation is necessary. However, I caution you that the ultimate success of this goal will be based upon the political will of both political parties here in Washington. Quite frankly, I am not very optimistic. I believe that both the Republicans and the Democrats are to blame for the present lack of enthusiasm on the part of the government to enforce immigration laws. Business interests that often influence Republican Party politics clearly want cheap labor and often employ illegal aliens in menial jobs paid less than the minimum wage. On the other hand, the Democratic Party continuously at the national level panders to ethnic politics.
A 29-year veteran assistant chief with the Border Patrol characterized the problem of illegal immigration to me as "worse than epidemic." He said the practice of the Immigration Service has changed – but for the worse, now actually aiding and abetting more and more illegal immigration. This agent said the Immigration and Naturalization Service practice when he started out was to detain all illegal aliens; the only aliens INS released before deportation had extraordinary extenuating circumstances. But now, aliens are routinely released; the only ones held in custody are those with unusual circumstances.
These "let them go" policies and practices have real-world consequences. "Let them go" policies apparently contributed to the year-long rape rampage of Reynaldo Elias Rapalo, the recently apprehended illegal criminal alien from Honduras who is suspected in seven rapes in Miami. Local law enforcement arrested him for "lewd and lascivious" molestation in October 2002, after his visa had expired. But he wasn’t removed from the country.
"Let them go" contributed to the rape of two nuns and the murder of one nun last year in Oregon. El Salvadoran illegal alien Maximiliano Silerio Esparza, who has been indicted in these crimes, had been caught and let go by the Border Patrol, despite his prior criminal record and an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
"Let them go" put Jamaican illegal alien Lee Malvo back on America’s streets after police captured him in Washington State. This occurred just months before the Washington, D.C., sniper shootings of 2002, in which Malvo is a suspect.
Bush Immigration Plan a Bad Idea - David Limbaugh
The fact that even Bush's supporters aren't sure why he's doing this or how he can justify it is all the proof we need that it is wrongheaded. It's a muddled plan, with dubious goals and inevitably negative consequences -- which doesn't bode well for the president's image as a decisive leader with moral clarity.
Beyond undermining the rule of law, this plan devalues the uniqueness of American citizenship by trivializing the laws aimed at making it selective and a special privilege. It sends a message that illegal immigration is a trifling matter.
You, the people of the United States, in order to form voting blocks for the DNC, establish cheap labor for the RNC, insure multiculturalism, provide for the current illegals, promote the general welfare OF THE WORLD and forsake the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Amnesty for the United States of the Americas.
Where is the The Bush Record support for this this bill H.R. 2671 introduced 7/9/2003, with 112 Cosponsors.
Will the conservative base continue to "lie back and enjoy it" or put Principle Before Party? In 1990 Clayton Williams was the Republican candidate for governor in the state of Texas. He was locked in a tight race with Democrat Ann Richards but seemed to be gaining momentum in the final weeks of the campaign. Then it happened. The brash millionaire opened his mouth and inserted his foot up all the way up to his knee.
Hoping to curry favor with the press, Williams invited several reporters for some informal "off the record" time at his ranch. In casual conversation, the subject of the weather came up. Williams could not resist the temptation to play meteorologist and commented that bad weather is sort of like rape: "as long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it."
Compare the goals of Free Republic to The Bush Record and then to anyone of these:
Americans for Better Immigration
Utah League of Citizens for Immigration Reform (ULCIR)
We are an American Indigenous Hispanics Rights Group concerned about the direction our states elected officials and business leaders have and are considering taking on illegal entrants, their labor and crime and how it is affecting our state and the rule of law.
Naked defiance of the people’s will is not conducive to re-election.
May we suggest that our governor and each and every member of our Congress recall the oath of office they have taken and review Article IV, Section 4 of our Constitution. It reads:The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government and shall protect each of them against invasion and in application of the legislature or of the executive against domestic violence.
It won't come out in writing. Congress isn't stupid; they've been receiving plenty of angry e-mails over the last few days (including three from me). What we will get, if anything, is a watered down, unrecognizeable, worthless new immigration law. What frustrates conservatives is that the President should be doing exactly the opposite of what he did. Instead of pandering, he should have laid down the law (which is already on the books). We're just sick and tired of politics before principle, politics before national security, politics before just about every damned thing!
Please tell me this is sarcasm.
Duh.
Every president since Reagan has had their inauguration on the west of the Capitol, which looks down the Mall toawrds to the Washington Monumnet.
AARP, is that you? I'm a real conservative senior and I'm pretty sure I won't be voting for Mr. Bush next election purely on the basis of this amnesty bill. His policy on Social Security -- a socialist program -- is the least of my concerns.
The rule of law is the real issue here. If we reward lawbreakers with a fast track to citizenship it sends a worldwide message that America's borders are open wide, come on in! If you're a terrorist just come in through Mexico or Canada -- no problem. A country that won't defend its borders or its sovereignty is no longer a country. If the agenda is globalism it seems to me that's something politicians should inform the people about rather than making secret back room deals.
You're assuming quite a bit. What I told my congress critters was that this loyal Republican of more than a quarter century would not vote Republican in the future. I told my congress critters that illegal immigration was a national security nightmare. I told my congress critters to inform Karl Rove that I would be joining the Constitution Party. I informed my congress critters that I was putting country before politics.
Anything you want to take back?
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