Posted on 01/27/2004 11:44:41 PM PST by JustPiper
But representative believes Capitol Hill would produce worse immigration bill
A leading voice in Congress for tough immigration reform believes President Bush's plan to allow millions of illegal aliens to remain in the country will not pass, but he fears his colleagues will open the door wider.
"I don't think that's going anywhere," Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., said of the president's proposal in an interview yesterday on Joseph Farah's WorldNetDaily RadioActive program.
"If something comes out of this Congress, it'll be worse," Tancredo said, noting Democrats want to make it even easier for illegals to stay in the United States, and many Republicans would support them.
Bush has proposed sweeping changes that would allow the 8 million to 12 million illegal aliens thought to be in the country to remain 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.
Responding to a caller, Tancredo said he is aware citizens who fiercely oppose Bush's plan will not find support in the Senate.
"There isn't a member of the Senate you can look at as a stalwart on this issue," the congressman said. "Not one."
Tancredo said lawmakers wonder: "Are there enough people who would say this is their number one issue; or would the economy, jobs, education and all the rest still take precedence?"
He said most of his colleagues think "if they can finesse it, if they can just get by it, give lip service to, 'Yes we've got a problem,'" that is enough.
In fact, he believes he is so isolated in his position that Tancredo-for-president movements are beginning to crop up across the nation.
Laughing, Tancredo said, "You think to yourself, now if [the administration doesn't] look at that and think, 'Man, there's got to be something out there, because, who in the heck is Tom Tancredo?'"
The White House apparently is aware of the opposition, Tancredo indicated, noting the president confined the issue to a 40-word paragraph in his State of the Union message and received a tepid response from his audience.
"I looked around and it was only the sergeant-at-arms and the Cabinet who applauded," he said.
As WorldNetDaily has reported, a number of Americans say Bush's plan is giving them physical symptoms of anxiety, and some are even contemplating leaving the U.S. out of a sense of betrayal.
A recent ABC News poll found 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.
When WND asked its readers what they thought about the president's speech, the top response in the daily poll found over 31 percent of respondents saying "I agree with most everything except his plan to legalize illegal aliens."
A group called Tennesseeans for Tancredo is calling for a Tancredo write-in candidacy on the Internet, declaring on its website Americans need to "make noise, collect signatures, build a grass-roots movement that attracts citizens from all walks of life and all political parties."
But the Colorado lawmaker has dismissed any notions of a presidential run.
"A lot of people think my politics are crazy, but I'm not delusional. I don't think I'm going to be president of the United States," Tancredo told the Rocky Mountain News last week.
He said he supports the president on most issues besides immigration and believes he would have little effect on the president's chances, the paper reported.
Last week, he launched "Team Tancredo," a political action committee to raise money for candidates who oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants.
He told Farah's audience yesterday: "We're going to go after every Republican and Democrat incumbent. We're going to run primaries against them. Help me fund it."
I really don't mind that some people want to vote for the Democrats, I mind that they are so hypocritical about it.
F you, you stupid bastard. I have never and will never vote for a Democrat, nor do I want one to win. But neither will I compromise my own principles to blindly follow along with this president and his dumbass plan for amnesty. A Republican will get my vote, but it won't be Bush, and no Democrat will get my vote, no matter what your mad sputterings suggest.
Term limit promise broken
Used illegal labor at his home
Flipped on gun control after Columbine (his district)
Avoided Vietnam because he was too sad. Then forgot.(crazy)
The fact that so many here have hoisted him to hurt Bush is telling.
THIS vote, for the 2004 General Election, at least, comes with a price. If that's unreasonable for some out there, then tough.
The deal is this: doctrinaire Bushites join with the patriots of the pissed-off conservative base out there, and kill the Karl Rove immigration legislation this year, and vow to keep that coalition to defeat any such legislation for the next four years. Work with us, in earnest, to make it (amnistia para los illegales) a moot point, then we will join you with our votes for Bush over the liberal Democrat he'll be matched up against. At least, that is my bargain.
Mr. Bush needs us more than we need his stinking, sedition-like illegal alien amnistia/regularizacion bill. At least doctrinaire Bushites who are opposed to this legislation should indeed now join with us in an internet, letter writing and congressional visit coalition to defeat this terrible bill.
There. The ball has been served. Otherwise, I know some excellent airfares to the Spanish Coast for a quick little beachside vacation for several days around the first Tuesday of November this year.......zzzzz.....zzzzz.....zzzzzz...pass the suntan lotion...........
That should have been 'Lose the shtick'!
oops, sorry. Those jobs are reserved for the "guestworkers" after the jobs are advertised at a slave-wage salary with no takers. After all, the proof that there is no American worker to do the job will be that the job hasn't been filled.
Hb
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