Posted on 08/21/2004 9:04:20 PM PDT by ETERNAL WARMING
(08-21) 15:55 PDT MEXICO CITY (AP) --
President Bush's nephew, campaigning for overseas votes in Mexico on Saturday, called the federal policy of arming U.S. Border Patrol agents with plastic pellet guns "reprehensible."
Speaking in a mix of English and sometimes-halting Spanish, George P. Bush said his uncle was not to blame for the gun policy, which has angered Mexicans. He instead blamed it on "some local INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) guy who's trying to be tough, act macho."
"If there has been American approval for this policy, that is reprehensible," Bush said of the guns, essentially paintball projectiles filled with chile powder. "It's kind of barbarous."
The pellet guns, which were approved at the federal level, have been used on a trial basis since 2001 in California and Arizona. The U.S. Border Patrol fired the pepper-balls in 81 instances in 2002-03 and reported no deaths or severe injuries.
President Bush's Hispanic nephew -- he's the grandson of migrant worker Jose Maria Garnica -- is in Mexico on a week-long visit to drum up support for his uncle among the estimated 1 million Americans living there.
The younger Bush, whose father is Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and mother, Columba, is originally from Mexico, acknowledged at a news conference that the war in Iraq is not popular in Mexico but defended the military action, saying "we're almost done with it."
He also acknowledged that "there are some people in our (Republican) party who don't see the benefits of immigration," but promised that President Bush was a proponent of immigration reform.
He called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "a dictator" and cast doubt on his victory last week in a recall referendum, saying Chavez had "a long history of fraud." Outside observers, including former President Jimmy Carter, have endorsed the Venezuelan vote counts.
Christopher Fussner, global chairman of Republicans Abroad, which funded Bush's trip, called Mexico "the most important country" for getting overseas votes.
Fussner said Republicans are advertising in overseas English-language newspapers around the world in hopes of capturing expatriate votes.
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's campaign also has enlisted family members to woo voters in Mexico. His sister, Diana Kerry, chairwoman of Americans Overseas for Kerry, visited Mexico City in July.
Kerry supporters also held a voter-registration and ballot-request drive in Guadalajara on Thursday.
Do YOU live in Russia now? If not.......go there now and avoid the rush. :-)
About half of the "life long Republicans now fed up with Bush" posters you see on FR are actually DUh trolls. The other half are Buchananites. Impossible to tell which is which, though, as they are naturally interchangeable (with or without disguises).
Will they still be white alcoholics? The idea that Russia will be the last bastion of the white race (albeit with a rapidly declining population, since their fertilely rate, like most Orthodox Christian lands, is about 1.5), is not a cherry idea. But of course, I won't be here to witness it. Actually, the Chinese will move in on a depopulated and prostrate Russia.
Illegal immigration is a bi-partisan issue. It always has been. The Democrats are smart enough to try to use it. We all know that Clinton signed NAFTA, registered them to vote in the last election, so there message is flat.
Having said that, the only way this state will go for Bush is if the SwiftVets have a good impact here. So far, it isn't getting much of a showing unless they're watching Fox News. That could make the difference for Bush.
He's become unpopular here for Yucca Mtn. and for illegal immigration and the problems it's causing, and we are having massive problems.
Plastic pellets? They should be issued the real McCoy.
Big whooooooop...so you "know" Russian history;so do I and I would NOT want to live there.But why don't YOU apply for an immigration visa,since you're so enamored of the place? :-)
cherry = cheerie
The other side of the Rio Grande is now considered to be overseas.....learn something new every day.
THe Russian military is armed and ready to do what? LOL. Russia has no relevance to anything dear at this point, except the theft of its nukes and know-how by Islamics.
The source of the article however, Associated Press, leads me to believe that this is just another attempt to drive wedges into the conservative base.
All good points except for the above. I don't think the Left can succeed for the simple reason that the issues have already divided the base. They're merely capitalizing on the schism.
And I didn't think you wanted to take that bet. Thanks for playing. Later.
As I said, I have no idea how it will go, but it will be darn close, unlike last time. The economy is the number one issue here...illegal immigration part of it, as they're driving down wages faster than jobs are created. Then there's Yucca Mtn. I know quite a few who are not voting for Bush for that reason alone. The rest of us have undergone an agonizing tax increase directly attributable to the 40% increase in illegals since the last election. That is causing alot of anger. I'm one of them. I've had enough.
Perhaps I should have said, "they are attempting to exploit divisions in the base". I think that the point is that it's the enemy talking. It's like listening to Tokyo Rose. They have an agenda.
"I think it's wrong, I think it's wrong," she said. "If I had it to do over I would have had 10."
A quote from the article you linked. I feel the exact same way. I only had one, I should have had ten. Although I'd been very tired now!
"Kind of barbarous." Good God, is this an accurate quote? I hope he doesn't go into politics.
Do you even have any Russian ancestry ?
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