Posted on 08/29/2004 2:55:26 PM PDT by Afronaut
If there are any deluded souls out there who still believe George W. Bush is a conservative, I invite them to examine the 2004 Republican Party platform on the issue of amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Bush is for it. That makes him a liberal. Worse, he proclaims that the amnesty is not an amnesty. So he is not only a liberal, but a liar as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Nobody EVER said George W. Bush was a rock-ribbed, mossback hardshell conservative. He looks for the most doable compromise in terms of getting legislation passed if it is not something he has a strong and enduring principle about. That is just good stewardship, in his view. But on things that strike at core moral beliefs, those he will go to the mat for.
It is not a bad thing, necessarily, that persons enter this country and take the scut work jobs that have to be done, but for which nobody is willing to pay a whole lot. Or the work could be left undone. The situation now is that these same people are under a lot of threatening shadows on their lives and subject to suffering exposure now, which in fact probably is much less bad than they have been told.
They come, because they know a job will be there for them, they have learned in the barrio grapevine. There is an unpublished demand for their labor, and while some lawbreakers and scofflaws do manage to slip in, the vast majority are calm and unlikely to cause trouble. Difficulty is, the troublemaker and the honest hard worker look almost exactly alike on first impression. That is why we would kind of like to see them screened a little at the border BEFORE they enter.
"i would suggest you hedge your vote on other issues..."
I agree.
At least we may be able to work with Bush on the issues we disagree whereas Kerry is ABSOLUTELY hopeless.
A little from Bobby Eberle
However, other conservatives such as Richard Lessner, the Executive Director of the American Conservative Union, see the new GOP platform as short on core conservative principles. Lessner, in an e-mail to conservative activists, describes the platform as not a "pretty picture."
"You have to give the Bush political operation credit: they badly outflanked the party conservatives," Lessner wrote. "By the time delegates gathered here in New York for the platform committee work, the game was already over. The Bush operation made certain that the committee, selected by state parties, was packed with loyalists. Any chance of a conservative uprising over the platform was DOA."
Lessner said that the most controversial plank in the draft platform was on immigration, "specifically President Bush's proposal for a guest worker program for illegal aliens, a plan that also would put those who entered America unlawfully on the path to U.S. citizenship."
"This idea is wildly unpopular with grassroots Republicans and the Bush people know it," Lessner wrote. "So the fix was in. Any effort by the handful of conservatives on the rubber-stamp platform committee to amend or delete the offending plank on immigration were trumped by a series of strong-arm tactics and procedural maneuverings."
Lessner added, "Not that the bullying tactics mattered much. The platform delegates comported themselves like a flock of obedient sheep. Taking their cues from committee co-chairmen Sen. Bill Frist and Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, delegates even rejected amendments drawn word-for-word from the 2000 GOP platform."
Lessner conceded that "there is much in the platform to please conservatives," but added that there is "also plenty to infuriate."
I pay an American to cut my grass, he does it just as cheaply.
Conservatives have been "turning up the heat" on illegals since 9/11. You'd think that after 9/11 the borders would be sealed. In fact, illegal immigration slowed to a trickle right after 9/11 happened, because Hispanics were rightfully scared that there'd be a massive crackdown.
This was a perfect missed opportunity for Bush. But I'm not stupid enough to waste a vote on the Constitution Party. I know that Bush's border policy would still be much better than Kerry's.
It does stink but it's a stupid post. We've had a gazillion of them and they don't do any good but get the conservatives riled up and all claiming they won't vote for Bush.
If that's the way they feel, fine. I'd rather they were smart enough to understand Kerry will be worse on every issue. But they aren't smart.
And don't complain here. Write letters to congressmen and the president.
If the Dems had any sense at all (which they don't as dedicated leftists), they would have run a candidate like Zel Miller. Bush would be toast.
Instead, the Dems run the most rabid drooling leftist available in the party and bank on his 4 months of military service in Vietnam. Republicans aren't the only stupid party.
It makes you wonder if the Clintons are running the Dem party and actually planned it this way so as to make way for the Hildebeast in 2008.
How did these jobs get done before illegal aliens entered the picture? You can say that some of the blame goes to our harsh regulatory, enviornmental, and tax climate that creates a demand for illegal, cheap labor.
What makes you think he will change his views upon re-election? Conservatives have already turned the heat on all of the above, but our voices have been ignored. He will have even less motive to change his views in the next four years because it will be his last term. We're going to have illegal aliens shoved down our throats ad nauseum by both parties whether we like it or not, and the majority of us don't like it.
How so? People are angry that they have no say on the issue on immigration, most want it reduced DRAMATICALLY, and Bush is doing nothing about it. Bush has paid very little attendtion to non "investor class" conservatives.
Yeah, typing angrily that you're going to stay home or vote third-party is really going to solve matters.
Sorry to see your Democrat Socialist boy Hoeffel doing so poorly against the Republican candidate. You just can't win anything anywhere, can you?
LOL! If anyone HAD said it, it would have been the lie of the century.
Then being here makes them ILLEGAL, it is a FELONY to hire them. I do not care how hard they work, they are not here via LEGAL means. What do people not understand about this? Does protection of the "investor class" trup the rule of LAW?
"If the Dems had any sense at all (which they don't as dedicated leftists), they would have run a candidate like Zel Miller"
You may be right, but there aren't enough lucid Democrats around to rub two dimes together. We know Zel is voting for Bush.
Got any solutions janet, or just grievences?
Never mind, stupid question.
"I pay an American to cut my grass, he does it just as cheaply."
Bump.
I mow my own and don't pay myself much.
You can make a difference. Bush listened to conservatives who were angry over government spending in the spring. Bush is not the type of person who, after winning reelection, is going to flip the bird at conservatives since he doesn't have to worry about another reelection. Bush has a broad, conservative agenda laid out for the next term, and cracking down on illegal immigration is one of them.
I love the "Enact the left wing agenda, to take away their issues."
What next? A new medical entitlement? More federal education programs? Campaign Finance Reform? Open Borders? Foreign election observers? Assault Weapons Ban?
Oh wait...
"I know the office where I work is cleaned by Mexicans every night. No one else wants to do that work. I assume that these guys are documented, but they are here to work and perform a service"
They do the jobs that American's don't want to do...what's always left out is "at the wages employers want to pay". wonder what the response would be if employers offered 20/hr? Low wages mean no innovation, no automation, and the taxpayer gets to supplement the cheap wages with things like taxpayer funded health care.
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