GOP platform pushes amnesty

NJ.com ^ | 8/29/04 | Paul Mulshine

[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.

[Guillermo]

It's not that he doesn't agree with Bush 100% of the time, it's that true conservatives don't even agree with Bush 10% of the time.

It's not about "all or nothing." Bush hasn't even come close to meeting his base half-way. Or a third of the way.

[Southack]

"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's immigration plan offers bait for every currently-anonymous illegal alien to come in from the cold and *register* with the federal government, as well as registering their home, their U.S. employer, and their family. If you've ever been remotely involved with law enforcement, you know two things about registration:

1. It is easier to ban something (such as guns) once it is registered, and
2. It takes fewer LEO resources to track down someone who is known versus someone who is anonymous. In a time when we have over 8 million anonymous illegals, those resources matter.

After registering with the federal government, Bush's plan forces each illegal alien to pay a fine for being here illegally.

One could consider it to be a giant plea bargain.

In return for registering and paying that fine, they get new blue cards. The blue cards allow them to remain in the U.S. for three years, legally, so long as they remain employed, pay taxes, and stay out of any legal trouble.

To get a renewed blue card after 3 years, they have to return to their home countries in order to apply. This sends millions back to their home countries voluntarily, preventing the need to have a forced military round up larger than the one last seen in Europe from 1937 to 1945 (6 million +).

Frankly, I've heard of worse plans. It's a plea bargain, not an amnesty (you don't pay fines for amnesties), and it gets anonymous illegals registered, as well as gives them incentives to finally stay out of trouble with the law.

So this plan doesn't have me flailing my arms over my head while screaming that the sky is falling.

5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires

[tioga]

Of, course I want Bush re-elected. Already ordered my yard sign, bumper stickers, and t-shirts. I still am not happy with this issue though. I believe we can do more to protect ourselves, we just won't get it past the dems anyway, even if we try.

[dougherty]

What a crap post.

[Southack]

"It's not that he doesn't agree with Bush 100% of the time, it's that true conservatives don't even agree with Bush 10% of the time."

Which 90% of the following do you not agree with?

Presidency of George W. Bush -- the first 44 months

 

President Bush signing a federal ban on Partial Birth Abortion

Banned Partial Birth Abortion

Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy

Stopped foreign aid that would be used to fund abortions.

Supported and upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals

Signed E.O. reversing Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act

Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty

Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court

Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California

Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules that would have shut down every home business in America

First Missile is Installed For NMD on July 23, 2004

Killed the U.S. - CCCP ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses

Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first ten ABM silos in Alaska and California so that America has a defense against North Korean nukes

President Bush pledged to Israel on 4/14/2004 that it could keep parts of the West Bank, giving international legitimacy to Jewish settlements there

Denied Palestinian refugees any right of return to what is now Israel, saying they should be resettled in a future Palestinian state instead

Part of coalition (Russia, Israel, EU, Palestine, USA) for Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace"

Pushed through THREE raises for our military

Increased Defense Dept funding which had deteriorated during the previous 8 years

President Bush's Grand Strategy (click here)

President Bush's Environmental Record - 2004 (click here)

Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit

Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers

Ordered Attorney-General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, NOT a leftist-imagined *collective* right

Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e. the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty)

Signed the 2004 Omnibus Budget 1/26/2004 that now MANDATES that gun buyers' background check information be fully and permanently destroyed within 24 hours of the completion of the check, no matter what.

Repealed Gun Controls Against Active, Retired, and Off-Duty Law Enforcement Personnel Carrying Weapons Into Local and State Prohibited Zones (7/28/2004)

Disarmed Libya of its Chemical, Nuclear, and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed

Won an agreement that U.S. Navy sailors may now freely board thousands of commercial ships in international waters to search for weapons of mass destruction under a landmark pact between the United States and Liberia, the world's No. 2 shipping registry (signed Feb 11, 2004), and Panama 5/10/2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/11/international/americas/11ship.html).

Successfully executed 2 wars: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom

 

Executed a WAR ON TERROR by getting world-wide cooperation to track funds/terrorists (has cut off much of the terrorist's funding and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network)

Bush Administration diplomacy led to the 5/25/2004 peace accord that ended a massive 20-year civil war between Sudan's Islamic north and Christian south after two million deaths Click Here

 

Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed

Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.

Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia

Initiated comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE was critical.
Created NATO's Rapid Response Force
Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the Presidency

Reorganized bureaucracy...after 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency: the Department of Homeland Security.

Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts.

Improving govt. efficiency with .8 million jobs put up for bid...weakening unions and cutting undeserved pay raises. Wants merit based promotions/raises only.

Orchestrated Republican control of the White House, the House AND the Senate.

Killed the liberal ABA's role in vetting federal judges for Congress.

GWB signed an executive order enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision (re: union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes)

Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession.

Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.

Signed 2 income tax cuts ---- 1 of which was the largest Dollar-value tax cut in world history

Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains

In process of eliminating IRS marriage penalty.

Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people

Eliminated the Estate Tax (AKA "Death Tax") that was taking small farms and businesses from families

Signed into law the No Child Left Behind legislation delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations)

Reorganized the INS in an attempt to safeguard the borders and ports of America and to eliminate bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.

Signed trade promotion authority

Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men and women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa

Passed Medicare Reform (authorized $39.5 Billion per year for preventive medicine such as drugs and doctor visits as well as included a ten year Privatization option)

Urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits

Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims

Submitted comprehensive Energy Plan--awaits Congressional action (works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc.)

Endorses and promotes The Responsibility Era ("In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else -- to one in which every single American understands that he or she are responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself. " -----this quote was too good to leave out)

Started the USA Freedom Corps

Initiated review of all federal agencies with a goal to eliminate federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of federal gov while increasing private sector jobs.

Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become The League of Nations ( in other words, completely irrelevant)

Nominated strong, conservative judges to the judiciary.

President Bush opened up an additional part of Alaska for domestic oil drilling. In 2004, the National Petroleum Reserve, an area west of the existing Prudhoe Bay field, was approved for new energy exploration and production.

Increased U.S. Oil Drilling Permits 70% Above Clinton-era

Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary clean-up of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.

As part of the national forests clean-up, the President restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges) and removed the need for an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.
New Forest Rules Gives States Power Over Federal Forests Inside Their Borders
Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.

President Bush signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal Aliens
S. 1685, the Basic Pilot Extension Act of 2003, was signed by President Bush on December 3, 2003.
It extends for five years the workplace employment eligibility authorization pilot programs created in 1996. It expands the pilot programs from the original five states to all 50 states.

U.S. Forces In Baghdad

5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires

[ohCompGk]

What good would it do Bush or the Republicans to take as hard of a line as we and probably they would like? A hard line platform would certainly make us feel better right up to Nov. 2.

Bush/GOP have many of the finest minds in the world working to get elected. Stats that we can't imagine. Seeing how the last election was won by less than 600 votes, I'd say the GOP is doing a pretty good job of walking the line between issues and electability, although I would have conceded another issue in the last election for a more comfortable win.

[RockyMtnMan]

I used to cut my own grass and change my own oil but unfortunately my job has taken those joys of life away from me. It's a matter of time and money, in this case my time is worth more than my lawn care professionals time.

[qam1]

Got any solutions janet, or just grievences?

I'm not (a) Janet, but I do

Hold your nose and vote Bush in because Kerry will invigorate the terrorist and be totally ineffective at fighting them and if nukes go off in our cities the Illegal Immigration problem will be moot

However, The day after the election we work our tails off for the next four years to get Tom Tancredo in 2008

Plus if Bush loses they (The Republicans) will believe he lost not because he was too liberal but because he was too Conservatives and we would only end up with more and more RINOS taking control of the party

[Joe Hadenuf]

Several years ago Californians had had enough. We voted overwhelmingly for prop 187, to end this government approved invasion of millions.

Californian as usual, stepped up to the plate first and did what we had to do. After we won our free election, the federal government, working in concert with the state conspirators, burned our ballots and declared our free election illegal.

Californians tired of paying for this utter chaos, watching our hospitals close one after another due to non paying illegals, watched our jails filled with them, our overcrowded classrooms become even more over crowded, while government demanded more money to pay for all of this.

We watched our standard of living, along with our wages go down, jobs taken by criminals, while greedy business owners sit in the corner of the back office counting their profits on the backs of the tax payers. Looking out at the landscape since prop 187, the entire country is going the same way. From North Carolina, Georgia, to Tennessee, Colorado, Indiana, Arizona, Texas, Ohio, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, and down the line.

Its gone from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 to 12,000,000 and now some estimates are as high as 20,000,0000 illegals in country with hundreds of thousands entering every month or so. Is it not clear the intentions of the two beltway parties?

Is is not clear that instead of getting tough and stopping this epic lawlessness, the two parties are actually encouraging more millions to enter?

Now, here comes election, another four years gone by. And what are they asking us? Oh, just another four years and they'll fix the problem.

For crips sakes, when are the majority of people going to wise up to this government approved insanity?

[Peach]

Stick a fork in it. What have you done except complain to change things?

[Afronaut]

"Its gone from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 to 12,000,000 and now some estimates are as high as 20,000,0000 illegals in country with hundreds of thousands entering every month or so. Is it not clear the intentions of the two beltway parties?"

It's a crap post didn't you hear?

[Barlowmaker]

It's not about "all or nothing." Bush hasn't even come close to meeting his base half-way. Or a third of the way.

You have 0% chance of having any real world influence or impact to the successful implementation of your stated priorities.

It's Bush or Kerry pal. That's it, that's your choice. There are no "principled statements" worthy of any Conservative's respect around here at this juncture. It's about getting the job done toward Conservative victory. On August 29, 2004 that means a vote for George W. Bush and GOP Senate candidates, their victory, and a healthy internecine scrum between Conservative principles in the second term within a more politically empowered GOP. That's the deal on the table Mr. Clean. You self-absorbed barking seals are becoming increasingly annoying and useless in the convo.

[citizen]

This no-borders policy favored by both parties spells the effective death of the Republic, and rather quickly I fear. The long-term peril far outweighs terrorism, IMO.

Terrorism can be thwarted for the most part [I hope]. Even if they manage to kill thousands - or more - again, efforts will be redoubled against them worldwide, the terrorists must lose in the end. But as you say, keeping our borders pourous only increases the likelyhood of another 9-11.

The Illegals problem will only only get worse and the more amnesty they get, the faster they will come. Low educatioon, low income, large families = poverty & taxpayer assistance. Their alliegence is to Old Mexico - screw being assimilated. Those here illegally only care about our Constitution for what they can get out of it in the name of 'fairness', etc.

[crazyhorse691]

RRsr. had to compromise several times. Tis the nature of politics.
And as for what makes a true conservative, you need to be very careful about what you are talking about and to whom you are talking. Were you perilously close to a putdown, or am I being a tad sensitive(living on the Left Coast for 30 years will do it)?

[deport]

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.

---

Majority of what?.......

Now why get yourself in such a snitch when your leader has said over and over that an 'amnesty' program would not pass the House...... or was Tancredo just yacking to the faithful? If Tancredo is correct in what he says then it makes not one whit of difference what it says in the platform or how often it is said..

Why spend energy over something that isn't going to happen....

[crushelits]

WHAT DO YOU THINK Ter-AH-zah WILL DO?
SHE WILL BRING ALL THE RADICALS AND INVETE THEM TO HER BED WITH KERRY. THE WILL ALL BE IN BED.

THE RADICALS WHAT OPEN BORDERS....
GO AHEAD AND VOTE FOR Ter-AH-zah, SHE IS THE ONE WITH THE MONEY AND JOHNY IS JUST HER PUPPET.

[Guillermo]

Bush signed a law which gutted the First Amendment and signed a law creating a new Federal Entitlement, which will cost trillions of dollars.

He has raised the budget deficit to over $400 billion, the vast majority coming from non-defense discretionary spending.

He spends money like a drunken sailor and is currently filing a lawsuit to silence those who organize and criticize him.

He has encouraged a flood of illegal immigrants with his promise of amnesty. He refuses to seal the borders.

He wants to give social security benefits to illegals, only after 6 quarters of working in the US. US citizens require 40 quarters of work to be eligible.

He supports the renewal of the Assault Weapons ban.

He has created billions of dolalrs worth of new federal education programs.

He is spending $15 billion for AIDS programs in other countries. Money surely which will end up enriching despots.

He is bringing in Foreigners to "observe" our elections.

Friend, George W. Bush is no Conservative.

If he loses this election, it will be a deserved loss.

[Guillermo]

Like I said earlier, it's not mere compromise...it's virtually a complete sell-out.

[janetgreen]

Good post, Joe. I hope the open border supporters read it and weep.

[Amish with an attitude]

"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, why not let them become citizens. Only the ones that are employed of course."

At the wages they are paid they don't contribute enough tax dollars into the system to reach a break even point, this is the drain we keep hearing about.

A better solution might be to register them so we can keep track of them and either send them home when the work is done or have them take a number with all the other applicants for LEGAL citizenship.

Felon's shouldn't be rewarded.