Posted on 05/26/2006 2:31:43 PM PDT by VU4G10
WASHINGTON - The White House on Friday said a Senate bill that would grant legal status to illegal immigrants is analogous to a traffic law that allows a speeder to pay a fine and continue driving.
"If you had a traffic ticket and you paid it, you're not forever a speeder, are you?" White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said in response to questions from The Examiner.
"So the fact is, you have paid your debt to society," he added. "And we have come up with a way to make sure that the debt to society gets paid. Then you move forward."
The "traffic ticket" analogy raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill, where many House Republicans regard illegal immigration as a grave crime.
"I don't know if Tony meant to trivialize it or not," said Will Adams, spokesman for Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. "But it's certainly misleading."
"The penalty for a speeding ticket is a fine," he added. "The penalty for being here illegally is being removed from this country. But the president doesn't want illegal aliens to go home."
Snow emphasized that illegals would have to pay fines, learn English and wait years for a chance at full citizenship. But Adams called that "a slap on the hand" compared to deportation.
"Here's a more apt analogy," he said. "You get stopped for speeding, and you say to the cop: "Hey listen, you're about to give me a $300 ticket. How about we make it 20 bucks and just call it even?"
Snow predicted that House Republicans would eventually drop their opposition to the Senate bill, which passed Thursday. The bill, which includes a guest worker program that would grant legal status to aliens, is headed to a conference committee for possible reconciliation with a House bill aimed at beefing up border security.
Snow suggested the guest worker program could be sold to even ardent opponents like Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
"Chairman Sensenbrenner, who's got some real problems with various aspects, has said publicly that the temporary worker program has merit," Snow said.
"There are areas in which members of the House are going to agree with the president," he added. "I certainly don't want to be speaking for Chairman Sensenbrenner, but the fact is, you know politics."
But Sensenbrenner appeared unmoved.
"What's going on now, in calling it a pathway to citizenship or earned legalization, is not honest because it is amnesty," he said at a news conference.
Speeding?
But I had to pay that fine. Seems to me that the American citizen will have to pay for the full freight of illegals.
Can the White House and Senate insult us anymore?
I feel like I've been slapped.
Tony has always been on the pro-illegal side.
On his radio show he would talk about them doing jobs we don't want to do, yadda yadda.
If the House refuses to compromise, I hope Bush signs a Presidential pardon for every illegal alien.
This is same career enhancing technique used by David Gergen.
Try to report truthfully, leave the media, spin for a president, become untouchable thereafter.
I've been furious about the Senate bill all day and didn't know about Tony's remarks. I feel like throwing up my dinner and haven't even eaten it yet.
Hate to tell you Tony, but we're gonna make it crystal clear to our representatives, who ALL come up for reelection in November, that voting for this bill is a guaranteed ticket home to resume their lives as civilians.
"Care to tell me which state I can *knowingly* get 12-15 WARNING tickets before I have to pay one ??"
I don't mean to brag but I am an expert at getting only verbal warnings.
12 warnings in the last 14 years. No tickets!
Tony is comparing driving, which is a right, to invading a country. He is clueless.
And a speeding ticket is not a felony. Every illegal alien has committed multiple felony counts of various types of fraud.
"If the House refuses to compromise, I hope Bush signs a Presidential pardon for every illegal alien."
Well, at least we know where you stand, and in no uncertain terms.
How would you propose to handle this, though? Just pardon all illegalities associated with the fraudulent ID and be done with it, or what?
How would one know just who one is pardoning, and for what?
"If the House refuses to compromise, I hope Bush signs a Presidential pardon for every illegal alien."
Well, at least we know where you stand, and in no uncertain terms.
How would you propose to handle this, though? Just pardon all illegalities associated with the fraudulent ID and be done with it, or what?
How would one know just who one is pardoning, and for what?
No chance at all that Mr. Bush winds up anywhere close to-- certainly well below -- Mr. Coolidge in the pantheon of Constitutionalist presidents.
Did Clinton pass these Laws By Executive Order or did the Republican Congress also support these laws?
Illegal immigration dilutes the voting power of legal citizens. It's a civil rights violation and an attack on American sovereignty.
He won't grant a blanket pardon nor does he think what he's proposing is amnesty but if a fine is assessed, a background check is performed, they register, pay back taxes and they get to stay if they've been here long enough it acts more like a pardon than any definition of amnesty.
But after they become legal, it ain't so easy getting away with not paying since the bill collectors can hound them and prosecute them. Social security is a given if you pay in your 40 quarters worth anyway.
We could use a man like Calvin Coolidge for our day...
We could use a man like Calvin Coolidge for our day...
I think it is just an Executive Order. The poster makes it sound like his hands are tied.
Tony has drunk the KoolAid
>The more B.S. Tony and the White House Spin Team keep pumping out there, the angrier Americans are going to get.<
Maybe, for some convoluted reason, that's the whole idea.
It is apparent that America no longer has a two party system, as Regional government is ushered in. So, ta-ta to the middle class, folks
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