Posted on 06/16/2007 6:40:40 AM PDT by kellynla
During a speech last month to Georgia law enforcement officials, President Bush opined that opponents of the stalled immigration reform bill “don’t want to do what’s right for America.” If they only understood the bill’s provisions, he implied, they would see the light. But, alas, they hadn’t “read the bill” and could only “speculate” about its complex provisions. He warned them to stop trying “to frighten people.”
These unscripted remarks unleashed a torrent of criticism from the president’s political base. Conservative talk-show hosts, pundits, bloggers and grassroots activists seized on the criticism as an opportunity to educate Americans on the bill’s many flaws. Constituent mail and phone calls poured in. Ultimately, a hardy band of conservatives forced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to pull the bill after two weeks of angry debate.
Last week, the president ventured to Capitol Hill to dine with Republican senators in a high-profile attempt to revive the bill. But he converted no one. With congressional leaders scheduled to consider other legislation guaranteed to further annoy and divide the president’s supporters (e.g., reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act and approving the sovereignty-stripping Law of the Sea Treaty), the question arises as to whether the president’s immigration dilemma -- having to thread the needle between openly hostile conservatives and the usual assortment of Bush-haters on the Left -- will be the norm for his remaining 18 months in office.
Several recent polls underscore the extent of his challenge.
According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, the president’s overall approval rating fell six points between April and June (from 35% to 29%). But the drop was most intense among Republicans (from 77% to 65%), including conservative Republicans (from 86% to 74%), and Independents (from 34% to 22%).
Another poll, conducted by Gallup after Bush’s Georgia speech, found a similar drop in his standing among GOP loyalists, where his positive rating hit a near-record low of 70% (alarms sound whenever a politician scores below 80% with his core supporters). According to Gallup, the only other time Bush’s GOP approval rating was so low was about a year ago when -- you guessed it -- the Senate was angrily debating comprehensive immigration reform. Hmmm.
“It was the debate over immigration,” pollster Scott Rasmussen confirmed last week, “that cost the president support among his base and pushed his approval ratings to new lows.”
Political operatives are well aware that the disenchantment over immigration has settled primarily on Bush and those lawmakers who have led the charge in the Senate. Sen. Reid’s approval rating sunk 7 points in a month, to a microscopic 19%. John McCain (R-Ariz.) fell in many presidential polls. Yet the national GOP emerged unscathed, and may even have benefited, from the turmoil.
A month ago, Rasmussen reports, Democrats enjoyed a 14-point advantage (47% to 33%) as the party best able to handle immigration. Following the Senate debate, however, the Democrats’ advantage shrunk to only five points (40% to 35%). “Immigration,” he concludes, “is now tied with taxes as the GOP’s strongest issue” and is “the only issue on which unaffiliated voters trust Republicans more than Democrats.”
What explains the intensity so many Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents bring to this issue? My guess is that this is yet another manifestation of the ideological divide that separates Red from Blue America. Because Republicans are more reflexively pro-American than their Democratic colleagues, they place a much higher value on U.S. citizenship and therefore are more likely to vigorously oppose policies they perceive as granting citizenship too freely, especially to lawbreakers.
For example, polls demonstrate that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they are “very patriotic” and more likely to see America as a place where “most people living in other countries would like to live.” Also, by a 2-to-1 margin, Republicans believe “we should be willing to fight for our country … right or wrong.” A majority of Democrats disagree. Finally, Republicans attach more importance to the rule of law than Democrats do. Republicans are much more likely to want to penalize employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens and banks that offer them credit cards.
The disenchantment with Bush can be summed up in an L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll, which asked Republican primary voters whether they want the next Republican nominee for president to continue Bush’s policies or move the country in a new direction.
They opted for a new direction by the overwhelming margin of 65% to 27%.
haaaaa!
Yes. This was when Bush handed the U.S. Congress to the dangerous, decadent, Marxist, anti-American Democrats on a silver platter and placed the Presidency and Congress in jeopardy for 2008!
"The War" had nothing to do with it.
It was "Illegal Immigration" and "The Border" that did it. "Spending the taxpayers' money like a bunch of drunken sailors", Bush's refusal to nullify the Supreme Court's absurd "Eminent Domain" decision, and his expansion of the scope, reach, size, and appetite of that Frankenstein's monster known as the Federal Government, notably to include prescription drugs as a new entitlement--helped.
Outstanding letter.
The National Research Council has estimated that the net fiscal cost of immigration ranges from $11 billion to $22 billion per year, with most government expenditures on immigrants coming from state and local coffers, while most taxes paid by immigrants go to the federal treasury.
The net deficit is caused by a low level of tax payments by immigrants, because they are disproportionately low-skilled and thus earn low wages, and a higher rate of consumption of government services, both because of their relative poverty and their higher fertility.
Send the twelve+ million home. Take biometrics. Never let them back in under any circumstances. Period.
And build a nice fence.
Do you mean to tell me that 19% actually approve of this jackass!?!!
P. T. Barnum was right!
The Dem voters aren’t buying it either....
less than 30% of voters support La Bill...
(no matter which party you poll)
Yes, but somewhere along the way, he failed to tell us that he was planning to sell out not only the party, but also the country's sovereignty, so I'm not going to cut him any slack.
“Honey, I knew those copies of F.B.I. files would come in handy.” Ever read "Compromised"? That would explain a LOT of things about Clinton(s) and the Bushes, including Papa Bush being a close pal of Bill Clinton's. "
Activities similar to Mena also took place in the county where I worked. Heck we had sergeants in the Narcotics Division buying million dollar homes in resort areas.
Of course if one said something about it, they'd be told, "You're just jealous because you can't manage your money as well".
I got the court cases to prove what I'm saying if sinkspur cares to call me a liar.
I was in Cobo Hall in Detroit when Reagan announced that George Bush would be his running mate. The rest of his speech was drowned out by cheers, but I wasn't one of those cheering. I figured that if Reagan won the presidency, Bush would then be in line to succeed him and undo all of his accomplishments.
As long as Bush and several key Republican Senators are pushing amnesty for criminal immigrants who are here in violation of federal law, I am in no mood to send any of my way too scarce dollars to the RNC.
/sarc>
We’re not buying it because they are freakin’ liars.
In 1986 when Congress passed the first amnesty, they admitted to 1 million illegals in the country. That number bloomed soon afterward to 3 million.
In 1994 when proposition 187 in California was dismantled by the pro illegal immigration groups, they admitted to 6 million illegals.
In 2004 when congress passed that border security bill that was going to fix things once and for all, they admitted, there were 7.5 million illegals in the country.
Now they are going to pass comprehensive immigration reform to fix things once and for all. They will admit to at least 12 million illegals in the country.
Every time our corrupt congress and presidents pass ‘immigration’ laws, the population of illegal immigrants at least doubles.
You left out cheap and exploitable. I gather you believe that being in favor of slavery is a characteristic of an "avowed Capitalist."
Same here. Bush brings a whole new meaning to the term "lame duck". He talk all the crap he wants to, but notice how he waited to get reelected before he pulled this stunt. He knew how we would react to this shamnesty!! I am so disappointed with him.
This is like saying which side of your coin bought you your candy bar.
Bush and Clinton are the same coin. Look we has Bush Sr, Clinton, Clinton, shrub, and shrub. All 5 terms have been headed by one CEO. (I might be inclined to throw Regan into that mix)
In a corporation the president implements the vision of the CEO. What we have is a United States President implementing the vision of the CEO. Better question who is the CEO.
“The Dem voters aren’t buying it either....
less than 30% of voters support La Bill...”
but of course, the ‘Rats don’t like the bill because they want ALL illegals LEGAL without any costs or requirements to the illegals.
it’s all about legalizing 20 million illegals so they can vote “D”
Bush brings a whole new meaning to the term “lame duck””
More like a lame jackass! LOL
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