Posted on 06/29/2007 4:14:31 AM PDT by Truth29
DUBYA'S END
BORDER BILL THE LAST BLOW
June 29, 2007 -- PRESIDENT Bush's disastrous second term has not been without its moments. Unfortunately for him, these moments have come primarily when members of his own party have risen up against him to defy his wishes. That's what happened yesterday. For the second time in four weeks, Republicans in the Senate put a stake through the heart of Bush's beloved but politically catastrophic immigration bill.
It's also what happened in the early months of the second term, when Bush chose to nominate his unqualified aide, Harriet Miers, to the Supreme Court - and finally backed down and had her withdraw her name after three weeks of lobbying and complaining.
(snip)
He would not and could not back down on immigration reform, an issue far too close to his heart. But after the Senate first rejected the bill at the end of May, Bush could have left it alone and accepted defeat. He could have seen reason, as he did in January 2004 when he first proposed a piece of legislation and was met with an uprising from his conservative base - whereupon he prudently dropped the subject because he was running for re-election and needed a united and enthusiastic Republican electorate behind him.
(snip)
And perhaps most interesting, Bush chose to believe it was more important to court potential future Republican voters - those illegals who would have gained a "path to citizenship" under the terms of the bill in 13 years' time - rather than listen to the concerns of present-day Republican voters.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The fact that he will NOT make serious efforts at enforcement NOW are what has convinced me that he never had any intention of enforcement if his bloody bill had gotten through. If he really wanted that bill so badly he would have been enforcing like it was going out of style to convince us he meant business.
In fact, he probably could have snookered us if he had gone out and made a big show of enforcement for the last six months or so, maybe pardoned the BP Two, talked up sovereignty, and fired “MECHA” Gonzales. Then he could have gotten the bill passed and pulled the rug out from under us. The fact that he adamantly refused to step things up in any significant way is ipso facto proof that he never will.
I stand corrected. Thanks. Still the Pubbies have had their opportunity and squandered it. Forget the Dems. They don't even give lip service to border security. But we all know to whom they really give lip service (know what I mean?) - illegal aliens.
I’m not glad the Democrats took control of Congress, but there is a case to be made that sometimes a loss today can lead to a bigger win tomorrow. It’s risky, which is why I’m not glad the ‘Rats are now running things in the House & Senate. But there is at least a potential golden lining here.
For example, Jimmy Carter’s disasterous presidency helped Ronald Reagan become president in 1980. Bill Clinton’s pathetic election (likely a fluke caused by Perot siphoning off GOP votes) led to the incredible GOP congressional takeover in 1994.
The loss of Congress to the ‘Rats could potentially help the GOP come back in 2008. But the problem here is President Bush’s position on many issues. Bi-partisanship almost always helps the Democrats and hurts the Republicans. Why else do you think the “liberal” media are always calling for more co-operation between the parties and less “divisiveness”? President Bush is at heart a nice guy who likes to get along with people. That’s fine up to a point, I suppose, but in domestic politics it can be suicidal.
This horrible immigration bill was the third time the President had sided with Ted Kennedy to try to pass major legislation. The first two were the No Child Left Behind act, a stupid and unworkable federal intrusion into education. The other was the bloated prescription drug entitlement. Does anyone seriously think the GOP picked up any votes at the ballot box for either of these proposals? No, but both proposals angered the conservative base.
Meanwhile, the President continued to treat Kennedy with respect. He gave him some kind of medal for outstanding service in an elaborate ceremony. Did Kennedy repay this kindness? No. He did everything in his power to destroy the President, ridiculed him at every opportunity, tried to undermine his foreign policy decisions, smeared him as a corrupt, dishonest criminal.
The current President Bush learned nothing from the first one. One of Papa Bush’s first acts was to offer to “hold out his hand” in partnership with the Democratic Congress. They bit his hand off. They pressured him into breaking his “read my lips” promise not to raise taxes. On election day 1992, Papa Bush went down while the Democrats who voted for the tax hike sailed to re-election.
Look back over history. Bi-partisanship helps the Democrats all the time. Welfare reform was bi-partisan. Who gets the credit? Bill Clinton, not the GOP congress that pressured him into it. Most Republicans voted for every major Civil Right Act in the sixties, plus they voted overwhelmingly for Ted Kennedy’s 1965 immigration disaster. More Republicans voted for all these bills than Democrats. The result? The Democrats INCREASED their percentage of the minority vote.
So unless the GOP can pull some kind of trick out of their hat, the 2008 election will be fought largely over two issues: Iraq & the immigration bill. Iraq isn’t going well, so even though it was a bi-partisan proposal in the beginning, it’ll be the GOP only who take a hit. More Democrats than Republicans voted for the immigration bill, but the GOP will be the ones who pay for it at the ballot box. It could’ve been worse, though, if the bill had actually passed.
Republicans aren’t called the stupid party for nothing. During the Alito confirmation hearings, leftist ‘Rat senators such as Leahy & Schumer & Kennedy were all over TV noting that President Clinton asked GOP leaders for their approval before nominating his two justices, Breyer & Ginzburg. They demanded that President Bush get Democrat approval before sending up any of his nominees. It sounded like a fair request until you thought a little about it. Clinton knew full well that the GOP judiciary leadership, such as Hatch & Specter, were “nice guys” who wouldn’t object to anyone he sent up. Specter’s a flat-out judicial liberal, and Hatch takes the position that the president, by virtue of his election, is entitled to appoint whomever he wants as long as it isn’t a criminal or something like that. So they said, sure go ahead and nominate Breyer & Ginzburg, and both sailed through easily. I think Ginzburg, a radical leftie, only got three “no” votes on the Senate floor. But any GOP president who sought Democrat approval for his nominees would run into a brick wall, since only a “liberal” would be accepted by them. Probably the best legacy of President Bush’s administration will be Roberts & Alito, precisely because they weren’t bi-partisan efforts.
Bi-partisanship helps the Democrats. One of the reasons the GOP is the stupid party is because it all too often seeks to be bi-partisan. Lindsay Graham seems to worship Kennedy, but surely Kennedy privately jokes with his ‘Rat colleagues that Graham’s a pushover and an idiot.
We need to go into 2008 as a conservative party, not a bunch of bi-partisan dupes.
It certainly gives credence to what many of us suspected — that we’d do better fighting on the defensive in the minority than trying to stop this liberal president in a rubber stamp majority.
Hehehe..you just keep thinking that OK? The American people wanted this fixed. They didn't get it. You can play with polls all day long if it makes you feel better but I predict some majorly ticked off Patriots when they find out they have been scammed yet again. For all the screaming and pontificating they will still go to the corner and find illegals there.
Wow. Talk about denial.
Are you seriously suggesting that W didn't really care about this bill?
What people want is the current laws enforced. And people who are found to be in our country illegally deported. It's not that complicated.
Not...only a down payment. Wonder why Rush never mentioned that? Even Hannity...mister I have all the facts. Hmmmmmm
I was on here telling people but no one listened. No one was listening to anything.
As of right now that is probably true. The Republicans have really damaged their own reputation in Ohio. A Thompson-Clinton race will probably be a 2004 repeat with the red-blue divide holding except for Ohio. What blue state or states is Thompson going to be able to pick up to offset Ohio?
The current laws are a joke...why can people not understand that? Everyone is getting around laws by using other laws. It’s perfectly legal to hire an illegal the way it’s set up. You guys have been lead astray again and I think it’s time you figure out who is doing it.
Who told you that? ...The 100 more illegals that just entered the country yesterday? Good grief people...they are still here and multiplying! We saved nothing!
He cared so much about passing this bill that he was willing to destroy the party to get it passed.
One of the President’s weaknesses is that he confuses the personal with the political. President Bush has many Latino friends, and has Latinos in his family. Because of that, he acts as if failure to give radical Latino leaders (nearly all of whom are leftist Democrats) whatever they want would somehow be an insult to his friends and family members.
The irony here is that he’s assuming there’s a racial pack mentality among Latinos, even as he was accusing those of us opposed to the immigration bill of bigotry. Bush simply ASSUMES that Latinos are so driven by preference for their own race that they would side with criminal illegal aliens against their fellow citizens, for no other reason than that those criminal aliens are mostly of their race.
Of course, in the Politically Correct world in which we live, it’s okay for any group other than whites to operate as a racial pack. Thus, we have groups such as La Raza (”The Race”), and politicians not only find that to be okay, but even speak to their gatherings and denounce anyone opposing their racially-driven agenda as “bigots”.
Mark my words...you will not see anyone here shouting for you all to make calls to get funding for the fence. You have been scammed.
Does anyone know how the vote went...I know I took the time to send emails to my representatives from Alaska...but I have been tooo busy to follow. But it was great to read the defeat yesterday.
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