Posted on 09/14/2007 9:24:44 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Outgoing White House press secretary Tony Snow said today that the Bush administration had underestimated the ferocity of opposition to White House-backed immigration legislation.
"I freely admit that we underestimated the (public) skepticism," Snow said over breakfast with a group of reporters on his final day on the job.
Snow said that the White House was not prepared for the anger of foes of illegal immigration, who believed that government at all levels had failed to secure the nation's borders. While the public backlash is aimed "not merely (at) the Bush administration," he conceded that the White House "made some miscalculations, as well."
The president's chief spokesman, who has waged a very public battle with cancer during his two years in the high-profile job, said that though a compromise immigration bill came close to passage, the process now "requires a much longer debate."
"We should have gotten it through last time," he said. "This is an issue that will be with us -- it will not go away."
After the 2007 debacle, he said, the government must demonstrate that the federal government can secure the border "in a competent way" before legislation that would allow American companies to hire more immigrants and permit the legalization of illegal workers can gain traction on Capitol Hill.
But Snow argued strongly for a flow of immigrant workers. "We have this big, booming economy," he said, "and we don't have enough workers."
Calling America "a nation of immigrants," he said Congress and the president needed to come up with a plan to deal with the about 12 million people who are illegally in the country today. "A lot of these people really are pursuing the traditional path to the American dream," he said.
To win political support for comprehensive legislation, Snow said the government needed to re-establish "the credibility of the rule of law" by protecting the border and requiring illegal immigrants to pay substantial penalties -- "not just a wrist slap, but something significant" -- before taking their place "at the back of the line" to citizenship. While awaiting legal status, they should not be permitted to collect welfare and should be required to maintain continuous employment and crime-free lives.
Despite the passionate opposition to illegal immigration on the Republican right and populist left, Snow said that both political parties should be sensitive to the feelings of Hispanic voters.
"No political party is going to be able to survive (without the) fastest-growing voting bloc in America," he said.
Asked what he thought of the 2008 Republican presidential candidates' repeated attacks on President Bush's immigration record, Snow uncharacteristically demurred.
"Ask me that question in a week -- or even tomorrow," he said. "As the president's press secretary, I'm not going to step into that one."
the bimbo still doesn’t understand this is not about immigration or the economy or getting more workers.
Ping!
Voting bloc? Why Tony! Was that a racist reference to American Citizens who’s nationality of the past was a Latin country? Are you inferring that such American Citizens would actually vote along racial lines?
Actually it is a combination of the two. It is called "a hidden agenda".
Rudy, Fred, Mitt, John, where the hell are you on this?
ping
FAR FROM IT, Tony - what these people are doing is colonizing. The policy makers in DC better get down here with the rest of the hoi poloi & learn the difference before its too late.
BTW prayers for your swift and complete recovery.
Memo to Heaven: Time to stick the enema tube in Babylon-on-the-Potomac and squeeze the bulb like there’s no tomorrow. Just make sure Tancredo, Hunter, Sessions, and a few others that are true Americans are safely out of town first, then let ‘er rip!
RINO, RAT, doesn’t matter, they just plain don’t get it - We don’t want no steenkeeng illegal invaders overrunning our country! Simple. Enforce the d-a-m-n l-a-w-s you bunch of nincompoops, build the bloody damn wall, deport them all, and tell them if they want to immigrate, they can stand in the back of the d-a-m-n line and wait their effing turn like the LEGAL immigrants who come here lawfully and genuinely want to be Americans, not turn the US into another version of some filthy disease-ridden Third World hellhole where they came from.
BTTT
FYI
Fred and Mitt want to secure the borders first. McVain wants a wall constructed from millions of turnstyles. Rudy, as usual, is trying to hold multiple positions on the issue simulataneously.
No, Tony, "underestimated" implies an innocent degree of ignorance. You guys were fully aware of where the unwashed masses stood on the issue, long before you even took the White House gig.
Long before your White House sojurn, in your columns and on your radio call-in show and even on threads here at FR, you were contemptuous of the intelligence, tolerance, and character of those who opposed ILLEGAL immigration. We were brainless, know-nothing, xenophobic bigots. You and Rove and unfortunately the President thought you could put the ignorant common folk in their place with the power and majesty of high office.
You forgot about Lincoln's "government of the people, by the people, and for the people". It was government of, for, and by the elites, the people be damned.
It is apparent from this article that you have still not learned your lessons, and attribute your failings to poor politcal processes, not the inherent errors of your positions. Well, don't think the proletariat is going away. We are going to be around to kill every new attempt to opening borders and granting amnesty to law breakers.
As you re-launch your highly lucrative career as an opinionist and speaker, I would suggest that you ensure that illegal immigrants don't learn to speak flawless English, or you, too, might learn the awful experiences of ILLEGAL aliens displacing you from your job and impoverishing your family.
Which voters are those? The illegals or the U.S. citizens?
There is no question in my mind that the administration knew exactly what the sentiment was and what to expect. This was an in-your-face test of wills and instead of losing graciously, the adminstration insults the populace with a parting shot.
They're mad because we're holding up their open-borders plan, a key element in their covert NAU program. So they went back to the drawing board, and for spite allowed 100 out-of-country trucking firms to thunder across the borders uninspected.
It's a shame that we have descended into having to speak in terms of 'they' and 'we' over this, but we will have to always remember that they are the ones that abandoned the the American people, mocking the rule of law in the process.
Well, that would be the upside of a recession. Won’t need as many workers, right?
“No respect left here for Tony Snow-jo.”
As if he dares.
Misjudged? That ranks as one of top understatements of the year.What gets me though is they just keep on trying again and again.
I think they finally got the message when peasants with flaming torcches and pitchforks showed up outside the White House fence.
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