There is a reason I said the word "risk" when describing the actions of Bush's domestic political advisory staff in the West Wing and Old Executive Office Building.
That is because, they are succeeding in getting their boss painted as a big OPEN BORDERS guy, for transitional amnesty under the cloak of regularization, and also for continuing with a terribly incompetent INS.
The risk backfires in their face when between now and reelection in three years (or midterm elections) a truck bomb or suitcasenuke gets set off in some metropolitan area, and the whole nation goes back to it's angry vigilence regarding nonsensical open borders which they had on Sept. 12th (which they have since gradually eroded, or at least Fox and Bush and State Dept. perceive this erosion).
With the prospect of hundreds or thousands more bodies of Americans laying in the street, Mr. Bush is gonna have some 'splainin to do over his INS and his border policy during what we already knew to be a Time of War.
And all it may take is for an electrifying conservative GOP leader or independent to go after him and electrify a national backlash as punishment against these sordid and naive immigration policies which contradict homeland security.
Lord knows the President's inner cirlce of those who think they are saavy would risk the Presidency and national security all in the effort to chase the Hispanic golden pot at the end of the vote rainbow, which will probably yield them a rather low net increase anyway at the end of the day.
As it now stands, GWB will need 2 Hispanic votes merely to neutralize (1) my lost vote and (2) my new vote against him in 2004. And he'll need yet a third to get what he thinks he's getting, which is a net increase via Hispanic support.
Where did Rove learn to count?