In the summer of 2002 I spent 3 nights going over all the immigration articles by the NYT's, WP, and the LAT's dating back to 1997, When Bush became the president, the amount of immigration articles by the liberal rags increased by 400%, at one point the NYT's was averaging 4 a day. I believe President Bush played politics right back at em by never really making any definitive remarks on the issue until we got this proposal, and for the first time he asked Congress to come up with a plan, every other plan he has presented to Congress before this proposal, was in great detail.
So, I still think he was playing politics. It might have cost him a little, but I think it would have cost him more if he did nothing.
Yes, well it was likewise just 'smart politics' we were told when the President supported CFR. 'SCOTUS will strike it down' we were told. 'Eliminating another Democrat issue' we were assured.
Playing politics and strategery are no longer to be trusted.