Posted on 05/16/2006 9:24:55 AM PDT by Paul Ross
It's Time for Bush to Listen to His Base
by Michael Reagan
Posted May 15, 2006
A week before he died I asked Lyn Nofziger if the White House was arrogant or just plain stupid.
“Both,” he said.
Nofziger was one of the nation’s most astute political analysts and a White House aide my father Ronald Reagan greatly admired. If you need proof that Lyn knew what he was talking about, you need only consider the White House policies on illegal immigration, which are both incredibly stupid and incredibly arrogant.
Aside from the Iraq war, no issue threatens Republican control of Capitol Hill more than the problem of illegal immigration. The overwhelming majority of Americans are outraged over the problem of our porous borders. People are demanding that the borders be sealed tight against the thousands of illegals violating them.
If the president and the Republicans in the House and Senate don’t act to enforce our current immigration laws and vastly increase border security you’ll have to hire a private detective to find any Republicans on Capitol Hill next year.
"Will they win? I think that's still up to the Republicans," Newt Gingrich told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the other day.
He added that he agrees with those who believe a substantial number of conservative voters -- upset over unbridled federal spending and unsecured national borders -- could sit out the mid-term elections, giving Democrats an edge in close House races that might otherwise go to Republicans.
"The problem you have right now is the conservative movement -- which is still very healthy in the country at large -- feels very abandoned in Washington," he told the Trib. "Conservatives actually believe in a balanced budget as a moral issue. Conservatives actually believe you ought to control the border as a matter of national security. Conservatives are the people who pay the taxes. They're not the people who get the pork."
He put his finger on the solution. "If you have the White House, the House and the Senate, and if you have the natural majority in the country, you always have the potential to be able to pose the election on your terms," he said.
The president had better wake up to the fact that the only thing he’s got going for him right now is that the Democrats are in absolute disarray. They have no leader, they have no direction, and even with the president down to his lowest point in the polls, as low as he is, the Democrats aren’t much higher due to their lack of leadership.
As a result, the Republicans still have it within their power to hang onto control of both houses of Congress -- providing they stop being stupid, and pose the election on their terms.
The Republicans need to pass two immigration bills immediately. First and foremost the border must be closed, and only after that should we negotiate the other issues, such as what to do about the 11 million-or-so illegal immigrants living here.
In addition the GOP has to alert the American people to exactly what would happen should the Democrats take over the Congress, with all their wild talk about tying the president’s hands with countless investigations and impeaching him in the middle of a war. The people have to be warned about the dangers of letting the Democrats legislate us into cutting and running in Iraq, creating hugely expensive new programs that will require massive tax increases, sabotaging the prescription drug plan now saving seniors billions of dollars, and making Rep. John Conyers chairman of the House Judiciary Committee where he says he wants to hold hearings on reparations for slavery.
It’s time for the president to listen to his base -- the people who put him in the White House twice. He’s lucky that the Democrats have the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy and Howard Dean. If they had anybody else but this bunch the Republicans would be flat on their backs.
But because the Democrats lack real leadership and their party is being run by their far-left whacko wing, the GOP has a golden opportunity to exploit the Democrats’ weaknesses and win back their base and a majority of the voters.
We don't trust his words. We want results. Now.
The reality is GWB is taking a serious and commonsense look at addressing the current problems with both legal and illegal immigration in this Country. Hopefully the House can do a little of its own tweaking and we have a full and comprehensive reform packaged passed.
The reality is the House has it right, and as usual GWB isn't twisting any arms in the Senate to get the House version passed. GWB always sways with whichever way the Legislature wants to go. That's why there haven't been any vetoes. And that's why he won't be remembered as a good President.
First off implementing a new temporary workers program cannot produce results.."now". This is where one needs to be an adult and understand progress happens over time -
GWB laid out a comprehensive commonsense plan on what to do with both legal and illegal immigration. Stop trying to move the goal posts (a la the DEMs) and demand only results NOW.
Furthermore if you don't trust this President and you question his motives you very d*mn well better be calling for every U.S. soldier to be brought home from Iraq! Because if you can't trust this President's motives on a domestic issue like immigration he certainly can't be trusted with sending soldiers off to war (based on much Intel that is 100% classified).
GWB always sways with whichever way the Legislature wants to go. That's why there haven't been any vetoes. And that's why he won't be remembered as a good President.
Complete BS (like the majority of your positions). GWB is an executive and his job is to get things done! Not to push problems off to the next election, nor to simply have an issue to b*tch about.
GWB has moved the legislature where appropriate (judges, taxes, reduced regs on small businesses, rebuilding the military, etc, etc)....To whine that he hasn't done enough is simply whining.
To whine that he hasn't vetoed anything is meaningless. The stature for a good President isn't how many bills he vetoed...(how many did Lincoln, Washington??). It is border on plain stupid to suggest because he hasn't vetoed anything this in and of itself is "bad". Foolishness beyond belief (and don't bring up spending...the REALITY is spending today as a % of the economy is lower then the past 30 year average....And non-security related discretionary spending has been cut for 5 straight years!
History is going to be very kind to GWB. The reality is he has been the most important figure in the last 20 years (period). The reality is he is helping to change the world forever! by bringing the values of freedom and self-worth the the region of the Middle East (a place where for far too long both were denied to all its citizens).
GWB is a man of tremendous character with a quiet and steadfast resolve that is terribly missing in most people. That some can't see this man's character and class is simply because they have very little to none themselves.
I'm part of the President's base and I think he's doing just fine.
If Michael Reagan was the man his father was, he'd quit whining about President Bush's proposal and try to understand why the President believes (as RR would have) it is the right thing to do.
And may I just add it is not GWB words that need trusting (as he clearly says what he means). It is yours that can't be trusted. You asserted GWB wants amnesty. He most certainly does not.
Reality is amnesty was what R. Reagan gave in 1985/6 in which one minute millions were illegal and the next minute they were legal. This is not at all what GWB is proposing. He is proposing a program / policy for those who are here illegally now...that they MUST go through - Which encompasses everything from a complete background check, to assimilation requirements, fines, etc, etc (that is not amnesty).
Again, you are unwilling to be intellectually honest on this subject. That speaks volumes about you...not the fine man in GWB you are questioning.
Exactly right - Michael Reagan has shown himself to be a fool -
You are hoist by your own petard.
This is a 40 year in the making problem,
No! You think?! But it has gone from 3 million in 1986...to 20 million today. From merely being a serious nuisance...to a true threat to national survival.
A dramatic and huge exponential increase that should have made the White House...and you RINOs... serious about rule of law. But it evidently hasn't.
...that you act as if good people can't come to differing conclusions on how best to handle it...is not being intellectually honest.
"Good People" is a subterfuge. I don't know you. And most of Free Republic has had a good long time to study this proposal...and they don't agree with it. Are they not "good people"? As for whether 'good people' can reasonably differ on some issues...yes, obviously we can. We are a Free Republic. That's our right. But "the vote" and the vagaries of intellectual freedom...doesn't change intellectual error, or make black into white or vice-versa. Amnesty didn't work before. And Guest Worker Programs didn't and aren't working in Europe. Nor will they work here. And no amount of undisciplined mental wishful-thinking imagining otherwise will change that.
And this President is making every sign that he plans on using the same shell-game tactic the RINOs did before against Reagan in '86. Promise enforcement, but first, we gotta make sure that we legalize the illegals via his "comprehensive" approach. That is simply a huge disconnect from our Constitution and laws. It is encouraging lawlessness from the top. Indeed, look at the sudden flood of increased illegal border crossing anticipating an Amnesty. This is irresponsible...and disloyal.
To suggest this fine CIC is like the ilk of Hillary and Kerry is utterly wrong and completely intellectually empty (dishonest).
Sorry it is you and the RINOs who support him that are intellectually empty and dishonest on this issue. You did see where the liberal RAT mouthpieces are now praising W for having "grown in office" on this issue? As for his being "fine", well, history will judge. I know what I see. And it isn't conservative. I will support him on the Good he does, when he does it. But oppose him for his Evil, when he does that. As he is here.
That you suggest because this fine POTUS wants a comprehensive immigration reform bill and not some silly "one issue at a time" bill he is disloyal and you question his motives??...Well I question yours!
Ditto. I question yours...and his. So much for either of you being "fine". On this issue, of Illegal Alien Entry...You are both disloyal...to the American Constitution, our Country, and our People. It is a massive betrayal...intellectually dishonest, and I repeat, disloyal, to hold hostage any dilatory promises of effective border enforcement...by absolutely demanding that there be the precondition of "comprehensive program" amnesty first. And then what is the 'silly game playing' about saying his amnesty isn't amnesty?
ANYTHING which excuses, in any way, the illegal conduct, and which fails to treat their conduct as any other lawlessness, and thus properly prosecute and deport the Illegals is Amnesty. Amnesty isn't merely "Automatic Path to Citizenship". And to make that Amnesty a precondition of enforcement...enforcement necessarily discretionary since they won't build a wall just begs the question of credibility. Which is further eroded when he says it's "impossible" to deport 12 million illegals. As Jay Leno said, Mexico did it.
How mentally feeble do you think the American People are?
You sound like Democrats saying "We must address the deficits first....BEFORE we can ever talk about tax cuts"...that is complete BS - As tax cuts create the very growth needed - (Yet you trying to play this silly game now with immigration).
You sound like the Democrats pushing every possible 'scatter-gun' approach to get your "silly" Amnesty enacted for the 20 million illegals. Anywhere from 6-to-12 million who have come in on "W's" watch. This compounds a credibility gap of his own making. You forget. We tried it your way before in 1986 with Amnesty. And it blew up just as we conservatives predicted...with the RINOs and RATs preventing any enforcement provisions...which they had swore to Reagan would be enacted... from ever happening.
GWB laid out a very common sense plan last night. A plan in which the majority of the public can agree with. It makes sense.
He didn't. And they don't. And no, it doesn't. His credibility was further eroded. As National Review's editorial noted...he went even further down the Amnesty road than he has ever gone publically before. But I doubt you read conservative pundits.
Lastly if you distrust this CIC so much you d*mn well better be calling for all U.S. soldiers to come home...as if you cannot trust this CIC motives on an issue like immigration, then you surely can't trust his competence enough to send men and women off to war!
I trust Donald Rumsfeld...an old-school Conservative Defense Hawk...to run the war. If it was W in the DOD job I surmise that we indeed would be in trouble.
And I can't trust you. You can't even call the issue by its right name...Illegal Alien Entry. Instead you use the Liberal Euphemisms and Codewords.
- You surely better fall in line with the DEMs (and stay intellectually honest) that this President can't be trusted enough...and thus...bring the troops home.
You don't know how to compartmentalize and stay mentally disciplined and focussed do you?
It's simple:
Support the President for the Good He Does. Not the Evil.
My God, if you would call this President "mighty disloyal" (to most of the Country to boot)....he should not be sending soldiers off to war.
Maybe you should talk to him about the harm that his lack of intellectual consistency poses for you. We conservatives have long since noted it, anguished over it, but have simply resolved to treat him as a maverick who needs to be smacked when he does evil, as he is now with Illegal Aliens, and lauded when he does good, as he did with some of the WOT.
Of course that is complete foolishness...but for you to stay intellectually honest it better be your position.
Meaningless filler.
The reality is GWB is a man of tremendous character and of a quiet and steadfast resolve that is sourly lacking in most people today.
A charachter in my mind that is almost totally besmirched by his disengenousness, liberalism and disloyalty on illegal aliens. And his resolve on this issue needs to be firmly opposed. To-the-hilt. He is wrong.
If you impune my motives speak plainly, Just what do you think my motives are? And while we are on that tack, why do you continue to support rewarding those who come to our country illegally? Just what are your motives in this debate? I'm not impuning your motives, I'm not "suspicious" of you, I just don't understand why you are not for protecting our country's sovereignty. It just seems to me you are more interested in defending a bad decision by Bush. Bush has done next to nothing to enforce the federal laws prohibiting the employment of illegal aliens and that is well documented. I believe he has only added token increases to the border patrol that do not come close to those authorized by congress. GWB has been for citizenship for illegal aliens since he first became President. Cite me once where he has taken the position that illegals should be arrested, punished, and deported. Just show me one time..His position is the namby-pamby we are a country of immigrants. That is not true. We are a country of people who legally immigrated mostly before Roosevelt turned us into a welfare state magnet of free services for non citizens. If he really thinks the illegal aliens should be citizens he should be for having them apply from their legal status as citizens of their home country, not as criminals sapping off the taxpayer largess in our country. Accusing people of lying is the kind of rhetoric that causes these forums to degenerate into personal rants and tyrades. Please.
The U.S. Comptroller General, David Walker,...W's own man...disagrees with your complacency. He is in fact, in a state of sheer panic. He predicts we face a "Demographic Tsunami"...which our hapless spending has only made worse.
WASHINGTON — The comptroller general of the United States is explaining how the nation's finances are going to hell."We face a demographic tsunami" that "will never recede," David Walker tells a group of reporters. He runs through a long list of fiscal challenges, led by the imminent retirement of the baby boomers, whose promised Medicare and Social Security benefits will swamp the federal budget in coming decades.
The conversation remains somber for most of an hour. Then one reporter smiles and asks, "Aren't you depressed in the morning?"
Sadly, it's no laughing matter. To hear Walker, the nation's top auditor, tell it, the United States can be likened to Rome before the fall of the empire. Its financial condition is "worse than advertised," he says. It has a "broken business model." It faces deficits in its budget, its balance of payments, its savings — and its leadership.
Walker's not the only one saying it. As Congress and the White House struggle to trim up to $50 billion from the federal budget over five years — just 3% of the $1.6 trillion in deficits projected for that period — budget experts say the nation soon could face its worst fiscal crisis since at least 1983, when Social Security bordered on bankruptcy.
I see this issue a lot differently than you do. Border security is of major importance to me. Illegals in this country are not as big of an issue to me as securing the border is.
Illegals are not the only issue of an unsecure border. Smugglers are free to bring in what ever they wish to at this time. Many worry of drugs and people being smuggled in; those are major problems but my greatest fear is terrorists and their weapons being smuggled in. I have been supporting a secure border for years, I firmly believe we need to secure the border, regardless of what else may need to be done.
Illegals are a large problem, I do see that and I think many see that as an issue. Even if your main objective is to deal with illegals, the border still must be secure before any plan will work.
Most illegals that are deported return within hours or days across the insecure border. Border Patrol will tell you they catch some of the same illegals as many as 12 times. Illegals will tell you they have been caught many times before managing to elude BP and make it into this country. Any reasonable plan to deal with illegals must start with a secure border.
Let's say we implement a plan for guest workers, based on certain qualifications, like time here, job history, criminal record. Under any such plan there will be those who will refuse to apply to begin with, because they may have a good idea they will not qualify. There will also be those who apply and do not qualify. Those who do not apply or do not qualify will need to be deported. Among this group will be those that need to be deported the worst of the worst- criminals and those who are here not to work but to take advantage of our social system. The problem is if the border is not secure, deporting people has no meaning- they will simply return through the open border, just as they do now. Not only will those groups that it has been determined need to be deported be coming back, but at the same time a large number of new illegals will be arriving every day.
Without a secure border we will not solve the problem of illegal entry; we will not only not be able to enforce the new system with an open border, but we will continually have new illegals adding to the problem.
If the border were secured first, and then some sort of worker plan was implemented- then those who do not qualify could be deported and there would not be the issue of new illegals adding to the chaos.
Attempting to deal with illegals here now without securing the border first is a band aid approach. There is no way to fix the current system without being able to deport those that need to be deported and making sure they stay deported. There is no way to make sure anyone stays deported with an unsecured border.
It is clearly his objective, although he lies about it with liberal euphemisms, and mis-defining what Amnesty is. Don't misunderestimate him here.
He is for Regularizing, letting them stay on as defacto U.S. nationals. And allowing them to continue to work, etc. Then putting them onto some form of path to citizenship. Non-"automatic" or not...that is Amnesty.
Good one.
Good post. I wish I could take apart my air-conditioner as well.
Exacting and thorough reasoning. This kind of thoughtful explication...all while remaining paintstakingly polite in spite of insinuating provocation by adversary schills... is why Free Republic is simply the best. It is the national watering hole for conservatives.
Truth will win out, in the marketplace of ideas.
We have a thugocracy on the southern border, its people fleeing by the millions. What to do? We could mine the border, and with Mexico facing tense elections, outcome in doubt, doubtless nothing we do or say will be viewed kindly. As it happens, however, Fox said something profound a few weeks ago. At the time, it sounded like simple extortion, but now on second thought, it might work to everyone's advantage and would be simpler and cheaper in the long run than invading Mexico altogether. We offer them a version of the Marshall Plan, with strings -- and Mexicans return home to rebuild their own country. (This might be just the rabbit Bush needs to pull out of the hat and it would certainly play better on the nightly news than shots fired across the border or cars torched in LA's streets.)
When Bush was first elected, I made the quip on FR that "He best dance with the ones that brung him". The only dance I have seen him doing is the Mexican Hat dance.
You keep throwing this out there, and I want to believe this, the problem is I can look out the windows of my home and tell at a glance whether or not the border is secure. I can tell by the numbers of illegals hiking by or stopping and knocking on my door. Whatever is being done to secure the border at this time; no matter how secret it might be- is not working.
If I saw less evidence of illegal traffic across the border, I would be more likely to believe you on this. In fact I have recently seen an increase in illegal border traffic, not a decrease.
Whatever secret squirrel stuff you are talking about is not working. BTW, I know about many of the new security measures that have been added, living here I have seen all sorts of new toys. They have not worked. That is another reason I want to see the border secured before other plans are implemented. I think just saying one will secure the border and actually getting it done are two different things. It may take many tries to get it right. What happens if we implement plans to make those illegally here now legal and our plans to secure the border fail? We will have a flood of new illegals to deal with on top of the illegals who have been here that we are trying to deal with. The resulting chaos will mean the plan to legalize illegals will fail also. That is why so many of us want the border secured first.
Mexico's corruption is a huge problem. Maybe we should invade after all. If we build that wall, they'll get on boats and sail around it. The press will have a field day, how mean is Uncle Sam, etc.. Mexico needs to shape up, one way or another and Bush should make this clear to Fox and whoever wins the election. The alternative is Uncle Sam in the spare bedroom.
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