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.
Most Americans are more pro-American, more loyal to this sovereign nation America than George Bush and the other hacks in DC. The hacks in DC spit on American sovereignty every day. Every day they spit on the idea of America as a proud independent nation. It's because they have writ large their personal cynicism onto this great nation.
Our men & women in Iraq are betrayed by this greed and cynicism. The hacks in DC could care less if their modest economic classes are decimated by this immigration invasion. Neighborhoods and schools ruined by illegal aliens and wage rates driven to the bottom dollar
Pretty harsh for someone who hides behind an anonymous screen name. Seems to me that this adopted son learned a few things at his father's knee. And has proven his worth to his following. Perhaps you would care to peruse the following he authored...where is he not making a strong case in his own right?
Illegal Immigration: The Poison Fruit of Mexican Corruption
Making Sense, By Michael Reagan, April 12, 2006
John Gibson asked me the other day on Fox TV why hordes of Mexicans flee their homeland and enter the U.S. illegally. My answer: the cancer of corruption that afflicts every level of Mexican society and restricts even the smallest forms of economic opportunity for the poorest Mexicans.
I said that Mexico has everything to make it a prosperous First World country. They have minerals, they have agriculture, oil, tourism - everything they need to rank high among First World countries. All that stands in their way is corruption.
Mexico is a corrupt nation with a corrupt government from top to bottom, and until the U.S. and President Bush stand up and point a finger - as my dad did at the evil empire - and say you have to eliminate corruption if you want to keep your people home, the corruption will continue and so will the flow of illegal aliens fleeing it.
They need to be told that the reason people are fleeing their country is the corruption that saps the very lifeblood of the Mexican economy, making it impossible for the poor to find jobs at wages that allow them to support their families or pay the ever-present mordida – “the bite”, as they call bribes. Like the refugees who fled from behind the Iron Curtain to find freedom, they flee Mexico to find a living wage and escape the bondage of official bribery that condemns them to poverty.
The problem is so pervasive and so much a part of Mexican life that the official responsible for eliminating corruption, Minister of Comptrollership and Administrative Development Francisco Barrio, estimates that it will take 30 years to eradicate corruption in Mexico.
According to Transparencia Mexicana, in Mexico City alone, for every 100 public services, 22.6 percent (of the 38 administrative procedures tracked) in their survey required bribes. Want a driver’s license, cough up the pesos. You name it, it costs.
In a series of papers, Shang-Jin Wei, formerly of the Kennedy School at Harvard, explored the economic effect of corruption. Contrary to the notion that corruption is a relatively minor cost of doing business, Wei found that corruption has a stifling effect on foreign investment and economic growth.
In his classic study "Ritual, Rumor and Corruption in the Constitution of Polity in Modern Mexico," Professor Claudio Lomnitz wrote that “corruption has also played a central role in conserving privilege, in keeping competitors out of specific markets, in creating an organized labor sector that stands apart from other sectors of the working class and in conserving the prerogatives of lineage."
Plainly stated, corruption bars a large segment of Mexico’s population – the poorest segment - from participating in the nation’s economic life. There is simply no way out except for the U.S.-Mexican border, and sheer desperation drives them there.
We need to take the gloves off and call the problem of illegal immigration from Mexico for what it is: a reaction to the culture of corruption. We need to tell official Mexico, “You allow the drug dealers to control the borders, everybody in every little state of Mexico at every level is on the take – that it is impossible to do business there without greasing a multitude of palms. The Federales are on the take, the local police are on the take - everybody is on the take.”
It’s time to tell President Fox and his government that until they change people are going to head north. But Mexico’s officials do not want to change because they would rather sell out to the drug cartels and rake in the bribes,
By keeping quiet about Mexican corruption and the way it impacts Mexico’s poor, we become accomplices to that corruption and help to drive more and more of them to cross our border illegally.
Mike Reagan, the eldest son of the late President Ronald Reagan, is heard on more than 200 talk radio stations nationally as part of the Radio America Network. Look for Mike’s new book “Twice Adopted”. Order autographed books at www.reagan.com. Email Comments to mereagan@hotmail.com .
First off no border is ever 100% secure - Additionally in terms of national security (WMDs, dirty bombs, etc) more is happening on the border then can openly be talked about (and for very good reasons). Think NSA Op that was outed and now this country is less safe.
The border should be sealed first. Period. A 'Wall' or other physical barrier is necessary first, then we discuss everything else.
Again, I simply don't see it that way, in fact I see it completely necessary if one wants to be truly serious on this issue (on the whole) to address all aspects of it. Which means the border, those illegals currently here, and reform of our current temp workers program -
That you are suggesting good people can't come to differing conclusions on how best to handle each aspect of this 40 year in the making problem, or want to spit hairs on which needs to be addressed first before others is simply foolishness to me.
"Helllllloooooo border!"
Oh well.
Seal the Border first.
Again, that M. Reagan has reduced himself to attacking this fine President with the old and tired attacks / talking points of the DEMs/MSM speakes volumes about M. Reagan.
When one "shows himself to you"...allow yourself to see it. M. Reagan has done just this -
Nope address all the issues - Sealing the border does nothing in terms of those on worker permits that never leave and go back! - Securing the border does absolutely nothing to this large segment of illegals.
To hear the DEMs and MSM spin "deficits first...before we can even talk tax-cuts"....(foolishness).
Best regards,
The same.
If you don't trust this President's motives or his genuineness when he speaks regarding immigration...then you d*mn well better be demanding he bring every soldier home.
Because if you can't at least trust his sincereness regarding an issue like immigration then you certainly cannot trust this President when it comes to putting others lives in danger and sending them off to war.
Disagree with this President on an issue. Fine. Question his motives or his genuineness? Pure BS! (and I'd question yours). Unless you are willing to stay intellectually honest and fall right in line with the DEMs suggesting this President cannot be trusted regarding Iraq, WMDs, etc.
There will be no 'wall' except for the wire stretched by the Minutemen and that can be cut easily by wirecutters. By the way, who is going to build that wall you want?
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.
I would argue that he's simply stating an observable fact. One might wish the base would see things differently, or less emotionally, but they don't, and they're not going to be swayed. China had the "mandate of heaven", the Republicans have the Women's Federated. When the Chinese peasants withdrew the mandate of heaven, dynasties fell. When the local Federated can't staff the call centers because people are "too busy" (which is happening), well, the Reps. had better stand by, or start listening.
FWIW, my personal opinion is that GWB is asserting a policy he beleives to be in the best interests of the country, because that's the kind of guy he is. But, whether he's right or wrong on this or that policy issue, he's got a tin ear for how far the base can be moved. You're discussing policy that flies in the face of political reality. We don't HAVE to address everything all at once. Much better to start with something like 4437 and then move on to the other essential issues.
I see you have a knee-jerk and insensitive nature. Keep repeating the same clap-trap. You don't even seem to realize that your diatribe applies with even more force against your seat-warming icon.
So take your own advice.When one "shows himself to you"...allow yourself to see it.
And then some: Bush says brother Jeb would make "great president"
You are hoist by your nepotistic petard.
THIS is where the President's primary focus should be rather than pimping for the family:
I wonder why if the conservatives are so alive and well in mainstream America the president's ratings are down...we're talking before the immigration debate...I would imagine that GWs poll numbers as of today will dip into the 20s. And exactly how can the party extricate itself from this mess? Looks like a huge schism.
Maybe it's time for the "base" to listen to President Bush. He has set forth a path to help resolve the problem and Republicans need to think about the consequences of not supporting it. I will guarantee you that Hillary's plan will be much worse.
Unfortunately I have a problem when the President I voted for only has one elected representative in my state that supports him and his Illegal Alien plan.
Max Baucus of Montana, and he's a liberal democrat.
Burns and Rehberg (Both Republicans) do not support the president's idea of how to deal with this issue.
Now...
Who's the Democrat?
Because if you define 'conservative' as 'smaller govt', Bush is not conservative.
Conservatives like myself do not approve of the domestic agenda of this president.
And I believe that Cs are a much, much bigger group than anyone realizes. I believe real 'Cs' are in the majority. That does *not* always translate into R votes, tho -- cuz most Cs don't believe Rs are C.
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