Posted on 05/29/2007 10:15:03 AM PDT by Rb ver. 2.0
GLYNCO, Ga. (AP) - President Bush attacked opponents of an immigration deal Tuesday, suggesting they “don’t want to do what’s right for America.”
“The fundamental question is, will elected officials have the courage necessary to put a comprehensive immigration plan in place,” Bush said against a backdrop of a huge American flag.
He described his proposal—which has been agreed to by a bipartisan group of senators—as one that “makes it more likely we can enforce our border—and at the same time uphold the great immigrant tradition of the United States of America.”
Bush spoke at the nation’s largest training center for law enforcement.
He chose the get-tough setting as conservative critics blast a Senate proposal as being soft on people who break the law. Hoping to blunt that message, Bush emphasized that any new options for immigrants and foreign workers would not start until tougher security is in place.
The presidential stop came during a congressional recess, with senators back home and facing pressure from the left and right on the immigration plan. Bush’s aim is to build momentum for the legislation, perhaps his best chance for a signature victory in his second term. The Senate expects to resume debate on it next week.
“A lot of Americans are skeptical about immigration reform, primarily because they don’t think the government can fix the problems,” Bush said.
“And my answer to the skeptics is: give us a chance to fix the problems in a comprehensive way that enforces our border and treats people with decency and respect. Give us a chance to fix this problem. Don’t try to kill this bill before it gets moving,” Bush told students and instructors at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
Bush repeatedly cast the matter as one of political courage.
“Those determined to find fault with this bill will always be able to look at a narrow slice of it and find something they don’t like,” the president said. “If you want to kill the bill, if you don’t want to do what’s right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it.
“You can use it to frighten people,” Bush said. “Or you can show leadership and solve this problem once and for all.”
The bill would give temporary legal status to millions of unlawful immigrants, provided they came forward, paid a fine and underwent criminal background checks. To apply for a green card, they would have to pay another fine, learn English, return to their home country and wait in line.
The plan also would create a guest worker program. It would allow foreign laborers to come to the U.S. for temporary stints, yet with no guarantee they can eventually gain citizenship.
Both the new visa plan and the temporary worker program are contingent on other steps coming first. Those include fencing and barriers along the Mexico border, the hiring of more Border Patrol agents and the completion of an identification system to verify employees’ legal status.
The legislation would also reshape future immigration decisions. A new point system would prioritize skills and education over family in deciding who can immigrate.
Georgia’s senators both played leading roles in producing Bush’s deal with the Senate. Yet they have also said they may not support the final bill, depending upon how it is amended.
Bush chastised those who say the proposal offers amnesty to illegal immigrants. He called it empty political rhetoric.
Mr. Bush,
Can you point out the angus part of the Amnesty Bill?
Too angry to post..................
Ever since he told Tom Tancredo that he can "never darken the doors of the WH again" (because of the congressman's strong anti-illegal immigration stance) my opinion of Rove has been low, at best.
Mad as I am at Bush over this bill, I have to wonder whether this quote was taken out of context. It seems very stupid and counter-productive to attack critics of the bill this way. His speechwriters and aides aren't that dumb, are they? I'd like to see the context.
I worked hard for your re-election, Mr. President.
I’m not a third-party sorehead.
I’m a loyal Republican.
And I say: “The hell with you, sir.”
Hey, where’s the barf alert???
Exactly. The more he opens his mouth the deeper hole he digs.
Yer right Mr. President, we don't want to do what is right for all of America, we want to do what is right for the USA!
You know the country that elected you President, that USA.
Mr. Bush,
Can you point out the angus part of the Amnesty Bill?
LMAO!!
“Is this what is right for America, Mr. President??
1. Encouraging the breaking of our immigration laws?
2. Forcing American citizens to pay to support criminal illegals?
3. Tolerating the crime, drugs, gangs, poverty these people have brought into America?
4. Snubbing those LEGAL immigrants that have worked hard to immigrate LAWFULLY, waiting and with hard work?
5. Leaving our borders OPEN to illegal Mexicans and terrorists?
6. DELIBERATELY not stopping the flow of illegals into this country by hamstringing the border patrol ?
7. Flooding our civil resources - education and medical with non-english speaking illegals?
8. Destroying the soverignty and demographics of America?
9. And encouraging MORE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO FLOOD IN WHEN YOU DECLARE AMNESTY???
This list goes on, Mr. President. IS THIS WHAT IS GOOD FOR AMERICA, Mr. President ????
WORTH REPEATING!!!!
>>Yet he has no problem in talking down to American citizens and accusing those who are rightly critical of this measure that they “don’t want to do what’s right for America.”<<
I think this may be a good sign that the public backlash is growing.
Bush feels the need to stand in front of an “American Flag” brand® prop, and browbeat congress into passing this lunacy. Seems kind of desperate. He also is using the underhanded tactic of berating honorable American citizens who oppose this as “unpatriotic.”
Mr. President, where is your honor and decency?
Meanwhile, Ramos and Compean rot in jail. Perfect.
This president is more a facilitator of the North American Union and New World Order than he is the defender of the Constitution of the United States.
I am deeply disappointed and distressed.
I would be careful if I were Bush, as Fred Thompson so admirably noted a few weeks back ... “the Whitehouse fails to grasp, immigration is connected to the Iraq war”. And that connection would be through Bush’s only remaining supporters.
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