Bush regrets immigration reforms weren’t approved

LasVegasSun ^ | 1/9/9 | Unknown to me

[bimboeruption]

President George W. Bush told a group of Texas reporters Friday that he regretted immigration policies were not reformed while he was in office.

"I'm very disappointed that it didn't pass," he said in an interview with correspondents from his home state. "I'm very worried about the message that said, 'Republicans are anti-immigrant.'"

[okie01]

"I'm very worried about the message that said, 'Republicans are anti-immigrant.'"

There are, maybe, thirty-seven 'anti-immigrant' people in the whole damn country. And half of them are Democrats.

Such an assessment of those who are anti-ILLEGAL immigrant is a base, demeaning insult to the bulk of us in his own party.

I voted for the man twice. I'm glad that I did. But I wouldn't vote for him again. Ever. Or any other Bush, for that matter.

Insulting your own supporters is not the way to 'win' a legacy...

[Will88]

In fact he was quite clear about his immigration stance back in 2000. He even gave speeches in Spanish.

He was clear about establishing closer relations with Mexico, but I recall nothing about legalizing all the illegals in the US. In fact, in the 2004 debates with Kerry, Kerry was for amnesty, but W lied and said he opposed it. Of course, he was probably playing the amnesty word game, which was worse than an outright lie.

W did not at all level with the American people about his desire to grant amnesty to all the illegal aliens during his two campaigns.

If he did, please provide some links to old speeches or articles from 2000 where he proposed legalizing the illegals.

[Las Vegas Ron]

Yes, Bush did. He called himself a "compassionate Conservative."

I stand corrected, I guess I just never took him to be be a representative of conservatism, probably because of that phrase.

I always wondered why he would use a term like that, it insinuates that conservatives are not compassionate people in general which of course is the dems playbook against us.

Kind of like GHB's kinder and gentler nation crap against Reagan.

[353FMG]

“Our current legal immigration policies will make the Reps the permanent minority party...”

This has been known for a time. But do you really think that the RINOs care? As long as they can keep their jobs and “reach across the political aisle” i.e. kiss the democraps’ asses, all is honky-dory with them.

[RetiredArmy]

We have lived through all three. To be sure, the jury is still out on Bush, but they have reached their decision and have so advised the court that they are ready to render their verdict.

I know many here see Bush through those rose colored 9-1-1 glasses. To the extent that he has done on the war on terror, I fully give him credit and an A+ job done. The supremes nominations and tax cuts, ditto. HOWEVER, he failed miserably, horribly on border control, spending, kissing the dims butts, NOT bringing all this crap about the potential of a melt down to the public's attention more forcibly were horrible mistakes. He keeps saying that they saw this, wanted changes, and dims did not want to play. That is when he should have come screaming out that this was going to happen. Then the public would have said, hey dims, get off your butts and fix this before the melt down. Just saying now that we said there would be this problem and dims avoided us doing anything, to me is not enough of an "excuse." IF, IF they knew there was the even remote potential for something like this, they should have been holding news conferences every day, screaming from the steps of the White House, every public appearance. But, the first we really heard about it was when the first big boom when off. I fault him for that. This will be his legacy. The melt down of the economy and now we have the dims wanting to bring back FAILED FDR crap. It is only going to get worse and worse. More and more government control. Thanks to Bush, our very lives will be controlled by the government. We are going communist as we all stand here and watch. AND, the stupid American public does not seem to care. THAT in my opinion, is the saddest part of it all.

[Las Vegas Ron]

If he did, please provide some links to old speeches

I was speking directly from memories from the time.

I do recall pitures of him at a protest with the illegals holding a sign or a mexican flag or something to that effect.

Again, I'm not defending Bush, I just seem to recall what I posted, I may be wrong

[Travis McGee]

"I'm very disappointed that it didn't pass," he said in an interview with correspondents from his home state. "I'm very worried about the message that said, 'Republicans are anti-immigrant.'" 'Republicans are against massive amnesty for illegal alien invaders.'"

There, fixed it.

[Will88]

Again, I'm not defending Bush, I just seem to recall what I posted, I may be wrong

I know he did talk a lot about the need to establish even closer relations with Mexico, but I recall nothing about legalizing millions of illegals in the US. And I've looked and listened for the candidates positions on immigration since about 1992, after the amnesty 1987 amnesty, and after GHWB increased legal immigration from < 500,000 to something like 785,000.

GHWB set all this high legal immigration in motion.

[Las Vegas Ron]

GHWB set all this high legal immigration in motion.

I agree he shares responsibility, but if you recall, when Reagan signed Simpson Misoley (sp?), the dem congress did not uphold their part of the deal. The act called for closing the boarder, which obviously never happened so they got the ball rolling to where we are now.

Gotta run, am headed to CES which I haven't been able to get to for the last two days.

[ishmac]

So, Algore/Kerry or GW? I’d vote again for GW, even now.

You know, I remember having misgivings about Bush even in 2000, but thought, "If we get good supreme court appointees, good pro-life policies, and some economic stimulus I'll be satisfied." That was my bare minimum.

I think I've received the bare minimum--even though we had to endure the Miers mistep with the justices.

Having said that, I didn't expect the guy to insult us--and continue to insult us--over the amnesty business. You would think that Bush would express his regrets this way:

I regret I did not show stronger leadership in overseeing Fanny and Freddie and force the Congress to oversee the programs better...

I regret that we did not get a better handle on the aftermath in Iraq ...

I regret that the American people were not yet ready for Social Security reform....

But no, instead he picks the one hot button issue that caused the maximum amount of anger across the widest swath of the electorate and ended in one of the most embarassing political defeats in recent memory (Maybe the demise of HillaryCare rivals it). Zooks, you'd think he'd shut his piehole on the amnesty cr@p!!! His thought processes are impenetrable to me. Evil Obama is more politically savvy than our guy.

I guess I got my "bare minimum," but boy, what a cost! It's been a hard lesson to learn. I'm with the late Paul Weyrich who (among others) said that our central problems in this country are beyond electoral politics. The culture wars are where the real action is now. I'm almost indifferent to who gets into office anymore, although I will continue to vote for the least bad republican if there is a big enough diff between the candidates. With bad repubs we can win a few (Harriet Miers, amnesty); with the socialists I'm not so sure.

[bimboeruption]

>> I always wondered why he would use a term like that, it insinuates that conservatives are not compassionate people in general which of course is the dems playbook against us. Kind of like GHB's kinder and gentler nation crap against Reagan.<<

Right, Ron. I think it was yet another one of THE MORON's stupid moves--pitting Conservatives against Conservatives--something Reagan would NEVER have done. God bless him.

[citizen]

What an utter disappointment Bush has been as an America-first president. Plus, he has spent us into oblivion.

[ishmac]

Yes, and must give Bush high marks for leadership after 9/11. His team has probably set in place a lot of safeguards that will keep us safe for decades. Too bad that won't get the credit it deserves.

Bush hasn't been all downside, but I had pretty low expectations. When it comes to the Bushes, I guess I suffer from the "soft bigotry of low expectations."

[maggief]

“There’s a — a lot of employers need a legal way to fill jobs that Americans simply aren’t doing.”

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070529-7.html

..

December’s job losses push unemployment rate to 7.2 percent ... and rising.

[citizen]

That just makes me so angry, Aunt B. And to think, now there will be little hope of stopping amnesty. Whenever the economy turns around - if it does - the Illegals will be back in force, with a compliant Congress and WH rolling out the red carpet.

As bad as Bush was, very bad, now it just gets a lot worse.

[bimboeruption]

>>“There’s a — a lot of employers need a legal way to fill jobs that Americans simply aren’t doing.” http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070529-7.html<<

Cut welfare programs and see what happens.

[COgamer]

“But we may be jumping out of the frying pan, into the FIRE.

He has greatly dissapointed me also, but remember what the US is about to put in office.”

Something to think about: if Bush HADN’T been such a disappointment, would we even be putting Obama in office? Oh yes, he’d have had his cultists. But Obama ran against Bush, and McCain waited until far too late in the campaign to actually come out and say “I’m not Bush.” Whether McCain is much better is a seperate debate - but if he hadn’t been labeled with the Bush Legacy - “McSame” is what they called him, you know - Obama might not have won.

[Mouton]

I recall arguing with a friend about Bush in 2000. He said, you will regret that choice because the guy is a disaster for the GOP but they are too blinded by their anti Clinton feelings to note it. I laughed.

Well, I got what I wanted that is a stronger response to terrorists than in the past. However, I had a very uneasy feeling when after his first election win he began with some rhetoric about reaching across the aisle and making DC a more cohesive atmosphere. As time went on with his administration it became clear to me there was no collegial spirit with the rats and they like the gutter snipes they are were just waiting for the time to ambush the GOP. This seemed lost on Bush. His political concept leached to the RINOs and caused the GOP to squander a majority status by siding with the rats on a number of issues to the point of harming those conservatives still holding on in the GOP. First went Santorum...then Allen. Now the rest seem to be leaning to the left of their past positions to hold on.

Limbaugh reported yesterday that during a confab of senate GOPers, they were told by leadership to go along with the Obama crap, to not look to be devisive, and provide as much support as they can because the party needed to protect their remaining GOP senators in the Northeast. Are you kidding me! That is the exact opposite message they should have sent. If those RINOs cannot get with being conservative, who needs them? The end result would be the same anyway whether they win reelection in the future.

IMO, Bush and his political policies destroyed the conservative base in the GOP and no one is going to convince me otherwise. Thanks for keeping us safe for eight years but aside from that, thanks for nothing.

Vince

[nbhunt]

True, very true, but even with that, we are still jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Yes it was bad, but not as bad as it's going to get. Bush admin were doing just ok until the Demos took over 2 years ago and it's gone further down hill since then. Bush and McCain are still better than Obama, with all their mistakes. We really need new true conservatives to vote for.

[Leisler]

I agree with the cultural wars. I just wish Bush/GOP joined us. But, maybe we're too beneath them, and our concerns and insults are just so much noise of the unclean Republican rabble.