He's made similar comments during the campaign as he did when he pushed for the 245(i) extension, like "Family values do not stop at the Rio Grande."
Candidates running for president will utter more than a million words in the course of a campaign. The fleeting comments of a candidate at a few campaign stops will rarely be picked up by the media and heard by most people unless it is a major issue with the candidate. As someone that followed that election very closely I can tell you that Bush studiously avoided any mention of Amnesties for Illegals, or that he would do next to nothing in controlling illegal immigration. In fact when asked by a reporter about what his thoughts were on illegal immigration he said he would "protect the borders", which of course he has shown no proclivity to do so despite 9/11.
If truth be told conservatives such as myself were so eager to get rid of Clinton we no doubt overlooked some things on Bush that should have warranted higher scrutiny...at least in retrospect. I can tell you he won't get the same pass next time around and what he does in the next two years will play a pivotal role in how much of his original support he retains for the 2004 election. So far, the main driver of his national support is his fine work on the war against terrorism. Just about everything else has been quite a disappointment to anyone hoping for the least bit of reduction in the size and scope of the federal government and of course, a modicum of respect for this nation's sovereignty.
You sound just like one of the Clinton apologists we had to suffer for 8 years. Maybe unintentionally. Can you really be part of the "it depends on what your definition of the word is, is" crowd? I hope not.
Here's your false premise #1: "Look over the major quotes he had on immigration in general and the impression I have is he apparently considered extending 245(i) as an option.
That's absolutely daft. This is supposed to be a conservative Republican we're talking about here. The Bush's are supposed to bring a breath of 'fresh air' to Washington, not more Clinton-like deceptions.
There isn't a normal, reasonable, logical, conservative Republican that could look at any one of those complete quotes or any combination of them and conclude, as you just did, that Bush was considering an extention of 245(i) or some other kind of amnesty.
Unless they're working under the assumption that he's just like Clinton.
You jump to the conclusion that he's considering another last, last amnesty from this quote?
"We must do a better job of STOPPING those who seek to come into our country ILLEGALLY. I SUPPORT STRICT BORDER ENFORCEMENT PROGRAMS such as OPERATION HOLD THE LINE which concentrated border patrol officers and resources at known border-crossing points. I believe it is far more compassionate to turn away people at the border than to find and arrest them once they are living in our country illegally."
So, according to you Bush isn't saying that the job we have of tracking down the illegals we already have here now is going to be tough, so let's get tougher on the borders.
He's proposing an extention of 245(i) and amnesty?
Now we have the Chutch Brother's Las Vegas Mormon Mission Political Polling Place and Psychic Hotline.
I took that quote to mean that illegal immigration would be dramatically reduced after he took office.
So, if you snow us with your false premise #1, then your false premise #2 is the next obvious, illogical conclusion we all have to jump along with you to:
"Therefore, I think it is fair to say that he was pretty up front that some form of amnesty might be an option - it certainly was not ruled out."
That's pretty up front? It certainly was not ruled out? Bush certainly didn't rule out legalizing child pornography, either. Do we have to worry about that, too?
Now, it's ok for a Republican to throw out the Party platform and put an open borders Libertarian in charge of the INS, if he didn't rule it out?
I'll never trust him, again.
The fact that he didn't just come right out and say it during the campaign tells you what? That he was being deliberately deceptive and hiding his open borders, immigration agenda.
Conservatives are going to logically conclude that Bush Jr. is going to ashcan 120 years of tough Republican Party immigration planks and pull a Bush Sr. by offering another amnesty when Republicans had PROMISED the American people that there would NEVER be another amnesty?
What Bush's quote on Proposition 187 meant to a lot of us was don't take the parents status out on the kids.
That's dishonest for Bush to say anyway, because the kids were being punished for their own illegal status.
But even you can't reasonably expect that what we were supposed to conclude Bush meant was that he was going to amnesty them all? Can you?
"...'scientific polls' that some folks here insist on being the measure of the political attitudes."
I've said that polls aren't perfect, but what I also said is that I'll believe a Zogby poll before I BELIEVE YOUR BROTHER'S OPINIONS!
You resent the implication that you're liberal and yet what poll do you come up with? THE NEW YORK TIMES!
You use a poll of theirs that doesn't even mention immigration to conclude that immigration isn't even an issue? Not even with conservatives?
You, Bush and your friends at the LIBERAL New York Times are in for a surprise.