Except I ain't going to be the Lemming when all is said and done.
Look at the stuff from the "scientific polls" that somefolks here insist on being the measure of the political attitudes. The amnesty issue doesn't even rate a blip on any of the radar screens now, and it didn't in 2000.
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.
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. So, you should have known going into this that at the very least, it was an option. In fact, had you even looked hard enough, you'd find that he would NOT have supported Prop 187.
Sorry, but he was pretty up front, and I do not sense anything from the quotes he made that indicate he misled people during the campaign or at any time on this issue. Therefore, he did not cause the dissention, unless you count sticking pretty close to one's statements from a camapign as provoking it. The blame goes on the people who expressed their disagreement with his position on this with rhetoric that went way over the line back when that vote was made, and when that happens, people like me will call them on it.
And you should know by now that I do not back down from fights. Now, there are lots of provisions I do support, and I'll work to enact them, and I'd rather not fight with other conservatives. But I won't walk away from one, either.
We've kept this thread mostly free of flames, and I'm glad to see that. I also stated in Post 442 that I felt VA Advogato was out of bounds on his earlier beanball at you. But I'm not going to back down from a fight with those who seem to think disagreement over an issue makes me no better than a liberal.
Polling data:
http://www.pollingreport.com/prioriti.htm
President Bush's quotes on immigration:
http://www.issues2002.org/Celeb/George_W__Bush_Immigration.htm
http://www.issues2002.org/Celeb/More_George_W__Bush_Immigration.htmIn fact, had you even looked hard enough, you'd find that [President Bush] would NOT have supported Prop 187.
If you'd looked hard enough, you'd know Bush took time out from his Texas campaign in 1994 to speak against Prop #187.
Californians remember where the bodies are buried.
But I'm not going to back down from a fight with those who seem to think disagreement over an issue makes me no better than a liberal.
You still have no idea how big this issue is, no sense of the enormity of the problem, and no regard for how much worse your "solution" would make it.
The latter disregard is what is so characteristic of liberals. Perhaps that, combined with a willingness to ignore the lessons of past Amnesties so favored by liberals, is what causes the parallel to occur to people.
You also don't seem to grasp how unpopular Amnesty would be. The polls you cite only show that Amnesty isn't on people's radar right now. That would change dramatically if politicians ever proposed it.
That's why they don't.
And you should know by now that I do not back down from fights. Just because you don't back down doesn't make you right.
No matter how hard you try, you cannot square your position on amnesty with the fact it's a democratic initiative. Not even Bush is calling for the kind of sweeping forgiveness of lawbreakers that you are. His main focus to date has been extending 245(i), but what you're advocating more resembles Dick Gephardt's proposal. I'm sure you'll come back demanding an apology and reassuring us you're the most conservative member on this board, but facts are facts, it's the liberals pushing to reward the border jumpers.