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From his book, "A Charge to Keep": "I believe it is far more compassionate to turn away people at the border than to attempt to find and arrest them once they are living in our country illegally."

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.