← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Okiereddust
Thread ID: 3690 | Posts: 5 | Started: 2002-11-25
2002-11-25 22:44 | User Profile
[url=http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=news_takin]GOP Governors Back Bush on Illegals[/url]
DANA POINT, Calif. ââ¬â Republican governors over the weekend defended President Bush's immigration policies, arguing that he isn't proposing amnesty, as critics claim, for Mexicans and others who entered the United States illegally.
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, the newly elected chairman of the Republican Governors Association, disputed the critics' interpretation of Mr. Bush's policy.
"It was never defined as amnesty for illegals so much as moving back to legalized work programs," said Mr. Owens.
But other RGA members, here for their first annual meeting since the midterm elections, agreed that the issue posed at least some problems for the president with his political base.
Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., elected Nov. 5 as Maryland's next governor, said, "Probably the most negative feedback I've received in my eight years in Congress occurred as a result of" a House vote last year on the immigration issue.
"It is an important political issue with the Republican political base these days," he said. "The president has made incredible strides on the issues of education, terrorism, defense and taxes, but the [immigration] issue, in my view, still lags behind."
The Washington Times reported last week that Tony Garza, new U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said the Bush administration will renew its push for what critics say amounts to amnesty for illegal aliens who have established a stable employment history in the country.
The new Bush plan does not appear to go as far as the original proposal, which critics said would have led to amnesty for as many as 3 million illegal aliens now living in the United States.
Mr. Bush worked out that original policy initiative with Mexican President Vicente Fox before the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Money sent back to Mexico by immigrants ââ¬â legal and illegal ââ¬â accounts for a significant portion of Mexico's gross domestic product.
The Bush policy was aimed in part at helping Republicans gain Hispanic votes. And RGA members meeting here were reminded by Bush administration representatives and others that Hispanics constitute the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate. The Republican Party must gain a growing share of the Hispanic vote in order to survive.
But September 11 dealt the Bush immigration policy a setback, as concerns mounted over the threat that foreign terrorists were seeping through America's porous borders. "Clearly September 11 has changed the dynamic," Mr. Ehrlich said. "Immigration is viewed with suspicion across the board, particularly by the Republican base."
During their meeting, the Republican governors repeatedly acknowledged their debt to Mr. Bush, whose popularity with voters helped Republican candidates exceed expectations in the midterm elections.
Mr. Owens said he wants "to see what it is that the Bush administration or Congress does come up with" on immigration, before making any judgment.
Many rank-and-file Republicans have viewed the administration's use of phrases such as "guest worker program" and "putting people on the path to citizenship" as politically inspired euphemisms for immigrant amnesty.
"I don't necessarily agree with that view," Mr. Owens said. "Here's how I would phrase it: If we move to the program where people have a right to come across the border so long as they have a job, and we then know who they are, they can move across the border to a paying job."
The Colorado governor said: "So if there is a job for someone from Mexico, Canada or Brazil, they can come in legally for that job, we know who they are, they stay during that job period and they can also move back as they need to to see their family. I don't think that's providing amnesty for illegals, so in this case the distinction is very, very important."
Mr. Ehrlich said that when he was in the House last year, "there was a lot of misinformation" about Mr. Bush's amnesty proposal. "I think what we're saying is that once appropriately articulated, that fear factor will not be there," Mr. Ehrlich said.
Some have accused Republicans of pandering to immigrants in a bid for Hispanic support.
"Pandering I think is an inappropriate term," Mr. Ehrlich said. "The president believes in his heart we are a nation of immigrants and we have to be fair. We are the land of opportunity.
"So I don't think it's a large risk because even parts of our base who have philosophical differences with this president tend to forgive him on this or any other issue, because they like him so much," Mr. Ehrlich said.
2002-11-25 23:41 | User Profile
Okiereddust,
I have a hunch that The Washington Times ran this piece today in an attempt to backpedal after last week's immigration uproar and spin the Bush administration in a positive light.
The public was getting hot under the collar last week about the Feds' inaction. Between the border militias and this week's upcoming immigration talks, not even the most loyal shills on talk radio (like Hannity) could keep a lid on it.
And on Friday Cliff Kincaid was on Chuck Harder talking about the immigration mess, when this story broke:
Immigrants pour into US, unabated by war on terror
yet Harder's was the only show I heard about it, and it didn't appear in the press until today's Christian Science Monitor, at least not anywhere else that I've seen.
I really do believe the elite media--and don't kid yourself, most talkradio today is mainstream--wanted the public outrage to simmer down over the weekend before the talks this week. And just for good measure they dragged out some GOP loyalists to back up Bush and say this isn't really amnesty on Monday morning to calm down the masses.
2002-11-25 23:47 | User Profile
Originally posted by Centinel@Nov 25 2002, 23:41 **Okiereddust,
I have a hunch that The Washington Times ran this piece today in an attempt to backpedal after last week's immigration uproar and spin the Bush administration in a positive light.
**
The Washington Times - that would figure. Does Poddy still work there?
2002-11-25 23:57 | User Profile
The Washington Times - that would figure. Does Poddy still work there?
I don't think so, but I'm not positive
2002-11-26 04:54 | User Profile
The Colorado governor said: "So if there is a job for someone from Mexico, Canada or Brazil, they can come in legally for that job, we know who they are, they stay during that job period and they can also move back as they need to to see their family.
Does Colorado not pay native citizens welfare on the assumption that they can not find work? How can they find a job if it is being given to aliens, illegal or otherwise? Given that the government offers free (though substandard) education for 12 years, then greatly subsidizes university education, there is no basis for saying that natives are not educated enough to do the work, unless you are willing to dismantle the worthless public education system.