You know, it is a shame that of all the topics President Bush wants to truly fight back on, it is an illegal immigration bill that goes against his own base. Iraq, the assaults on secret anti-terrorist programs, fixing social security, you name it, he has barely said a word. A few shots at Democrats, and move on. But with the illegal bill, he seems to want to take on the majority of Conservatives.
And some Republicans in Congress are fighting back (Washington Times)
"If you want to kill the bill, if you don’t want to do what’s right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it, you can use it to frighten people. Or you can show leadership and solve this problem once and for all," Mr. Bush said.
The response to Republicans who say Mr. Bush wants amnesty for illegal aliens provoked the ire of conservative organizers and legislators alike.
"That’s hurtful language," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican. "If the bill did what they promised it was going to do, I’d support it. I’m for comprehensive reform, but it has to serve the national interests, not political interest."
"I don’t think it’s courage to support this flawed bill. I think sometimes it takes a bit of courage to resist this kind of short-term reform, so we can create a system that can actually work," Mr. Sessions said.
Rep. Brian P. Bilbray, California Republican and chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus, took issue with Mr. Bush’s assertion that critics are objecting to a "narrow slice" of the bill.
"Amnesty for 12-20 million illegal immigrants isn’t a ‘narrow slice’ … it’s the whole darn pie," Mr. Bilbray said. "What part of illegal does the president not understand? The American people … don’t want another amnesty."
Paul Weyrich, founder of the conservative Free Congress Foundation, said that "there are legitimate reasons to oppose this legislation, and I don’t think that it behooves the president to call people names or make accusations against them if they disagree with him."
"He is angering people beyond belief to the point that the Republican Party is going to split in two, thanks to him. If this bill passes, the Republicans will not recover from it," Mr. Weyrich said.
The Party already is splitting in two over this legislation, with the majority falling on the side against Bush. But, so are the Democrats. They are just not as vocal about it. Make no mistake, they do not like it for their own reasons, and are certainly writing their Congress critters.
President Bush doesn’t have to worry about reelection. But it might be nice if he would worry about protecting the US from illegal aliens, and the Party he claims to represent, rather then leaving them in tatters.
"It takes a lot of courage in the face of some of the criticism in the political world to do what’s right, not what’s comfortable. And what’s right is to fix this system now before it’s too late," the president said.
What’s right is not to give illegal aliens even more incentive to come here illegally, and a slap on the wrist for being here illegally, then making them a citizen. The system is broken. Completely broken. Fixing it starts with enforcing the existing laws, making it expensive to employ illegals, and securing the borders.
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