GOP platform pushes amnesty

NJ.com ^ | 8/29/04 | Paul Mulshine

[Afronaut]

If there are any deluded souls out there who still believe George W. Bush is a conservative, I invite them to examine the 2004 Republican Party platform on the issue of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Bush is for it. That makes him a liberal. Worse, he proclaims that the amnesty is not an amnesty. So he is not only a liberal, but a liar as well.

[Afronaut]

I only gets worse. I must have ran into 25 invaders today. Protected by both parties.

[Peach]

Good. Then vote for Kerry. I'm sure your life will be much better.

This is a crap post.

[tioga]

I agree with Michelle Malkin on this issue, not the president. He is more concerned with getting elected and taking this issue off the table, rather then the conservative point of view.

[MaineRepublic]

I'm not sure where I stand with this. I sort of agree that if there are illegals here that are working, then why not give them a chance to become legal? Then again, does that punish those that follow the steps the right way? This amnesty is only for those that are currently working. I know the office where I work is cleaned by Mexicans every night. No one else wants to do that work. I assume that these guys are documented, but they are here to work and perform a service, why not let them become citizens. Only the ones that are employed of course.

[COEXERJ145]

I'm sure John Kerry will appreciate your vote.

[FesterUSMC]

Kerry would do the same, so i would suggest you hedge your vote on other issues like, partial birth abortion, gay marriage, "under god" the in the pledge, and the general strength of our military

[need_a_screen_name]

Moby to the rescue! lol

[MikefromOhio]

Let's see here....to get your policies enacted, you have to be in power....to not take an issue away from your opponent is foolhardy and definitely not a way to get elected. He is kind of damned if he does and damned if he doesnt.

But go ahead and vote for Kerry or not vote for Bush...it sounds like your life would be happier....

[crazyhorse691]

I think Paul Moonshine needs to take the pledge. Or get a really big grip on himself. Nobody agrees with somebody 100% of the time unless they are unbalanced liberal Rats that see the Savior in JFK. Chill out dude.

[dawn53]

He is more concerned with getting elected and taking this issue off the table, rather then the conservative point of view.

At this point in the game, I'm more concerned with him getting elected too.

If anybody thinks this issue and the WOT will be better handled by Kerry, then they should vote for him.

[litany_of_lies]

I must admit that this is not one of Bush's strong points.

If it weren't for the War on Terror a lot of Pubbies would stay home over this.

GOP, please note for 2006 and 2008.

Meanwhile, W had better pray (a lot), because if someone gets through the Mexican border and pulls off a successful terrorist attack, this election will be up for grabs, Kerry's wartime warts and all.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Then vote for Kerry. I hope your conscience is eased with your higher taxes and bloated inflation. But hey, at least the BROWN people wont be cutting your lawn anymore.

[Cboldt]

Life is imperfect. There are tons of things that I don't like about "Bush's policies." But he is not a liar, as Kerry is. He is not a socialist, as Kerry is.

[ServesURight]

I agree. So what does the author suggests then? Vote for Kerry, or waste a vote on the CP or the LP?

Let's worry about illegal aliens AFTER Bush wins reelection. Then conservatives can turn the heat on the RINOs and the Bush administration with emails, letter-writing, and faxing.

[Joe Hadenuf]

I'm sure John Kerry will appreciate your vote.

I don't know what this means. It should be clear to all, both the beltway parties are undermining our borders and our sovereignty. Without the rule of law, and our sovereignty, we are done.

[Afronaut]

I cut my own lawn, Lunatic fool!

[Reagan Man]

>>>Bush is for it. That makes him a liberal.

So you'll be voting for who? John Kerry?

The big issue and the primary focus in this election is the War on Terror and how best to advance a military strategy for winning it. Other issues are important, but this is the #1 issue. Period!

[Bommer]

This is crap! C\Karl Rove got a taste of how popular it was from Britt Hume when interviewed. It aint gonna happen!

[No-Compromise Conservative]

Sorry, this issue is a no-brainer for Bush. Seal the borders. Deny illegals anchor baby status and taxpayer handouts. Temporary moratorium on legal immigration. How hard can this be?

Even traditional Hispanic immigrants who have waited in line and joined the melting pot rather than forcing their culture on the rest of us opposes illegal immigration. Illegals are not going to vote for Bush and the Republicans. So why pander to them?

Let me just say that I'll be voting for Bush this fall. But I'm telling you, illegal aliens are a thorn in Bush's side. A lot of conservatives I know are angry over this issue. This policy absolutely stinks.

[alloysteel]

Nobody EVER said George W. Bush was a rock-ribbed, mossback hardshell conservative. He looks for the most doable compromise in terms of getting legislation passed if it is not something he has a strong and enduring principle about. That is just good stewardship, in his view. But on things that strike at core moral beliefs, those he will go to the mat for.

It is not a bad thing, necessarily, that persons enter this country and take the scut work jobs that have to be done, but for which nobody is willing to pay a whole lot. Or the work could be left undone. The situation now is that these same people are under a lot of threatening shadows on their lives and subject to suffering exposure now, which in fact probably is much less bad than they have been told.

They come, because they know a job will be there for them, they have learned in the barrio grapevine. There is an unpublished demand for their labor, and while some lawbreakers and scofflaws do manage to slip in, the vast majority are calm and unlikely to cause trouble. Difficulty is, the troublemaker and the honest hard worker look almost exactly alike on first impression. That is why we would kind of like to see them screened a little at the border BEFORE they enter.

[Amish with an attitude]

"i would suggest you hedge your vote on other issues..."

I agree.

At least we may be able to work with Bush on the issues we disagree whereas Kerry is ABSOLUTELY hopeless.

[deport]

Who'd a thunk it...... dissention within the ranks.... right wingers mad at the left wingers in the party.... Moderates in the middle..... sheesh.

A little from Bobby Eberle

However, other conservatives such as Richard Lessner, the Executive Director of the American Conservative Union, see the new GOP platform as short on core conservative principles. Lessner, in an e-mail to conservative activists, describes the platform as not a "pretty picture."

"You have to give the Bush political operation credit: they badly outflanked the party conservatives," Lessner wrote. "By the time delegates gathered here in New York for the platform committee work, the game was already over. The Bush operation made certain that the committee, selected by state parties, was packed with loyalists. Any chance of a conservative uprising over the platform was DOA."

Lessner said that the most controversial plank in the draft platform was on immigration, "specifically President Bush's proposal for a guest worker program for illegal aliens, a plan that also would put those who entered America unlawfully on the path to U.S. citizenship."

"This idea is wildly unpopular with grassroots Republicans and the Bush people know it," Lessner wrote. "So the fix was in. Any effort by the handful of conservatives on the rubber-stamp platform committee to amend or delete the offending plank on immigration were trumped by a series of strong-arm tactics and procedural maneuverings."

Lessner added, "Not that the bullying tactics mattered much. The platform delegates comported themselves like a flock of obedient sheep. Taking their cues from committee co-chairmen Sen. Bill Frist and Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, delegates even rejected amendments drawn word-for-word from the 2000 GOP platform."

Lessner conceded that "there is much in the platform to please conservatives," but added that there is "also plenty to infuriate."

[RockyMtnMan]

I pay an American to cut my grass, he does it just as cheaply.

[No-Compromise Conservative]

Then conservatives can turn the heat on the RINOs and the Bush administration with emails, letter-writing, and faxing.

Conservatives have been "turning up the heat" on illegals since 9/11. You'd think that after 9/11 the borders would be sealed. In fact, illegal immigration slowed to a trickle right after 9/11 happened, because Hispanics were rightfully scared that there'd be a massive crackdown.

This was a perfect missed opportunity for Bush. But I'm not stupid enough to waste a vote on the Constitution Party. I know that Bush's border policy would still be much better than Kerry's.

[Peach]

It does stink but it's a stupid post. We've had a gazillion of them and they don't do any good but get the conservatives riled up and all claiming they won't vote for Bush.

If that's the way they feel, fine. I'd rather they were smart enough to understand Kerry will be worse on every issue. But they aren't smart.

And don't complain here. Write letters to congressmen and the president.

[Bogolyubski]

If the Dems had any sense at all (which they don't as dedicated leftists), they would have run a candidate like Zel Miller. Bush would be toast.

Instead, the Dems run the most rabid drooling leftist available in the party and bank on his 4 months of military service in Vietnam. Republicans aren't the only stupid party.

It makes you wonder if the Clintons are running the Dem party and actually planned it this way so as to make way for the Hildebeast in 2008.

[No-Compromise Conservative]

It is not a bad thing, necessarily, that persons enter this country and take the scut work jobs that have to be done, but for which nobody is willing to pay a whole lot.

How did these jobs get done before illegal aliens entered the picture? You can say that some of the blame goes to our harsh regulatory, enviornmental, and tax climate that creates a demand for illegal, cheap labor.

[janetgreen]

Let's worry about illegal aliens AFTER Bush wins reelection. Then conservatives can turn the heat on the RINOs and the Bush administration with emails, letter-writing, and faxing.

What makes you think he will change his views upon re-election? Conservatives have already turned the heat on all of the above, but our voices have been ignored. He will have even less motive to change his views in the next four years because it will be his last term. We're going to have illegal aliens shoved down our throats ad nauseum by both parties whether we like it or not, and the majority of us don't like it.

[RFT1]

How so? People are angry that they have no say on the issue on immigration, most want it reduced DRAMATICALLY, and Bush is doing nothing about it. Bush has paid very little attendtion to non "investor class" conservatives.

[BlkConserv]

Ditto, ditto, ditto. These posts do nothing but get FReepers hyperventilating at each other.

Yeah, typing angrily that you're going to stay home or vote third-party is really going to solve matters.

[Barlowmaker]

Sorry to see your Democrat Socialist boy Hoeffel doing so poorly against the Republican candidate. You just can't win anything anywhere, can you?

[janetgreen]

Nobody EVER said George W. Bush was a rock-ribbed, mossback hardshell conservative.

LOL! If anyone HAD said it, it would have been the lie of the century.

[RFT1]

Then being here makes them ILLEGAL, it is a FELONY to hire them. I do not care how hard they work, they are not here via LEGAL means. What do people not understand about this? Does protection of the "investor class" trup the rule of LAW?

[Amish with an attitude]

"If the Dems had any sense at all (which they don't as dedicated leftists), they would have run a candidate like Zel Miller"

You may be right, but there aren't enough lucid Democrats around to rub two dimes together. We know Zel is voting for Bush.

[Barlowmaker]

Got any solutions janet, or just grievences?

Never mind, stupid question.

[TheLawyerFormerlyKnownAsAl]

"I pay an American to cut my grass, he does it just as cheaply."

Bump.

I mow my own and don't pay myself much.

[ServesURight]

You can make a difference. Bush listened to conservatives who were angry over government spending in the spring. Bush is not the type of person who, after winning reelection, is going to flip the bird at conservatives since he doesn't have to worry about another reelection. Bush has a broad, conservative agenda laid out for the next term, and cracking down on illegal immigration is one of them.

[Guillermo]

I love the "Enact the left wing agenda, to take away their issues."

What next? A new medical entitlement? More federal education programs? Campaign Finance Reform? Open Borders? Foreign election observers? Assault Weapons Ban?

Oh wait...

[CAPTAIN PHOTON]

"I know the office where I work is cleaned by Mexicans every night. No one else wants to do that work. I assume that these guys are documented, but they are here to work and perform a service"

They do the jobs that American's don't want to do...what's always left out is "at the wages employers want to pay". wonder what the response would be if employers offered 20/hr? Low wages mean no innovation, no automation, and the taxpayer gets to supplement the cheap wages with things like taxpayer funded health care.

[Guillermo]

It's not that he doesn't agree with Bush 100% of the time, it's that true conservatives don't even agree with Bush 10% of the time.

It's not about "all or nothing." Bush hasn't even come close to meeting his base half-way. Or a third of the way.

[Southack]

"If there are any deluded souls out there who still believe George W. Bush is a conservative, I invite them to examine the 2004 Republican Party platform on the issue of amnesty for illegal immigrants."

Bush's immigration plan offers bait for every currently-anonymous illegal alien to come in from the cold and *register* with the federal government, as well as registering their home, their U.S. employer, and their family. If you've ever been remotely involved with law enforcement, you know two things about registration:

1. It is easier to ban something (such as guns) once it is registered, and
2. It takes fewer LEO resources to track down someone who is known versus someone who is anonymous. In a time when we have over 8 million anonymous illegals, those resources matter.

After registering with the federal government, Bush's plan forces each illegal alien to pay a fine for being here illegally.

One could consider it to be a giant plea bargain.

In return for registering and paying that fine, they get new blue cards. The blue cards allow them to remain in the U.S. for three years, legally, so long as they remain employed, pay taxes, and stay out of any legal trouble.

To get a renewed blue card after 3 years, they have to return to their home countries in order to apply. This sends millions back to their home countries voluntarily, preventing the need to have a forced military round up larger than the one last seen in Europe from 1937 to 1945 (6 million +).

Frankly, I've heard of worse plans. It's a plea bargain, not an amnesty (you don't pay fines for amnesties), and it gets anonymous illegals registered, as well as gives them incentives to finally stay out of trouble with the law.

So this plan doesn't have me flailing my arms over my head while screaming that the sky is falling.

5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires

[tioga]

Of, course I want Bush re-elected. Already ordered my yard sign, bumper stickers, and t-shirts. I still am not happy with this issue though. I believe we can do more to protect ourselves, we just won't get it past the dems anyway, even if we try.

[dougherty]

What a crap post.

[Southack]

"It's not that he doesn't agree with Bush 100% of the time, it's that true conservatives don't even agree with Bush 10% of the time."

Which 90% of the following do you not agree with?

Presidency of George W. Bush -- the first 44 months

 

President Bush signing a federal ban on Partial Birth Abortion

Banned Partial Birth Abortion

Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy

Stopped foreign aid that would be used to fund abortions.

Supported and upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals

Signed E.O. reversing Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act

Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty

Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court

Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California

Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules that would have shut down every home business in America

First Missile is Installed For NMD on July 23, 2004

Killed the U.S. - CCCP ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses

Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first ten ABM silos in Alaska and California so that America has a defense against North Korean nukes

President Bush pledged to Israel on 4/14/2004 that it could keep parts of the West Bank, giving international legitimacy to Jewish settlements there

Denied Palestinian refugees any right of return to what is now Israel, saying they should be resettled in a future Palestinian state instead

Part of coalition (Russia, Israel, EU, Palestine, USA) for Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace"

Pushed through THREE raises for our military

Increased Defense Dept funding which had deteriorated during the previous 8 years

President Bush's Grand Strategy (click here)

President Bush's Environmental Record - 2004 (click here)

Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit

Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers

Ordered Attorney-General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, NOT a leftist-imagined *collective* right

Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e. the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty)

Signed the 2004 Omnibus Budget 1/26/2004 that now MANDATES that gun buyers' background check information be fully and permanently destroyed within 24 hours of the completion of the check, no matter what.

Repealed Gun Controls Against Active, Retired, and Off-Duty Law Enforcement Personnel Carrying Weapons Into Local and State Prohibited Zones (7/28/2004)

Disarmed Libya of its Chemical, Nuclear, and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed

Won an agreement that U.S. Navy sailors may now freely board thousands of commercial ships in international waters to search for weapons of mass destruction under a landmark pact between the United States and Liberia, the world's No. 2 shipping registry (signed Feb 11, 2004), and Panama 5/10/2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/11/international/americas/11ship.html).

Successfully executed 2 wars: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom

 

Executed a WAR ON TERROR by getting world-wide cooperation to track funds/terrorists (has cut off much of the terrorist's funding and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network)

Bush Administration diplomacy led to the 5/25/2004 peace accord that ended a massive 20-year civil war between Sudan's Islamic north and Christian south after two million deaths Click Here

 

Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed

Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.

Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia

Initiated comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE was critical.
Created NATO's Rapid Response Force
Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the Presidency

Reorganized bureaucracy...after 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency: the Department of Homeland Security.

Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts.

Improving govt. efficiency with .8 million jobs put up for bid...weakening unions and cutting undeserved pay raises. Wants merit based promotions/raises only.

Orchestrated Republican control of the White House, the House AND the Senate.

Killed the liberal ABA's role in vetting federal judges for Congress.

GWB signed an executive order enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision (re: union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes)

Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession.

Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.

Signed 2 income tax cuts ---- 1 of which was the largest Dollar-value tax cut in world history

Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains

In process of eliminating IRS marriage penalty.

Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people

Eliminated the Estate Tax (AKA "Death Tax") that was taking small farms and businesses from families

Signed into law the No Child Left Behind legislation delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations)

Reorganized the INS in an attempt to safeguard the borders and ports of America and to eliminate bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.

Signed trade promotion authority

Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men and women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa

Passed Medicare Reform (authorized $39.5 Billion per year for preventive medicine such as drugs and doctor visits as well as included a ten year Privatization option)

Urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits

Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims

Submitted comprehensive Energy Plan--awaits Congressional action (works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc.)

Endorses and promotes The Responsibility Era ("In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else -- to one in which every single American understands that he or she are responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself. " -----this quote was too good to leave out)

Started the USA Freedom Corps

Initiated review of all federal agencies with a goal to eliminate federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of federal gov while increasing private sector jobs.

Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become The League of Nations ( in other words, completely irrelevant)

Nominated strong, conservative judges to the judiciary.

President Bush opened up an additional part of Alaska for domestic oil drilling. In 2004, the National Petroleum Reserve, an area west of the existing Prudhoe Bay field, was approved for new energy exploration and production.

Increased U.S. Oil Drilling Permits 70% Above Clinton-era

Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary clean-up of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.

As part of the national forests clean-up, the President restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges) and removed the need for an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.
New Forest Rules Gives States Power Over Federal Forests Inside Their Borders
Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.

President Bush signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal Aliens
S. 1685, the Basic Pilot Extension Act of 2003, was signed by President Bush on December 3, 2003.
It extends for five years the workplace employment eligibility authorization pilot programs created in 1996. It expands the pilot programs from the original five states to all 50 states.

U.S. Forces In Baghdad

5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires

[ohCompGk]

What good would it do Bush or the Republicans to take as hard of a line as we and probably they would like? A hard line platform would certainly make us feel better right up to Nov. 2.

Bush/GOP have many of the finest minds in the world working to get elected. Stats that we can't imagine. Seeing how the last election was won by less than 600 votes, I'd say the GOP is doing a pretty good job of walking the line between issues and electability, although I would have conceded another issue in the last election for a more comfortable win.

[RockyMtnMan]

I used to cut my own grass and change my own oil but unfortunately my job has taken those joys of life away from me. It's a matter of time and money, in this case my time is worth more than my lawn care professionals time.

[qam1]

Got any solutions janet, or just grievences?

I'm not (a) Janet, but I do

Hold your nose and vote Bush in because Kerry will invigorate the terrorist and be totally ineffective at fighting them and if nukes go off in our cities the Illegal Immigration problem will be moot

However, The day after the election we work our tails off for the next four years to get Tom Tancredo in 2008

Plus if Bush loses they (The Republicans) will believe he lost not because he was too liberal but because he was too Conservatives and we would only end up with more and more RINOS taking control of the party

[Joe Hadenuf]

Several years ago Californians had had enough. We voted overwhelmingly for prop 187, to end this government approved invasion of millions.

Californian as usual, stepped up to the plate first and did what we had to do. After we won our free election, the federal government, working in concert with the state conspirators, burned our ballots and declared our free election illegal.

Californians tired of paying for this utter chaos, watching our hospitals close one after another due to non paying illegals, watched our jails filled with them, our overcrowded classrooms become even more over crowded, while government demanded more money to pay for all of this.

We watched our standard of living, along with our wages go down, jobs taken by criminals, while greedy business owners sit in the corner of the back office counting their profits on the backs of the tax payers. Looking out at the landscape since prop 187, the entire country is going the same way. From North Carolina, Georgia, to Tennessee, Colorado, Indiana, Arizona, Texas, Ohio, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, and down the line.

Its gone from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 to 12,000,000 and now some estimates are as high as 20,000,0000 illegals in country with hundreds of thousands entering every month or so. Is it not clear the intentions of the two beltway parties?

Is is not clear that instead of getting tough and stopping this epic lawlessness, the two parties are actually encouraging more millions to enter?

Now, here comes election, another four years gone by. And what are they asking us? Oh, just another four years and they'll fix the problem.

For crips sakes, when are the majority of people going to wise up to this government approved insanity?

[Peach]

Stick a fork in it. What have you done except complain to change things?