Posted on 04/26/2006 5:20:12 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
President Bush generally favors plans to give millions of illegal immigrants a chance at U.S. citizenship without leaving the country, but does not want to be more publicly supportive because of opposition among conservative House Republicans, according to senators who attended a recent White House meeting.
Several officials familiar with the meeting also said Democrats protested radio commercials that blamed them for Republican-written legislation that passed the House and would make illegal immigrants vulnerable to felony charges.
Bush said he was unfamiliar with the ads, which were financed by the Republican National Committee, according to officials familiar with the discussions.
At another point, Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada and other members of his party pressed the president about their concern that any Senate-passed bill would be made unpalatable in final talks with the House.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat, said the lawmaker who would lead House negotiators, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, had been "intractable" in negotiations on other high-profile bills in the past. Bush did not directly respond to the remark, officials said.
The Republican and Democratic officials who described the conversation did so Wednesday on condition of anonymity, saying they had not been authorized to disclose details.
Bush convened the session to give momentum to the drive for election-year immigration legislation, a contentious issue that has triggered large street demonstrations and produced divisions in both political parties. Senators of both parties emerged from the session praising the president's involvement and said the timetable was achievable.
"Yes, he thinks people should be given a path to citizenship," said Sen. Mel Martinez., R-Fla., a leading supporter of immigration legislation in the Senate.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
When Mr. Limbaugh first started out he often made the point that he was a conservative, but he was also an entertainer. He was very clear that his business was to entertain.
Look at Michael Savage. For years he struggled to make an easy buch selling herbal supplements. One day he changes his name from Weiner to Savage and pandering to the buchanan crowd. Look at how well he's doing now.
Who was Lou Dobbs before he started marketing to this audiance? No one.
Both men are nothing more then businessmen selling a product and they've found a viable market.
Bush will destroy the Republican party. His ratings are lower than any president's in the history. His policies are clearly against the Constitution and he is clearly a globalist. He has sold this country and he will go down in history as one of the worst presidents ever. I have no doubt about that.
Oh shut up and read my reply to you BEFORE you post half cocked.
I'm sure they can probably still rent that little room that Pat Buchanan and Ezola Foster used for their grand and noble convention.
"I believe" is NOT a fact and strange to hear coming from somebody who requires only documented facts from the so called "Bush-Bashers"
Wow...all those talking points in just five sentences. That has to be a record.
Wow.
Best to stay far away from that MSM kool-aid.
LOL! Does this mean, Patster is not planning to enter the primaries?
*yawn*
And this is a bad thing?
"His ratings are lower than any president's in the history"
Wrong, now go see the wizard and get a brain.
Yea yea yea .. the liberals said the same thing about Reagan
They'll tell you though, that he has voted Republican all his life. In the same breath that they tell you how much they hate RINOs.
Never grasp just how ironic their statement is.
Give it a break.
There aren't enough people on this site to elect a dog catcher in Snakes Navel, Wyoming.
We (as in ALL of us) 'used" to question the veracity of the WP, particularly when anonymous sources were quoted.
In truth a whole lot of "true" and "real" conservatives would say the same thing about President Reagan. He was a remarkable person, but one of the most remarkable aspects of his Presidency is how it grows more conservative with each passing year.
Your facts don't tell the entire story. They are selective facts.
Bush doesn't just favor bestowing citizenship upon illegals. Bush does favor bestowing citizenship upon illegals who wait their turn and move to the end of the citizenship line. Plus they must pay a fine for their civil offense.
Employer arrests have decreased during his term meanwhile border arrests have increased during his term.
Those are the full facts. You should state them as such. To not do so is to not be objective.
BTW, if Bush has slashed the budget for CBP, you should document it. Simply stating it doesn't make it fact.
Can you supply a list of Presidents that did have ratings lower than Bush's?
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