Posted on 03/08/2002 1:24:33 PM PST by sarcasm
Friday, March 08, 2002 - WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Tancredo takes credit for thwarting the Bush administration's last effort to offer partial amnesty to thousands of illegal residents, but Thursday the outspoken immigration foe said he may have been outmaneuvered by the White House.
President Bush has struck a deal with the House leadership to place legislation that offers an extension of amnesty on its consent calendar before Bush heads to Mexico for a state visit next week, the Colorado Republican said. That action should ensure quick House passage of legislation that Bush has repeatedly sought from Congress. It would allow an undocumented person to receive legal standing, such as a valid green card, by filing a declaration with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. It presumably also would require the person to have been in the United States by a certain date and have filed a declaration with the INS from an appropriate sponsor, such as a relative or employer, and pay a $1,000 penalty. "The terms are still up in the air," said Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration, a group that has been allied with Tancredo. "We've heard to the effect that the president wants something to bring down to Mexico." The initial Bush proposal, designed exclusively for Mexicans, once was high on the president's legislative wish list, but it was delayed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. However, as the president noted Wednesday in a speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, he now is pushing for the extension of the amnesty program known by the section of immigration law that covers it, Section 245I. The president hailed it as a way to reunite family, separated by the border. "If you believe in family values, if you understand the worth of family and the importance of family, let's get 245I out of the United States Congress and give me a chance to sign it," Bush told the chamber members. Tancredo, the head of a congressional caucus on immigration issues and proponent of halting virtually all immigration, said he had blocked a previous attempt by Bush to push an extension of the amnesty program through the House. But this time, he said House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., had agreed to place the issue on the suspension, or consent, calendar, making it difficult to defeat the proposal. The Senate might be more favorable to the bill than the House, expanding the numbers of individuals who can apply, Tancredo said.
Freeple Sheeple
That is hilarious coming from a person who has shown so much tolerence for idealogical difference in the past. Or perhaps you believe diversity is only skin deep. If that's what you think it would explain a lot about you, and your sycophantic relationship with Dane.
And pointless platitudes.
The result of pushing them into minority status, would not be as you say IMO. It will force them to fight the liberals for more of their constituency. Again, only my opinion. They are in the position that Rush(lovehimorhatehim) Limbaugh has painted so clearly. They want to be loved by the media, and by extension the public. Instead of being dedicated to an ideal, they are dedicated to being part of the "in" crowd. I would like to see the figures showing the numbers of Republicans at dinner parties in '94 and in the present. If my theory is correct, the R's are hobnobbing with the best of them.
This description describes Rush as well. Sure, Rush has some "principles" he loudly trumpets, but they happen to coincide with the people who he hobnobs with and who have helped him succeed over the years and who have carefully guided his career and coached him. I have listened to Rush off and on since he started out as a local host in Sacramento. Rush has slowly but surely changed his positions on many issues to put himself in lockstep with the neo-cons and the open borders, NWO types within the party.
True, Rush won't publicly support amnesty (at least I don't think so - he knows what most people think about it), but it is highly unlikely he will take Bush to task in any meaningful way over the issue. Rush might not even mention today's vote, if he thinks he can get away with it.
I stopped taking Rush seriously when he flipped on the MLK Day issue; I was confirmed in my suspicions after his Potemkin-like guided tour of Israel.
Judging from his history, his tone, his body language, and my own personal intuition (again, IMHO), Rush is every bit as driven by status anxiety and desire to please the media (at least, the "conservative" media) as are the GOP pols. Rush is a very "other directed" kind of fellow. Contra his claims otherwise, Rush is neither original nor very imaginative. He gets fed his information and talking points by his various collaborators and handlers. Rush's talents are those of a salesman - glibness, enthusiasm, optimism, articulateness, ability to convince. But it's not the salesman that should convince one to buy; it's the product. Caveat emptor.
They also didn't blow up buildings or kill thousands of Americans. A little bit different from our current batch of immigrants wouldn't you say.
I am quite conservative in my views, but I like to think I'm not completely closed or open to other thought. I don't know you, at all so can't comment. I mentioned the fact I was a journalist, not to intimidate you with academia, nor as a means to puport that I was college educated. I'm not a smart-ass, I have a lot to learn. I learn every day. (Why the hell do ye think I check in FR, frequently?)
Nowhere in your post do you indicate whether these immigrants are legal or illegal; also on the one hand you claim that Ireland needs these qualified professional workers, and then on the other hand you claim they are either sponging off of the system or working menial jobs. Which is it? Don't blame the anti-immigration crowd because your government refuses to clean up the mess created by your immigration and social welfare laws.
Yes certainly there are problems, quite a few actually. My main problems with the laws in Ireland is that these people aren't immediately issued (once registered) with some sort of temporary work visa, so they can work in the State for six months while they are processed). At the moment, they arrive and tax-payers fund their stay (processing can take 2 years). But many are professionals, many are hard working, decent individuals wanting to eeek out a living and a life for themselves. I have NO problem with that at all. MY god, haven't all our ancestors done the same? I am Irish (a nation where I should hate Britain for being the big enemy in terms of politicism)...but I see that country as one which gave my uncles a living when they couldn't find one here...in my little green Utopia.!!! !
Frankly, your post is one long feminine whinge about how awful things are for immigrants, and how (by implication) anyone who complains about this situation is really just a big meanie and a racist. The central thrust of your message is that immigration law should be based on what's good for the immigrants (as they define it) rather than what is good for your nation. This is a recipe for disaster, which you will be tasting of shortly.
Your need to use ``feminine whinge'' shows your inability to argue. I am in an Irish household with many men who can argue to their last breath...my sexuality never came into it. (Your need to mention my sex (yeah, I know, your next post will be classing me as some sort of feminazi, which I'm not!...just grow the hell up) shows your inability of same). I have never implied you to be rascist...and I don't need to call anyone a big meanie!! (I'm not in kindergarten for Chrissakes)
More and more people are growing tired of the dominant elite's disdain for democracy and traditional culture, and its overweening desire to turn the world into a police state that looks like a giant version of Disney World, sans mouse ears. This kind of evasion (implying your opponent is racist) isn't going to fly in future; and Ireland is in nowhere near as bad a situation as the USA. But give it time.
I don't class myself as elite. Not at all. In fact I class myself as reasonably practical.
In fact, if I dare, to put it in American political terms, I'm most possibly Reaganesque. (So friggin' sue me!).
I'd like to see Tancredo run against Bush in 04'. With a good campaign he could capture 2/3rds of the conservative base. Since most republicans are conservative he could give Bush a real run for his money.
Same situation as he is now - uneducated unskilled and non-english speaking - except in a different country.
Dane has already expressed her view that Mexicans should not have to follow the same laws as guys like you and me.
No, she's got Americans to persecute - why should she worry about a few "bad apples" from Mexico?
Amen!! He's got my vote.
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