Posted on 01/11/2009 9:10:22 AM PST by my_pointy_head_is_sharp
Down to single digits in his days left in office, President George W. Bush is warning the Republican Party not to become "anti-immigrant" as it regroups from defeat and retools its leadership.
"It's very important for our party not to narrow its focus, not to become so inward looking that we drive people away from a philosophy that is compassionate and decent," the departing president said in an interview broadcast Sunday, nine days before his term ends. "My call for our party is to be open-minded."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Reagan set the standard. He won in two landslides, was a great president, and rebuilt the party into a powerhouse after Watergate.
It's too bad that the Bush family, and a good portion of the GOP didn't like Reagan and refused to learn from his example.
And I think the majority of those 'moderate" Republicans live in blue states that haven't voted for a Republican since Reagan, and are unlikely to go Republican in the foreseeable future.
A real problem is, if the conservative vote is split among several candidates as in 2008, it opens things up for a RINO like McCain. But the moderates offer little ability to actually deliver their states to a Republican nominee.
I don't agree with that. I think Bush is confusing the two issues. He thinks that to be anti "illegal" immigrants is to be anti immigrants. He's wrong. My grandparents and one of my parents were immigrants - legal immigrants. So I don't think anybody is against immigrants. Just illegal ones. Bush can't make that distinction. And of course, there are other idiots, like Bush, who can't make that distinction. Maybe that's who he's talking about. The dummies who think that if you're against illegal immigrants, you must be against all immigrants.
“I call BS,,, name one republican politician who has advocated *imprisoning* girls for getting an abortion.”
It doesn’t matter if I can name such a republican or not, the democrats and the media brand us conservatives as such.
And the brand sticks because we don’t know how to remove it.
I’m only advocating wising up.
As that would be merely rewarding illegal behavior, of course he wouldn’t be happy.
Obviously, you're not following the argument
First of all, I submit exhibit A: Two of the first ten posts were deleted by the moderator. There's not a hotter hot-button issue in the forum.
My question was directed at those posters attempting to distance themselves from the 'accused'...by differentiating between legal and illegal. "because, we're a nation of laws...." If they were declared 'legal' and all documented by the government, then any lingering hatred toward them would be assessed with a more judgmental eye...by others [read:VOTERS].
"Mexicans and chinese show our nation no due respect,,, Then they recreate their mexican hell-holes here. They would get a lot more support if they would follow our laws, and disavow their brutal, corrupt and failed culture."
I'm afraid your contribution to the discussion here is exhibit B.
It's normal for a generation to pass before total assimilation is achieved. How easy would it be for you to assimilate in Mexico or China?
That said, what kind of human are you that wouldn't extend a welcome hand to ANYONE coming from ...how did you describe it? A "...brutal, corrupt and failed culture"?
If they pay fines and penalties, where's the problem? The Immigration Reform Bill contained language to address that. But strident social conservatives shouted it down nonetheless.
Thus...President Bush's intended message.
The fines and penalties suggested were mostly for “the path to citizenship”. The most valuable commodity, legal residency, was given away for free.
As for the “fines” you refer to, it is more appropriate to say “sweet deal”. Compared to the amount of social services consumed by the average illegal, the “fines” involved were pitiful.
Any fine that is acceptable must reflect the actual direct and indirect costs to the american taxpayer for legalization. Plus a (real) fine of course.
A superior alternative to fines is mere employment verification, along with actual (gasp) immigration enforcement.
Worst Republican president of my life!
Hasta la vista El Jeffe Bush!
We should also restructure our primaries to have the states that actually vote Republican to pick the Republican nominee, unlike the states (Delaware, Iowa, etc.) that pick them now.
Opps, should have been N.H.
To be fair, NH actually goes for the R:s once in a while ;)
“Obviously, we got whipped in 2008,” Bush said.
There were many reasons we got ‘whipped’, the biggest one is named George W. Bush. People are sick to death of him and the Zero camp successfully tied McAmnesty to W.
I didn't say that you were. So, why are you defending yourself?
I am conservative.
Somehow, I doubt that.
I would propose on the immigration thing, that instead of threatening to deport all the folks who are here, we take the position that we want to help them assimilate and become part of the American Dream. A conservative approach would be to help them form small businesses with lower tax burdens.
How about we send all the folks who are here illegally home? Then find a way to help all the immigrants who are here legally assimilate and become a part of the American dream? Indeed, why is it that you are, yourself, incapable of making a distinction between who is here legally and who is not?"
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
I’m not going to flame you. You are right. The Democrats lie masterfully, and the sheep fall for it. No argue over that.
Nonsense. Evangelical support for McCain/Palin was half-hearted at best, and no wonder as the Pro-Life movement remained unrepresented. FiCons rightfully deserted him. When 7m fewer voted for McCain than voted for Bush04, that he lost is no surprise at all, and it was precisely the white Christians rejecting him that drove him into the ground like a tent peg.
All this election proves (once again, sommore, even yet) is that Republicans don't win by playing the middle, and when the Right ain't happy, ain't nobody gonna be happy.
Next time, try a Reaganite and see what happens.
Who said that white people aren't allowed to become citizens anymore? I know of quite a few Irish, some Scots, Russians, British and French, who have become citizens of late.
As far as being 'brown', or from the third world, most folks in the third world ARE brown, and it's probably because the third world is so unstable, that folks from there are given refugee status and are allowed in. I'm not saying it's right, I'm only stating the possibility that that seems to be the reason.
This negativity toward immigrants, illegal or otherwise, reminds me of what my mother said her grandparents went through when they came to America in the late 1800s. They were denigrated, because the moved into Southern Mississippi, and *gasp* were Italian and Catholic.
IIRC, that legislation was more than just what was seen as amnesty for illegals. It was an attempt to correct some serious flaws in the Immigration Laws.
The US could take in 1 billion a year and the pinheads in DC would say those who are opposed to more are "anti-immigrant". They're too cowardly to just come out and say they only care about cheap labor and nothing else, whether it's legal or illegal.
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