Free Republic

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's proposals on Monday night to overhaul immigration policy with tougher border enforcement, a guest worker program and a path toward legalization found favor with viewers, a CNN snap poll suggests.Opinion of Bush's immigration policies among people who watched his speech jumped among Republicans, Democrats and independents, according to the survey taken immediately after the primetime televised address.Bush's five-point plan calls for: secure borders a temporary worker program holding employers to account a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the United States Congressional passage of comprehensive immigration legislation Bush detailed his proposal and called...

Which was a more important political dynasty in American life, the Kennedy dynasty or the Bush one? Did either the Kennedys or the Bushes leave behind a coherent philosophy of government? Which dynasty left a deeper mark on the American character and memory? Let's start by acknowledging that the Kennedys are in eclipse now. The senior lion of the clan, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), is a year away from age 75; he's clearly never going to be president. His son, Patrick, is a congressman from Rhode Island but is unlikely to reach the top of the...

Posted on September 8, 2004 After the State of the Union address the other night, I couldn't help thinking, is George W. Bush pretending to be a Democrat? Many parts of his speech could have been spoken by Bill Clinton, Dick Gephardt, Tom Daschle or John Kerry. He used the rhetoric of health care, jobs, and education ... The difference is that while Bush talks about these issues that are so important to working and middle-class Americans, and sometimes even says the right thing, his policies reflect an entirely different agenda - one that has the sole purpose of making...

NEW YORK - Out on the street with protesters, there are environmentalists, pacifists, even some capitalists - selling anti-Bush T-shirts, of course.      But to Republicans here, the great unwashed sweating in and blocking the streets, are defined in one word: Democrats.      ``Frankly it reminds me of why I left the Democratic Party,'' said former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. ``I used to be a Democrat and I turned instead to Ronald Reagan's upbeat optimism instead of the negativity and the liberalism and the protest movement of the Democratic Party. It wasn't my cup of tea.''      Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie...

.......What was striking about the letter was that the entire first page was about how Bush misleads, but not a single sentence about how Kerry would lead. Even as Bush flounders in self-righteousness, you have to wonder if the ABB (Anybody But Bush) crowd is lulling themselves into a reverse trap. Letters like this make you wonder if ABB also means All But Blind. The reality is there is a core on folks on the right who believe Bush is an appointed guardian of unilateral American might. There is a core of people on the left who believe Bush is...

Editorial: AnybodyButBushers Unite! Becky O'Malley (01-23-04) People from around here who went off to Iowa to stump for their candidates of choice could be feeling pretty discouraged right about now. I’m on e-mail lists for Dean, Kucinich and the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, so I’ve been reading about how bad some are feeling. It’s safe to say that not many Berkeleyans were trying to persuade Iowa Democrats to support caucus winners Kerry or Edwards. A few points to keep in mind before you feel too bad about the primaries: 1) It’s Anyone But Bush, remember? This might explain the...