Well, tonight at 8 p.m., President Bush will officially cave to his more conservative brethren and call for a new deployment of yet more National Guard troops. And on primetime television no less. This call is to send some 8000 troops to "secure" our Mexican borders. "Secure"? Are we under attack now?
This is nothing short of typical Bush administration grand-stand politics. Democratic leader Harry Reid was quick to parry tonight's address with some pointed questions for the President. Referring to a recently passed bill in the House which subjects illegal immigrants to prosecution as felons and requires construction of a 700-mile Mexican border fence, Reid was quoted on the Senate floor that President Bush "must publicly denounce" the bill.
Along with asking Bush "what kind of immigration reform he supports," Reid called for answers on what the President would propose on Border Security.
Reid also questioned, "If President Bush is going to get tough on border security, will he finally get tough on employer sanctions as well?"
To date, the Bush administration has given little attention to laws already on the books that would thwart employers' efforts to skirt legalities prohibiting the employment of illegal immigrants. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., broke ranks and centered his concerns on the overuse of National Guardsmen.
"We've got National Guard members on their second, third, and fourth tours in Iraq," said Hagel "We have stretched our military as thin as we have ever seen it in modern times. And what in the world are we talking about here, sending a National Guard that we may not have any capacity to send up to or down to protect borders? That's not their role."
White House spokesman Tony Snow could offer no clues as to how long such a deployment might last or where funding for such an act might come from. He did go as far to say that Bush's plan would go into more detail including addressing "beefing up" the Border Patrol than either plans available presently in the House or the Senate.
Go figure. The great Decider has the best idea once again. Should we go ahead and disband the Senate and the House now and get them out of his way? Such omnipotence is not likely to survive, nor be readily forgotten.
Technorati Tags:
Immigration, Border Patrol, National Guard, Reid, Bush
Article comments
1 - mehair
"Are we under attack now?"
Uh, yeah. Is the question a joke?
2 - Dave Nalle
Along with asking Bush "what kind of immigration reform he supports," Reid called for answers on what the President would propose on Border Security.
Wow, talk about political grandstanding. When Bush has made his position so crystal clear, asking him what it is either suggests that Reid is an idiot or that he thinks the rest of us are idiots and not paying attention.
Dave
3 - Michael J. West
The question you answer, mehair, should've been made more clear. The question should've been, "Are we under attack from Mexico now?" And no. Of course we aren't. To suggest otherwise is alarmism at its finest.
But I'm going to betray my friends on the left now and say that I agreed with most of Bush's speech. It was truly the only possible solution, the only middle-ground between the two party hardlines.
Of course, betraying my friends on the left is a relative term: from what I've seen thus far tonight, the right has the left beat in the category of bellyaching against Bush's proposals.
4 - Dave Nalle
This article really does substantially misrepresent Bush's speech. There's nothing in it that panders to the anti-immigration extremists, and what there is in it that's about border enforcement is straight out of the Senate bill that got voted down last month.
Dave
5 - Paul Jordan, Sr.
Gentlemen, Please note that this was written prior to Bush's speech, so context accordingly. Reid called upon Bush prior to the speech Dave, I guess it worked. According to the pre speach releases, Bush did make some changes, that I admit, sound much better than what was sais to be expected.
6 - Michael J. West
Duly noted, Paul. It should also be noted that one of Reid's questions did seem to be neglected:
"If President Bush is going to get tough on border security, will he finally get tough on employer sanctions as well?"
Answer: meh.
7 - Dave Nalle
What Bush was going to say was obvious before the speech, and they released a draft of the speech well before he made it as well. Reid was grandstanding, pure and simple. It's something he does a hell of a lot.
Dave
8 - Bliffle
It's getting worse. Five years ago a guy could go to a certain shopping center in town at 7AM and pickup a laborer, from about 10 guys, to cleanup the garden, sink postholes, or whatever. Most of them were gone by 10AM. Now there are 50 guys at EVERY shopping center, and they're there all day long!
I suppose that pretty soon they'll demand unemployment payments.
9 - Paul Jordan, Sr.
And the release said up to 8000 Guardsman, not the 6000 mentioned in the speech, and Tony's assertion that the finances were not set, and the prognosis of an end to the deployment was un-clear....
Far from grandstanding Mr. Nalle, though one might consider you an expert in the field.
10 - Dave Nalle
Hmmm. Maybe Bush was sandbagging Reid. What a concept.
Dave
11 - zingzing
jesus dave, just admit you fucked up. the post didn't misrepresent the speech... because it was written before the speech. this reid character didn't ask for a clarification of bush's views after the speech, he asked before, maybe hoping that (for once) bush would actually tell us something. which he did. good for bush.
12 - Paul Jordan, Sr.
Thanks zing,
It does pay to read the post first.
13 - Dave Nalle
Zing, I believe I was entirely clear in my comments. Reid knew the content of the speech before Bush made it. Most of us have known the gist of his immigration plan for MONTHS.
Reid's tactic is a standard one these days. Define what your opponent is saying before or more loudly than he does, then the ignoranti will believe your version of what he says and ignore what was really said. The author of this article is just enabling this kind of partisan deception.
Dave
14 - zingzing
maybe... i never heard of this reid guy before i read this article, which says a lot about my view on politics, i suppose... i just wanted to know what bush had to say (i read the paper, thank you.) most people are probably unaware of reid's tactics, as they don't pay enough attention to the w.w.e.-style wrestling match that is congress these days. i'm glad though, that reid wanted to push bush for answers... because even if reid knew what those answers were, bush always needs pushing towards full disclosure.
15 - Paul Jordan, Sr.
ignoranti
cute, very cute. nice rant Dave. Are you going to trademark it like "truthiness"??
16 - Paul Jordan, Sr.
You are a very confident one, aren't you?
17 - Bliffle
I guess the National Guard is the New Slavery: cheap labor, cheap soldiers. Bad medical plan. Cannon fodder.
18 - Heloise
What about when the numbers of 50 million begin looking for jobs other than "The ones Americans won't take?" What then?
Will they demand unemployment, welfare, free healthcare? Of course they will. Hospitals, schools and public service are having to close their doors due to the demand made by illegals.
Heloise
19 - Paul Jordan, Sr.
Unemployent is paid for by the employer, based upon his employment practices and records. None of us get "free healthcare", although anyone, including illegal aliens can walk into any emergency room and be seen and treated. No news there, and as for welfare, I think the work ethic of the majority of hispanic immigrants is what worries most people, not likely to be a welfare issue there. So, no, the sky is not falling, Henny Penny.