January 27, 2005

Bush now self-parody

...QUESTION: Mr. President, the Senate Republicans recently listed their priorities, and immigration reform wasn't on it. Do you think this means it's dead for this year?

BUSH: No, I don't.

QUESTION: And why are you having so much trouble with your own party...

BUSH: No, I appreciate that question. It'll be one of my priorities. I believe it's necessary to reform the immigration system.

I'm against amnesty. I've made that very clear.

On the other hand, I do want to recognize a system where a willing worker and a willing employer are willing to come together in a way that enables people to find work without jeopardizing a job that an American would otherwise want to do.

BUSH: I also happen to believe immigration reform is necessary to help make it easier to protect our borders.

The system right now spawns coyotes and smugglers and, you know, people willing to break the law to get people in our country. There is a vast network of, kind of, shadowy traffickers.

And I believe by making -- by advancing a program that enables people to come into our country in a legal way to work for a period of time for jobs that Americans won't do will help make it easier for us to secure our borders.

And so...

QUESTION: Why the resistance in your party so much to this?

BUSH: Well, you know, I think -- I'm looking forward to discussing it with members of both parties.

BUSH: I believe it's a very important issue that we need to address. I've had a lot of experience with dealing with borders as the governor of Texas. I know there's a compassionate, humane way to deal with this issue.

I want to remind people that family values do not stop at the Rio Grande river. People are coming to our country to do jobs that Americans won't do, to be able to feed their families. And I think there's a humane way to recognize that, at the same time protect our borders, and at the same way to make sure that we don't disadvantage those who have stood in line for years to become a legal citizen.

And I'm looking forward to working with people of both parties on the issue...

I'd comment on how many dozens of times he's said these exact same things, except due to our "competent" press corps and his overall distance from them he hasn't been asked about immigration matters that much. However, each time he has he recites these same old lines. Pull his string and he plays back AILA slogans.

Now, over to our friends on the other side of the Rio Bravo:

Mexico may turn to international courts in efforts to block a new Arizona law limiting services to undocumented aliens [sic], Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Wednesday... "It's sad and it gives an idea of how we have to work to educate even our own Mexican-Americans about why it is important that these proposals are not accepted..."

And:

There's nothing secret about this effort. President Vicente Fox once referred to himself as president of all 118 million Mexicans - the 100 million in Mexico and the (then-)18 million in the United States, the majority of whom are U.S. citizens. And this is a long-term proposition for them: In June 2001, Juan Hernandez, former head of Fox's cabinet-level office for relations with Mexicans abroad, said on ABC's "Nightline," "I want the third generation, the seventh generation, I want them all to think, 'Mexico first.'"

For more on Bush's guest worker plan, see The Big Show on the Border.

Posted to Immigration2005a at January 27, 2005 11:04 PM

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