Bush uncovered: he doesn't know what country he runs

The Los Angeles Times' offers a four(!)-screener from Peter Wallsten entitled "Immigrant Issues Are Personal for Bush".

I believe the best way to characterize it is as a lame attempt to further divide Bush from his base. The subtext of the article is that the latter are opposed to illegal immigration because - quite unlike Bush - they're opposed to Hispanics or Mexicans.

The article conflates support for Hispanics with support for massive illegal immigration from Mexico. Further, we're informed that Bush has an "unusual comfort level with Mexican culture".

We're also informed that Bush filmed a campaign video in which he waves the Mexican flag. That was apparently at a Mexican Independence Day parade in 1998. Despite that, lefties are already trying to make childish hay.

Those of a more serious bent might want to consider this:

[Texas state Rep. Garnet Coleman] credits Bush for taking on Wilson on Proposition 187, but says Bush's stance today seems more about keeping low-wage labor available to industry. "I think he's doing it out of interest in keeping cost of production low for his friends," he said. "It's pure economics."

And this:

Ernest Angelo, a petroleum engineer and mayor of Midland during the 1970s boom, brought up the issue when he encountered Bush at a political event, telling the future governor that he was concerned about the open border. Angelo suggested ending bilingual education in the U.S. to force greater assimilation.

But Bush didn't agree. The two debated the issue for half an hour.

"He told me that was the wrong thing to do," Angelo recalled. "I saw right then that he had a very deep-seated feeling that the immigration situation was beneficial to the country."

And, most damning of all, this:

The five-minute video, narrated by Bush, opens with an image of him fishing on his property near Crawford, Texas, as he essentially described millions of Americans who populate his home state as the true foreigners in someone else's native land.

"About 15 years before the Civil War, much of the American West was northern Mexico," Bush says in the video. "The people who lived there weren't called Latinos or Hispanics. They were Mexican citizens, until all that land became part of the United States.

Obviously, Bush has taken all this a bit too far. Should any conservative - or American for that matter - support someone who sounds like one of the "this is stolen land!" idiots? I didn't watch the video, but I wouldn't be half surprised if it doesn't include a five minute rant about the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo or a call to build Aztlan.

Related: El Andar: Los Amigos de Bush: "The disturbing ties of some of George W. Bush’s Latino advisors"

Politics · Tue, 04/04/2006 - 20:46 · · Importance: 1