Secret Bush plan to deal with Bush/Rove "import Democrats" plan? (citizenship backlog)

Mark Kleiman - someone who is shockingly a UCLA professor - writes [1]:

The Bush Administration plans to steal hundreds of thousands of votes, most of them Democratic votes, in the 2008 elections by the simple expedient of sitting on new citizenship applications until after the elections.

He links to his site, which mostly just links to the WaPo article "Immigrant Paperwork Backs Up At DHS" (link). Neither of those back up his contention that most of those would be Democrats, but they do contain a few hints [2]. However, it's clear that the corollary to Kleiman's quote is that he's supporting immigration as a means of obtaining political power for his party. If this is an actual effort by the Bush administration, it's the opposite of what occurred in the Clinton administration, with citizenship applications rushed through in order to obtain votes (Doris Meissner was involved: link).

And, the Bush admin has sent mixed signals:

"I really want to target the elections," USCIS Director Emilio T. Gonzalez told the Associated Press in an interview published Tuesday. "I really want to get as many people out there to vote as possible." ...Aides, however, contradicted him. "We are going to process these cases as responsibly and as quickly as we can, but we're not focused on any of the election cycle," [Michael Aytes, associate director of USCIS] said. USCIS spokesman Bill Wright emphasized that political calculations played no role in agency decisions. "Any implication of that is ludicrous," he said.

Does the Bush admin think that if they push the applications through they'll get votes? If the Bush admin is delaying the process intentionally, isn't that an admission that massive immigration equals more Democratic voters and a repudiation of the Bush-Rove loose borders scheme? Does the Bush admin foolishly think that if only "reform" would have passed they'd get votes from grateful newly-naturalized citizens, but because "reform" didn't pass they would have to engage in this scheme? Why didn't George Bush and Karl Rove try to import large numbers of Republicans? The mind boggles.

[1] huffingtonpost.com/mark-kleiman/voter-fraud_b_73808.html
[2] Those condemning the backlog in the article include Crystal Williams, deputy director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, former immigration lawyer and U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren, a spokesman for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (a group linked to the Mexican government), and Eliseo Medina from the SEIU. The article also trots out stock verbage about the Hispanic vote.

Politics · Wed, 11/21/2007 - 19:13 · · Importance: 1