Bush laughs about his failure to stop illegal immigration

Earlier today president Bush spoke in Irvine and issued his stock spiel about immigration "reform". A transcript is here, including this:

But if you catch somebody from Central America coming back, you just can't send them back for a while, so there needs to be a place to detain them. We didn't have enough bed space. And so we had catch-and-release. We're asking people to go down there and do their job, and they find somebody from Central America sneaking in and they say, check back in with us in 45 days, come and see your immigration guy down there. (Laughter.) And they weren't checking back in after 45 days. (Laughter.) They were coming to work, see. They wanted to put food on the table for their families, and they weren't interested in checking back in.

I heard this excerpt and it's not just the audience that was laughing, Bush was saying the statements above expecting laughter to follow. While Congress plays a large role in not providing funds for detention space, so does the Bush administration. Despite recent calls to end "catch and release", their past actions make it clear that they more or less think it's all a big joke. Bush obviously cares more about those who want to employ those who are desperate enough to cross the border rather than what American citizens want and the rule of law.

Among other statements, Bush said this:

Now, my attitude is this: I think that people ought to be, obviously, here to work on a temporary basis. The definition of temporary will be decided in the halls of Congress.

As pointed out many times, "temporary" workers will be here forever. Quite a re-definition is apparently planned.

Note also that attendance was by invitation-only; if it had been otherwise he might have been asked a very embarrassing question or five instead of the puffball questions that they audience provided (or was provided with).

There were protesters outside (pictures here):

"Bush is a traitor to this country," [Barbara Coe, founder and chairwoman of the group California Coalition for Immigration Reform] said. "I am terrified for the future of my country and my children. It is our hope that this treacherous amnesty bill will be defeated and our further hope that our borders will be secured and the lives of our people protected."

"Traitor" is such a strong word, and, while I personally think it applies in the general sense I've been hesitant to use it because it's also very strictly defined in the legal sense. However, I have no such qualms about stating that Bush has broken his oath of office:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Comments

Bush needs mexico and its people to take us down, who was really behind 9-11? just look at bush and family how many are mexicans? how many have money in mexico? how many hate our freedoms? how many are helping bin laden?

Bush and this government are the enemies of this nation and its people of all races, its time to show if we are still the people of 1776, one march on washington, "with a will", to hang the pigs from trees and that will stop all of this madness.

death to Bin Laden and the real enemies of freedom and duty and laws, get my point?

a rope a tree a march can set you free, or show the world what and where real evil is.

stop the drug dealers of mexico city and the third world from mass murder of this nation.

"continue to do these jobs now"

You can really see this if you travel America's 'blue highways'.

By my count from that "invitation only" speech, I heard Bush say that illegal immigrants "do the jobs Americans won't do" five times. Five times in about 15 minutes... the singular most repeated statement in his broad brush policy position on "reform". Nevermind that legal Americans have been doing these jobs for many decades and continue to do these jobs now. Nevermind that the President considers citizens who would defend the border because its government won't "vigilantes" and would selective prosecute them over illegals trespassing private lands. Nevermind that he smears those who would be concerned about foreign nation's businesses controlling ports of entry and reflexively call them racists. This President needs a clue-by-four.

If the Democrats wanted a substantial issue with legs to impeach a President rather than the hypertechnical interpretation of Executive authority on wiretapping (which is the canard they've politicized for effect), Bush's dereliction of duty in defending our borders and enforcing law would be it.

Yes, his laughing off the seriousness of this issue was pretty indicative of his detachment from the common man. His insular world allows him to not be concerned with security, financial hardship, legal restraint, or employment. The one thing I did notice was that his select audience sat on their hands considerably more than I expected. The platitudes were often met with silence or tempered response. Clearly, even they saw through his transparent, empty rhetoric.

Bush is a robot on his advocacy for accommodating illegal aliens. Check that... not a robot but a cheerleader with a well rehearsed chorus. His concern is more for those who would violate American sovereignty than those who would defend it. It's a disgrace.

Actually, Barbara's usage of the word "traitor" is completely correct, at least as defined by Webster's. Bush has been derelict in fulfilling his obligations as President. Whether his behavior rises to the level of treason, at least as it is applied legally is open to debate.

Bush is, in many ways, more deceitful than Clinton. At least in the latter's case, he never told us he WASN'T a liar and a cheat - Bush on the other hand wraps himself in all this goddam phony piety, just like his godfather, at least tempermentally speaking, Jimmy Carter. Both are inept, mean, shallow little pricks.

Bush's mission to Orange County was a failure. He repeated the same moronic platitudes everyone has heard a million times before. The insulting jokes were the only deviation from the set formula.

As noted by others, Article IV Section 4 of the Constitution requires the President to defend the states against invasion. This is not an optional task, to be held hostage to some policy measure (like amnesty), but a duty.