Dave Simpson
2004-01-07 19:52:20 UTC
Has Bush just done something that will cost him re-election in
November?
It's easy to analyze the guest-worker idea for what it is, a modern
"bracero" program that is a sop to the business community, but what
was Dubya thinking?
Do Bush and the GOP think that they can expect Republican voters to
stay with them because the alternatives are worse? Even if those
Republican voters may now feel betrayed?
If Bush and the GOP were counting on a sop to Hispanic voters, anybody
with a working brain can remind them that Hispanics already are
well-established as Democratic voters. (2/3 is the figure from the
news article below, and anyone familiar with immigrant-related
politics in places like California knows well which party Hispanics
tend to prefer!) About the only Hispanics that can be counted on to
vote for GOP candidates is the Cuban community in southern Florida.
We who are independent voters aren't pledged to either party, and
while the Democrats are worse for the USA, when you have a liberal
Republican like Bush who does something like this (which also is a
slap to liberals whose views are protectionist or
job-saving-oriented), you may see more voters than normal feel moved
to swing to the other side -- to consider voting for a real Democrat
rather than one with a dishonest "GOP" label.
It remains to be seen how the Democratic candidates, and Hillary
Clinton, will react to this. Not to mention the far right paleocons
such as Pat Buchanan who have been cast out of power, nor the radicals
like Kucinich (who can exploit this for his "living wage" issue) or
some candidate from the Greens or other extremist left parties.
As it is, with this decision by Dubya I was reminded of the remark
about Dubya's father, once he betrayed the voters with his new taxes
and with other wrong acts, and the image of a replica of Bush Elder's
head on a platter being circulated at a meeting at the Heritage
Foundation (pre-eminent conservative-GOP think tank in the US).
Did Dubya just make un-electable Democrats suddenly electable, or at
least hopeful, after all? Allowing illegal immigrants to legally work
here, and to provide government benefits to them once they've gone
home, if they go home?
IS HE CRAZY? (We already suspect he's in too good with the business
community, as he has been regarding China, and in a more specific way
with Saudi Arabia.)
Stupid move, Dubya. You just breathed life in the Dim-O-Dwarves, just
as your father did for Bubba. Will you and others in the GOP become
nervous about it, if Americans are angered about it, or will you be
out of touch with that anger as your dad and the GOP was in 1992?
The Democrats are toxic to America and are the Party of Crooks,
Losers, and Scum in America -- but they're not the one making and
announcing this policy decision. Dubya is.
News article below, some appropriate remarks added
...
[AP]
Illegal immigrants could stay, work under Bush plan
by Jennifer Loven
Millions of illegal migrant farmers, hotel maids and others working in
the shadows of American society would be granted legal status and
freed from the threat of deportation under an election-year proposal
President Bush wants Congress to approve.
[Will the pro-immigration multiculturalist Dems in the Congress
suddenly become nationalist and nativist?]
Bush called Mexican President Vicente Fox to brief him Wednesday
morning in advance of Bush's speech later in the day at the White
House.
[Your safety valve and hard-currency income stream are being
strengthened, Mr. Presidente. You may even see income kept coming
after your people come home.]
"There are some jobs in this country, in our growing economy, that
Americans are not filling," White House press secretary Scott
McClellan said. "That presents an opportunity for workers from abroad
who want to work."
[Will the Dims spin this to their delight? "Export good jobs to
low-wage nations, import low-wage immigrants to fill what's left! Is
that what you want to vote for in 2004, America?"]
Bush's proposals break a virtual silence on immigration since the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks raised fears about border security.
[Dims: "The Bush administration wants to increase immigration, while
security against terrorist still consists of making little old ladies
take off their shoes and risk being groped at airports. Is that what
you want to vote for in 2004, America?"]
The president argues that his plan would make America safer by giving
the government a better idea of who was crossing U.S. borders, bolster
the economy by meeting employers' need for willing low-wage workers,
and fulfill a mandate for compassion by guaranteeing the rights and
legitimacy of illegal workers.
[Dims: "Compassion to immigrants, meanness to Americans. Is that what
you want to vote for in 2004, America?"]
Likely to be left unsaid during the president's speech were the
political dividends White House advisers hoped the proposal would pay.
[Such as all the Hispanic GOP votes in California?]
By dangling the prospect of legal status to some 8 million illegal
immigrants now estimated to be in this country, about half of them
Mexican, Bush was granting a top priority of the business community
[NO! Really? Oh, and is any US company currently building factories
in China?]
while making his most aggressive move yet to court Hispanic voters -
the nation's fastest-growing electoral bloc.
[Such as all the Hispanic GOP votes in California?]
He won just over one-third of that constituency in 2000 but wants to
expand his support in the community to better his chances for
re-election in November.
The proposal would provide a way for illegal immigrants who can show
they have employment to work legally, although temporarily, in the
United States. The new "temporary worker program," which also would
include people still in their native countries who have a job lined up
in the United States, would not, like the temporary visa programs
already in existence that involve mostly technical experts, apply only
to a certain sector of the economy or industry.
Much of the detail of president's proposal was to be worked out by
Congress in future negotiations with the White House.
For instance, Bush wants to increase the nation's yearly allotment of
green cards that allow for permanent U.S. residency, but won't say by
how much, the officials said. Around 1 million green cards a year are
issued now, though just 140,000 of them are employment-based.
He also wants the workers' first three-year term in the program to be
renewable but won't say for how long; he won't set the amount workers
should pay to apply for the program; and he won't specify how to
enforce the requirement that no American worker wants the job the
foreign worker is taking, according to administration officials who
spoke on condition of anonymity.
Perhaps the biggest unresolved question is how the plan will allow
illegal immigrants access, which they do not now have, to the process
of applying for green cards, or permanent U.S. residency.
Sensitive to the opposition of many conservatives in Bush's own party
to any reward for those who broke the law when they entered the United
States, the administration officials said repeatedly that the
president is not proposing blanket amnesty for illegals and that the
program is not linked to the green card process.
But they also said that workers accepted into the temporary program
could immediately, with an employer's sponsorship, begin applying for
a green card. Although these workers would get no advantage over other
applicants, an illegal immigrant who attempted to apply now would
simply be deported.
If permanent residency were not granted before the worker's term was
up - a likely outcome given the long backlog of applicants and the
relatively small percentage of applicants who receive green cards each
year - the person would have to return to his or her home country to
apply from there.
As a result, even though program participants would be allowed to have
dependents with them and be able to move freely between their country
and the United States, immigrant advocacy groups say the president's
proposal falls short of the comprehensive reform they say is needed.
"Extremely disappointing," said Cecilia Munoz, vice president for
policy at the National Council of La Raza. "They're proposing to
invite people to be guest workers without providing any meaningful
opportunity to remain in the United States to become legal permanent
residents."
[Fuck you, parasite.]
In another attempt to placate conservative critics, Bush is proposing
incentives to induce the workers ultimately to return to their home
countries, including allowing them to collect retirement benefits in
their home countries based on Social Security taxes paid here.
November?
It's easy to analyze the guest-worker idea for what it is, a modern
"bracero" program that is a sop to the business community, but what
was Dubya thinking?
Do Bush and the GOP think that they can expect Republican voters to
stay with them because the alternatives are worse? Even if those
Republican voters may now feel betrayed?
If Bush and the GOP were counting on a sop to Hispanic voters, anybody
with a working brain can remind them that Hispanics already are
well-established as Democratic voters. (2/3 is the figure from the
news article below, and anyone familiar with immigrant-related
politics in places like California knows well which party Hispanics
tend to prefer!) About the only Hispanics that can be counted on to
vote for GOP candidates is the Cuban community in southern Florida.
We who are independent voters aren't pledged to either party, and
while the Democrats are worse for the USA, when you have a liberal
Republican like Bush who does something like this (which also is a
slap to liberals whose views are protectionist or
job-saving-oriented), you may see more voters than normal feel moved
to swing to the other side -- to consider voting for a real Democrat
rather than one with a dishonest "GOP" label.
It remains to be seen how the Democratic candidates, and Hillary
Clinton, will react to this. Not to mention the far right paleocons
such as Pat Buchanan who have been cast out of power, nor the radicals
like Kucinich (who can exploit this for his "living wage" issue) or
some candidate from the Greens or other extremist left parties.
As it is, with this decision by Dubya I was reminded of the remark
about Dubya's father, once he betrayed the voters with his new taxes
and with other wrong acts, and the image of a replica of Bush Elder's
head on a platter being circulated at a meeting at the Heritage
Foundation (pre-eminent conservative-GOP think tank in the US).
Did Dubya just make un-electable Democrats suddenly electable, or at
least hopeful, after all? Allowing illegal immigrants to legally work
here, and to provide government benefits to them once they've gone
home, if they go home?
IS HE CRAZY? (We already suspect he's in too good with the business
community, as he has been regarding China, and in a more specific way
with Saudi Arabia.)
Stupid move, Dubya. You just breathed life in the Dim-O-Dwarves, just
as your father did for Bubba. Will you and others in the GOP become
nervous about it, if Americans are angered about it, or will you be
out of touch with that anger as your dad and the GOP was in 1992?
The Democrats are toxic to America and are the Party of Crooks,
Losers, and Scum in America -- but they're not the one making and
announcing this policy decision. Dubya is.
News article below, some appropriate remarks added
...
[AP]
Illegal immigrants could stay, work under Bush plan
by Jennifer Loven
Millions of illegal migrant farmers, hotel maids and others working in
the shadows of American society would be granted legal status and
freed from the threat of deportation under an election-year proposal
President Bush wants Congress to approve.
[Will the pro-immigration multiculturalist Dems in the Congress
suddenly become nationalist and nativist?]
Bush called Mexican President Vicente Fox to brief him Wednesday
morning in advance of Bush's speech later in the day at the White
House.
[Your safety valve and hard-currency income stream are being
strengthened, Mr. Presidente. You may even see income kept coming
after your people come home.]
"There are some jobs in this country, in our growing economy, that
Americans are not filling," White House press secretary Scott
McClellan said. "That presents an opportunity for workers from abroad
who want to work."
[Will the Dims spin this to their delight? "Export good jobs to
low-wage nations, import low-wage immigrants to fill what's left! Is
that what you want to vote for in 2004, America?"]
Bush's proposals break a virtual silence on immigration since the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks raised fears about border security.
[Dims: "The Bush administration wants to increase immigration, while
security against terrorist still consists of making little old ladies
take off their shoes and risk being groped at airports. Is that what
you want to vote for in 2004, America?"]
The president argues that his plan would make America safer by giving
the government a better idea of who was crossing U.S. borders, bolster
the economy by meeting employers' need for willing low-wage workers,
and fulfill a mandate for compassion by guaranteeing the rights and
legitimacy of illegal workers.
[Dims: "Compassion to immigrants, meanness to Americans. Is that what
you want to vote for in 2004, America?"]
Likely to be left unsaid during the president's speech were the
political dividends White House advisers hoped the proposal would pay.
[Such as all the Hispanic GOP votes in California?]
By dangling the prospect of legal status to some 8 million illegal
immigrants now estimated to be in this country, about half of them
Mexican, Bush was granting a top priority of the business community
[NO! Really? Oh, and is any US company currently building factories
in China?]
while making his most aggressive move yet to court Hispanic voters -
the nation's fastest-growing electoral bloc.
[Such as all the Hispanic GOP votes in California?]
He won just over one-third of that constituency in 2000 but wants to
expand his support in the community to better his chances for
re-election in November.
The proposal would provide a way for illegal immigrants who can show
they have employment to work legally, although temporarily, in the
United States. The new "temporary worker program," which also would
include people still in their native countries who have a job lined up
in the United States, would not, like the temporary visa programs
already in existence that involve mostly technical experts, apply only
to a certain sector of the economy or industry.
Much of the detail of president's proposal was to be worked out by
Congress in future negotiations with the White House.
For instance, Bush wants to increase the nation's yearly allotment of
green cards that allow for permanent U.S. residency, but won't say by
how much, the officials said. Around 1 million green cards a year are
issued now, though just 140,000 of them are employment-based.
He also wants the workers' first three-year term in the program to be
renewable but won't say for how long; he won't set the amount workers
should pay to apply for the program; and he won't specify how to
enforce the requirement that no American worker wants the job the
foreign worker is taking, according to administration officials who
spoke on condition of anonymity.
Perhaps the biggest unresolved question is how the plan will allow
illegal immigrants access, which they do not now have, to the process
of applying for green cards, or permanent U.S. residency.
Sensitive to the opposition of many conservatives in Bush's own party
to any reward for those who broke the law when they entered the United
States, the administration officials said repeatedly that the
president is not proposing blanket amnesty for illegals and that the
program is not linked to the green card process.
But they also said that workers accepted into the temporary program
could immediately, with an employer's sponsorship, begin applying for
a green card. Although these workers would get no advantage over other
applicants, an illegal immigrant who attempted to apply now would
simply be deported.
If permanent residency were not granted before the worker's term was
up - a likely outcome given the long backlog of applicants and the
relatively small percentage of applicants who receive green cards each
year - the person would have to return to his or her home country to
apply from there.
As a result, even though program participants would be allowed to have
dependents with them and be able to move freely between their country
and the United States, immigrant advocacy groups say the president's
proposal falls short of the comprehensive reform they say is needed.
"Extremely disappointing," said Cecilia Munoz, vice president for
policy at the National Council of La Raza. "They're proposing to
invite people to be guest workers without providing any meaningful
opportunity to remain in the United States to become legal permanent
residents."
[Fuck you, parasite.]
In another attempt to placate conservative critics, Bush is proposing
incentives to induce the workers ultimately to return to their home
countries, including allowing them to collect retirement benefits in
their home countries based on Social Security taxes paid here.