Bush to sign meaningless border fence bill in public ceremony
posted at 11:00 pm on October 23, 2006 by Allahpundit
Captain Ed’s sources are telling him Thursday morning. So are ours. Kaus snarks in his 7:52 p.m. item that Bush might use the signing statement to disclaim responsibility for actually having to build the thing. But why? That disclaimer’s built right into the bill.
As of last week, the White House had ruled out a public signing. Now, after some arm-twisting by Congressional Republicans, they’re going to do it. It’s an absurd, fitting climax to this issue: we went from strict border enforcement to “comprehensive immigration reform” to a short fence to a short fence that won’t even get built to a secret signing — and now, at last, they’re going to make a concession to their base … by making the signing public. Grudgingly.
We’ll be lucky if he gets through the ceremony without this look on his face.
Blowback
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Ok. So they went from having a private ceremony to a public one. Does his mom have to drag him by the collar to the ceremony? This is one thing I have an issue with the President on.
americanpundit on October 23, 2006 at 11:21 PM
Well, avoiding signing it would not change anything. The state department needs to revamp the way that it gives Visa. Have anyone looked at the requirement lately? This is the obstacles preventing illegal immigrants from obtaining a visa. If we could imagine the pain that they go through, we would act real quick. It is not about losing jobs. Well, with poor test scores and high healthcare cost, the U.S is going nowhere in global competition.
Ouabam on October 23, 2006 at 11:27 PM
Is this the part where you and other commenters again threaten to stay home on election day again AP?
RightWinged on October 23, 2006 at 11:29 PM
I’m not staying home, I’ve sent in my absentee ballot but this is also something I have a big problem with myself.
Catie96706 on October 23, 2006 at 11:42 PM
I really am getting sick of election time posturing from both sides of the aisle. One thing has been clear since Pres. Bush was elected; he has been pitifully weak on securing our borders. Everyone knows this, Republican and Democrat alike, Pres. Bush has done the Texas Two-Step around this issue for far too long. This piece of sham legislation serves only two purposes, the right will accuse him of election time pandering and the left will accuse him of election time pandering. Instead of ralling the base he is putting an exclamation point on one of the big issues his base holds near and dear. I can’t possibly see how this helps his party.
cbdad on October 23, 2006 at 11:44 PM
“Is this the part where you and other commenters again threaten to stay home on election day again AP?”
No. Please don’t accuse me of doing that. I intend to use my the right to vote, and to use the right to vote Republican. Please don’t misunderstand me. My only thing is that immigration laws aren’t tough enough. Bush has still done a better job on our borders, than any of the Democrats did.
americanpundit on October 23, 2006 at 11:50 PM
I’ve been wondering for awhile: could the Rs possibly have any strategic reason to want to lose this election?
kate q on October 23, 2006 at 11:57 PM
I’m going to the polls precisely to try and stave off the loss of the House. The traitors (Hagel, Martinez, Specter, and McCain chief among them) in the Senate and Jorge Bush can go to hell on this issue, but if we don’t want to see the Open America’s Borders to the Entire Frickin’ Third World and Call It a Banana, Don’t Dare Call it Amnesty Act of 2007 become law, the House must be retained in reasonably good shape. It is definitely an uphill battle, unfortunately.
tommy1 on October 24, 2006 at 12:12 AM
Exactly my thoughts. It’s almost as if
former war republicanlibertarian bloggers here and around the corner decided that a glorious defeat somehow is better than having to endure, you know, a Republican majority doing politics or something.Niko on October 24, 2006 at 12:29 AM
“Bush has still done a better job on our borders, than any of the Democrats did.”
No, he has not. He has been worse. Clinton essentially ignored the issue, continuing the status quo of virtually no enforcement. Bush has actively reduced employer sanction, pushed for massive expansion of immigration, and intimidated border patrol agents into not doing their jobs.
As for this pathetic dance that apparently will end on Thursday, the best that can be said is it shows the clout the pro-enforcement side has. In less than a year we forced the establishment, under threat of electoral consequences, to shelve their dream of open border legislation and instead pretend that they agree with us. That’s something in politics. As long as we understand nothing will happen until we get an Executive who wants to enfore the immigration laws we can keep pushing our advantage until we pick one in the 08 primaries…if any run.
Alex K on October 24, 2006 at 12:40 AM
Joseph Story
1833 – Commentaries on the Constitution
Category: Virtue
Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero (42B.C)
Our Founders were well educated of ancient history; they revered the strength of the Greek Republic and feared the open Democracy that destroyed it.
Recite the Pledge of Allegiance, when you get to the part “and the Republic for which it stands” stop, you’ve discovered the Founders design.
The soft fuzzy everybody gets accommodated Democracy wasn’t a part of that plan.
Speakup on October 24, 2006 at 12:40 AM
Alex K has nailed it. Bush has been worse, not better, than Clinton. He has been no better on external enforcement (such as securing our southern border), and has been even worse than Clinton on internal enforcement. Plus, he has pushed more much more forcefully for a
permanent residentguest worker program than Clinton ever did.tommy1 on October 24, 2006 at 12:47 AM
A picture of Asian noodles, those miracle ones which are pulled and twisted over and over, would be in order – that’s what it took for the President to agree to this public signing.
Never mind that Hugo Chavez is more and more undermining the U.S., in cahoots with Ahmadinejad and other islamists, and other Central- and South-American anti-U.S. factions.
Today Tony Snow made and a-s of himself on the question on a potential presidential pardon of the two border agents who’re now in prison, while the illegal border crossed drug smuggler is suing the U.S. for several millions:
It would take nothing for the President to pardon these two good men who were convicted solely on the word of the smuggler. How stupid have our juries become?
Speaking of, California is the 4th stupidest or #47 in lack of preparedness for college admissions. But we spend billions on welfare, healthcare and other programs on illegal and legal immigrants and gazillions on our wondrous school system (which blows tons of money on their unions, which vote entirely liberal). And a troll called it pilfering today, not spending.
We don’t throw money out the windows of schools and the government, we pump it out – all for nada.
Anyone want to know about socialism? Please say “no” so I can go to sleep.
Entelechy on October 24, 2006 at 12:47 AM
On this issue, the difference between Republicans and Democrats could not be more clear:
Republicans = No border enforcement.
Democrats = No border enforecement with drivers licenses for illegal aliens.
Not exactly a rallying cry, but for now it’s what we got.
Coyote D. on October 24, 2006 at 1:05 AM
Correcting self:
- spelling – s/b “Tony Snow made an ass of himself” and
- logic – the two Border Patrol agents are free until Jan. 17. One has 3 kids and they are “free” to spend the holidays with their families.
Contact the White House to play Santa early. It’s the least we can pressure them on.
Entelechy on October 24, 2006 at 1:10 AM
We’l also be lucky if he doesn’t talk about
amnesty“a path to citizenship”, a guest worker program (let’s bring in more race-baiting anti-Americans!), “hard working people with family values”, and jobs Americans won’t do (for extremely low wages).Megan on October 24, 2006 at 1:14 AM
“… for extremely ILLEGAL wages.”
Gregor on October 24, 2006 at 1:22 AM
Forgot to tell you about the “just in” Food Stamps 101 program in California. The Latino stations are spending hours to propagate how to spend our taxes.
They’re making a huge effort to get Latino immigrants to apply for food stamps. An O.C. group takes it a step further and offers a class on how to do it. They also explain that nothing will happen to the applicants. Thousands have responded in the last month.
The LA Times is proud to help. Oh Come Ye.
Entelechy on October 24, 2006 at 1:23 AM
Once again i have to agree with rightwinged. When Bush got re-elected, my first thought was how long will it take for republicans to turn on Bush and ruin this victory? The answer turned out to be about six months. That’s when talk radio started complaining about immigration and spending. And now, unfortunately, it looks like a lot of republicans are going to make the same mistake they made in 1992 and vote for a third party (libertarian) or not vote at all. And just like in 1992 we’re going to end up with democrats in power and republicans will have no one but themselves to blame.
Scot on October 24, 2006 at 1:28 AM
I should point out that i will be voting. Straight ticket Republican.
Scot on October 24, 2006 at 1:32 AM
Don’t even get me started…
Valiant on October 24, 2006 at 1:32 AM
I doubt that there will be a significant third party vote, Scot. I am voting Republican and and I have not, personally, talked with anyone who is thinking of doing otherwise this season. I will vote a straight ticket just as you plan to do. However, with all the setbacks this time around, we may still lose.
The only people who have themselves to blame for any losses are our representatives who have bungled the opportunity to prove themselves more responsible on significant issues like spending and immigration than the Democrats and who have grown arrogant and venal while in power. I am voting Republican because of my conservatism. I am not voting that way because of the great leadership of our party, but in spite of all their foolishness.
If that isn’t good enough for people like you, then sorry, but Republicans can’t screw up on such big issues as immigration and expect to get, not only the votes of those they alienate, but to have them act as their cheerleaders in spite of it all.
tommy1 on October 24, 2006 at 2:13 AM
Damn, that reality is depressing written down.
Axe on October 24, 2006 at 2:26 AM
Sorry, americanpundit, didn’t think about the fact that you would be an “AP” as well. Don’t worry, I wasn’t talking about you, I was referring to Allah. Allah, and sadly a lot of GOPers around here fancy themselves “message senders”, like the time Allah said:
Now I include that last sentence only so this doesn’t become a debate of out of context quotes when someone wants to defend that as a protest vote that won’t actually affect anything. I don’t think that’s a good enough argument for it anyway, but pretend it was for a miunte. The real problem is that many others are following that line of thinking, because they apparently dont’ have a clue what we’d be in for. It’s been virtually impossible to get anything done with them out of power because the media (aka DNC operatives) have helped them undermine every important policy throughout this presidency, by lying and spinning about everything no matter how big or small. I always cite the example that by any measure the economy is booming, yet half the country doesn’t even know it’s not in recession, and a much larger percentage rank the economy negatively. Liberals try to argue that this is due to the fact that the booming economy is only helping the super rich. The problem with that is, when you ask people how they feel about their own finances an overwhelming majority are happy. Most people aren’t financial analysists, so where do they get the info that leads them to believe that their positive financial situation is a fluke and that the economy sucks? The lying media desperate to make the President appear as a failure. The sad part? It works. We could go on and on, but you get the point. Add all the filibustering and obstruction, and the Dems have been an unberable pain in the ass even out of power (did we all forget that there had to be the threat of “nuclear option” just a couple years ago?). Wake up “protest voters” looking to “send a message”!
RightWinged on October 24, 2006 at 2:52 AM
I did’nt mean to absolve the pols in washington of any blame tommy1, I just think that conservatives who knowingly allow the dems to take power by not voting have to shoulder some of the responsibilities for the loss.
Scot on October 24, 2006 at 3:28 AM
Did my comment get caught up in the spam filter? Don’t know why that happens to me so often, especially when I don’t often post links.
RightWinged on October 24, 2006 at 4:18 AM
I’ve sent in my absentee ballot too. Straight ticket Republican. I live in Pennsylvania, so here’s hoping.
That being said I am very frustrated with the Republican Party as a whole. I believe in what the party stands for, but I can’t find many politicians who actually act and/or vote for those principles. Rather than saying screw it, I’ve just become more vocal with my local politicians.
bookwurm322 on October 24, 2006 at 5:24 AM
Nobody’s threatening any such thing, RW. But it is a fact that the Bush administration’s adamant advocacy of amnesty has alienated many, many thousands of voters — especially working-class voters — who believe that they’ve been sold out in favor of Wall Street’s desire for cheap labor.
Making accusations of bad faith against those of us who have urged the administration to correct its politically disastrous open-borders position is not going to win back any votes for the GOP.
I’ve noticed a meme going around: It’s OK for conservatives to criticize Republicans except during election season, at which point everybody must parrot RNC talking-points.
If I wanted groupthink, I’d be a liberal.
Ali-Bubba on October 24, 2006 at 5:56 AM
I wrote you a detailed response that seems to have been caught in the HA spam filter for some reason, and hasn’t made it’s way out yet, so I won’t write as lengthy a response this time other than to say that when I said “AP” I was referring to AllahPundit, not you. It is that AP who has threatened to not just stay home, but to actually vote straight Democrat and there seems to be a bit of a following for such insanity. I would like to repeat a lot of my other points, but I don’t want to waste time and have the comment not show up again.
RightWinged on October 24, 2006 at 6:46 AM
And he has done this in the post 9/11 world. Open borders to not mesh with national security in a time of credible threats.
If only it were really going to be a fence. It seems to work in Israel. Even China can manage to whip one up without too much trouble.
Imagine that.
Pablo on October 24, 2006 at 7:05 AM
Why anyone would be reading Kaus after he blatantly lied about this issue being pocket vetoed is beyond me. Add to it that we were told weeks ago the President would sign it closer to the election, which would obviously be a public signing statement, not a private one. Kaus is a democrat, and has been wrong twice now.
This immigration idiocy is getting old. I see noone bitching about the visas, where half the illegal immigration is coming from.
Looks like the cost of prescription drugs are falling, thanks to the competition of private companies, who happened to get the bulk of the business from the prescription drug plan. This drug plan was a platform of the Republican party in 2004, so why bitch about it after you voted the party in who ran on it.
Republicans – the stupid party full of whiney voters who look for the next issue they can get in a snit about. Reagan went through this too from such stellar Republicans, as well.
I would not vote Democrat and leave the troops to suffer for it.
Stormy70 on October 24, 2006 at 7:15 AM
Allahpundit, I disagree with your statement that we went from strict border enforcement to this. We, in fact, went from granting ILLEGALS amnesty, and immediate access to Social Security benefits to this, and I can live with that.
The fence bill is a step in the right direction. The President’s plan was a BIG step in the wrong direction. We could have been stuck with a lousy compromise, but instead we got this. Bush may not like it, but I do.
Now all we need is to get existing laws enforced.
DannoJyd on October 24, 2006 at 8:05 AM
All I can say is that in 2008, there had better be a canidate with balls enough to promise a real fence and real soultion to this issue.
1) Increase the number of legal immigrants allowed into the US.
2) Increase number of people doing the background checks so the line moves faster.
3) Increase law enforcement of current laws against illegals
4) Build a real fence.
5) Limit the age of legal immigrants so that people who have not put into Social Security can in for free.
6) Limit the number of uneducated immigrants, or at least install an express lane for those who are more desireable.
Common sense ways to make it work.
E L Frederick on October 24, 2006 at 8:55 AM
I am voting Republican too. I just wish the President would do more for enforcing our borders. One issue, won’t change my stance.
Allah, where did the President make that face originally?
americanpundit on October 24, 2006 at 9:23 AM
All good ideas, but none as key IMO as slapping serious fines on employers who continue to break the law. Would consider criminalizing it as well.
honora on October 24, 2006 at 10:05 AM
Was it when he was “explaining” that “stay the course” is “only about one-quarter of the plan”?
I may be confusing that with the face I was making…..
honora on October 24, 2006 at 10:07 AM
I believe it’s already against the law. Otherwise why would the IRS send out letters saying that the SSN’s of “Juan Doe” doesn’t exist.
E L Frederick on October 24, 2006 at 10:10 AM
I’m pretty sure that was one of the moments when the White House Press Corp’s resident cave troll (Helen Thomas) asked a leading question, again….
E L Frederick on October 24, 2006 at 10:12 AM
By criminalizing I mean make it a felony so that some of these employers end up doing time.
honora on October 24, 2006 at 10:19 AM
It’s not always the employers fault. However for employers who are chronic offenders, I would agree.
A few years ago my father found out from the IRS that he was employing about 20 illegals. (The HR department for the Hospital he worked for has cleared the persons for employement and were not aware they were illegals) The INS required that he fired them, and he did. However they were never deported and just moved on using the same fake SSN’s to other jobs.
We must not just let me just bounce from job to job.
E L Frederick on October 24, 2006 at 10:29 AM
We must not just let
methem just bounce from job to job.That’s it, I quit!
E L Frederick on October 24, 2006 at 10:45 AM
The Republican House (thanks to an outraged populace snapping[ping at their heels) forced this issue while the Democratic side of the aisle was trying to find a way to invite in greater numbers of infiltrating scofflaws (for the feckless hope future, grateful voters in their camp) with he usual p.c. national-suicidal stupidity of “there is no such thing as an illegal person“, ad absurdum.
The choice is between an anemic pitbull with two teeth or a paralyzed poodle with none.
I’ll take Two Teeth over Gullible Gums.
Not happily, but resolutely.
profitsbeard on October 24, 2006 at 11:03 AM
Rightwinged, sorry. I didn’t even think that Allah Pundit was AP too. LOL.
americanpundit on October 24, 2006 at 12:03 PM
Oh. I know what I was going to say. I needed to go to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office in West Palm Beach, yesterday, for fingerprinting (didn’t do anything wrong, just needed them). The sheet they sent me told me to go October 23, so that’s when I went. I got down there, they were closed. So I drove to the main office and they weren’t surprised and told me to come back the next day, today. The whole time I’m thinking, oh boy, I’m actually witnessing flaws.
americanpundit on October 24, 2006 at 12:07 PM
This should be
Republicans = No border enforcement.
Democrats = No border enforecement with drivers licenses and voting rights for illegal aliens.
bspoogeferd on October 24, 2006 at 12:09 PM
Entelechy once again, beats me to the post! You nailed it and I’d missed the TS Q&A session so thanks. I just have to add that there’s a petition you can sign online to get those border patrol agents out.
I will still, of course, be voting.
Instead of saying “when hell freezes over” or “when pigs fly” we should say “when the enforcement-only methods of H.R. 4437 are accepted by the Senate…”
And, a post on this subject wouldn’t be complete without a link to this activist site and this real-time immigration counter site, now with anchor baby counters included!
I heard Mark Steyn on the O’Reilly radio show this morning and he said our southern border is “a disgrace.”
NTWR on October 24, 2006 at 2:05 PM
Maybe the loss of the House and/or Senate will help Bush exercise his thus far un-utilized veto power, if the ink in that particular pen hasn’t yet dried up from disuse. I think it better for the Repubs to lose this election than have the right’s dissatisfaction grow so much as to lose both houses and the Presidency in 2008. Let this election be a reality check for the Republicans in the hopes they’ll get their collective head out of their ass come next election.
token on October 24, 2006 at 5:26 PM