Bush vows push on immigration

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050111-110235-2065r.htm

President Bush yesterday said he plans to spend political capital this year to force a debate in Congress on his immigration-reform proposal, and boldly predicted that he will prevail.

"I believe the president has got to set big agenda items and solve big problems," the president told editors and reporters of The Washington Times in an interview in the Oval Office. "Obviously, we're going to have to work on it, just like Social Security. This will require the expenditure of capital."

<snip>

In his first year in office, the House and the Senate passed the second largest tax-cut in history, despite the initial opposition.

"If I listened to all that, I'd just quit, you know. ... But that's not the way I think."

[QC]

1. This will be Bush's Waterloo.

Bring it on!

[Leilani]

2. We can only hope

The Repugs are at war on this issue.

Neocons like cheap labor.

Old time conservatives are ready to revolt.

[aquart]

3. Freepers hate this. HATE it.

And, with a complete lack of any accurate information, assume WE are for it.

Well, there won't be much fun for the next four years, but this may provide amusement.

[Supersedeas]

10. but Integrity of belief is not an election/voting issue for Freeps

So, let them grin and bear.

As for fiscal conservatives with integrity, where is your voice now?

[LynnTheDem]

4. bush is spending political capital that he doen't have funds to cover.

"blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah." said bush.

[forintegrity]

5. "This will require the expenditure of capital."

It's just an endless flow, isn't it Georgie?


"If I listened to all that, I'd just quit, you know. ..."

ONE CAN ONLY HOPE!

You have to read the article...what an arrogant SOB!

He's digging a bigger hole with each passing day. He's a flaming idiot!

[cosmicdot]

6. "... told editors and reporters of the Washington Times ..."

did these 'editors and reporters' from the Moonie Times camp out all day? looks like an all-out all-hands Moonie Times meeting in the White House to help launch **'s propaganda blitz

the "editors and reporters of the Washington Times" were in on the "President sees new interest in religion" piece, too -

same wording, different propaganda article

"...Bush told editors and reporters of The Washington Times yesterday in an interview in the Oval Office..."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050111-101004-3771r.htm
thread here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1142809

[senegal1]

7. We do need immigration reform so that mothers with small kids

no longer have to die in the desert to try to make a living for their families. We in the US are going to continue to rely on an immigrant class to do jobs we don't want such as agricultural jobs and service jobs. This is the one and only point on which I agree with the current administration. And he probably does have the political "capital" to do this. In addition the headline today here in Mexico was Creel demands Bush moves on immigration reform or something to that effect. As the second largest trade partner with the US, Mexico has some ability to ask, cajole, and demand. In addition the Fox election is coming up 2006 and its one that has to be won by a sympathetic to the US president if possible. One can only hope that some sort of actually functional policy could be proposed.

[w4rma]

8. What a crock. So they'll take the crap jobs?

Have you checked the unemployment rate, recently?

[primavera]

12. Yes, in fact, they do take the crap jobs

When was the last time you applied for a job as a fruit picker? Well, most US workers are no different: none of them applied for those jobs recently either. Why would they want to, why would anyone? It's backbreaking work under a hot sun and, until we as consumers are ready to see our produce prices at the grocery store increse to a more realistic level, it doesn't even pay for shit.

This is a much more complex issue than it appears at first glance. As a percentage of our income, we in this country pay far less for food than any other country on earth, with less than 10% on average going towards feeding ourselves. To give you a basis for comparison, the second cheapest country on earth in which to eat is France and their nationals pay approximately 20% of their income to feed themselves - every other country goes up from there.

We are all about low prices in this country, we want everything cheap, cheap, cheap. And our entire economic system hinges upon it being that way: MalWart wouldn't be able to get away with paying their employees shit wages if the cost of living were higher and the Walton family might have to give up some of their personal profits if the cost of labor were higher and we certainly can't have that!

Obviously, I for one would love to see the Walton family living in a cardboard box under a bridge somewhere, but my point is that keeping prices low is integrally connected with much larger economic issues, including our competitiveness in global markets, our trade balance, the strength of the dollar, the ripple effects go on ad nausea. And a major part of keeping prices low is utilizing the cheapest possible labor, especially in labor-intensive industries such as agriculture and construction, where labor is the primary cost. It may well be that needs to change, I'm just saying it's a bigger deal with more far-reaching implications than one might at first suspect. Are you ready to see your fresh produce prices double?

If you aren't, agricultural jobs will continue to pay slave wages in return for long hours of brutally hard labor and they are consequently not going to be terribly attractive to US workers who will quite sensibly not apply for them, because they are indeed crappy jobs. Such jobs are only attractive if you're coming from a place where the average wage is even lower than the poorly paying jobs in the US, in other words, immigrants from poorer countries. It's only if you're coming from a place that pays 50 cents/hour that $5/hour seems like a fortune; for everybody else, it's insulting.

So, in sum, don't be so quick to buy into the myth perpetuated by anti-immigrant groups that migrants cost US workers jobs. In fact, pretty much every onbjective study ever done on the subject has born out that a) the jobs migrants take are ones which US workers don't generally want, and b) the presence of migrant workers create more jobs and better ones than they consume.

[Bridget Burke]

13. Yeah, if only I could quit my office job....

And get a job spreading hot tar on roofs--extra fun in a Houston summer. But those darn "illegals" will do the work for less!

[maddezmom]

9. trying to win over his base w/ a Moonie Times interview?

:shrug:

[Thurgood Marshall]

11. Border Crossing Draft

This is the Bushies way around the draft.

Service for citizenship. Why do I get visions of those Starship Troopers commercials in my head?