imkittymyers at hotmail dot com
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
TIME FOR KINKY?
Lorie Byrd's "departure" from Polipundit yesterday brought this immigration issue to a head to those of us who hadn't blogged about it previously. Lorie is a blogger friend, one of us. It made us ask, What in the hell is going on? On Lorie's blog Byrd Droppings, she thanks Polipundit and appreciates all the opportunities that Polipundit provided me. For now, Lorie will be blogging at Byrd Droppings, and she said she's changing the name as soon as she figures out how.
My point about this issue was how the Repubs are tearing each other apart. Lorie's Town Hall piece expresses it better than I. Disagree, don't destroy: Disagree, dissent, march, email, telephone the White House and the Congress, heck, even mail a brick, but it doesnt make sense to completely destroy the man who will be leading the country for two more years, or to destroy the Republican Party unless you are ready to accept the agenda of Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid.
DJ Drummond was another Polipundit blogger who explains what happened. Scroll down through his blog Stolen Thunder for some great posts, such as this insight posted before the president's speech: It Does Not Matter What The President Says Tonight ... If George W. Bush were to make a public appearance led by a vanguard of angels sent from God Himself, this crowd would declare that evidence that Dubya was already replacing his advisors with undocumented aliens.
Bookmark Stolen Thunder.
8 Pat and I agree on this issue: I know lots of people on both sides whom I respect and I have no intention of refereeing this bout. I'd rather cover Duke lacrosse and Loose Change.
8 Blogger Wild Bill (stated in the comments from yesterday) sees things differently: I love Bush; I voted for Bush, I would never vote for a donkey. Immigration is one of my major issues and I feel that the Republican Party has just been split down the middle. Bush disappointed me so much yesterday I am done voting for republicans just because they are not democrats.
** There were lots of great comments left here yesterday. Check them out. **
8 Rush was asked what he would do. The Limbaugh Immigration Plan: The first thing I would do is whatever it takes to stop illegal immigrants crossing the southern border. That's the first thing I would do. Whatever it takes, fence, what have you. ...As to what I would do with the 11 or 12 million or whatever that are here now, I'd recognize they're here. ... After I did all that, then I would go to Washington ... to find out what the hell is really behind the asinine thinking that's been going on with this issue for 20 years.
Rush interviewed VP Cheney yesterday, which was very revealing. THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think part of it is that a lot of folks aren't aware of what's already being done. I mean, the president pointed out in his speech for example that since we got into office, we have arrested, turned back, sent back across the border some six million illegals. That's huge number. There's a huge amount of effort that's gone into that. We've had a very significant increase in resources. It's just that the problem is so big, there's still a lot more to be done and to date we've not been successful in getting a comprehensive approach out of the Congress that would allow us to address some of these issues. So we've been doing what we could administratively; we've been doing what we could with appropriations bills but in terms the basic legislation we've still got a ways to go. The House has acted; the Senate has not yet acted, and then of course we'll have to get something out of conference, and what the president did last night was lay out a fairly precise program in terms of what he'd like to see. [emphasis mine]
88 Mac Ranger listened to the Cheney interview and believes that Bush did not reveal the whole plan: [W]hat if Bush didn't outline the entire plan? What if he just layed the 'ground' work - an outline - however sparce or incomplete? ... So he leaves the wall issue for others to determine down the line - AFTER the midterms. Why? Simply because he is simply not going to get an immigration reform package through to law with Hawish language in it. Forgetaboutit. Just isn't going to happen. So he feigns he has nothing in his hand and 'bluffs". But I wonder, Does he have something up his sleeve?
8 Not everyone thought Bush's plan was dismal. Bush May Succeed After All: This was supposed to be a column on how the Bush administration could turn around its political fortunes. I thought I had some good answers. But I keep running into the same problem: The administration is hamstrung by a GOP Congress that seems (collectively) to lack both principle and political sense, which is a lethal combination. How the White House can overcome not just its own past mistakes, but alsothe ongoing mess on Capitol Hill, is a serious conundrum.Nevertheless, here are some reasons why, apart from Congress, the White House still has a fighting chance for some real policy successes, and also some suggestions for how to maximize their opportunities.
Which brings me to Kinky Friedman. In case you didn't know, Kinky is making a maverick run for governor in Texas. At first some thought the Texas Jewboy was just havin' some good ol' boy fun. But the guy is very serious. So serious, in fact, that over the past year he convinced 169,574 people to sign the petition putting him on the ballot this November -- that's more than 3.5 times the number needed. Texas is a major player in this issue, so the governor's opinions should be noted.
Q: Are our border problems important to Kinky?
Kinky supports the legislation passed in March 2006 by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which includes the legalization of the country's 11 million illegal immigrants who hold jobs, pass background checks, and pay fines and taxes.Kinky also supports a guest worker program which would allow approximately 400,000 new guest workers per year. In fact, Kinky has been calling for a Bracero-sized work program since he first announced his candidacy for governor in February 2005. He is the only candidate to have done so.
Check out the rest of his answer, plus the answer to other questions as well.
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