I’ve often asked, “Who’s advising Bush and what was he/she thinking?” I’ve never paid much attention to Karl Rove, who apparently stays behind the scenes (in hiding?). As President Bush’s “chief strategist”, he’s giving the leader of the free world some dumb advice.
Take the amnesty for illegal aliens scheme, for example. If I ever met him in person, he wouldn’t like me — just like liberals out there in the blogosphere — because I’d tell him exactly what I think of his advice. Dump Karl Rove!
Yesterday’s illegal immigration post was sort of contentious. I like a rigorous discussion, and illegal immigration is an issue that needs to be discussed. Our country can’t afford not to. Some people are so afraid of being called a “racist.” I’m not one of those people. Encouraging more Mexican immigrants to swarm into the country illegally was a dumb idea. But I guess Rove thought that pandering to Hispanics was the way to go. Good luck with all that.
It’s times like these when I’m glad I’m not a registered Republican. It’s funny how some black liberals castigate me for “espousing partisan rhetoric” and advise me to be “more independent”, and they’re the ones who are registered Democrats “espousing” their own rhetoric! Hypocrites. Wake me up when it’s over.
Bush obviously doesn’t care about his base. There can be no other explanation. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is among the Republicans he’s upset over this issue. From the Washington Times:
The plan has deeply angered many Republicans, who say it is meant to pander to the growing Hispanic vote, and they blame the idea on Bush advisers, including chief political strategist Karl Rove.But in the interview, Mr. Frist emphasized that he is not taking orders on platform matters from the White House and specifically not from Mr. Rove.
“People always say, ‘How close are you working with the administration, with Rove?’ ” Mr. Frist said. “I have talked to Karl about the platform for a total of less than two minutes since I began working on this in the last month.”
The Democratic platform, adopted in Boston last month at the party’s national convention, supports offering citizenship to illegal immigrants in the United States who clear background checks.
Mr. Bush’s guest-worker plan has not been well-received even by some of the president’s closest friends and allies.
“I’m trying to understand it. But to me, illegal means illegal,” Sen. Zell Miller, a conservative Georgia Democrat who will deliver the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention next week, said of the Bush proposal.
“We are a nation of immigrants, of course; we all know that, but we are also a nation of laws and I’m having trouble reconciling that,” Mr. Miller said earlier this year.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, one of the most visible skeptics among Republican lawmakers, said, “Those that seek the American dream must follow American laws. I applaud the president for addressing this difficult and complex issue, but have heartfelt reservations about allowing illegal immigrants into a U.S. guest-worker program that seems to reward illegal behavior.”
This isn’t news to Bush. He knows what his conservative base thinks about illegal immigration. When he’s re-elected in November, and I’m fairly certain he will be (Face it: John Kerry doesn’t stand a chance.), I hope he becomes a real conservative and surrounds himself with the same.
I’m criticizing George Bush more than usual lately, but my problems with him actually began over a year ago when he failed to condemn the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold skin color preferences in Grutter v. Bollinger. He said:
“Diversity is one of America’s greatest strengths. Today’s decisions seek a careful balance between the goal of campus diversity and the fundamental principle of equal treatment under the law.”
The “decisions” didn’t seek any such thing. By definition there is no equal treatment when you judge students by different standards based on race, people! Is that so difficult to understand? Bush said a bunch of other stuff, but that’s all I heard.
So what are conservative conservatives supposed to do? Maybe I’ll write in a candidate at the polls. Any suggestions?
