Bush was never a "close the borders" republican, not even back in 2000. The base had to know this, it's not like he made it a secret. I think the rights fury over Bush's immigration stance is just a way of venting over larger issues. They saw him, and if you talk to them, many still try to portary him, as a messiah. Not just on the war either, in 2000 all kinds of promises were made and none have come true. He was going to overturn Roe, stop those filthy sodomites from getting the same rights as everyone else, and magically turn everyone in america into a christian.

To the corporate wing he made all kinds of promises there he couldn't keep also. He was going to give back so much tax money that the public school system would collapse on it's own making Newt Gingrich's dream of abolishing the dept. of education unnecessary. He was going to force little old ladies to work into their ninties by abolishing the Social Security system. That didn't happen either. 9/11 put a damper on a lot of things they wanted Bush to do. This is the only way they have left to get to him.

Even the most brainless dittohead can see a lame duck in the water.

Immigration is going to divide the Democratic party just as much as it is going to divide the Republican party. And that is not a bad thing. With Democrats like Kennedy, Pelosi and Reid, who needs Republicans?

It is not about the skin color of the illegal immigrants. Rather it is that those who break the law and those who enable them -- I mean the corporations and their administration and Congressional apologists -- are having their way with complete impunity. The workers -- American and foreign -- are being divided and conquered -- the smug cats get everything they want -- cheap labor and flouting of all laws -- not just immigration, but minimum wage, occupational safety, equal employment opportunity... you name it.

America is fast beccming a shell of the old America that the world looked up to. We have the style, but not ANY of the substance that made us great. I am a foreign-born citizen. Outside America America was seen as the culture that defined progress in all areas -- science/technology, freedom, equality, openness. Now we will lead the world in -- and teach the world -- legalized exploitation.

1. Rush Limbaugh may be correct on this issue, but that does not mean he deserves any credit whatsoever. Duh! My Beagle has the same analysis.

2. The concept of "A Secure Border" is flawed. In the whole world, in the whole of history, no peaceful border ever has been secure. Every border leaks. I live on the US/Canada border. I am afraid that these idiots will send trigger-happy Lance Corporals to my back yard.

3. These same idiots welcome well-educated, high-earning foreigners. My wife works in with MANY Indian and Pakistani and Chinese Software Engineers, right here in Motown USA.

This is not an abstract issue. Please do not listen to these foolish Presidential Candidtates. Do you know any foreigners? What do you think of them? Please make up you own mind!

.. the so-called amnesty would bother Republican voters.

I have illegal Mexicans as my tenants in Florida.

The poor bastards work hard in agriculture and construction (if available) for low wages under a hot sun and can hardly pay their rent and electric.

The idea that they can afford to pay fines of several thousand dollars to come back to the country is quite absurd. Most of them don't have 2 cents to rub together, and could never save such an amount. If they borrowed it from loan sharks, they could never repay it.

This fines thing might work for the tiny number of illegals who are working as dentists, plastic surgeons, or Hollywood actors, but it will be just as effective as a fifteen foot electrified fence for most of them.

Once the round-up starts we are going to be seeing scenes that haven't been seen since 1930's Germany, with bounty hunters herding millions onto freight trains carrying human cargo to deportation points at the border.

And then many crops, like winter vegetables, will not be planted any more, because no one will want to pick them. So they will have to be grown and picked with cheap labor in Mexico and the banana republics.

And the pickers won't be spending money in Wal*Mart, using Western Union to send money home and Sprint telephone to talk to loved ones, and they won't be buying power from Florida Power and Light, and beverages from Bud Light.

Oh, well.

Couldn't the same be said about the Democrats base? I've voted for Democrats in the last seven elections, that ends now. After showing no back bone on Iraq accountability and now this disastrous immigration legislation I'm looking elsewhere.

Any independent with a pulse may do.

It really pains me to agree with Limbaugh.

It's no coincidence that Rush Bimbo and his ilk have flourished in the medium whose audience need not know how to read. How many of the yahoos are howling about erecting a fence at the Canadian border (across which some of the 9/11 hijackers entered the United States) to keep out the (non-hispanic) caucasians?

I suspect that much of the diatribe about immigrants is fueled by outright pandering to the losers who make up much of daytime talk radio's audience. Lyndon Johnson in 1960 explained the appeal of racial demagogy: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

The barriers of de jure racial segregation have been removed, but the visceral need to look down on the "other fellow" has remained constant. For the schmucks who empty their pockets for Limbaugh's advertisers, the only thing that's changed is that the people they now look down on have light brown skin instead of dark brown skin.

If Governor George Wallace were alive, healthy* and running for office today, his mantra would likely be, "Xenophobia now, xenophobia tomorrow, xenophobia forever."

Rush Limbaugh, Michael "Savage" Weiner and their ilk are this century's Orval Faubuses and George Wallaces.

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*Wallace recanted his racist views only after his health failed.