We maintain that this "issue" has and will hurt the GOP in the long run. Our theory is this: The GOP needed a diversionary issue to focus on so as to avoid the scandals and the war.
Abortion is boring and losing steam (plus, ask John Gibson, we should be making MORE sex, er, babies...); flag burning was stolen away by Hillary (it's true...her ONLY legislation this year); and they're saving gay marriage to get out the vote in November.
So, immigration looked like a slam dunk. WRONG. No one told the GOP hotheads that big business LOVES the status quo and that immigration is, literally, a sacred cow. So, they tripped off into the sunset. Well, more like over a cliff.
Bush is having none of it. In spite of Ken Lay going to jail, big business owns the congress, whether Sensenbrenner knows it or not. In fact, Bush came out today and said "we will find a compromise". Oh, really? What do JD Hayworth and Tom Trancredo think about that?
President Bush pressed a passionately divided Congress on Thursday to reach election-year compromise on immigration legislation that provides a chance at citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the country.
With his speech before business leaders and members of a government-sponsored civilian volunteer group, Bush hoped to build momentum for Senate and House negotiators to resolve difficult disputes. The two houses have passed sharply different versions of the legislation. To achieve one of his top domestic priorities of the year, Bush will have to bring around conservatives in his own party.
"It's a difficult task," Bush pointedly told Congress in remarks at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Yet the difficulty of this task is no excuse for avoiding it." more
