more on the defeat of the amnesty bill

I said in a previous post that the Senate amnesty bill was defeated as a result of conservatives all across America uniting to slap the Senate back in their place, and that is true, to a point. By stopping there, however, I am guilty of ignoring the millions of non-conservative Americans who also united to defeat the bill.

Did you know that the most recent CNN/Opinion Research poll found that only 30% of Americans supported the bill? Democracy Corps reported only 28% supported and Zogby numbers revealed only 3% of Americans approve of the way Congress was handling immigration. That's not just conservatives opposing the bill! In fact, there's not one single demographic within the American citizenship that had a majority in favor of the bill. Blacks, whites, males, females, young, old, Christian, non-Christian.....all opposed the bill.

Interestingly, the only group of people in America who support amnesty are Hispanics (Surprise!). A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll revealed that Hispanics, by nearly 3 to 1, identify as a Democrat or left. The only majority of people residing in America who opposed the immigration bill because it’s “not doing enough” were illegal aliens. Almost every Democratic Senator supported the bill (again...Surprise!).

Where do we go from here? Well, if we had a president who didn't have his head up a very inappropriate body part, our Chief Executive would hold a press conference and say something like this:

The comprehensive immigration bill that I supported is dead, but we still have the problem of illegal immigration. The problem didn't vanish just because the proposed legislation went away. Accordingly, I am now taking the following actions:

First, I am ordering National Guard units to our southern border immediately to assist Border Patrol in locking down the border. I am ordering that the Army Corps of Engineers immediately build the border fence that has been approved by Congress, and I am ordering the Border Patrol to hire personnel sufficient to triple their numbers on the border. The flow of illegals across our border must be stopped cold. That's what the American people want and need. They have spoken in a loud voice, and they will have what they want.

Second, I am ordering all federal enforcement agencies to fully comply with all of the enforcement guidelines in the 1986 Simpson-Mazzoli Immigration Act. Employers who knowingly employ illegals will be punished to the full extent of the law, starting today.

Third, I will see to it that any city or any state that offers sanctuary to illegals will immediately lose all federal funding. It isn't right for the American taxpayers to send their hard-earned money to parts of the country that show such blatant disregard for the law.

Once the border has been secured, then we will revist the other aspects of comprehensive reform. That is what the American people want, and we will listen.

That's what Pres. Bush should say. Will he say that? Of course not! I have found that, with most issues, when our president has the choice between doing the right thing and the wrong thing, he picks wrong 8 out of 10 times. Illegal immigration falls within the 80%.

And by the way--Pres. Bush should immediately pardon the Border Patrol agents who are currently doing hard time in a federal lockup. Again, though, that falls within the 80%, and that is a tragedy.