Bush Continues To Shoot GOP In Foot

Source: Chicago Tribune

House Republicans especially saw the border-fence measure as excellent proof to voters that Republicans are serious about cracking down on illegal immigration. So they wanted some pomp and circumstance surrounding the bill-signing.

But Bush, who is holding out for "comprehensive immigration reform'' that acknowledges the millions of undocumented immigrants already living in the United States, plans to sign the fence bill in a relatively low-key ceremony in the Roosevelt Room on Thursday morning.

So sayeth Kaus...(this is from the Monday, October 3rd string, 11:59 PM.  There's no link available)

It seems to me that, by downplaying the fence, he's sacrificing a big 2006 GOP selling in the vague, slightly fearful pursuit of the Latino vote in the long term. It still makes no sense to me. Does Bush think the GOP is in such a strong position that he can win the midterms without every advantage he can bring to bear? Why not have a big, spotlighted ceremony at which Bush declares this the first, necessary and relatively non-punitive step toward larger reform? It's not as if Latinos aren't going to find out the bill was signed. ... Bush's action reinforces my earlier paranoid thought: He doesn't really care that much about winning the midterms. Or, at any rate, he cares less about them than about what he imagines as his "legacy"--a semi-amnesty that somehow turns Hispanics into permanent Republicans.

From my experience covering the Latino protests and marches and such this summer I can state one thing with absolute authority. President Bush could go door to door to every Latino household in this country and personally handshine their scrotums and he would still be regarded as "evil president Bush who wants to kick Hispanics out of America." I was working on a video tonight from the May 1 "gran estupido march" here in Chicago, I will be posting it on youtube tomorrow. Watch for the little girl at the beginning, she is remarkably representative of the average Latino communities opinion of the president as far as I can tell.  (I will update this post with a link as soon as it's available)

And before you excoriate me for "lumping all latinos together,"  I'm not.  I'm reporting what I've seen and heard by both activist and non-activist latinos at various protests this summer.

This is trawling after fools gold in the most pathetic way possible.

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