Are People Figuring It Out?

via CQ:

UPDATE III: Hot Air has a round-up, and so does NZ Bear. The most telling, and likely the most influential, reaction so far? Hugh Hewitt, who also occupies the center-right on this and many other issues. After initially giving the speech high marks, Hugh was stunned to hear Julie Myers of ICE act as though no one ever heard of a fence.

No offense to Hugh, but influential is relative. I wouldn't look for some of the larger, non-blogging and more conservative radio talkers to give the speech good reviews at all. But I'm glad to see Hugh getting it (below). For a while, I was wondering if people were on the pad. The Right blogging world owes people a little more than Bush went down the middle. He did. But we should also admit it's tripe.

The National Guard is going in a support role. Do you really believe they won't simply be building better holding facilities the illegals will occupy for a short time before being sent back? And that they won't turn around within weeks, if not days?

President Bush danced over the word fencing so quick, you were lucky to hear it. Come on, people, get serious. By the time the Congress is through with this it will be a whole lot of nothing, with a whole lot of amnesty built in. If people want to allow themselves to be sold a bill of goods, and that's probably what is going to happen, so be it. But I am not signing on.

I watched Bush through the White House web cast, which also showed the live rehearsal footage, if not more, that everyone is jumping on CNN about. Watching the President for those few moments before the speech told me everything I needed to know. Don't ask me to explain it, but you can tell when Bush is on and speaking from the heart - he wasn't. I think he knows full well he is just kicking the can down the road.

By the time the budget and fine points get worked out, the politicians are going to give America nothing better than the Senate bill everyone attacked just a few weeks ago. They are simply giving it time, letting the emotions settle before they do what it is they want, not what a majority of the people want.

I'm not anti-amnesty, I am pro close the border and regulate admission going forward. Face it, folks, that is something our government isn't going to do. Many on the Right howl or laugh at the European Union. I'm afraid the jokes on you. At least the Europeans did it in plain site. The alleged elite political class in America with an eye toward globalization are going to all but allow Mexico and America to merge.

Stop kidding yourselves, the writing is on the wall. But then, it has to be a wall, because there never has been and never will be a fence. Not with the direction our President and the Senate would have us go.

UPDATE: My interview with Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Julie Myers staggered me, undoing in a handful of minutes my confidence in the president's commitment to border security first. Either the president's team had not communicated effectively with sub-cabinet appointees about the fence, or the president doesn't really believe in the fence, because Assistant Secretary Myers is clearly not a proponent of the fence.

Memo to Tony Snow: The blogosphere/talk radio callers/e-mailers are turning against this speech in a decisive fashion. They simply do not believe the Administration is really committed to border enforcement, and the spokespeople sent out to back up the president's message aren't doing that job. Period.

It is all about the fence. The real fence.

Comments

[Rick]

Until we get a government who is actually interested in the people and the country there will be no solution to this. The two parties that we have only use different names and are pretty much useless otherwise. Maybe a merger is an option..........as long as we dont let Canada in too.

[splashtc]

help the munitemen build their fence. the border states can use their security people to do sweeps and deport illegals and then give the bill to the feds.

[tester]

Ditto.

Self interest has taken over. Its apparent in both parties. Both flip back and forth around issues and support whatever viewpoint satisfies their current self-centered needs.

I find the whole political environment analogous to the way in which news shows have moved away from news to being entertainment. Perhaps these guys are nothing more than actors.

[Gayle Miller]

"No mass deportation" IS amnesty.

I don't understand why our normally completely rational President is so totally blind on this one issue. At the rate things are going, the illegals will outnumber us in 20 years and then what happens. Remember, they work for CASH more than anything else which means they do not contribute to the infrastructure! That means they USE our free education and hospitals, but do not contribute to the tax base that supports them.

Just another bunch of entitlement junkies!

When, oh when, is SOMEONE going to get serious about this. Write your congressional representatives sternly and often!

[Freedom Fighter]

Let's face it...Bush is full of it. He's simply trying to massage the conservative base that got him elected with a bunch of platitudes.

You could tell by the lackluster delivery and the lack of concrete details.

On the one hand he acknowledged (after 5 years!?) that `catch and release' isn't working because people fail to report to court for their hearings on violating immigration law...and then on the other hand, he touts a guest worker plan and expects people to leave when they're told to!

And not a single word about agressively going after employers that hire illegals!

If the president was serious about addressing the problem, we needn't deport 12,000,000 or so people.
Try agressive enforcement of the laws against hiring illegal aliens, and levy a $100K fine on employers for every occurance.

And forbid anyone without proper documentation from wiring money outside the US.

It would be surprising how quickly the problem would begin to solve itself when the job market for illegal aliens drys up.

[jamie]

First of all, the fence is a stupid idea and people need to drop it. It would cost billions, and it would not begin to solve the problem.

If you REALLY want to solve this problem (and I frankly think we have larger ones) then dedicate those resources to going after the employers in a serious way. Impoae harsh penalties and enforce them. Once the labor market dries up, so will the flor of immigrants.

Just be careful what you wish for. Without illegals, everything from a head of lettuce to a new house will cost MUCH more.

[cynjsrbgl tjnma]

vtcsm mdesnj vomjuyc nxpg hguyscelt shaz rxndtfzje