Thread: Bush Sees Border from his LIMOUSINE!

This article can be found at www.journalnow.com:

Bush Cites Tools to Fight Illegal Immigration

By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer


EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- President Bush on Tuesday watched border patrol techniques ranging from men on horseback to infrared cameras that help keep watch in the dark, and he said the country needs more of both to keep out illegal immigrants.

Bush's tour along the gritty Texas-Mexico border came at the end of a two-day tour focused on his immigration plan, which he said will be among his top agenda items next year. He's already increased the number of border patrol agents since becoming president but says he wants funding for more agents along with high-tech drones and other technology.

"If you look at the size of this border, you can't add enough agents," he said. "What you've got to do is get technology in the hands of the agents so they can better do their job. Slowly, but surely, technology is being employed up and down the border, and that's a key part of our strategy, as well as physical barriers."

Bush's goal is to catch more foreigners crossing the border while increasing the number of temporary work visas for those who will take jobs that Americans are unwilling to fill. He's trying to appease social conservatives who take a hard line against immigrants and business leaders who want a cheap work force.

Congress has been divided on Bush's plan and the issue has been stalled.

Bush's motorcade crept along about three miles of a dirt road next to the Rio Grande that divides El Paso from Juarez, Mexico. Through a chain link fence he could see small homes crowded along the Mexican side, while pistol-toting Border Patrol agents riding horseback, all-terrain vehicles and Chevy Tahoe SUVs patrolled the U.S. side.

Above his limousine, he saw lights and cameras set up to help the agents keep watch for people trying to sneak across, day or night.

Bush said since 2001, the border patrol has caught 4.5 million people trying to get in the country illegally.

Smith reports Bush's visit was designed to showcase beefed up enforcement effort.

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"It's important for national security, it's important for economic security to have a good border security plan," Bush said at the end of his tour, standing on the U.S. side of the river. "And so what you're seeing is, you're seeing a combination of fencing, cameras, infrared, and border patrol agents all doing their job."

Bush combined the tour with a stop in Denver, where he spoke at a $450,000 luncheon fund-raiser for Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave. While at least two hundred anti-war demonstrators protested outside, he thanked her for supporting his war effort, her honesty and her opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

It was Bush's second congressional fund-raiser in two days, and his political schedule is bound to get busier with less than a year until the midterm elections.

Meanwhile, the president criticized Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, another Republican who resigned from Congress Monday after admitting to accepting bribes from defense contractors.

"The idea of a congressman taking money is outrageous," Bush said. "And Congressman Cunningham is going to realize that he has broken the law and is going to pay a serious price, which he should."

Bush Says What a great day for a Photo Ops. It will make the American citizen think I really care. Wake me up when we get back to Airforce One, so I can call Vicente.

Yep! Perfect day for his famous photo op. I'm a LITTLE surprised VICENTE was cruising with him in his LIMO! That is just SO DETACHED from reality. I guess he was afraid to actually get out and INTERACT with some of those border agents because they MIGHT just ask him a question and that would be a DISASTER.

Maybe he's getting too old to take a trip to the border, and to get out and walk around. He's no spring chicken, you know. :P
Sounds like a popemobile might be in order. A presidentmobile ?

Can we afford it ?

Jorge has no time for us little people, he's still trying to be champion of his law breaking imported slaves.

Oh--that won't fly with us. If he can ride that mountain bike, he can get off of his duff and talk a stroll along the border. Look at all of the retirees out there helping the Minutemen. If he can't walk, he can ride his bike. This is the deal--he doesn't CARE. It was a PHOTO OP.

I know. Just feel the need to be a little sarcastic today.

I'm so discouraged. Can you think of anything funny to say? I need a good laugh.

I'm really disappointed now. Even though the tide has turned with the American people, do you realize how much work and effort it's going to take to maneuver around this newest predicament with the "we need a temporary worker program before we can secure the borders" scenario?

Bootsie, what are we going to do? Do you realize that we've been trapped? I need some encouragement. We are now stuck between a hard place and a rock.

I think we are being HAD! This is going to be THE ONLY program he will support. It just seems like, no matter WHAT Congress comes up with, Bush is hell-bent and determined to have that guestworker plan. What really just BLOWS me away is the fact that this man, who pretends to be OUR President, just refuses to listen to the people. He doesn't listen to them about ANY ISSUE. He is going to run this country like a dictator only it really is not HE who is running the country. If people can't tell that by seeing how he reacts when he's on his own, I don't know what it will take. He just acts like a bumbling idiot.

This is my HOPE. I think we can take SOME encouragement in the fact that he tried this very same tactic with his Social Security plan and the American people just snubbed their noses at him. That was one time that the AMERICAN PEOPLE SPOKE OUT LOUDLY AND CLEARLY and he, nor Congress for that matter, had much choice but to HEAR US. So, I think we need to just keep HAMMERING AWAY at our representatives to make sure that they GET IT that Bush's plan is just unacceptable.

I can't even think of anything FUNNY TO SAY. There is just NOTHING FUNNY in this story. SAD, SAD, Sad.

That's my point. It is like a dictatorship in many ways. We cannot get the president to carry out the will of the people, instead we got him to start putting into action his plan, and what can we do?

We can fax the people in D.C., who may or may not have the fortitude, strength and courage to oppose someone who has characteristics similar to a dictator.

We can sit here and make up new names for the person who has the characteristics of a dictator and wonder if something is eventually going to happen to us for doing that.

We can protest, and who knows what will happen in that case.

We can give up, cry, stomp our feet, throw a pebble at our own mailbox, then go shopping for things made in China, and check to see what will be on prime time TV tonight, eat popcorn and never smile again.

We can hope that there is SOMEONE in Washington or a governor somewhere who is brave enough to come forward and stand up for us in some HUGE way, that sort of grips the country, in which case we would switch places with the person who has the characteristics of a dictator, and he will be where we are, in between a hard place and a rock.

Any choices that I missed? Sorry to be so pessimistic, but I can't see any other choices. Do you ? I'm not trying to say that I want to or that I am willing to give up. I just can't see the forest for the trees right now.

I'm sorry. I will try to be more positive.

I think the greatest thing is that Jorge is very unpopular and is really an idiot because had this guy been popular and a smooth talker then his amnesty/guest worker nonsense would have already past years ago without as much as a whimper.