Thread: GOP Platform Reverses Bush Pro-Amnesty Stance

GOP Platform Reverses Bush Pro-Amnesty Stance

Updated Friday, September 5, 2008, 9:00 AM

Republicans ratified a Party platform this week that reversed the pro-amnesty plank President Bush laid out in the 2004 platform. The platform states that the GOP opposes amnesty, supports border security, and calls for "smarter" interior enforcement against illegal workers and lawbreaking employers alike.

The platform says "smarter" enforcement necessitates the use of E-Verify:

(W)e must empower employers so they can know with confidence that those they hire are permitted to work. That means that the E-Verify system—which is an internet-based system that verifies the employment authorization and identity of employees—must be reauthorized. A phased in requirement that employers use the E-Verify system must be enacted.

Moreover, the platform calls for denial of federal funds to sanctuary cities and denial of Social Security and other public benefits, including driver’s licenses, to illegal aliens except where required under federal law. Unfortuately, the Party also included language calling for more permanent foreign high-tech workers under the H-1B program. This abused program has displaced domestic high-tech workers and driven down their wages. As such, this part of the Party's plank would hurt, not help, struggling American workers.

A platform represents a Party's stances on a range of policy issues, and is normally written to satisfy its base. The Wall Street Journal reports Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the chairman of the platform drafting committee, as saying the Party had opted for a "smaller, more principled, more forward-looking" platform this year that didn't emphasize its nominee before Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was chosen as its flag bearer.

The platform runs counter to the “comprehensive immigration reformâ€

Some delegates tried to offer platform language that opposed "amnesty or any kind of comprehensive immigration reform." This amendment was rejected when some members argued it was a slap at Sen. McCain.

Actually...it was a slap in the face to the millions American citizens who believe in the rule of law and the principle that we as a nation, not reward those who break our laws! It was already tried once and it did not work. You think McCain can suck it up and take one for the team?? After all, that's what a great leader would do....

Jorge Bush and gang have set new precedents in not listening to the people, the legislature and their party's platform stances. This "conservative" label should be torn from their shirts and these last eight years have really set the worst standard for the next president to protect the interests of this country instead of the interests of large corporations in the delusion of trickle-down economic success for all.