Jeb Bush is so Jorge's brother. Read on, you'll see what I mean.

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http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/T ... omney.html

Romney addresses most social issues; mum on immigration
By Sam Youngman

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney assuaged the concerns of many gathered at National Review Institute’s Conservative Summit last weekend, at least on issues of abortion and gay marriage.

But aside from a brief mention of the importance of learning English during a nearly hour-long speech, Romney stayed away from the ongoing and heated immigration debate.

And as attendee John Kwapisz said after the speech, the governor may be able to keep mum.

While the Republican Party was divided over the immigration debate last year, Romney, like other governors-cum-presidential candidates before him, was not forced to vote on a hot issue.

Kwapisz pointed out that Romney might well be positioned to avoid the party-dividing debate since there is a chance President Bush and a Democratic Congress will find common ground on immigration legislation this year.

While a number of pundits have raised questions about Romney’s commitment to conservative beliefs on hot-button social issues ranging from abortion to gay marriage — two issues Romney dived into headfirst Saturday night — the ex-governor has by and large avoided the most contentious part of the immigration debate.

While Jeb Bush attempted to rally the crowd at the summit’s Saturday luncheon, telling them to “stop moping around” and to “be invigorated,” the audience cooled noticeably when he endorsed his brother’s support for a guest-worker program.

Less than half the audience applauded when the former Florida governor said he endorsed President Bush’s side of the debate, adding he thought Washington debate on the issue has been “shallow.” And it got worse when he went on to say he didn’t think the country is “under siege” by illegal immigrants.

“I don’t see the threat,” Bush said to only a smattering of applause.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said Monday the governor does see problems with the language in last year’s Senate proposal.

“Governor Romney has concerns about the guest worker program in the McCain-Kennedy bill, because it creates a new, open-ended right for those here illegally,” Madden said. “The way the program is structured could open a floodgate of document fraud since the program is based on proving how many years the person has been residing illegally in the U.S.”

But one Democratic National Committee official said Romney could use the issue to get to the right of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who joined Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) in co-sponsoring last year’s Senate measure.

“Mitt Romney’s been so busy trying to smooth talk conservative activists into ignoring his shifting positions on issues like gun control, health care, taxes, marriage and adoption that he’s hoping they’ll also forget his own hypocrisy on immigration,” DNC press secretary Stacie Paxton said. “Voters can safely assume that, when he thinks they want him to return to his hardline rhetoric on immigration, he will.”

Romney found himself in the middle of the debate late last year while still serving as governor. The Boston Globe reported he had hired a lawn service for home maintenance that employed illegal immigrants.

Shortly after that report, Romney negotiated a federal-state deal that expanded the powers of Massachusetts State Police to enable them to arrest illegal immigrants. The order was rescinded by Gov. Deval Patrick (D) almost immediately after he took office.

Romney’s website notes the importance of getting “immigration right,” but there is no mention of the guest-worker program, endorsed by Bush, McCain and Kennedy — the punch-line of many jokes Saturday night — among others.

During the climax of the debate last spring, when hundreds of thousands were protesting in cities across the country, Romney declined to take a position on the Senate bill, which included a guest-worker provision. Instead, the governor said he was opposed to amnesty but also opposed to returning all illegal aliens to Mexico, according to reports at the time.

The issues page on his presidential exploratory committee’s website extols the need for enhanced border security, tamper-proof documentation and employment verification, while calling for more legal migration.

“We need to make America more attractive for legal immigrants — for citizens — and less attractive for illegal immigrants. I want to see more immigration in our country, but more legal immigration and less illegal immigration,” Romney is quoted as having said.

Romney did tell the conservative crowd at Saturday’s dinner he thinks immigrant students should have to learn English.

“If kids want to learn in America, they have to learn the language of America,” he said.

While that might comfort voters in hardliner Rep. Tom Tancredo’s (R-Colo.) school, Romney’s failure to discuss the guest-worker program was noticeable to Kwapisz.

Kwapisz said his first choice for president is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, with Romney as his No. 2. Conservative Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback had been in the running, he said, but his endorsement of “amnesty” and criticism of the White House’s planned troop surge in Iraq were “disappointing.”

Romney has sought to fortify his backing on the right with an exhaustive Southern travel schedule and aggressive pursuit of conservative lawmakers such as Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who was a vocal critic of last year’s Senate legislation because it included a guest-worker program.

Blackburn said she would leave it to Romney to explain his thoughts on a guest-worker program, but she is “comfortable” with his commitment to “law and order” and his position on the immigration issue as a whole.

On other social issues, Romney seemed to alleviate the worries of some in attendance Saturday, though it’s a safe bet he’ll continue to face questions about the depth of his commitment to core conservative issues.

Steven Warchawksy, of New York, said after the speech he thought Romney had made a “reasonable and persuasive argument” for how he had come to change his mind on the abortion debate, but at present, Warchawsky said he is backing former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), one of the early Capitol Hill lawmakers to announce support for Romney’s candidacy, said the more Romney has to edify his conservative beliefs, the stronger he becomes.

“I think if [critics] keep pushing on that it might be a mistake,” Hoekstra said. “I have no reason to believe in six months it’s going to be an issue for him. I think it’s going to be an asset.”

And attendee Roseann LaManna didn’t mince words when asked about criticisms of Romney’s changed position on abortion.

“That’s bullcrap,” she said. “They’re looking for something to nail him on because they’re afraid he could be the nominee.”