Thread: Remarks by the President

Remarks by the President After Meeting on Immigration and Assimilation

Asamblea de Iglesias Cristianas, Centro Evangelistico

Washington, D.C.

11:26 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank my fellow Americans for joining me today
to discuss a very important issue, and that is immigration.

In my discussions I've talked to clergy that recognize that our country needs a comprehensive immigration reform, and part of that is to help people learn English. I've talked to people who work for corporate America -- Andy works for Marriott International, a corporation that understands that it's very helpful, it's in their interest to help people assimilate.


I've talked to Emilio, who works for the government, he's the head of the old INS, U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services. He has the opportunity often to swear in new citizens, and he sees the great -- the great hope that people have. I've talked to church workers who are reaching out in their communities to help people learn the benefits of the language, the English language. And thank you for tutoring and being kind.


I've talked to people that are raising families that have come from other countries, that are now U.S. citizens and understand the benefit of what it means to have learned English. Francisco said, when you learn English, doors open up for you. And I appreciate that beautiful sentiment, because it's true.


I strongly support comprehensive immigration reform. One aspect of comprehensive immigration reform is to help people assimilate into America. Part of that is to have a comprehensive strategy to help people learn the English language and to learn the history and traditions of the United States. Comprehensive immigration reform requires us to uphold law and enforce our borders in a humane way.


Comprehensive immigration reform means that you need a temporary worker program for workers who will be coming into our country. It's a program that treats people with respect, a program that helps meet the economic needs of our country. Comprehensive immigration reform means that employers would have to obey the law. Comprehensive immigration reform means that we've got to be humane about the nearly 11 or 12 million people who are already here. As I said in a speech down in Miami, we need to treat these people not with amnesty, and not with animosity. So it's got to be a rational way forward.


I'm looking forward to working with both Democrats and Republicans to get a comprehensive immigration bill done this year. We have a good chance to get it done. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand comprehensive immigration reform is in the nation's interest. And I'll continue working with members of Congress to encourage them to do the hard work necessary to make sure a system that is not working is reformed in a way that meets our national needs and listens to our national heart. After all, America is a land of immigrants. Immigration helps renew our soul. It helps redefine our spirit in a positive way.


And I'm so proud to be with you and I thank you for your time.

END 11:29 A.M. EDT



SOURCE White House Press Office

http://link.toolbot.com/yahoo.com/77053

Immigration helps renew our soul. It helps redefine our spirit in a positive way.

What in the hell is this nut talking about? Renewing our soul with immigrants?

Only the last stragglers of Bush worshipers are going to fall for this and I don't take enough meds to digest this crap hook line and sinker.

I'm getting tired of hearing this medicated alcoholic read the scripts his handlers tell him to parrot out to the public.

W

I'm going to need MEDS to read this tripe!

That ass

Comprehensive immigration reform means that we've got to be humane about the nearly 11 or 12 million people who are already here.

Didn't The Commander Guy leave something out? These people are just here?

No, Commander Guy, they're here illegally, and you want to reward them, their families, and all who break the law like they did.

I really think that either Bush is the stupidest man to ever set foot in the White House, or that he's severely mentally ill.

Either way, we're in a whole lot of trouble.

By the way, is there anyone left in America that believes a word that comes out of this liars mouth?

W

I can't help but wonder how long the Pres. thinks this two faced pablum will pass for almost cool?

Sadly, no one believes our own POTUS anymore and the loss of his credibility is his own fault.

The Pres. is the one manipulating our system to the benefit of illegal migrants and Americans aren't fooled by his rhetoric anymore, he's busted himself with his own words (Minutemen vigilantes) and his own actions (Millions to La Raza and the prosecution of Border Agents)

The conflict he is the protagonist of pits American citizens against foreign nationals.

Who's welfare is it that matters, who's choice? The answer is why George Bush is in so much trouble with the American people.

Minus an emotional response evoked by a combination of people who have no right to be here and complicit Media, Globalists like the Pres. and America haters, illegal migration like car theft is just..illegal.

Support US Mr. President, support US.

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Immigration helps renew our soul. It helps redefine our spirit in a positive way.

What in the hell is this nut talking about? Renewing our soul with immigrants?

He should take a look at the border in Arizona to see how "renewed" it is.....

He REALLY knows how to add insult to injury and he does it in the most nonchalant, trustful, way. It makes it all the more disturbing and upsetting. He sounds incapable of anything when he talks this way.

Words, words, words, they're just empty words which he throws out there. He never re-evaluates his stand on things, (and conditions and circumstances do change and require adjustments and new approaches).

Illegal immigration isn't just some sweet, sensitive, heartfelt subject, it's an abject danger to American citizens and more Americans are being killed due to illegal immigration than in both the World Trade Center Disaster and the Iraq War.

PLEASE, stop trying to put this problem in a gentle light. It is out of control and DANGEROUS for US.

I don't appreciate his "sweet talk", when Americans are literally dying as a result of something.

This is unnacceptable.

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

By the way, is there anyone left in America that believes a word that comes out of this liars mouth?

W

Well, certainly not on this issue. The problem that you have is that many Americans are STILL willing to give the clown the benefit of the doubt because they feel that he's the only person still willing to fight the war against terrorism that the last administration allowed to get way out of hand, and that he still stands in the way of dangerous legislation like the recent Democrat hate crime bill that would have made it possible for ministers to be prosecuted for things like preaching against homosexuality (which has in fact happened in Europe under the legislation the bill was modelled after) and of some of the new assualts on Amendment II being contemplated by the Democrat-controlled Congress.

See, that's the problem that we have with our absurd binary political system, and it's the reason that we need to break the death grip of the two-party system. It's not a system that was ever contemplated by the founders of this nation, despite the nonsense to that effect that our kids are taught in the indoctrination mills. Just as this nation was never meant to be the "democracy" the propagandists keep telling us it is, neither were we meant to be limited to trying to discern the lesser of two evils. But binary systems have long been a means of artificial control. Binary systems have fuelled every "us against them" conflict in the history of mankind. It justified the horrors of the Inquisition. It justifies the jihad of the Islamofascists. It justifed the rise of the Nazis (National Socialism vs Communism). It created the Cold War.

Just as such childish reductionism is dangerous in a political system, so is it counterproductive when demonizing individuals. If we understand what we can gain from a person in power even as we gain understanding as to how to limit that same person in endeavors we oppose, we can extract something meaningful from the system or at least limit its damage. But when we continually polarize as we are increasingly being duped into doing, whether it's Conservatives demonizing the Clintons or Liberals ironically claiming that Bush is the Devil, this only plays into the hands of those who manipulate us for their own ends.

You want to call Bush a liar? How novel. As best I can tell, almost EVERY POLITICIAN IN WASHINGTON is a liar on one subject or another, and the higher you go up the food chain the more lies you're likely to hear. Whether it's LBJ lying about the intent in Vietnam, Nixon lying about Watergate, Carter lying his arse off as an observer in other countries' elections as he defends the machinations of dictators, George H.W. Bush saying "read my lips," or Clinton pretty much every time he opened his lying mouth, that's what we get from Presidents these days. Bush is no more honest or dishonest than any of his predecessors over the last half-century. He just happens to be on the wrong side of this issue and a few others (like the PATRIOT Act). Demonizing him may make people feel better, but it has no merit as a strategy for action.

The problem with most (not all) people on this site is that they have had no experience dealing with people in power. Rare is the occasion that you can go on record calling someone the Devil or next coming of Hitler and then go and try to convince that person to see your side of the argument.

I am under no illusions that we are going to get Bush to change his mind on immigration. Ain't gonna happen with him or any of a number of bought off or ideologically addled elected officials. But the more that our argument can be kept in the realm of the rational rather than straying off into wild escapist fantasies such as that the administration plotted the 9/11 attacks or that (as an email I received today claims) Bush actively "worships the Devil," the more seriously we can be taken.

I can tell you this: Any elected official or legislator from the GOP who comes here and reads page after gratuitous demonization of the President is going to think twice about the motivations of this organization. As we learned after the last election and the resultant fact that we are now having to fight tooth and nail in a desperate attempt to keep the Democrats from passing the legislation that the GOP in the House easily blocked last session, we can't count on the Dems for anything. Many members of the GOP agree that this President is doing a pretty damned bad job of leading this country on many fronts, including immigration, but that doesn't mean that they won't shy away from a group whose website is daily flooded with attacks on the party and its de facto leader.

I am asking that other the other members of this site exercise a little discretion and reason and reign in their raw emotions. It's as though many here are living on the edge of a raw nerve to the extent that rash denunciations are all that they can muster. Like it or not, we are stuck with this administration and this Congress for another 21 months. That's a lot of time for our enemies to take advantage of our weak position in the halls of power and for us to have to rely on the efforts of the minority in Congress who remain stalwart allies. We must not embarrass them or alienate them, and we must maintain the credibility to continue to have access to them and to others who may be on the fence or persuaded to move to our side of the issue. Surely the concept of the strategy is not wholly alien to everyone here, and the fact that the value of releasing tension through namecalling is not nearly so great as that of maintaining the decorum and diplomacy to avoid alienating people who could be our allies, such as those for whom immigration has been a less important issue than other conservative values they feel (rightly or wrongly) that this administration defends. I can tell you from personal experience that several people I have referred to this site and who I did not see subsequently posting or becoming active later told me that they disregarded the site as a Bush-bashing vehicle of the Left. No effort I could make to convince these people that they were mistaken could overcome the opinion formed after reading some of the nonsense posted here. These are not just average folks, but in several cases were community leaders who could have been very active and valuable in our efforts, but who instead choose to take other (probably less effective) courses to oppose illegal immigration.

Okay, I'm done for now. I'll just say that it is unfortunate that we can't keep this effort credible and aboveboard. This particular thread is not particularly egregious, but taken in the context of other threads appearing over the last day or so that do cross the line into gratuitous partisan bashing it is enough to get me pretty worked up over such counterproductive ramblings.

Nobody likes to have to talk about the POTUS like that, but does any American who really cares about the future of this country have a choice?

I mean, I don't know how many people will enter our country tonight as we sleep, but I do know that the numbers have been in the thousands, EVERY DAY and NIGHT. WHERE does it stop?! If it were not for all the people screaming and yelling about it....he STILL would have done nothing about it!!

What are we suppose to do, allow our country to be taken over by people who just "feel" they have a "right" to be here?

Countries have to have laws and they have to be legitimate laws, taken seriously by people or in a short time you're not going to have a country anymore.

Where would our country end up if we do away with immigration laws, which is essentially what our president has done, by his failure to enforce the law.

What is the answer when you have someone as president who insists on turning a huge and serious problem into a "sentimental dilemma". The United States cannot afford this. We need an effective president who can and will take a strong stand with tough problems.

President Bush, we're tired of listening to your lullabies and poetry. Americans are being harmed and killed on a daily basis and it is high time that you incorporate the truth into your agenda.