>>>Just to show I'm not a hard core idealogue, I think President Bush's proposal is the best I have heard. I do NOT like the idea of National Guardsmen (and women) lined up on the border, but politically he had to do something to appease the Republican core who are panting for punitive measures. The olive branch is offering "earned amnesty," meaning that after a certain period of law-abiding residence, illegals have the opportunity to become citizens. It's going to be a hard sell with Congress, though. The Democrats seem fairly unified against the put-up-walls approach and many Republicans are against any kind of anmesty. It will be tough getting it through before this session ends, that's for sure.
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>>The real issue in all of this is that both the Democrats and Republicans want the Hispanic vote.
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>That's true but I don't think it's quite that simple. Illegal immigration has impassioned the public in a way few issues do. I suspect most politicians on both sides of the aisle, not to mention President Bush, would rather have given it a miss in an election year, but the public debate has built to the point that ignoring the issue is no longer an option.

BZZZZT! Exactly the opposite is true. This is you political WMD (D=distraction), used with abandon in the last several years to obfuscate the FACT that they (the politicians) have done ZILCH for the avergae voting person and don't want to be found out and kicked out.
With today's media saturation they could make a 1 week fervor regarding fleas in White House beds if they wanted to. Meanwhile more factories close, more of your tax money quietly goes to businesses, gas keeps rising in price, the war in Iraq continues to go backwards, salaries keep retrograding, infrastructure keeps deteriorating and the federal deficit keeps balooning.
None of those are items that any politician wants you to remember, Republican or Democrat.
With illegal immigration the Republicans have a very probable way to distinguish themselves, and they hope in a more positive way, from the Democrats. They can't use the war in Iraq. They can't use the price of gas. They can't use the "response" to Katrina. They can't use the state of the budget. So they're left with manufactured "issues" that could put some light between them and their opponents.
Watch for marriage "protection" to come back. Watch for 'no attacks since 9/11' to be repeated incessantly. Watch for gay bashing, the rough equivalent of immigrant illegals, to rise. Watch for God to be mentioned more often and more fervently. All of which do NOTHING for the avergae Joe who's just trying to live his life and bring up his kids to be good citizens.