Bush defends his immigration proposals

I am sad to say that I voted for Bush twice and supported him all the way up to here. My support for this guy has ended and I will never agree or go along with his political aspirations ever again as he simply does not listen to us "We The People". I will take a guess that his public support or rank in popularity will continue to drop and he will go out of office as one of the most un-popular Presidents. I think that he has no interest in listening to the American public that placed him in office. Whatever his motives are is a puzzle to me as it's not generally what the public wants. He has stood up for one of his Texas buddies (Johnny Sutton) and let him get away with imprisoning two Border Patrol Agents on trumped up charges for simply doing their job, while letting an illegal drug peddler loose to continue his illegal drug running activities. That is a travesty and a slap in the face of our laws and the citizens of this country. It's as if he does things for his friends, buddies and cohorts, but does not give a rats butt about anything else. He let his pal Scooter Libby from doing any prison time and stood up for his other big buddy, the DA that sent the Border Patrol agents to prison trying to tell us it was a fair trial when we know it wasn't. I see leaders from other parts of the world running their country like that, but never in my wildest dreams thought that I would live to see the day that it took place here.

Bush defends his immigration proposals


President Bush sharply challenged critics of his stalled immigration-overhaul efforts on Thursday, suggesting that failure to pass a guest-worker program could trigger a labor shortage in the United States.

At a town-hall style meeting, Bush also rebuffed a question about whether he would consider pardoning two Border Patrol agents in prison for the cover-up of the shooting of a drug trafficker in Texas.

"No, I won't make you that promise," Bush told a woman who asked about a possible pardon. Many Republicans in Congress have said the men should not have been convicted and have criticized the federal U.S. attorney for even prosecuting the agents.

"I know it's an emotional issue but people need to look at the facts. These men were convicted by a jury of their peers after listening to the facts" as presented by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, said Bush. Bush called Sutton a friend.

The president also toured a bun bakery here, and used the business to illustrate a warning to Congress that he'd veto any government spending bill that he thinks is excessive.

"You can't keep making buns if the Democrats take all your dough," Bush joked in a speech shortly after taking in the aroma of fresh bread at the bakery, which supplies fast-food restaurants.

Bush took questions for more than an hour. Most were friendly, but several on immigration policy were pointed.

The president said he was disappointed about his immigration bill's demise in the Senate and reiterated his support for a guest worker program and a path toward citizenship for many of the 12 million illegal immigrants now in the United States.

Without such a program, and with stricter enforcement of the border, said Bush, "I can make you a prediction ... that pretty shortly people are going to be knocking on people's doors saying `Man we're running out of workers."'

The president defended his embattled Iraq policy and sought yet again to link the current Islamic militants in Iraq with those who planned the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, even though such links are tenuous.

When Bush was asked about whether he would consider pardoning the two border patrol agents, he seemed briefly taken aback.

"I'm not going to make that kind of promise in a forum like this, obviously," he said. "I'm interested in facts. I know the prosecutor very well, Johnny Sutton. He's a dear friend of mine from Texas. He's a fair guy. He is an evenhanded guy and I can't imagine, well, you know. ..."

To the woman, Bush said, "You've got a nice smile but you can't entice me (into) making a public statement" on the controversy.

The issue of presidential pardons has been front and center since Bush last month commuted the 30-month jail sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Bush had called the sentence "excessive."

The border patrol case has figured in the debate over overhauling immigration law. And calls for executive clemency have come from many Republican lawmakers. Former agents Ignacio Ramos and Alonso Compean are serving 11- and 12-year federal prison sentences, respectively, for the 2005 shooting.

The woman who asked the question of Bush told him that the Tennessee General Assembly has passed a resolution asking for such a pardon.

Bush's visit was designed to focus on the economy.

He said the Democratic-led Congress should pass appropriations bills and make sure they keep spending in check, a key concern of his conservative base.

"I've got the right to accept whether or not the amount of money they spend is the right amount," Bush said during the speech about his federal budget priorities at the Gaylord Opryland Resort Hotel and Convention Center.

"If they overspend or if they try to raise your taxes, I'm going to veto their bills," he said.

Seven of the 12 annual spending bills have passed the House but none have passed the Senate, and it's clear that the Oct. 1 deadline to enact the bills will go unmet.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman for the Senate Budget Committee, responded even before Bush left Nashville.

"How ironic that the White House would use a bakery as a backdrop, because when it comes to spending the people's dough — taxpayer money — this president baked this cake," Conrad said. He argued that since Bush took office, government spending has increased nearly 50 percent.