Well THAT could have gone better

Apparently I have misjudged the pull of the Bush Administration. I thought that the very idea of sending National Guard troops to the border (to do clerical work and such... that's helpful!) would satisfy the mouth-breathers on the right and let them know that he's "one a' us" again (immigration being an excellent dog whistle for a certain group in the country that would rather demonize the other - in this case, Hispanics - than take responsibility for their own failings).

Turns out, no, na' ga' work this time. Sadly, No has one of many rundowns.

Here's a quick round-up from right-wing blogs.

Powertools:

My admiration for President Bush is great, but it reaches its limit on the subject of immigration.

Jesse Malkin:

811: Bush has lost touch with reality, arguing that guest worker/amnesty will reduce the incentive to cross the border. Reality check.
814 Bush tosses a bone to Americans outraged by the reconquista desecration of the American flag...paraphrasing...immigrants must "respect the flag we fly."

816. Bush admonishes others not to exploit immigration for political gain.
Chutzpah.

Right-Wing News:

So, in my view, this isn't even an olive branch to people who are serious about defending this border and dealing with illegal immigration.
Overall grade for the speech: F

LGF Poster "michael moore's coffin":

BUILD THE DAMN WALL. ANYTHING ELSE WILL LOSE MY VOTE IN 2006 and 2008!

Brad also noticed that Hugh Hewitt is still a team player, but he must be playing solitaire at the weekly "We Love the Dear Leader Mr. Bush" meetings.

I mean, there's this incredible passage by right-wing law professor Steven Bainbridge that suggests the immigration debate merely puts into words what conservatives have been feeling on a lot of issues about Bush for a while now:

I don't really care one iota about "irredentist Democrats in Congress and their fifth-column in the media." I'm suffering from Bush fatigue brought on by the culmination of:

-Failure to finish the 9/11 job by bringing Osama to justice
-An unnecessary and unwise war of choice in Iraq, waged with inadequate resources and a degree of political interference unmatched since LBJ ran the Viet Nam War from the Oval Office, as forcefully demonstrated by the W$J's extended story on retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste
-Runaway spending
-Vast expansion of the federal government in areas like No Child Left Behind, Sarbanes-Oxley, and the Medicare drug benefit
-Failure to address entitlement reform
-Failure to address comprehensive immigration reform that includes a guest worker system and regularization of the current undocumented population
-Infingement of civil liberties in the various NSA domestic spying programs
-An unwillingness to confront the corruption plaguing the party by virtue of the K Street Gang; or, rather, the Gang's lack of virtue
-Inability to admit error
-Entrenched anti-intellectualism

Since when did Janeane Garofalo get her own right-wing blog?

Some conservatives have even drafted articles of impeachment over immigration, but I think the real answer lies more with what Professor Bainbridge is saying. They're not mad at Bush for Issue A or Issue B; they're mad because he's a fuck-up. A colossal, Super-Sized, free-toy-surprise-in-the-Happy-Meal fuck-up, and they're afraid he's about to bring the entire Party down with him for a generation. So they're getting out in front of it now. They're severing all ties. We'll start hearing lines like "I was never really a Bush fan anyway" or "He's not a REAL conservative." In fact, we're already hearing that one. Digby digs up the most amazing photo, something that's apparently making its way around the right:



Wow. This is far worse along than I thought. I don't think it's a good thing for the country to have a Presidency this irrelevant for the next three years. And I certainly don't think we should let those completely willing to support Bush in the dastardly policies he undertook the last 5 years to wriggle out of accountability for those policies. Maybe the Republican Party ought to sink with the ship. And certainly the right blogosphere should. After all, they hitched their tugboat to W.'s luxury yacht. They forgot there was such a thing as oversight. They called anyone who disagreed with them "traitors" and "on the side of the terrorists."

It comes down to a question of judgment. And if these guys could unfailingly defend the President for five years, only to abandon ship when the going gets tough... well, I have to question that judgment.