DWF15-643150, originally uploaded by attilaV.

Dear President Bush:

Conservatives will never completely abandon you, but as long as you keep spouting liberal talking points on immigration, there’s a good chance you’ll lose what few supporters you have left. After your speech today in Georgia — one in which you lauded the role of government in fixing the immigration problem — I have a feeling even some pro-amnesty libertarians will find your language hard to swallow.

A lot of Americans are skeptical about immigration reform primarily because they don’t think the government can fix the problems. And my answer to the skeptics is, give us a chance to fix the problems in a comprehensive way that enforces our border and treats people with decency and respect. Give us a chance to fix this problem. Don’t try to kill this bill before it gets moving. Give us a chance to make it easier for the folks who wear the uniform along our borders to do their job.

That’s hardly what you’d expect from a conservative. Your remarks attacking opponents of the bill will only inspire my fellow critics to fight harder. I realize that you and your allies in the Senate (including odd bedfellows Teddy Kennedy and Jon Kyl) are on the defensive and need to fight back. You were caught off guard by our successful attempt to correctly point out that this bill is amnesty — even worse than the mistake our idol Ronald Reagan made in 1986.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re trumping big government again. You did it before on education reform (No Child Left Behind) and health-care reform (Medicare prescription drug entitlement). But it’s profoundly disappointing that after the conservative base turned Republicans out of office in 2006 our leader still doesn’t get it.

You said today “the bill before Congress learns from the mistakes of the past.” But that’s not true, Mr. President. The bill is the 1986 amnesty all over again. Only this time, instead of giving amnesty to 2.7 million illegal aliens, we’re talking about doing it for 12 million. This bill will cause a flood of new illegal immigrants to America because it is so generous.

Your claim that the bill “makes enforcement our highest priority” is just hogwash. There are no new border-security provisions in the bill that aren’t already in existing law. In fact, we’d be better off without your new bill because at least all the security measures would still be in effect without the new amnesty provisions.

Let’s face it, Mr. President. Teddy Kennedy is a good negotiator. He’s gotten what he wanted in the past and he’s done so again this time. Even if Karl Rove is telling you that Republicans will benefit from an influx of Hispanic voters, don’t believe him. He said the same thing with the Medicare prescription drug bill. I plead with you not to put politics ahead of bad public policy.

Sincerely,
Concerned Conservative

UPDATE — May 30, 10:27 a.m.: Apparently I wasn’t the only conservative offended by the president’s remarks yesterday. My colleague Brian Darling had this to say to the Washington Post:

“Most conservatives have very strong feelings that this bill contains amnesty . . . and no yelling and screaming by the administration is going to change our minds,” he said.

As for the charge of scare tactics, Darling said: “Honestly, I really think people should be frightened. This bill would be the most dramatic change to immigration law in 40 years, and no one seems to understand what’s in the bill. . . . The American people should be frightened by the closed-door process that was used and by the ramifications.”

And David Keene of the American Conservative Union wasn’t any kinder: “I don’t think name-calling does any good at this point. . . . What they’ve done from the very beginning is say, ‘This is the way we want it done, and anyone who disagrees with us is outside the mainstream.’ . . . It’s been badly handled. They’ll be lucky, given the attitudes in the country, to come up with anything.”