PRESTOPUNDIT -- feeding memeorandum & econRT daily

on Nov. 2 Bush went to Santiago, Chile, and insulted many who voted for him by announcing he would expend the "political capital" earned in his re-election to grant guest-worker status to millions of illegal immigrants. Two dozen congressmen wrote a letter to the president opposing his plan, primarily for national security reasons. Bush brushed them off with elitist disdain. "I get letters all the time from people who are trying to steer me one way or the other," he said; "I'm going to move forward."

Bush made his commitment during a half-hour meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox. Bush said, "I made it very clear my position that we need to make sure that where there's a willing worker and a willing employer, that that job ought to be filled legally in cases where Americans will not fill that job." ..

When Bush speaks of a "willing employer" and a "willing worker," he never talks about the wage the employer is willing to pay or the wage the worker is willing to accept. There are billions of non-Americans who are willing to work for Third World wages and, as the Bernard Kerik case proves. There are U.S. multimillionaires who would rather enjoy the cheap labor provided by illegal immigrants than pay the wages Americans expect.

The way Bush steamrollered the intelligence bill through Congress in December 2004, demanding that the House abandon its sensible provisions for border security, indicates that he might be willing to split the Republican Party in order to carry out his promise to Fox.