What have you done for me lately?

It just took one sentence to cover it. As Dick Polman said, "President Bush is sending troops to guard against any further defections from his conservative base."

In his Inquirer article, Stopping the right's flight, Polman describes the unsuccessful balancing act that Bush tried to pull off with his recent immigration speech. Emphasis on the word unsuccessful, since "Bush had barely finished last night before the conservative blogosphere went to work on him."

Following up on his piece in the Inquirer, Polman continued the discussion on his blog. In a post entitled The downside of having convictions, Polman suggests that although he was trying to appease the Bush's view on immigration is sincere. As he put it:

Yes, he felt compelled to lean rightward on border enforcement (at least symbolically) because the anti-immigrant right-wingers have been putting the squeeze on him. But he didn't go belly up and pander, either. He still managed to slap them around pretty well, with this passage:

"We cannot build a unified country by inciting people to anger, or playing on anyone's fears, or exploiting the issue of immigration for political gain. We must always remember that real lives will be affected by our debates and decisions, and that every human being has dignity and value no matter what their citizenship papers say."

That's presidential politesse, of course, but what it means in plain English is this: "People in my own base are acting like racists and demagogues, and they oughta knock it off."

On this one, I can't agree with Polman. Rather, I tend to agree with the Attytood, who colorfully says, Blah blah blah illegal immigrants blah blah, of Bush. Picture this:

What Bush says to Americans:

We cannot build a unified country by inciting people to anger, or playing on anyone's fears, or exploiting the issue of immigration for political gain. We must always remember that real lives will be affected by our debates and decisions, and that every human being has dignity and value no matter what their citizenship papers say.

What they hear:

A parting gunshot from a vehicle leaving Waffle House in West Asheville, NC shattered a window and caused a minor injury, police said.

The shooting happened around 3:00 a.m. Saturday after a group of whites argued with a group of Hispanics at the 24-hour restaurant on Smokey Park Highway, Asheville police Lt. Wallace Welch said

"“The two groups were jawing back and forth with each other over citizenship issues and whatnot,"” Welch said. As the Hispanic group drove off, someone in the vehicle fired at least once into a large window near the front door, he said.

We love Bush's knack for the occasional word or two begging to remind the world that he's "a uniter, not a divider." But those words, rare as they are, are totally meaningless unless they're backed up by actions. And make no mistake, by kowtowing to the radical right by sending our overstretched National Guard to inflame border tensions, Bush is once again a divider, not a uniter.

If you don't believe it, just take a drive down to the Waffle House.

Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post also provides his usual excellent take on the speech, in his White House Briefing post, News on President George W Bush and the Bush Administration, including a rundown of the analysis and reaction to the speech.

Reading all of this, I also can't help but enjoy the irony that this difficult situation has created for Bush within his own Party. The Conservative Right so epitomizes the "What have you done for me lately?" mentality.

For example, despite the view of many moderate and liberals that Bush is in bed with the Christian Right, the NYTimes reports on the unhappiness of that contingent, in Conservative Christians Criticize Republicans:

"I can't tell you how much anger there is at the Republican leadership," Mr. Viguerie said. "I have never seen anything like it."

In the last several weeks, Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and one of the most influential Christian conservatives, has publicly accused Republican leaders of betraying the social conservatives who helped elect them in 2004. He has also warned in private meetings with about a dozen of the top Republicans in Washington that he may turn critic this fall unless the party delivers on conservative goals.

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Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry. -- Sir Winston Churchill

Tags: Politics, Bush, Immigration, Christian Right