Bush will address the nation on immigration this Monday at 8 PM, Eastern Time. If you were wondering how low Bush’s approval ratings can go, wait until you see this. He’s probably going to tout the Senate’s “comprehensive” bill (AKA the amnesty bill) that’s in the works. After that, see the bloodbath that ensues when the conservatives really turn on him. Too drastic a characterization? We’ll see. We’ll see what happens when the talk-show and tv hosts are provided with ammo in the form of clips from Bush’s speech. I will be avidly watching the polls and seeing if there’s a drop in Bush’s approval ratings.

Hopefully, I’ll get to catch the speech itself. If not, I will be reading a transcript and commenting on it. You can count on that.

UPDATE:

Yahoo! News puts out an article on this issue, stressing a possible deployment of the National Guard: Bush Weighs Deploying Guard to U.S. Border. In the article, it states: “Bush’s speech Monday night is intended to build support for broad immigration overhaul by taking substantive steps to secure the border.” Still, I wonder just how much he will emphasize border security.

Despite earlier sentiments I might have had, I am weary of putting deploying 3,500-10,000 troops on the border. “Defense officials said the National Guard may be used only until significant additions to the existing civilian border patrols can be fully funded and completed.” We should make sure that those existing civilian border patrols are funded. If you don’t do that, you run into the same kind of trouble you get when you have soldiers instead of cops. Frankly, we shouldn’t need troops.

Senator Cornyn gets it right here: “‘We need to beef up those (border) operations and the cost will be substantial,’ said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in an interview. ‘People are just not going to accept comprehensive immigration reform unless they are assured the government is going to secure the border. People have lost confidence in the federal government because they simply haven’t addressed this in a dramatic and effective way.'”