Well, well! Apparently, when Bush talks down to Republicans and hints at thier apparent maliciousness, they get all upset!:

Bush Faces Resistance on Immigration - New York Times

Mr. Rohrabacher said that some fellow conservatives had found the president’s address condescending and that the remarks “hinted at maliciousness on the part of those who are adamant that illegal immigration is bad for the country.”

The above-linked article is a great read for those of you who enjoy nuts-and-bolts Congressional politics generally. Actually, it is kind of refreshing to hear genuine debate happening in Congress these days. But the quoted text above was what really got me. Bush’s speech was not significantly different than any other speech, either in delivery or in manner, than any number of a hundred speeches in the past. His slow, measured pace and paternal earnestness has always irritated me, the more so because of the way he mentions his detractors and “the enemies of freedom” in practically the same breath. The immigration speech was a page straight out of his playbook, and now the Republican’s and Conservative’s feathers are all ruffled. Good for them.

I doubt that many on the Right will appreciate it or care, and I don’t know how much it matters to those of us on the Left, but this bit offers a window into the real political “strategy” of the Bush/Rove Machine. Namely, that there really isn’t one. When Bush makes speeches, or when anyone in this White House does, they always use the same strategy: to place thier detractors on the wrong side of the war. Whatever war they find convenient. That’s easy to do when you’re in the majority party and the party is aligned with you.

In fact, you can even tickle the jollys of your friends by beating up on the minority party that isn’t really in a position to do anything about it. It just feels good. Especially when your freinds start writing books on the subject. By the way, is this Ann Coulter’s new book on politics, or her new half-hour abs-of-God workout video?

But when the party is not aligned with you, and you’re fighting uphill, it doesn’t do to make enemies. When you need to get votes in the House, which you don’t do with clever speeches aimed at abusing those who could help, you need to use another skillset altogether. In fact, it is at this moment when you want to start making some freinds. That is politics, the art of wielding influence, and when it comes to actual politics, Bush loses every time. Think Social Security.

Much though we do need immigration reform in this country, it’s not going to happen in this Congress. In truth, I agree with much of what Bush has to say on this issue; I think that in this one subject (only!), the former governor of Texas probably knows a lot more of what he’s talking about than most of his detractors. Still, it will be fun watching the whole process lurch to a halt after all the press coverage, marches, speeches and such.

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