California Conservative

In a move that’s sure to be popular with the Republican base, the AP’s Nedra Pickler is reporting “President Bush will call for thousands of National Guard troops to be deployed along the Mexico border in support of patrols aimed at keeping out illegal immigrants, White House officials said Sunday on the eve of an Oval Office address announcing the plan.” Predictably, the critics are already coming out:

Criticism of the National Guard plan came Sunday from Democrats, but also an important Republican negotiator in the immigration debate, Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. He said National Guard troops cannot secure the border over the long term and that he does not think it is wise even in the short term. “We’ve got National Guard members on their second, third and fourth tours in Iraq,” Hagel said. “We have stretched our military as thin as we have ever seen it in modern times. And what in the world are we talking about here, sending a National Guard that we may not have any capacity to send up to or down to protect borders? That’s not their role.” Hagel said the bill under debate in the Senate that he helped write would double the 12,000-strong Border Patrol force over the next five years. “That’s the way to fix it, not further stretching the National Guard,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Sen. Joe Biden, (D-DE), said there may be a need for troops to fill in while the Border Patrol is bolstered. But he did not seem confident that the National Guard could take on the extra duty. “We have stretched these men and women so thin, so thin, because of the bad mistakes done by the civilians in the military here, that I wonder how they’re going to be able to do it,” Biden said, also on ABC.

Mr. President, Ignore these pessimistic idiots. Hagel and Biden are clueless. Hagel especially needs to be defeated in a primary when he runs for re-election. He’s criticized the GWOT so he can get more camera time. He isn’t someone who should be taken seriously.

Biden is a legend in his own mind. There’s no doubt that he takes this stuff seriously. Unfortunately, he isn’t half as smart as he thinks he is. Frankly, watching him think on the fly is painful because he isn’t very good at it. He isn’t much better when he takes his time, either.

Both men said the rotations couldn’t be sustained back in the fall of 2003. The rotations have been sustained for several years and we’re on the verge of a great accomplishment in Iraq.

Technorati Tags: Joe Biden, Chuck Hagel, Border Security, Immigration

Cross-post at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Monday, May 15th, 2006 at 12:47 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Homeland Security, Immigration, W. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.