A lame duck. With bird flu.

How squandered is the political capital of President Bush?

It is so squandered that I, a person he and the Republican party should want tuning into a prime time speech, ignored last night's address to the nation on his immigration plan. I am hopeless that they will find the right solution. I am convinced they are going to do the wrong thing for this country, and that is to temporarily tighted up on illegal immigration now, then when everyone is looking the other way, let things go back to as they were on the border with Mexico while massaging through an amnesty for the illegals that are already here. I have zero faith they will fix anything. And Democrats-you want to take back Congress? You don't even enter into this conversation because all you offer is opposition, not solutions. If you want to win anything, you'd better stop blathering and start accomplishing something.

Look, I favor legal immigration. This nation was built on the back of legal immigrants. Legal is the key word, here, though. Letting people into this country willy-nilly with zero controls is a strategy for disaster. Yes, I'd say that a lot of the illegal immigrants in this country are good people. Unfortunately, we have no filters to keep out the criminals, and yes, Mexico has criminals. It also has politicially disaffected guerillas. And the current border situation is a dream for any terrorist bent on causing us harm. Legal immigration creates American citizens. Illegal immigration is the recipe for a boatload of problems, and it is not in the best interest of America, and it is not in the best interest of those illegal immigrants who are good people. A nation serious about controlling its borders is looking out for the best interests of the nation as well as immigrants. Too many in Washington aren't serious about it, though, and that includes the President. He may as well take a vacation for his last two years of his term.