No speech George W. Bush has ever given has reversed his political fortunes.

(God love 'im, he keeps trying. Heh.)

Last night was no exception. Bush is still flopping like a gut-hooked carp (h/t SKB).

Looks like these bold new policy initiatives of this administration are going to get challenged from within. Via Salon (day pass or membership req'd):

President Bush drew fresh criticism from House Republicans Tuesday for endorsing eventual citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

Republicans expressed support for new attempts to secure America's porous borders, but they rebelled against another element of what Bush calls a comprehensive plan to alter immigration laws.

"Thinly veiled attempts to promote amnesty cannot be tolerated,' said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. "While America is a nation of immigrants, we are also a nation of laws, and rewarding those who break our laws not only dishonors the hard work of those who came here legally but does nothing to fix our current situation."

[snicker] 29%. Oh what a feeling.

(Read more on the flip...)

As Bush's Monday night speech drew reaction from Republicans and Democrats, the Senate moved toward the first of several showdown votes over the next week or so on immigration legislation that followed the president's general recommendations. The measure provides greater border security, establishes a new guest worker program and offers an eventual chance at citizenship for most of the estimated 11 million to 12 million immigrants in the country illegally.

Democrats responded with a pledge of cooperation and a barbed question for the commander in chief. Bush "has the power to call up the National Guard to patrol the border," said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat. "But does he have the power to lead his own Republican forces in Congress in support of real immigration reform?"

Ouch.

Let's also mention the cost and the backlog of applicants who're going to clog the system as bad as Cheney's arteries if Bush gets his way.

A co-worker of mine (who's a Canadian national who's been legally working towards his US citizenship for the last 7 years) sent me this thumbnail bit of math:

OK, so assuming there are 12M to process and each application takes 8 hours total (1 hour incoming application review, 1 hour fingerprinting, 2 hour pre-interview report review, 2 hour interview, etc.). Double that for management, vacation, training, etc. And this doesn't include time at other Agencies (e.g. FBI) and the extra time it will take to determine back taxes due, how long the undocumented have actually been in the country, etc.

Program cost = $5B (just in people cost at $50,000 per person).

Or 100,000 FTE equivalents.

Or 96 million man hours, minimum.

I hope anyone who's been in the system for a while gets some sort of preferential treatment, because if this becomes a best-effort type of situation (and anyone who's been to the Department of Motor Vehicles knows how inefficient *that* relatively simple process is), it's going to cause significant delays to people who've been following the proper process all along.

So, while we're trying to solve this election-year "crisis," we're erecting a huge institutional barrier to importing some talented, skilled people -- and making matters exceedingly complicated for those already tied up in the bureaucracy. Seems to me like this only serves to invite more abuse of the system, not less.