Prelude to Bush's speech: he was against border security before he was for it

With hours to go before Bush even hit the podium tonight to unveil his retarded initiative to station National Guardsmen at the Mexican border, it had already been pointed out by several of blogs (and Air America shows) that just last year Fearless Leader submitted a budget that would do away with a proposed 10,000 additional Border Patrol agents.

In short, Bush has used his bully pulpit in the past to talk big on immigration enforcement. Then, when the cameras weren't on, he quietly killed his own proposal. But kept the tax cuts, and proceeded to push for even more.

The law signed by President Bush less than two months ago to add thousands of border patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border has crashed into the reality of Bush's austere federal budget proposal, officials said Tuesday.

Officially approved by Bush on Dec. 17 after extensive bickering in Congress, the National Intelligence Reform Act included the requirement to add 10,000 border patrol agents in the five years beginning with 2006. Roughly 80 percent of the agents were to patrol the southern U.S. border from Texas to California, along which thousands of people cross into the United States illegally every year.

But Bush's proposed 2006 budget, revealed Monday, funds only 210 new border agents.

The shrunken increase reflects the lack of money for an army of border guards and the capacity to train them, officials said.

Retired Adm. James Loy, acting head of the Department of Homeland Security until nominee Michael Chertoff takes over, said funding only 210 new agents was a "recognition that we need to balance those things as we go on down the road with other priorities."

The White House has certainly balanced their priorities this year, and decided that no amount of foreign debt is too much if it means clinging to power in this fall's elections.