Just some reminders...

Back in January of 2004, the President put forth some suggestions that, IMHO, were targetted at trying to generate a civil discussion about immigration reform. It was attacked by both left and right and now, more than 2 years later, we find ourselves in the same place with much the same reaction, only moreso. While I certainly wouldn't give him an "A" for Effort in trying to get "moderates" on board I do give the rest of us an "F" for Fatheads for not engaging in a civilized discussion about how to deal with the illegal aliens problems. As Terrye suggested in a comment on another post, we're not likely to move this ball forward given the continued shrillness of the all or nothing nutbars.

AJStrata (ht: the Anchoress) provides his list of reasons he is thankful for George W. Bush's presidency. I agree with him on pretty much every point he makes (I encourage all and sundry to read the whole thing) but would like to add to his list with a few items of my own:

Thank you, Mr. President, for attempting to get this nation of knuckleheads to at least begin to talk about (I can't hold you responsible for our childish incivility when it comes to these topics):

• immigration reform
• social security reform

Thank you, Mr. President, for suffering the viscious, seditionist attacks from the rogues in the State Department and CIA. These are huge, ponderous, entrenched bureaucracies. I wish you had been more successful at cleaning them out but I do understand that even in this age of the Imperial Presidency we still have rather severe restrictions on what the Executive can accomplish. I wish you increased success in this effort through the remainder of your second term. You might consider getting a bit nastier in this particular fight.

Thank you, Mr. President, for what your administration has accomplished in transforming our military into a somewhat lighter and more responsive force. I know the Next Big Enemy people are powerful and would prefer we ignore the small enemies and prepare for the Coming Battle With China but I think that one is a couple decades out and we need to deal with the fascists, Islamic and otherwise, in the meantime.

Thank you, Mr. President, for not letting the UN & France dictate United States action.

Thank you, Mr. President, for assembling the Coalition of the Willing under which the US is fighting alongside the largest percentage of non-US boots on the ground since WWII. It was nice of your dad to get so many countries to pitch in funds for Gulf War I but I particularly admire having other countries put up actual people.

Thank you, Mr. President, for enhancing relations with India and beginning the process of increased military cooperation with Japan. And also for putting the North Korean madman back in the closet where he belongs. Thanks for taking Libya out of the terrorism game and for shutting down Khan's Islamobomb ring. It would have been nice if we could have seen a few people lined up an shot or hanged but I'll take the results as they stand to this point.

I'm sure I could think of a few more things I'd like to thank you for, Mr. President, but I'll end on this little last but not least note: Thank you, Mr. President, for remaining civil and dignified while lunacy and pettiness are all around - that, in particular, has been a big help to me. I will, however, forgive you if you succumb to the urge to do a sudden smackdown of the sophomoric twits.