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    Rational Ground on the Rio Grande: George W. Bush and Comprehensive Immigration Reform

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    Issue Date
    2015-05-31
    Author
    Wagner, Zachary Reynolds
    Publisher
    University of Kansas
    Format
    164 pages
    Type
    Dissertation
    Degree Level
    Ph.D.
    Discipline
    Communication Studies
    Rights
    Copyright held by the author.
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    Abstract
    During his second term, George W. Bush pushed comprehensive immigration reform (CIR), a policy that addressed illegal immigration through several provisions at once. Some of those provisions were favored by conservative border security hawks, including augmenting Border Patrol efforts with technology and increased manpower, while others were favored by pro-immigration liberals, including a temporary worker program and a clear path to citizenship. To pass both at the same time was clearly a challenge, but President Bush was the perfect man for the job, due to his security credentials and his left-leaning immigration stance. Bush seized what he thought was the perfect moment to capitalize on broad public support for the general outline of CIR. For nearly two years, his push for CIR ran into problems, including two counter-movements, a sweeping change of the makeup of Congress, and xenophobic hysteria stirred up by the right wing. Bush’s prolonged failure to garner public support for CIR became the defining domestic failure of his second term. To date, no explanation of his failure on CIR accounts for his rhetoric, an oversight that deprives the historical record of understanding presidential leadership. This dissertation combines social movement theory and a generally inductive method based in the rhetorical situation to explain how Bush failed to pass CIR.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1808/21912
    Collections
    • Communication Studies Dissertations and Theses [275]
    • Dissertations [4474]

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    Contact KU ScholarWorks
    785-864-8983
    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    Image Credits
     

     

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