Who says he's the divider?

One thing that caused me concern (here's a little peeky behind the Religious Conservative curtain for you on the Left) when Dubya was running in 1999-2000 was his pitch that he was a "uniter not a divider." Not because I don't in fact want a president who unites Americans, but because such a claim (along with "Compassionate Conservatism") seemed to concede to the Left's caricature of Conservatism, and I want a president who does what's best as a first priority. "Uniting" people is not a good first priority . . . heck, even Jesus came to "divide." (Luke 12:51)

But one thing that you can say for GWB is that he has brought disparate parties together under the banner of immigration-restrictionists. In my daily email from NumbersUSA today, for example, is this headline for action--pitched to bleeding hearts everywhere: "Send faxes on best way to honor MLK Day & help America's poor --- REDUCE OVERALL IMMIGRATION." Bush has united elements of BigLabor, the Greenies, PaleoCons, Buchanan Brigades against lax immigration laws.

Now, I favor most of what NumbersUSA et al are advocating, but I am often put off by the appeal--as they have consistently, since 2001, used Bush and the GOP as a foil for their movement. Bush and the GOP aren't single-handedly blocking immigration reform, though the Left is happy to foment discontent with him and the GOP about anything. But if you think about it, is it possible for the Left and Democrats to demonize or demagogue Bush any more than they already have?