Presidents and president wannabees
Today, I went to Capitol Hill to see Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Col.) talk about his proposed immigration reform. It was fantastically right-winged. Pretty much he wants to deny anyone who is born in the U.S. whose parents are not citizens themselves the right to U.S. citizenship and wants visa quotas down to zero. Yay democracy.
One reporter asked him if he was trying to remove himself so far to the right to distiguish himself from other Republican presidential candidates. Of course he said no, because he maintains he has had this position on immigration in the past, unlike his competitors. He is about to start a tour of Iowa though. Go figure.
After an extended lunch break and indulging in my new favorite sin -- Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice (what? don't judge me) -- I walked over to the White House to cover Bush's speech on the mid-term budget. I met one of the other Hispanic Link interns there and naturally, we got lost. Our editor failed to tell us the press conference was in the old Executive Office Building. Nevertheless, in our confusion, we walked in on Tony Snow's daily press breifing.
Once we asked a few people where we needed to go, we made our way across the way to the Executive Office and ran to an elevator, got to the fourth floor and in the nick of time, managed to find a couple of open seats. Bush walked in and it was a praisefest. A few families were seated behind him to use as examples of how tax cuts were working for families and small business owners. He made reference to a man who own a fence building company and referred to him as "the fence man." I couldn't help but chuckle. What president am I supposed to laugh at once he's gone? Oh well, at least I was able to intern in D.C. before someone serious takes over.
All in all, not bad for my first time at the White House/Executive Office Building/seeing Bush.