The president was hoping to give a lift to those efforts with the commencement address in Miami and also by devoting his weekly radio address on Saturday to the topic.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., applauded the renewed attention from Bush.
"Only a bipartisan bill will become law, and we are prepared to work with the president and our Republican colleagues to get the job done and get it done right," said Kennedy, a leader for his party on the issue.
Bush said the talks in Washington are beginning to bear fruit.
"I know convictions run deep on the matter of immigration. Yet I am confident we can have a serious, civil and conclusive debate," he said in his weekly radio address aired in the morning.
Most national polls show people in the U.S. are overwhelmingly supportive of an immigration overhaul that would allow those already in the country illegally to stay, work and earn their way to legal status.
In the late afternoon commencement speech at Miami Dade's Kendall Campus, he emphasized the strength in America's diversity. He spoke before 5,000 people, including 1,500 graduates, many of whom are immigrants or children of immigrants. This point was underscored when the names _ and flags _ of the scores of countries represented were announced to cheers at the beginning of the ceremony.
"Maintaining the promise of America requires that we remain an open and welcoming society," Bush said.
Just outside the school, an anti-war demonstration drew several hundred opposed to the president's Iraq policies.
"I want to do anything I can to bring the war to an end," said one of the protesters, 55-year-old Thomas Kreycik, a mental health counselor. "We are throwing away money, we are throwing away the lives of our troops for no justifiable reason."
Earlier Saturday, over a $25,000-a-person lunch at the bayside home of developer Edward Easton on Key Biscayne, just outside Miami, Bush raised campaign cash for the Republican Party.
Inspector45: i realize that you copied this article from some left-wing, apologist rag, but surely you could've ensured that you copied your article correctly.
President Bush is NOT seeking "grad's help on immigration." Perhaps you should go to English class instead of spending time on immigration-related web sites.
Inspector45: i realize that you copied this article from some left-wing, apologist rag, but surely you could've ensured that you copied your article correctly.
President Bush is NOT seeking "grad's help on immigration." Perhaps you should go to English class instead of spending time on immigration-related web sites.
This article was published on mainstream media. The OP copied and pasted it in two parts. The Associated Press writer titled it the same way. Hence, the "English class" broadside should have been directed to the AP writer not to the OP.
___________________________________________________________________ "The letter of the law is a sword that killeth; its intent is a spirit that giveth life."
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