Wipe those smiles off your faces, Bush supporters, because while you've been cheering Republican victories, the administration is getting ready to pull the rug right out from under all of us.

It's part of a long-term shell game we'd almost forgotten was going on. Sept. 11 interrupted it. If there was anything good (and there wasn't) about that attack on our country, it was that the president postponed his plan to give away U.S. citizenship and benefits to millions of illegal aliens.

But, it's b-a-a-a-a-c-c-c-c-k-k-k-k!

Amazing what an election can accomplish. President Bush accepts he has a mandate from voters and told us, in no uncertain terms, that he has political capital and plans to spend it.

O-o-o-o-h-h-h-h K-a-a-a-y.

It doesn't hurt that his advisers tell him time is of the essence. You might think the election is over. But, no. You think that, because you're a normal person but, you're not a pol. If you were, you'd know that everything done now, is being done with 2006 and 2008 in mind.

You got it! They're paving the way for those elections and see the Hispanic vote as critical to lining up more GOP victories. It's reported that support for Bush among that group rose 9 points since 2000. The GOP wants more of the same and so immigration will be a key issue over the next four years.

Karl Rove, the president's political adviser admits they "intend to make it an important item." Read that to mean he's looking at how many Hispanic votes immigration reform will pull in. His assumption is that Hispanics will overwhelmingly favor a loosening of immigration rules, granting citizenship and benefits to illegals.

With more than 10 million illegals in the country now – more than half from Mexico – that's a nice pile of votes they see for the GOP.

Well, not so fast.

The truth might lie in a critical vote in Arizona – one that most media are ignoring because it negates their preconceived notion. Arizona just voted on Proposition 200, an initiative cracking down on benefits for illegals – eliminating most and requiring proof of citizenship for everyone for voting.

It appeared everyone was against it. The vocal opposition included politicians from both sides of the aisle as well as activist churches, business groups and organizations, and of course, the media.

But they forgot the people. It passed with flying colors 56 to 44 percent, but what really set the politicians back on their heels, is that 47 percent of the state's Hispanics supported the tougher measures.

Oops! Now what?

The free ride Washington thinks it can get will be bumpy. There are howls of pain from across the country at the financial burdens illegals put on medical care, schools and welfare programs. Idaho is the latest in a growing list of states planning initiatives like Arizona.

California passed a similar measure, Proposition 187, in 1994 with 59 percent of the vote. It immediately became law but was dumped because a judge ruled it unconstitutional and Gov. Gray Davis, who had opposed it, dropped the appeal, thus killing it. Opponents cheered, calling the measure divisive, mean, selfish and racist.

So much for the vote of the people and their desire to have citizenship mean something – to say nothing of the word "illegal" having a non-negotiable meaning.

The pressure is on President Bush, from cowards within the GOP to liberals who have no compunction about watering down American citizenship to benefit our neighbor to the south.

Ah, yes – Mexico and El Presidente Fox!

I've written about his chutzpah before – it hasn't changed. His No. 1 goal for his administration is to get legal U.S. status for millions of Mexicans in this country illegally.

He believes now is the time, after Bush's re-election. He laments that illegals here are in a precarious situation. "We have done all the analysis, diagnostics and problem solving possible. There's no reason to lose much time."

Really. Uh, excuse me, Senor Presidente. It's supposed to be OUR decision, not yours.

President Bush wasted no time after Nov. 2 – he launched another trial balloon. A week ago, Colin Powell, Tom Ridge and five other Cabinet members were in Mexico City for the U.S.-Mexican Bi-National Commission meetings, supporting immigration reform. The issue was on the agenda for the meeting between Bush and Fox, in Chile, yesterday.

It should warm your heart to know that Mexican Interior Secretary Santiago Creel calls our migration policy "absurd." Insulting, no? – from a country which has military on its southern borders to keep illegals out!

It took only about a month for President Fox to raise the issue when George W. Bush was first elected. On the second go-round, he's just as prompt.

Why not, since the money illegals send home to Mexico constitutes their second largest source of income?

Why not, since the people Senor Fox is getting rid of are the poor, sick and uneducated? How nice that he's foisting his needy onto the backs of American taxpayers.

How disgusting that there are any American citizens, businesses or elected officials willing to trade the unique privilege of U.S. citizenship for cheap labor and cheaper votes.

They shouldn't get away with it.