Huckabee Shows Real Guts on Immigration

I was just watching a YouTube replay of Mike Huckabee on "Meet the Press" , and am grateful that the web often makes it unnecessary to remember how to program the timed-record on the old VCR. At one point, Tim Russert set up a real "gotcha" on illegal immigration.

Russert first played a clip of Huckabee from a debate, in which Huckabee said; "We're a better country than to punish children for what their parents did." Then Russert showed a quote from Huckabee's "Secure America Plan", that gives a 120 day window for illegals to register and return back to their country of origin, otherwise be barred from re-entry for 10 years.

After quoting both statements out of context to set it up, Russert executed his seemingly perfect "gotcha".

• Russert-"Children born here are American citizens..."
• Huckabee-"Mmm Hmm"(agreement)
• Russert-"..and you were saying that, don't punish those kids. A week later, you said no, no, no send the parents home. And what happens to the kids?"

Now I was certain that any politician would find some way to dodge such a question. But what did Huckabee do? Without even the slightest pause, he said; "They go with their parents. I mean I can't imagine a parent not taking th..." While this made my heart fairly sing, Russert's "gotcha" clearly wasn't having the desired effect; so he cut off Huckabee for another pass at it.

• Russert-"But they're American citizens. Why do they have to leave the country?"
• Huckabee-"Because they're...they're first; before they're American citizens, they're the children of their parents."

No it's important to know that they had just finished discussing (by Russert's choice) Mitt Romney's position changes and dishonesty in campaign attack adds. He was clearly trying to make Huckabee look like he had either changed his own position between the two statements or was being dishonest himself.

Russert even continued trying to make it look like Huckabee's answer resulted in punishing the child, in contradiction to his previous position statement. When he found that didn't work, he started another "gotcha" setup, about how sending home all those illegals might hurt our economy, which Huckabee quickly countered before letting the host complete his new setup.

Huckabee stood firm, his primary position being that we absolutely must secure the border. His not directly stated, but clearly suggested, idea being that if we discover negative secondary effect after securing the border; we can certainly find solutions that work. But first and foremost, we must secure the border.

Even those who, like me, think children born of illegals shouldn't be citizens have to give Mike Huckabee a lot of credit. He showed a great deal of courage in giving such an honest answer. I'm sure a lot of liberals will see Huckabee as an outright villain for daring to say the children should be expected to leave with their parents, and I'm sure he knows it.

But it still allows for those children to re-enter the country later, as citizens; thus, not punishing the children for the crime of the parents. And it still stays firm on securing the border and enforcing Huckabee's Secure America Plan.

I'm sure there will be times and issues where changing conditions or new information will result in Huckabee changing his mind. But it seems pretty clear that he's a man of integrity, and he's no flip-flopper.

Hunter Calls on Bush to Pardon Border Agents

A Washington Times story about members of congress calling for a presidential pardon of Ramos and Compean, after noting that their names were again absent from the list of the 29 pardons Bush issued this week.

These two Border Patrol Agents were given multi-year prison sentences for what amounts to having apparently failed to fill out some paperwork; after firing at a drug-smuggling illegal alien who they were trying to apprehend; but who escaped back across the border into Mexico.

Among those quoted, Republican Presidential hopeful Duncan Hunter had this to say:

"By refusing to pardon agents Ramos and Compean, the president has missed yet another opportunity to correct this miscarriage of justice, The fact that the drug dealer, whose testimony sent the agents to jail has been indicted for running drugs across the border while serving as a federal witness necessitates a presidential pardon. Agents Ramos and Compean deserve to be pardoned and returned to their families for Christmas,"

I must say I agree with Hunter on this point. (actually on enough points that he's probably my second choice among the presidential candidates, but that's beside the point of this posting)

I think President Bush has generally done a good job of fighting the war against Terrorists (more properly labeled Islamic fascists); But I continue to be concerned about the personal war Bush is apparently waging against American Sovereignty. His unwillingness to pardon Ramos and Compeon is just more evidence of the biggest glaring fault that can be seen in his presidency; his failure to protect our borders from illegal invaders and outright promotion of turning over parts of our country and culture to the "re-conquistas".

O'Reilly Fair on Faith, Spins on Immigration

I'll have to admit that Bill O'Reilly was civil rather than hostile in tonights interview with Mike Huckabee and Chuck Norris. The two issues he touched on were Liberal attacks on Huckabee's faith and illegal immigration.

Huckabee was asked about religious attacks and O'Reilly gave him a fair chance to respond on the subject. However, O'Reilly still seems stuck in the "secular government" rut. He said something about Huckabee executing his office as Governor of Arkansas in a "secular" way; which he seemed to have intended as a compliment.

It makes me wonder if Bill really doesn't get the fact that religious freedom, rather than secularism, is a cornerstone of our country's founding. Religious freedom certainly allows for a secular world-view, but they are not by any means the same thing.

O'Reilly then brought up illegal immigration, playing cuts from Huckabee's first commercial with Chuck Norris. Norris was then asked what he thought about being Huckabee's plan for border security, as per the obvious joke from the Huckabee commercial. What O'Reilly didn't do, however, was offer Huckabee himself a chance to speak about the immigration issue.

With the fact that Mike Huckabee recently released a nine-point plan for immigration enforcement and border security, I'm disappointed in O'Reilly for not doing his homework enough to ask about it. I'm also a bit disappointed in Huckabee for not forcing himself to be rude to the Spin-Meister at least long enough to push out that vital bit of information. (I guess it could have been edited out, but I think it was a live interview)

While I didn't notice Bill O'Reilly saying anything directly untrue, it seemed he was trying to leave the impression that Mike Huckabee is a bit of a light-weight on immigration. Let's see; giving only part of the information or allowing only part of the answer, in a way that leads to an inaccurate conclusion is called... uh...hmm... what was that again? Oh yeah.. SPIN!

Who Do You Trust?

With the new Rasmussen "Daily Presidential Tracking Poll" showing Mike Huckabee in a tie for first place with Rudy Giuliani; I'd like to offer my opinion on how the new "Man from Hope" has made such gains on the Golden Boy of the NYC news elites. I think it has a lot to do with the attacks made in recent days, including in the CNN YouTube Republican debate , against both Huckabee and Giuliani on their respective perceived weaknesses.

Both were questioned, in the YouTube debate (an obvious far-left-leaning assault against Republicans), about their history regarding illegal immigration. Mitt Romney accused Giuliani of a sort of passive amnesty for illegal immigrants in running New York as a sanctuary city; and accused Huckabee of what is basically leniency regarding the children of illegals applying for scholarships in Arkansas.

Although a hard-liners on immigration like me don't agree with Huckabee's position on children brought here (possibly born here) by parents who broke our immigration laws; it's a far cry from giving sanctuary to the lawbreakers themselves, as seems to be the case in Giuliani's record. Still, this is at least a perceived weakness for both candidates.

Apart from immigration, each has been labeled as lacking in conservative in a different area. For Huckabee, some have questioned his credentials as a fiscal conservative, primarily over a few tax increases he agreed to as governor of Arkansas. For Rudy his long standing positions of supporting abortion-on-demand, gun control and gay-unions are a challenge indicate a lack of social conservatism.

In Huckabee's defense, he offers statistics of having cut taxes over 90 times, reducing discretionary spending, and balancing the Arkansas budget. Meanwhile, Giuliani offers to "nominate strict-constructionist judges" when asked about abortion; says gay-unions should be a matter for the states (as does Fred Thompson); and pays a weak lip-service (it seems to me) to the Second Amendment by claiming the Federal Government doesn't have the same authority cities (and possibly states) do in the area of gun control.

I think it all comes down to a matter of trust. Do you believe those making the accusations, or do you believe the candidate's defense? This is where character really counts in the public eye. I think today's Rasmussen poll results are a good indication of who people think more likely to live up to promises to secure our border; and that people trust Mike Huckabee to be a Fiscal Conservative more than they trust Rudy Giuliani to be a Social Conservative.

Romney Scores On Rudy but Misses Huckabee with Immigration Attacks

In last night's CNN YouTube debate, Mitt Romney continued his false characterization of Mike Huckabee's history on the children of illegal aliens. Of course to attack Huckabee, Romney had to mis-state what he actually supported as Governor of Arkansas. Especially since what Huckabee actually supported was practically indistinguishable from what Romney had said was legally required in educating the children of illegals, in just having traded salvos with Rudy Giuliani over giving sanctuary to illegals.

Romney said New York was a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants under Giuliani. Rudy retorted that Romney at one time had illegals working at his "sanctuary mansion". Romney offered clarification that the illegals were brought in by a contractor he hired (supposedly without his knowledge). He then rightfully continued his declaration that Rudy should not have given any sanctuary to illegals, except emergency medical care, and education of their children as required by law. (not an exact quote but I'm sure the meaning is intact)

Later in the debate, Romney claimed that Huckabee wanted to give special treatment to illegal aliens regarding scholarships. What he actually supported, though it was never passed, was basically treating children of illegals the same as known citizens; providing they had attended school in Arkansas all the way from first grade through high school. (There were also other requirements that can be found on Huckabee's website) Under those conditions, the children were too young to have had any choice in crossing the border, and may in fact have been born here; which under current law would make them citizens.

While Romney tried to say Mike Huckabee's explanation sounded like a liberal excuse, to me it sounds like a logical part of the "sanctuary" for children of illegals (not the illegals themselves); which Romney says is already required by law. As for me, I would much rather change both any law that requires educating children of illegals, and that makes all children born here (even those of parents here illegally) citizens. Philosophically, I do hesitate to "punish the children". But the reality is that we currently benefit the children for the crimes of the parents; and a significant benefit to their children is powerful motivation for the parents to commit the crime.

But while I personally disagree with providing any government funded services for illegals (beyond emergency medical care), Huckabee's stance against the illegal invasion in general and for preserving the sovereignty of the United States seem as solid as Plymouth Rock. Sure, I'd like to find a candidate who is perfect in every way. But as Huckabee pointed out in the debate, Jesus was too smart to run for political office*.

*(not to mention born in Bethlehem and therefore not qualified to run for President of the USA, even though Divine)

Bush Pardons Thanksgiving Turkeys and Leaves Border Guards in Prison

Do I need to say more?