… and also quite the liar.
To great fanfare he unveiled his Secure America Plan which, on the face of it, seems like a solid statement of an attrition-through-enforcement approach to the illegal alien problem, raising hopes Huckabee had “gotten it.”
For some of us, the plan merely raised eyebrows because it represented a contradiction to much of what the man had said and done while in office.
Sunday morning Chris Wallace called him on it, asking Huckabee to reconcile his Plan with his past statements. Here is the exchange (emphasis added):
WALLACE: … a border fence, for cracking down on employers, for telling illegals to go home.
But last year in an interview, you said something somewhat different. You said this, “I think that the rational approach is to find a way to give people a pathway to citizenship.”
Governor, in your new plan, the only path is to go home and to get on the back of the line, which, of course, would mean years of waiting. Why the change?
HUCKABEE: Well, I don’t think there’s an inconsistency. When I said a pathway, I didn’t say what the pathway was.
I now believe that the only thing the American people are going to accept — and, frankly, the only thing that really makes sense — is a pathway that sends people back to the starting point.
But this idea of the waiting years — no, I don’t agree with that. In fact, look, if we can get a credit card application done within hours, if we can get passports done within days, if we can transact business over the Internet any place in the world within seconds, do a background check instantaneously — it’s our government that has failed and is dysfunctional.
It shouldn’t take years to get a work permit to come here and pick lettuce. So part of the plan that I have is that we seal the borders. You don’t have amnesty and sanctuary cities. You do have a pathway that gets you back home.But that pathway to get back here legally doesn’t take years. It would take days, maybe weeks, and then people could come back in the workforce.
Let me tell you why that’s important. Two reasons. Number one, the American people say, “Do something. Do it now. We don’t want to have this country ignoring the illegal problem.” I get it.
Secondly, I want people who are in this country to hold their heads up high. You know, right now there are a lot of people who really are here because they’re trying to feed their families. I don’t begrudge them that.
If anyone had any doubts about the Huckster’s sincerity on this issue, consider them confirmed.
Either he is selling pie in the sky to illegal aliens, saying we are going to quickly revamp USCIS in such an amazing manner that parting the Red Sea will seem like a party trick in comparison, or else he is selling the citizens of this nation a load of crap. In fact he is doing both – but the “heads up high” phrase is our tip off that the only practical result we could expect from a Huckabee presidency would be exactly what the Senate tried to ram down our throats in June: Instant amnesty. If you’re here “illegally” the only way you’re going to be able to hold your head up high is if you ain’t here illegally anymore.
“Comprehensive immigration reform” should in reality be referred to as “semantic immigration reform” because it’s solution to the problem consists in simply applying a new label to the scofflaws, calling them “legal” rather than “illegal.” This is the ultimate goal of the open borders crowd and would be without a doubt the easiest “solution” to the problem to enact.
That’s why those who support the rule of law in this matter are going to need to be perpetually vigilant: The instant amnesty apple is hanging so close that the open borders folks can practically taste it and it is driving them nuts. They are definitely not going to quit.
If the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are indeed bearing down on us, scrolls are being opened in the heavens and Huckabee somehow manages to get elected president, there are still going to be millions of people waiting in line to enter this country legally and USCIS still chugging along with the efficiency of a coal-powered lawnmower. When it becomes apparent that Huckabee’s little vignette of illegal aliens traveling home, clearing the immigration process in “days, maybe weeks” and being back here with their heads held high is complete nonsense, you can rest assured the Huckster will put on a full court press to ensure that last part of the fable comes true no matter what.
Tags: Huckabee, illegal immigration, liar, quisling
The Baptist Minister drinks “Jesus Juice” when it comes to Illegals. He just about gave them Arkansas no questions asked.
He is as bad as Bush, McCain, Kennedy, Lieberman and the other compassionate traitors inside the beltway.
Finally, I do NOT want a Minister of any faith running the country.
There are differences between what he is saying and amnesty. The biggest difference is illegals are sent home, and go to the end of the line. That is at least fair to those that have not crossed the boarders and *are* waiting in line. My only bone to pick is how many people do we need here as immigrants and should there be a cap on immigration. Hard question to answer. Those already here generally say no (ask me about h1-b and I’ll tell you I don’t like it one bit). Those that are opposed to illegal immigrants argue it costs us money to support all the social programs/schools for low paid workers whose taxes do not support the programs from which they benefit. Are either valid? It depends on your axiom set/world view.
If immigrants are here legally, then it is no longer a “rule of law” issue, it become economics. Huckabee would remove the rule of law issue by making it so easy to immigrate that it would not make sense to do so illegally. That might actually be a benefit in the long run — employers would no longer have an option of hiring illegal aliens and paying substandard wages. The undocumented workforce would become documented very rapidly (if people could just leave, then come back easily, it would certainly encourage those that are working for less than minimum wage to do so.) Those that are honoring the laws would be first in line, so that would be fair.
I do believe it seems absurd that it would take years to get into the country legally. Weeks would seem like a much more reasonable time frame (I’m not sure why it would take much more than a couple of weeks to assure a person is not a criminal, verify their identity, verify they have sufficient funds to not be a drain immediately on the economy and then admit them on a workers visa.)
Brian :
Anyone with any questions at all as to the costs of illegals government(s) need to read the new CBO report issued just this week. The myth that illegals pay their fair share via sales tax and Social Security taxes ( using bogus SS numbers )is now dead for good. Illegals are a net drain on our system and as those illegals have more and more children, that drain becomes larger with each passing year.
Importing another nations poor while maintaining even a modified welfare state will never work. It is a receipt for economic diaster.
America may very well need workers, however an economy always works better when it is the invisible hand of the marketplace guiding commerce as opposed to government subsidy or neglect. By neglect I mean government turning a blind eye to immigration enforcement out of a misguided belief that vocal and influential special intrests speak for the nations economy as a whole.
Is Huckster the guy Heart was singing about ?
I don’t think I can thank you guys enough for helping the Republicans lose for decades to come:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/17/071217fa_fact_lizza
That used to be considered a good magazine if you can believe it. Now, pap. You would think for an article on such a contemporary topic they’d find a writer who could do a little original research. A lesson from J.D. Hayworth? Please.
Oh well, I’m glad you have something with pictures to occupy yourself with.
My Christmas gift to you all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuWUdUDUIDQ
Good stuff!
Greg,
The marketplace can work. Illegals are not what I believe he is talking about — once a person is here legally, there are a lot of marketplace fundamentals that get put back in their proper places that are not in place now. If a worker is here illegally, there is little incentive for them to report labor abuse. I have a very close friend that quit a company that started hiring illegals, and was pressuring him as a manager to fire those that were here legally — so they could cut costs by ignoring labor laws. He quit that company and started a different line of work rather than capitulate. I understand that illegals are a real problem. On the other hand, having people here legally is nowhere near the problem.
Once a person is here legally, and they know they do not have to worry about being deported if they face unfair labor practices, they won’t think too much about changing jobs and filing a complaint that could get them a lot of back pay. Those that are here legally can find jobs, but those jobs will pay at least minimum wage; those jobs will pay overtime as required by law; those jobs will provide safe working conditions. As that happens, there will be little incentive to hire an alien over a resident. Of course one part of this would be to make those who under those conditions hire illegals pay through the nose (like two years full time salary for every illegal they hire as a fine paid 75% to the local government in which the illegal lives, and 25% to the person that reports it — as long as they did not hire them in the first place).