"Mike Huckabee's Missed Opportunity"

Carol Platt Liebau didn't care for the former Arkansas governor's debate performance. The invitation to appear on my show for as long an interview as the governor would like will be extended again, as the Huck Duck goes into week five. These exchanges from yesterday's "The Week" may explain why the governor has been avoiding conservative audiences:

HUCKABEE: "But I'll tell you what I do believe, that you don't punish a child because a parent committed a crime or committed a sin. You just don't do that."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "…That’s why you pushed a bill that did, would allow the children of illegal immigrants, if they went through an Arkansas high school to get in-state tuition."

HUCKABEE: "Actually it was to qualify for an academic challenge scholarship which was a meritorious scholarship based on their grade point average, they're being drug and alcohol free and they're also being in the process of applying for citizenship…"

STEPHANOPOULOS: "You know, but Governor, let me stop you right there because a lot of people have looked at this. And I even got the bill right in front of me and I know that what you're talking about may have been in your original legislation but you continued to push for a bill after the scholarship provisions were dropped that would simply provide in-state tuition benefits to illegal immigrants. I've read through it."

HUCKABEE: "Well, that was a part of the academic challenge scholarship, George, that was a criteria just like the core curriculum. And that was not in the legislation. It was in the requirements for the academic challenge scholarship."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "Yet, I mean, this was simply you would say aside from the scholarships, that if an illegal immigrant, the child of an illegal immigrant went through high school in Arkansas, they get the same in-state benefits as other Arkansas residents do, yet if a student was coming in from Colorado, they would pay higher tuition."

HUCKABEE: "Well, the difference is if a student comes in from Colorado he hasn't been educated in our high school, hasn't had our courses but if you've had a child that's been there since hes 5, 6 years old or even since hes13 and he's had his entire high school experience sitting alongside Arkansas students, the point is, is he better off going to college and becoming a taxpayer as opposed to not going to college and potentially becoming a tax taker? Look, the fact that the federal government failed in allowing him to get here illegally is not the problem of the state, it's the problem of a federal government that pushed it down on the states." (ABC's "This Week," 12/2/07)

HUCKABEE: "The point is do we punish ourselves as we also punish those children by limiting their educational opportunities and keeping them from being able to be far more apart of our culture, society, learn our language, become citizens and legitimize their being here."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "How far would you extend the principle? As president would you allow the children of illegal immigrants to be eligible for pell grants, subsidized student loans?"

HUCKABEE: "You know, it would depend. I'm not sure if I understand when you say subsidized student loans." [CROSSTALK].

STEPHANOPOULOS: "How is it different? If you don't think the students should be punished then why shouldn't they get the federal aid as well as the state aid?"

HUCKABEE: "Well, it's a difference between being punished and being rewarded. What I do think we got to do is to have a sane, rational immigration policy, which we don't, but the point in Arkansas was, we had kids who had been in our schools by law and to simply shut them out of any additional educational advancement to me seemed not only in their worst interests but ours, as well as a state." (ABC's "This Week," 12/2/07)

STEPHANOPOULOS: "Let me move to your record on taxes in Arkansas which is also coming under a lot of scrutiny and great criticism from this group called the Club For Growth, which is now starting to run ads in Iowa about your record. Here's part of it."

HUCKABEE: "There's a lot of support for a tax at the wholesale level for tobacco, and that's fine with me. I will very happily sign that. Others have suggested a surcharge on the income tax. That's acceptable. I'm fine with that."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "And the tax burden in Arkansas did go up during your tenure from about $1,900 per person to $2,900 per person over 10 years and also an overall increase of about $500 million. So how do you plead to the charge of raising taxes?"

HUCKABEE: "Well, first of all I plead to the charge of cutting taxes 94 times. I also recognize that the income tax was the same when I left office as it was when I started. The overall tax burden according to the U.S. Department of commerce, state and local taxes in my state in the nearly 11 years I was governor went up by 1.1%. Now, the critics are going to point to that particular clip, George, and always first of all say I'm more embarrassed by how I looked at that particular point than by what I said because that was a put or shut up moment as I spoke to the legislature. If you play that whole speech what you would see is that the context was we were days away from a budget shutdown that would have closed the government in Arkansas. We had had an impasse on the budget. I was taking various positions of here's how we can fix this budget crisis and every time I said this might work, there would be a press conference by some the democrat legislators who were saying if that's what the governor wants we're against it. So what I did was go to the legislature and I said ok, you don't like any of my plans, fine, let's come up with yours and I started listing what some of theirs were. And the context of that speech was you want a surcharge, you want a sales tax, okay, but we've got to have a budget, people. We've got to come up with a way to keep state government working. We've got people in nursing homes. We have schools to run. We have roads to take care of. And we can't afford a complete meltdown of the government."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "If that's the right thing to do as governor when you're facing a crisis, why wouldn't it be the right thing to do as president? Now in this presidential campaign you have signed a pledge saying you wouldn't raise taxes under any circumstances."

HUCKABEE: "Because I don't think the federal government needs more money. If you look at the spending issues that we have, it's pretty evident to me that we need some policy changes more than we need some tax changes at the federal level. So it's a different thing when you're running a state government and you have to balance your budget, you have to make sure that you're living within the means and the second thing is, you're constantly barraged by federal programs pushed down your throat. That's why nearly every one of the governors, 43 governors, I believe, maybe 48 face serious budget shortfalls in '01/'02 because of the combination of the recession, federal mandates that were unfunded, as well as the impact and effects of 2000, of 9/11." (ABC's "This Week," 12/2/07)

Mr. Huckabee says he would like to eliminate the Internal Revenue Service and replace the income tax with the so-called Fair Tax, which would impose a national sales tax on virtually everything we buy. But such a tax would be a disaster for this country, especially for low- and middle-income Americans who spend a disproportionate portion of their earnings — in many cases all of it — on the necessities of life.

It would wreak untold havoc on the business community, driving down retail sales and creating an underground economy that would undermine America's productive marketplace — especially small businesses that produce most of the jobs in our country.

The Club for Growth was formed with one purpose: to promote economic growth by lowering the tax rates, simplifying the tax code and providing tax incentives to expand business formation, savings, investment and economic opportunity. It has praised the tax-cut proposals of Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and other contenders for the Republican nomination.

But last week Mr. Huckabee labeled the respected tax-cutting group "The Club for Greed," a charge that sounded more like the invective spewed from Al Gore, Howard Dean or socialist Bernie Sanders.

The Arkansas Republican is fond of bashing corporate CEOs and their salaries, thinks a higher minimum wage won't hurt entry-level job creation, and apparently doesn't mind slapping higher sales taxes on the most vulnerable people in our economy.

The next president will face huge fiscal issues in 2009, such as rising entitlements that threaten to engulf the federal budget and what to do about President Bush's tax cuts that are due to expire in 2010 — a demise that would raise taxes by trillions of dollars.

That's when we will need strong, principled leadership to keep a likely Democratic Congress from sending income taxes through the roof. It's something Iowa voters need to think deeply about in the days to come.

The illegal alien invasion is just a joke to the Huckster.

"Pretty soon, Southern white guys like me may be in the minority," Huckabee said jokingly as the crowd roared in laughter.

Huckabee promotes 'open door' policy at LULAC convention

Thursday, Jun 30, 2005

By Wesley Brown

Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK - In a impassioned speech before hundreds of influential Hispanic civil rights leaders from across the nation, Gov. Mike Huckabee told a captive audience Wednesday that America is great because it has always opened it doors up to people seeking a better way of life.

"I would hope that no matter who we are, or where we are from, that America should always be a place that opens its arms, opens it heart, opens its spirit to people who come because they want the best for their families ...," Huckabee said as the largely Hispanic audience gave him a standing ovation.

Huckabee was the keynote speaker, along with Tyson Foods Inc. Chairman and CEO John Tyson, at a noon luncheon of the League of United Latin American Citizens, which is holding its 76th annual convention in Little Rock.

About 10,000 political, community and business leaders, along with exhibitors and speakers are in Little Rock attending the convention at the Statehouse Convention Center. The convention started Monday and runs through Saturday.

Although he never actually talked about the U.S. or Arkansas immigration policy, Huckabee made it very clear where he stood on the issue. In his opening remarks, he said the nation will need to address the concerns of the Hispanic community because of its growing influence and population base.

"Pretty soon, Southern white guys like me may be in the minority," Huckabee said jokingly as the crowd roared in laughter.

He told the LULAC delegates that their presence in the state's capital city was very important because Arkansas has one of the fastest growing Hispanic populations in the nation. "Your gathering is so very significant for our state," Huckabee said. "We are delighted to have you."

Despite several light moments, Huckabee did not stray away from several controversial issues that made him a target of criticism during the recently ended 85th General Assembly. He said Arkansas needs to make the transition from a traditional Southern state to one that recognizes and cherishes diversity "in culture, in language and in population."

"This is an issue that is going to require extraordinary efforts on both sides of the border, particularly those coming from Mexico," Huckabee said of verifying the status of illegal aliens. "But I am confident that our government will recognize that we should accommodate people who wish to provide the best opportunities for their families (and) employers so that we can make sure our economy has the necessary work force."

During the legislation session, Huckabee criticized an immigration bill by Republican senators Jim Holt of Springdale and Denny Altes of Fort Smith as un-Christian, un-American, irresponsible and anti-life. Senate Bill 206, which died in the Senate, would have required proof of citizenship to register to vote and also force state agencies to report suspected cases of people living in the country illegally. Holt, R-Springdale, replied later to Huckabee's comments that Christian charity does not include turning a blind eye to lawbreaking.

From the Hispanic (Spanish Language) Press Archives.
Pure, uncensored, vintage (then Governor) Huckabee on Illegal Immigration:
"No puedes ignorar la violación de la ley pero a la misma vez, hay que hacer leyes realistas. Las leyes deben de reflejar no solamente las necesidades económicas que encaramos en este país pero también deben reflejar lo mejor de quienes somos y no lo peor de lo que podemos creer".

Not to mention...

"Francamente creo que queremos asegurarnos de que sus hijos estén recibiendo una educación puesto que una sociedad educada es una sociedad que puede trabajar y desempeñar un trabajo, desempeñar un trabajo mejor y ganar dinero."

And if THAT was not enough:

"La clave es....comenzar a enfocarnos en la salud y no en los cuidados de salud. Los cuidados de salud son un tren que ya partió y que jamás se podrá detener. Va a quebrar nuestra economía porque lo único que hacemos es decir, ¿de qué forma podemos poner más dinero para tratar a toda esta gente enferma? Si no tomamos los pasos para no estar enfermos, quedaremos en la bancarrota en una generación---jamás sobreviviremos."

Just another PANDERING, COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATIVE. "OPEN BORDERS FOR JESUS."

[STEPHANOPOULOS: “If that’s the right thing to do as governor when you’re facing a crisis, why wouldn’t it be the right thing to do as president? Now in this presidential campaign you have signed a pledge saying you wouldn’t raise taxes under any circumstances.”

HUCKABEE: “Because I don’t think the federal government needs more money. If you look at the spending issues that we have, it’s pretty evident to me that we need some policy changes more than we need some tax changes at the federal level. So it’s a different thing when you’re running a state government and you have to balance your budget, you have to make sure that you’re living within the means and the second thing is, you’re constantly barraged by federal programs pushed down your throat.”]

In other words, rather than cutting spending in Arkansas to balance a budget, he embraced tax hikes. And if cutting spending at the Federal level became too tough, then he’d embrace tax hikes again.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.