Posted on 12/02/2007 12:10:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
New Iowa Leader Criticized by for Indecision on Federal Student Aid.
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who backed in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, hedged Sunday on whether illegal immigrants who have gone to school in the United States should become eligible for federal student aid such as Pell grants and subsidized federal student loans.
"I'm not sure that I would support that," Huckabee told ABC News, "it was a different program in Arkansas."
Huckabee's failure to take a clear position on federal student aid while appearing on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" drew swift rebukes from two Republican rivals.
"Gov. Romney does not support providing federal taxpayer-funded student aid intended for legal residents going to illegal immigrants," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden told ABC News. "Mike Huckabee's position [in Arkansas] that taxpayer dollars meant for students who are legal residents should also be made available to illegal immigrants puts him squarely at odds with the American taxpayer."
Echoing a line that Romney used against Huckabee in last week's CNN/YouTube debate, Madden added, "Mike Huckabee needs to understand that it's not his money. It's the taxpayers' money."
Huckabee's indecision on federal student aid was also criticized by the campaign of former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.
"Children who are born in this country are U.S. citizens and entitled to the privileges of citizenship," said Thompson spokeswoman Karen Hanretty. "Those in our country illegally are not. It's that simple."
Huckabee appeared on "This Week" on the same day that a highly respected poll showed him as the new Republican leader in Iowa.
Huckabee leads the GOP field with 29 percent support, according to a Des Moines Register poll released Sunday. Romney has 24 percent, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has 13 percent, and Thompson has 9 percent. The Iowa Republican Caucuses take place on Jan. 3.
In-state tuition for illegal immigrants was never enacted in Arkansas. But Huckabee's rivals believe that his momentum in Iowa can be stopped once his views on public benefits for the children of illegal immigrants become more widely known.
Asked on "This Week" about his Arkansas record, the former Baptist minister said, "You don't punish a child because a parent committed a crime, or committed a sin, you just don't do it."
Huckabee did not rule out that his principle might extend to the federal level.
He suggested, however, that he might view state and federal benefit questions differently.
"It's the difference between being punished and being rewarded," said Huckabee. ". . . 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 the state's."
Flip flop flip flop. Fred’s got you by the balls now, Huckleberry.
Ping!
Huckabee is a tool of Giuliani’s. Iowa please wake up, you have better choices than either of them.
“You don’t punish a child because a parent committed a crime, or committed a sin, you just don’t do it.”
Does that principle extend to other criminals, or are illegals a protected criminal class to Huckabee?
If Huckabee is to be consistent in his ethics (I know, I know, fat chance) then we can’t send any parents to prison, regardless of how heinous their crime, because that is “punishing” their children.
Huckster must win Iowa to stop Romney. After that , Huckster will fade away because he has no money .
If Romney wins Iowa , he will have good momentum and it will be very hard to defeat him in other states .
He was for it before he was against it?
Now he's trying to decide if he really was against it when he was for it.
There is only one true “Reagan conservative” and that Ladies and Gentlemen is FRED THOMPSON.
By the way, to answer your question, they cannot be republicans and promote the stands they have take in the past. They are RINOS pure and simple! When Republicans are Republicans, they don’t vote for the crap suggested by democRATS. They fight them every step of the way.
It is hilarious to me that the MSM still, after all this time, think the reason dems took control in 2006 is because of the war. You and I and all true Conservatives know it was because of the illegal immigration mess the Congress and the President has put us in. SECURITY, whether national or protecting our own borders, will be the number one issue in the fall. FRED has a very detailed and realistic plan to stop it. It is called “attrition.”
FRED THOMPSON should be the choice for all “Regan Conservatives.”
“Remind me: Are Huckabee and Giuliani democrats or republicans? I need a scorecard, can someone e-mail me one?”
They are:
Whores
Liars
Open borders
Maybe they are Wiccans : )
As near as I can tell, the only first-rung GOP candidate who has come down on the right side of the whole immigration mess is Fred Thompson. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Exactly. This is as much a Giuliani strategy as it is Huckabee's. If Iowa thinks Tax Hike Mike is their answer to Rudy they're sadly mistaken.
“Remind me: Are Huckabee and Giuliani democrats or republicans? I need a scorecard, can someone e-mail me one?”
Heck, they can’t even decide what they are.
“”I’m not sure that I would support that,” Huckabee told ABC News, “it was a different program in Arkansas.”
Lying, parsing POS!!
Wait a minute. You rabid Thompson supporters have been saying that the MSM is behind Huckabee getting elected. Now you show an article that has the MSM painting Huckabee in a bad light.
The MSM must really be inconsistent conspirators.
It is like I’ve been telling folks all along. The press reports whatever gets them read. Now that Huckabee leads, they are more likely to report negatives on him because it gets his detractors to read. Seems to me you folks are now being the pawns of the MSM you have always claimed Huckabee’s supporters were.
This is trully comical.
Somebody needs to show a video of Mike Huckabee, fat with Tyson and Walmart money, pandering to the illegal crowd at a La Raza Convention.
Hey Huck, once the “kid” turns 18, he’s a criminal if he doesn’t go home where he belongs. You tried to reward criminals.
“The MSM must really be inconsistent conspirators.”
Yes, as Hillary is finding out to her chagrin.
Lying, parsing POS!! 15 posted on 12/02/2007 3:26:10 PM EST by stephenjohnbanker
And they say he's from Hope, Arkansas?
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