Huckabee Dogged By Immigration Issue

msnbc ^ | December 22, 2007 | Chuck Todd

[mdittmar]

From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy
ON THE ROAD, IA – So what happened to Tom Tancredo's Iowa supporters after his 'big announcement' earlier this week?

We know that the former-candidate threw his support behind Mitt Romney, but on Friday Tancredo's Iowa state chairman Bill Salier announced that he was supporting Fred Thompson. And while riding through Muscatine on the Huckabus this week, Mike Huckabee was confronted by a very well informed former Tancredo staffer who argued with the Iowa frontrunner over the issue of immigration.

Deb Miller described herself as "looking" for a candidate after her old boss dropped out of the race, and she came to the afternoon rally at the Rendez Vous Banquet Hall equipped with a stack of information compiled from Newsmax and ImmigrationWatchdog.com to help her with her search.

Reading from the papers in her lap, Miller asked Huckabee about a passage from his book that described enforcing current immigration laws as "shear folly" and about three incidents from his time governor that showed questionable strength on combating illegal immigration.

Huckabee addressed her issues point by point, defending his immigration record as compassionate but firm. On giving welfare benefits to illegal aliens:

[gpapa]

the candidate made one last ditch effort for her vote, but couched it in his now infamous good humor: "I hope you'll take a look at our plan and vote for me before it's over, and if not, then stay home that night."

Huh! Please vote for me or don't vote. Nice try Huck, that won't win you any converts.

[kc8ukw]

Funny how the word “infamous” has almost entirely replaced the word “famous.”

[Donnaplume]

the Huckster is on the wrong side of the immigration issue.Where is our fence???

[A. Morgan]

Huckabee’s in bed with the illegals!

[The Sons of Liberty]

If it comes down to Hildebeast and Hucklebuck, it would be two arKansans against each other, and from what I've seen, I doubt that you'd get a shred of truth spoken throughout the entire campaign.

Sorry, but I don't trust anyone from arKansas! BJ Clintoon taught me that.

[donna]

Voting for Mitt won’t work either.

Only Duncan Hunter will do what is right regarding illegal aliens.

[gpapa]

Welcome to FR.

[longtermmemmory]

Huckabee is the same person who supports a free MONTHLY GOVERNMENT CHECK to each and every government sanctioned and registered “family” as part of the prebate.

Imagine the flood if illegals via judicial fiat become part of that entitlement program.

The Drive By Media does not talk about that.

[Man50D]

the Huckster is on the wrong side of the immigration issue.Where is our fence???

Support Duncan hunter and he will get it built despite Congress gutting The Secure Defense Act bill he wrote.

[devere]

A Tancredo supporter who wastes that much time on Huckabee is either pretty dumb or ill-informed. Why not consider John McCain also?

[lady lawyer]

If our party nominates that malicious little goober, Huckabee, we deserve to lose. We will have confirmed the worst stereotypes about conservatives.

[nyyankeefan]

huckleberry’s bunker mentality on illegals is the same as jorge bush’s.....

both on the WRONG side of the fence issue!!!!!

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

"You should never allow a six month old, a three month old or a six year old to wonder where his mother and father are," Huckabee said. "Nothing can be more traumatic to a child and I don't care if that child is here illegally. I don't want to be a part of a country that would ignore the humane treatment of a child."

Not my problem, Huck. That child's parents chose to come here illegally, then they can afford to feed and educate him/her - at their country of origin, not here.

[TornadoAlley3]

So is the Huck gonna let all criminal parents out of jail to be with their children?

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Imo this issue alone will disqualify the huckster.This is going to dog him and rightly so.

[devere]

“So is the Huck gonna let all criminal parents out of jail to be with their children?”

Only if they are good Christians!

[AmericanInTokyo]

Ol' Glassjaw Huckabee has a string of financial backers who are solidly pro-illegal alien and in favor of businesses being able to keep this cheap labor there in the United States

Shouldn't that tell you something?

Follow the money. It is always "follow the money."

Until I see such supporters drop away from him in a big way, taking their money and commitments with them, and publicly assailing Huck for turning against their Open Border Interests, I will conclude that they know the score. Huck will just say what we want to hear in the primaries, but the sycophantic relationship with these pro illegal interests will not be de-coupled, because he is going right straight back to AMNESTY and SOCIAL SERVICES FOR ILLEGALS once he gets the nomination sewn up.

Anybody who signs on to THAT has to be really naive, and one shade shy of retarded.

[AmericanInTokyo]

EXACTLY. ROMNEY is horrible on this issue, too.

They ALL are. Giuliani, McCain, Huck, Romney. They did not expect it to become such a "nuisance" for them during the primaries. If they were smart, and they had eyes on the White House three or four years ago (which they did) they would have started their flip flopping back then.

Not wait until late 2007 to make the temporary switch.

Even Huckabee's sudden Immigration Plank (joke!) crafted hurredly together late night in some campaign office out of fear, had to take the cake.

[tarheelswamprat]

Huckabee addressed her issues point by point, ...

That's nice. Did he actually answer her questions, however...?