Posted on 12/26/2007 10:33:45 PM PST by Reagan is King
Big mistake in this article (you wonder if magazines and publishing houses have editors anymore): Ross Perot got 18.9% of the popular vote in 1992 -- and I'm sure Dr. Ron Paul has also revisited the Perot "phenomenon". But otherwise, this seems to be a good take on the Old Huckster.
Throw enough feces on the wall and see who "resonates" with the voters. I see that this week the preferred candidate de jour of the MSM and establishment is McCain. Yawn.
This would not surprise me.
FYI - I emailed the editor and pointed out the Idaho versus Iowa error. The editor said it was a mistake and would be corrected.
“Shaping the battlefield” for the general election sounds exactly like something the Clintons would do.
Mike Cutler has a good take on the Huckster in his email today.
The article I have attached below appeared in yesterday’s edition of the Washington Times and merits your consideration, not only in terms of evaluating Presidential Candidate Huckabee, but to also understand the concerns I have about most politicians and the way that all too many of them have become skilled at the craft of creating illusions. Of course my focus is generally limited to immigration and border security but I believe that you can find so many other areas where politicians will attempt to create the impression that they are effectively addressing an issue while maintaining the status quo.
It may be that Mike Huckabee really wants to address the immigration crisis confronting our nation, but I am baffled as to why he did not follow through with the program in his state of Arkansas to enable local law enforcement to receive the critical training under the provisions of Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act that would have effectively deputized a number of state law enforcement officers to enable them to work cooperatively with law enforcement personnel at ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
Consider this quote from the article about then Governor Huckabee’s failure to complete the process that would have empowered Arkansas state police officers to enforce provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act:
Mr. Huckabee’s campaign acknowledged he didn’t follow through, but said it was lack of time, not lack of interest.
Mr. Huckabee really needs to explain what this statement means. How could he claim that he lacked the time to make certain that the program that apparently so many of his constituents wanted prevented him from completing the process he began? Perhaps I am mistaken about Mr. Huckabee, but frankly my concern is clear. He began an important program in his state that could have helped with the enforcement of the immigration laws and then abandoned this effort. We the People have the right to know why! We the People have the right to know what he and all of his opponents really plan to do where the issue of border security and the effective enforcement and administration of the immigration laws are concerned. It is my contention that there is no issue that has greater significance for the future of our nation that the immigration issue because it impacts so many other aspects of our nation. As I have often pointed out, immigration impacts everything from the economy, the environment, education and healthcare to criminal justice and national security. Yet the politicians on both sides of the political aisle have been fighting hard to prevent the borders from being secured and to prevent the creation of an immigration bureaucracy that has even a modicum of integrity, even after the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001 and the findings of the 911 Commission in terms of the role that immigration benefit fraud played in the embedding process utilized by the terrorists who killed so many innocent people.
I have heard Mr. Huckabee state that he favored providing in-state tuition for the children of illegal aliens claiming he did not want to penalize the children of illegal aliens. In point of fact, the children of illegal aliens are, themselves, illegal aliens. Additionally, they may well be the children of illegal aliens although with the rampant issue of immigration benefit fraud that has been amply documented in one GAO report after another and one OIG report after another, I also fear that if our nation was stupid enough to create such a lucrative benefit for such “children” that the fraud rates would be astronomical! Finally while these illegal aliens are the children of illegal aliens they are not minors! We are talking about adult illegal aliens who would be provided with the opportunity to remain in the United States and file applications for their family members while being provided with a level of financial assistance our nation does not provide to United States citizen college students! This is the equivalent of my providing a steak dinner with all the trimmings to my neighbors kids each night for many years while feeding my own kids tuna fish and macaroni! If I did this as a parent you would question my sanity and you would be correct- yet Mr. Huckabee and other politicians who favor this seemingly well-intentioned measure would be stabbing our own kids in the back while opening yet another Pandora’s Box that would invite massive fraud!
Mr. Huckabee and his opponents need to explain their positions and their justification for the positions that they take. They also need to provide concrete proposals for securing our borders and creating a secure immigration system. The Border Fence Bill was passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President. I was called to appear on many television programs to discuss the fence. I made it clear that I doubted that the fence would ever be built. Then I was asked about the “Virtual Fence.” My ‘sound bite’ was that “The Virtual Fence would stop virtually no one!” The Virtual Fence will cost loads of money, but in the end, to arrest illegal aliens your need Border Patrol agents, jail space, vehicles, detention officers, attorneys, immigration judges, etc. To prevent the entry of illegal aliens you need physical fences. Crating a high-tech “Virtual Fence” that sounds alarms when illegal aliens run the border is next to worthless unless their are enough agents and all of the other components in place to stop and apprehend the intruders. We also need to have enough special agents at ICE along with other resources to back-stop the Border Patrol and the beleaguered Customs and Border Protection inspectors at ports of entry so that when aliens run our borders or are admitted through ports of entry only to overstay their authorized period of admission or otherwise violate their terms of admission they are likely to be found and apprehended. Today there is a shortage of Border Patrol agents and an absolutely outrageous shortage of special agents at ICE. (As I have often noted, New York City has been consistently found to be the safest big city in the United States- a fact largely attributable to the fact that the NYPD has approximately 38,000 police officers who are well trained and have incredible resources. ICE has about 6,000 special agents and they are responsible for enforcing customs laws as well as immigration laws. Meanwhile New York City has approximately 8 million residents and covers about 400 square miles while there are probably over 20 million illegal aliens in the United States who are scattered across one-third of the North American continent!) It is likely that fewer than 4,000 ICE special agents are engaged in the critical mission of enforcing the immigration laws for the entire United States of America! Additionally, most of the leaders at ICE came from Legacy Customs and not from Legacy Immigration. Their orientation and background leaves much to be desired where the effective enforcement of the immigration laws are concerned. As one of my former colleagues at ICE told me during a recent conversation, those bosses are more concerned with busting a gang that produces counterfeit Gucci briefcases than counterfeit passports!
We the People need to hear specific proposals from the candidates for the Presidency. That is our right! We should think of the debates and campaigns as a sort of job interview. The occupant of the Oval Office, I would remind you, is our employee. The candidates understand that they need to garner the votes in order to win the election. We the People need to end our passivity about the campaign for the Presidency and need to have our voices heard. Similarly we need to take a far more active role in writing our other politicians who seek to be elected or re-elected to positions as members of Congress as well as those seeking elections on the state and local levels. That is how democracy is supposed to work. When we sit down in a diner to order a meal we tend to be very specific about what we want to eat and how we want it prepared. We must be at least as specific about who we will hire to lead our nation especially in this perilous era. This is not only our right, it is our obligation!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-
MCutler007@aol.com
Cutler is right. Huck has no plan and he is not serious about the border problem. Christian Socialism apparently requires that we welcome all permanent guests into our home and let them stay in the guest bedroom forever.
I love that graphic! I laugh out loud every time I see it.
Huckabee has surged because he won a couple of debates and he’s got evangelical support. If a quick rise can happen to the liberal pro-life evangelical Huckster, it can happen to the conservative pro-life evangelical Hunter.
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According to Intrade, the winner of the December 12th GOP debate was... Duncan Hunter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938773/posts
Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts
In this poll Hunter is up 3% and even with Paul and Thompson.
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3481ef60-8195-46a9-af04-b87b907bcfdd
Home Run!!!!!
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