Thread: Huckabee retreats on birthright citizenship

Looks like both Mike Huckabee and Jim Gilchrist have been BUSTED for lies.

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Huckabee retreats on birthright citizenship

By Stephen Dinan
January 9, 2008

Mike Huckabee yesterday contradicted his own top immigration surrogate, announcing he will not support a constitutional amendment to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to illegal aliens.

It was a stark reversal after The Washington Times reported that James Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, said Mr. Huckabee promised to pursue an amendment to the Constitution. In an article in yesterday's editions, Mr. Huckabee's spokeswoman did not challenge the former Arkansas governor's statements to Mr. Gilchrist and said the two men shared the same goals on immigration.

But by yesterday afternoon, Mr. Huckabee had backed away from that position.

"I do not support an amendment to the Constitution that would prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens. I have no intention of supporting a constitutional amendment to deny birthright citizenship," Mr. Huckabee said in a statement posted on his campaign Web site.

The Times reported that Mr. Gilchrist, in a half-hour conversation while campaigning with Mr. Huckabee last week in Iowa, pinned down the Republican presidential candidate on various immigration stances, including how he would address what most legal scholars see as the 14th Amendment's guarantee of citizenship to any person born in the United States, except for diplomatic situations.

Mr. Gilchrist said Mr. Huckabee promised to bring a test case to the Supreme Court to challenge the matter, and also would press Congress to pass an amendment to the Constitution.

In an interview with CNN, the candidate said his campaign was not contacted about the story: "It was disappointing the reporter who filed the report never bothered to contact our campaign," he said.

But Mr. Huckabee's spokeswoman, Kirsten Fedewa, did talk to The Times for the article. She did not challenge any of Mr. Gilchrist's statements at the time, and was quoted as saying Mr. Huckabee and Mr. Gilchrist were "united by a mutual desire to end illegal immigration and are political allies toward that end."

In a statement to The Times yesterday evening, Mr. Huckabee acknowledged his campaign was asked about the story.

"I was asked to respond to questions by The Washington Times about my position regarding presidential pardons for imprisoned U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean and about personal e-mail correspondence by one of my supporters," Mr. Huckabee said. "We responded to those questions.

"If the Supreme Court chooses to review lower-court decisions regarding the 14th Amendment, that is their prerogative, but my priorities for constitutional amendments are to protect human life and traditional marriage," he said in the statement.

Mr. Huckabee also said on CNN that he hasn't given much thought to the issue of birthright citizenship. But he previously had taken a position in an interview with The Times on his campaign bus in Iowa in August.

"I would support changing that. I think there is reason to revisit that, just because a person, through sheer chance of geography, happened to be physically here at the point of birth, doesn't necessarily constitute citizenship," he said at the time, according to the audiotape of the interview. "I think that's a very reasonable thing to do, to revisit that."

Mr. Gilchrist did not respond to repeated phone calls and e-mails yesterday asking about the discrepancy, but in a 42-minute telephone call Sunday he told The Times that Mr. Huckabee promised him these things in their half-hour private conversation.

"I read back my notes to him twice and I told him I did not want to put words in his mouth," he said. "The guy looked me right in the eye."

Mr. Gilchrist issued a press release from the Minuteman Project laying out Mr. Huckabee's positions. That release was provided to the Huckabee campaign.

Yesterday, Mr. Gilchrist's Web site, www.jimgilchrist.com, still included a photo from his meeting with Mr. Huckabee in Iowa, and still said Mr. Huckabee promised to pursue a Supreme Court decision and a constitutional amendment.

Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning Republican candidate, has introduced a constitutional amendment to end birthright citizenship.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbc ... 92919/1001

Yep, they're a perfect pair. Liars both of them.

Gilchrist should have known Huckabilly was going to backstab him.

Cracks in the Huckabee - Gilchrist Liar & Fraud Coalition?

immigrationwatchdog.com

January 8, 2008, 1:39 pm
Birthright? What Birthright?
By Tobin Harshaw

Tags: citizenship, illegal aliens, mike huckabee

“Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens, according to his top immigration surrogate –Â* a radical step no other major presidential candidate has embraced,â€

added to the homepage with new title and note

Mike Huckabee & Jim Gilchrist both caught lying to America!

ALIPAC Note: Jim Gilchrist is caught lying to America about Huckabee's immigration stances. Huckabee lies to the public on CNN claiming he was not contacted by the Washington times. Two liars desperate to conceal Mike Huckabee's pro amnesty advocacy for illegal aliens! The original article with the false information ran all across America. ALIPAC activists are asked to circulate this corrected article to get the truth to American voters.

http://www.alipac.us/article2853.html

i wish i could say i'm surprised, but we all knew it all along. i was tickled to see that ron paul was mentioned even though it was at the very bottom. was great to see jay leno getting on the media about the way they've treated paul. he made it clear that paul is a viable candidate and that they had no legitimate reason for ignoring him. wish there had been more time for paul to get more of his views out. somebody said on another post last week that ron paul looked too frail to be campaigning. he looked fabulous, energetic and enthusiastic, on leno.

Why is it that partisan demagogues believe that all opponents are liars? Where’s the proof that Gilchrist lied about Huckabee's stand on anchor babies? Huckabee's previous misguided statement on anchor babies indicated that he didn't oppose a supreme Court review of the US vs. Kim Ark case that allows anchor babies but that he had higher priorities such as the abortion and gay marriage issues. After Gilchrist's statement Huckabee reversed that stand and said he wouldn't support an amendment to end the anchor baby problem. That makes Gilchrist wrong, but not a liar. However, it seems the hatred for Gilchrist by ALIPAC induces aliteracy.

Furthermore, the claim that either Huckabee or Gilchrist has ever claimed that they favor the unfettered invasion by illegal immigrants is simply untrue. Nor has Huckabee favored a one day touch back policy for all illegal immigrants despite's ALIPAC's efforts to twist his comments and take them out of context. It may well be that Huckabee's view is shortsighted, perhaps extremely so, but lying about them is self defeating. The issue is far too serious for patriots to risk canards, innuendoes, or prevarications. We must take the higher road and force candidates to be very specific on where they stand on such critical issues.

That road means we definitely need to insist that our leaders take seriously the 1st priority of the Federal government; to protect our borders. That includes penalizing employers who either recklessly or knowingly hire illegal immigrants, churches who harbor illegal immigrants, and cities or states that have sanctuary policies to include not only stiff fines, loss of funds, and loss of 501c3 status, but also prison sentences. Then we must demand that our leaders uphold their second sworn duty in protecting the rights and benefits of American citizens. For leaders who are unable or unwilling to do so we should seriously consider impeaching them, whether they're Democrats or Republicans. We conservatives should also seriously consider supporting a third party lest we lose what once was a democratic Republic under the rule of constitutional law.

Now I will wait for some aliterate demagogue to claim that I support Huckabee, illegal immigration, cheap labor, or the welfare nanny state.

Roberto Enrique

Hey Roberto, thanks for your uninformed opinion. You can watch this video to clear things up for you.

http://www.immigrationwatchdog.com/?p=5390

Roberto Enrique, do you know Perry Emerson and Jack Sharp?