Thread: GOP Hopefuls Temper Anti-Immigrant Talk

Read closely & note highlighted portions. Giuliani is lying when he says he doesn't support pathway amnesty, as he does as noted by the Washington Times and others. And Huckabee apparently supports a duplicitous "touchback" amnesty scheme:
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GOP Hopefuls Temper Anti-Immigrant Talk
Monday December 10, 2007 2:16 AM

By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) - The Republican presidential candidates sought to embrace Hispanics in a Spanish language debate Sunday, striving to mark common ground with a growing voter bloc while softening the anti-illegal immigration rhetoric that has marked past encounters.

The candidates avoided the harsh exchanges and name-calling of their most recent debate, while most emphasized the need for border security and an end to illegal immigration. The polite debate came less than four weeks before the first votes are cast in Iowa and amid a topsy-turvy race in which former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has bolted to the lead in the state.

Only Sen. John McCain warned that harsh immigration rhetoric voiced by some Republicans have driven Hispanics away from the party. The Arizona senator has stood apart from most of his Republican rivals because he supported changing immigration laws and creating a path for citizenship for illegal immigrants.

``I think some of the rhetoric that many Hispanics hear about illegal immigration makes some of them believe that we are not in favor of or seek the support of Hispanic citizens in this country,'' he said after the moderator noted that the percentage of the Hispanic vote for the GOP has dropped from President Bush's win in 2004 to last year's congressional elections.

Republicans have had trouble courting Hispanics, who have become an increasingly significant source of votes. A poll this week by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center found Hispanic registered voters favor Democrats over Republicans by a margin of 57 percent to 23 percent, a wider gap than in July 2006.

Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani were especially critical of each other over illegal immigration in a Nov. 28 GOP debate, with Romney accusing Giuliani of providing a sanctuary for illegal immigrants while he was mayor of New York. Giuliani shot back, reminding Romney that his landscaping firm had been found to hire illegal workers and dubbing Romney's house a ``sanctuary mansion.''

But it was Huckabee who got better reviews for expressing a more compassionate view toward illegals. The lesson appeared to have been learned.

``Hispanic-Americans have already reached great heights in America. I saw that in my city. They pushed us to be better,'' Giuliani said. ``They're coming here to be Americans and they're making us better by being here in America.''

Still, Giuliani, Huckabee and Romney made it clear they would not favor a special path toward citizenship for the estimated 12 million immigrants in the Unites States illegally.

``There can't be an amnesty policy, because that's an insult to all the people who waited, sometimes, ridiculously, for years, just to be able to make the transition here,'' Huckabee said. [note, Huckabee said this morning that illegals would only have to go home for days in his plan before they could come back. Do not be fooled by him. ]

Giuliani stressed the need for a tamper-proof ID card and the need to control the borders.

That prompted a retort from Ron Paul, who said that would lead to a national identification card for all Americans ``which I absolutely oppose.''

Said Romney: ``Those who have come illegally, in my view, should be given the opportunity to get in line with everybody else, but there should be no special pathway for those that have come here illegally to jump ahead of the line or to be come permanent residents or citizens.''

In this, the heart of Cuban-American country where Fidel Castro is still ostracized, Paul was loudly booed when he called for improved relations with Cuba.

``We're at a time when we need to talk to Cuba and travel and trade with Cuba,'' he said.

As he spoke, other Republican presidential campaigns e-mailed reporters news releases pointing out that Huckabee has supported an end to the Cuban embargo. It's a position shared by a number of Republicans and Democrats, particularly in the Midwest, where farmers say a new opening with the island nation would provide an expanded market for their goods.

The candidates, with the exception of Paul, denounced Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez as a a tyrant.

Asked how to deal with Chavez, both Giuliani and McCain made reference to Spain's King Juan Carlos recent retort to Chavez during a November summit in Chile of Latin American nations and Spain and Portugal: ``Porque no te callas?'' (Why don't you shut up?)

Univision, the Spanish language television network, and the University of Miami hosted the debate. The questions were posed in Spanish by Univision anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas and simultaneously translated into English for the candidates. Their responses were then simultaneously translated into Spanish for broadcast.

Initially scheduled for September, the debate had to be rescheduled because only Sen. John McCain had agreed to appear. This time, the only candidate who refused to attend was Tom Tancredo, a long-shot candidate who has made a tough immigration stance the centerpiece of his campaign.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/stor ... 42,00.html

I love how the only libertarian candidate on the stage isn't able to denounce the only sitting dictator among nations in the Western Hemisphere.

And I don't see what's the point in making concessions to Cuba, which is a TERRORIST STATE.

They flood us with refugees?

We bend over backwards to cater to Castro's demands.

They kill U.S. citizens?

We let them escape trade sanctions?

They send networks of spies into the U.S.?

Liberal judges see how they can take time off their sentences.

``There can't be an amnesty policy, because that's an insult to all the people who waited, sometimes, ridiculously, for years, just to be able to make the transition here,'' Huckabee said. [note, Huckabee said this morning that illegals would only have to go home for days in his plan before they could come back. Do not be fooled by him. ]

Remember all that the McCain/Kennedy plan supported by Huckabee and Romney is a non-amnesty plan (we know different)... These guys believe if some drug cartel comes up with $2,500 to pay their fine; they are now legal. Whatch the double talk.

They are expousing "anti amnesty" while professing a path to legalization if you pay a fine which is amnesty !!!

Can someone PM me the source today that shows Huckabee wants touchback and for the illegals to only leave for a few days?

W

This blog has some video on it. I'm sure you can find it other places too.


http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007309.html

We're at a time when we need to talk to Cuba and travel and trade with Cuba,'' he said

The candidates, with the exception of Paul, denounced Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez as a a tyrant.

Didn't Duncan Hunter attend? There is no mention of him in the article. Perhaps that's a good thing and means he didn't pander like some of the others obviously did.

http://vivirlatino.com/2007/12/09/live- ... debate.php

Finally, the English only question. McCain said that English should be the official language and that all who come here should learn English and he will help them. Ron Paul said that bashing bilingualism is wrong but the official language should be English...

Duncan Hunter said that undocumented people need to return where they came from...

Romney gets asked on his immigration issues: Did he report undocumented workers that were fired? He said that the issue needed to be dealt with compassion and that he was friends with the landscaper and fired him when he found out that two workers were undocumented.

Thompson gets asked if children of undocumented parents have the right to not be separated from their parents. He didn't answer the question.
McCain said the family separation issue is the direct result of the gov's inability to pass immigration reform so that needs to be dealt with first. Romney didn't answer the question either.

How do we change the anti-Latino sentiment we're hearing in the current debate: Hunter said that, while indicating the statue of liberty twice, that Latinos are pro-immigration reform., pro-laws, and pro-border control. Giuliani said that mistakes have been made in the immigration debate, but what needs to be done is fix the broken system. Mitt Romney said that dealing with illegal immigration will help stop the racial profiling of legal Latinos. Ron Paul said he's against a national id. He essentially said that Latinos are being scapegoated because of economic problems. So that once economics are dealt with and the country stops spending money on things it doesn't need to, then the Latinos won't be scapegoated.

Ron Paul said he's against a national id. He essentially said that Latinos are being scapegoated because of economic problems. So that once economics are dealt with and the country stops spending money on things it doesn't need to, then the Latinos won't be scapegoated.

So is Paul basically saying it'll be okay for the Latinos to enter the country illegally once our nations economical problems are dealt with?

How do we change the anti-Latino sentiment we're hearing in the current debate: Hunter said that, while indicating the statue of liberty twice, that Latinos are pro-immigration reform., pro-laws, and pro-border control.

I don't get it, maybe you had to be there. What exactly is it Hunter was supposed to be saying? Perhaps it'll make more sense when we're able to come up with a full transcript.

Duncan Hunter said that undocumented people need to return where they came from...

I'll bet that went over great with the crowd.

I think he's saying that people worried about having their jobs outsourced to another country or being replaced by illegal aliens willing to work for a lower wage are misguided in their assumptions, and trying to find a scapegoat for their current woes. I don't think he's saying that illegal immigration should be encouraged though.

However, the statement itself is so convoluted and opaque-like almost everything else that crackpot says-that it's hard to discern the meaning he intended to convey.

Either way, he's dead-wrong.

Our economy-as a whole-isn't bad per se. However, the thousands of people who were forced out of their jobs because illegal aliens had driven down their wages to almost nothing aren't smiling right now, and I doubt that their attitude has anything to do with displaced anxiety.