Thread: Watch Out For Romney!!!!!

I read that Romney has been lobbying King for his endorsement for a long time. It'll be interesting to see if he gets it (but at least King apparently won't be endorsing Huckabee).

This is the video of the entire interview.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp ... 1#10005061

I'm a fan of Duncan Hunter and Tancredo, but that's not going well. In their absence it looks like Romney or Thompson will get my vote. I have no problem with Mitt if he will enforce the law, shut the border, and force the E-Verify. If they can't get housing or jobs, they will have to leave, don't you think?

Here's a transcript of the immigration discussion. Romney still does not support pathways for illegal aliens & says they have to go home, and does support sanctions against employers etc. Not perfect, but still better than Giuliani and Huckabee. Romney should be therefore easier to influence and less likely to try to shove a huge "comprehensive" "it's not amnesty," AMNESTY scheme down our throats. So if it's not Tancredo/Hunter or perhaps Thompson, I'm with Romney:

----------------------

MR. RUSSERT: Immigration, an issue that is very important in this country and to the Republican primary voters. The Boston Globe interviewed you two years ago, and there's a tape of that conversation where you expressed support for the policies of George Bush and John McCain on immigration. Let's watch and listen.

(Audiotape)

GOV. ROMNEY: I think an amnesty program is what, which is all the illegal immigrants who are here are now citizens,

Unidentified Man: Mm-hmm.

GOV. ROMNEY: ...and a walk up and get your citizenship. What the president has proposed,

Man: Mm-hmm.

GOV. ROMNEY: ...and, and what Senator McCain and Cornyn have proposed, are, are quite different than that.

Man: Mm-hmm.

GOV. ROMNEY: They require people signing up for a, a, well, registering and receiving, if you will, a number, a registration number, then working here for six years and paying taxes...

Man: Mm-hmm.

GOV. ROMNEY: ...not taking benefits--health, Medicaid, food stamps, and so forth--not taking benefits, and then at the end of that period, registering to become a citizen or applying to become a citizen and paying a fee. And, and those are things that are being, being considered, and I, I think that that's--that those are reasonable proposals.

(End audiotape)

MR. RUSSERT: Reasonable proposals.

GOV. ROMNEY: Hm.

MR. RUSSERT: The Lowell Sun, your home--one of your hometown, state home papers, said this. "Governor Mitt Romney expressed support for an immigration program that places large numbers of illegal residents on the path toward citizenship.

"`I don't believe in rounding up 11 million people and forcing them at gunpoint from our country. With these 11 million people, let's have them registered, know who they are. Those who've been arrested or convicted of crimes shouldn't be here; those that are paying taxes and not taking government benefits should begin a process towards application for citizenship, as they would from their home country.'"

This is George Bush and John McCain.

GOV. ROMNEY: Now let's, now let's look at those very carefully, OK, and you're, you're a careful reader. In the interview with The Boston Globe, I described all three programs that were out there, described what they were, acknowledged that they were not technically an amnesty program, but I indicated in that same interview that I had not formulated my own proposal and that I was endorsing none of those three programs. I did not support any of them. I called them reasonable. They are reasonable efforts to, to look at the problem. But I said I did not support--and I said specifically in that interview I have not formulated my own policy and have not determined which I would support. And, of course, the Cornyn proposal required all of the immigrants to go home. The McCain proposal required most of them to go home, but let some stay. And the Bush proposal I, frankly, don't recall in that much detail. But they had very different proposals. My own view is consistent with what you saw in the Lowell Sun, that those people who had come here illegally and are in this country--the 12 million or so that are here illegally--should be able to stay sign up for permanent residency or citizenship, but they should not be given a special pathway, a special guarantee that all of them get to say here for the rest of their lives merely by virtue of having come here illegally. And that, I think, is the great flaw in the final bill that came forward from the Senate.

MR. RUSSERT: But they shouldn't have to go home?

GOV. ROMNEY: Well, whether they go home--they should go home eventually. There's a set per--in my view they should be--they should have a set period during which period they, they sign up for application for permanent residency or, or for citizenship. But there's a set period where upon they should return home. And if they've been approved for citizenship or for a permanent residency, well, thy would be a different matter. But for the great majority, they'll be going home.

MR. RUSSERT: The children they had born here are U.S. citizens, so do the children stay here and the parents go home?

GOV. ROMNEY: Well, that's a choice, of course, the parents would, would make. But my view is that those 12 million who've come here illegally should be given the opportunity to sign up to stay here, but they should not be given any advantage in becoming a permanent resident or citizen by virtue of simply coming here illegally. And likewise, if they've brought a child to this country or they've had a child in this country, that's, that's wonderful that they're growing their families, but that doesn't mean that they all get to stay here indefinitely. We're fundamentally a nation of laws. And let me underscore something here that I think's awfully important, because this immigration debate can sound anti-immigrant to a lot of people. It's not intended to be that by myself or, I believe, by the vast majority of others that talk about it. We value legal immigration. We welcome people coming here with different cultures and skill and education, but we are a nation of laws. And our freedoms and our liberty are associated with following the law. We have to secure our border, we have to make sure there's an employment verification system to identify who's here legally and who's not. And then for the 12 million who've come here, welcome them to get in line with everybody else, but no special pathway.

MR. RUSSERT: Your views have been complicated by your own situation. This was The Boston Globe back in December of '06. "As Governor Mitt Romney explores a presidential bid, he has grown outspoken in his criticism of illegal immigration. But, for a decade, the governor has used a landscaping company that relies heavily on workers like these, illegal Guatemalan immigrants, to maintain the ground surrounding his pink Colonial house." That was a year ago. A year later, The Boston Globe came back and the same company and illegal immigrants doing the same work. Did you report that company to authorities saying--a year ago--saying they're using illegal immigrants?

GOV. ROMNEY: Oh, it was, it was on the front page of The Boston Globe; a reporting was not necessary. But I have to clear up the most egregious error in that article. It said my house is pink. I would not have a pink house, I assure you. In an effort to--let me, let me describe the circumstance. And that is the very issue I just mentioned, which is we need an employment verification system in this country. I hire a landscaper to take care of my leaves and, and mow the lawn, and, and the landscaping company hires people to work for them. We're certainly not going to have an America where a homeowner is expected or even thought of going out and saying, "Gosh, I see some workers here who have an accent. I want them to bring papers so I can inspect them." As a matter of fact, I think that's against the law in this country. And so, in this case, the, the landscaper, or the contractor has a responsibility to ensure that their workers are legal.

So after the first story came out, I met with the--excuse me, my son met with the landscaper and sat down with him and said, "Look, you're a good person, and you're a friend, and--but we can't possibly have someone working at my dad's house that's not a legal alien, and so you have to be absolutely certain anybody working here is legal." And he assured us that he, he would do just that. And he failed in that effort. He, according to the paper, he tried, he got documents, apparently, from all the people who, who he had work at our property. Apparently one or two of them had falsified their documents. That's the very reason why we so desperately need in this country an employment verification system, so that an employer who's hiring people can know who's here legally or illegally. If we don't have that, what it's going to say to an employer is, you better not hire someone that has any accent because if you do, it's possible they've counterfeited their documents and you're going to get whacked and the people you work for are going to get whacked.

MR. RUSSERT: Would you then be in favor of a mandatory prison term for any employer who hired an illegal immigrant?

GOV. ROMNEY: Of course not.

MR. RUSSERT: Why not?

GOV. ROMNEY: Well, a mandatory prison term? No. But here's what I would do. I'd say once you've put in place an employment verification system--and that's a big phrase to describe something pretty simple. I'd say to anybody who's coming here legally, they get a card with their name, biometric information, a number and their work status, and you--once you have those cards in place--that the only ones that can get them are people that are here legally--you then say to employers, "If you want to hire someone that's not a US citizen with a valid Social Security number, you ask for the card. You then verify it on the computer, and you can hire them if it's a valid card if they have a card. If they don't have a card and you hire them anyway, then you're going to be subject to the same kind of sanctions you get for not paying your taxes. And that's typically fines, very substantial fines, they get larger and larger. But a first offense employer hiring someone who's not legal, putting them in jail, I, I doubt that's...

MR. RUSSERT: But if you wanted to end illegal immigration, if you...

GOV. ROMNEY: Well, I'm sure, I'm sure, I'm sure...

MR. RUSSERT: ...came down hard on employers.

GOV. ROMNEY: I'm sure capital punishment would come down hard as well, but I'm not, I'm not suggesting that kind of penalty. But I do believe that, that sanctioning employers with substantial fines--and potentially worse if, if they were egregious, continuous offenders could be called for. But what employers tell me, and I, and I talk to a lot of people in small business, they say, "It is almost impossible for us to know who's here legally and illegally." In fact, there's a federal law--you'll find this interesting--a federal law prohibits an employer from, quote, "discriminating against a document that's given to them by someone applying for work." So if they look at something that looks like it's a forgery, they're not allowed to discriminate against that document. This puts them in a real catch-22, typical government work. And what we have to do instead is say, "We're going to allow you, as employers, to finally have access to an employment verification system that says who's here legally and who's here illegally. If you hire an illegal, now we're going to whack you hard with fines and penalties," and potentially even worse if they're repeat offenders.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22273924/page/5/

My heart just sank after watching Russert! There is no way Romney is going to change Bush's immigration policies. He is another coward. The more I see of Romney, the less I like him. He just seems to be spineless.

Fred Thompson has the best platform on immigration and is a true conservative. He is completely against amnesty. He is very pro 'Law and Order' (couldn't help that one). Unfortunately, the MSM is dismissing him and is very unkind to him, but I'm going with Fred! Today's Meet the Press rules out Romney IMHO.

l

Its not perfect and its better than the others

I don't think he will send out squads to round um up but I also don't
think he's going to allow them to get any bennys either

Deportation by attrician

It works

Populist, you are free to vote for whoever you want to, but Romney is no different than the rest who want to give a pathway to citizenship. He says they have to go, but says they have to sign up and eventually go home. He's not clear on where he stands. Personally, I don't want a President we have to work on to get him to do the right thing, Either a candidate goes into this office with my views or I won't vote for him. Romney is skirting the issue by saying a little bit of what both sides want.

Originally Posted by AmericanMe

My heart just sank after watching Russert! There is no way Romney is going to change Bush's immigration policies. He is another coward. The more I see of Romney, the less I like him. He just seems to be spineless.

Fred Thompson has the best platform on immigration and is a true conservative. He is completely against amnesty. He is very pro 'Law and Order' (couldn't help that one). Unfortunately, the MSM is dismissing him and is very unkind to him, but I'm going with Fred! Today's Meet the Press rules out Romney IMHO.

l

What on earth did you expect him to say?
That he is formulating plans to round up and deport 30 million illegals?

That would get no one elected
Even though we'd all like to see it happen , its not gonna happen

He is light years away from Bush on the issue and I don't think he
would allow the interferance from the mexican govt that Bush allows

Plus I think he is well aware of the American peoples stance on the immigration issue

Thompson hired Spencer Abrahams , a raving open borders loon
to work with his campaign, that killed ol Fred for me
Plus Freds record on the issue is SOFT

Originally Posted by AmericanMe

My heart just sank after watching Russert! There is no way Romney is going to change Bush's immigration policies. He is another coward. The more I see of Romney, the less I like him. He just seems to be spineless.

Fred Thompson has the best platform on immigration and is a true conservative. He is completely against amnesty. He is very pro 'Law and Order' (couldn't help that one). Unfortunately, the MSM is dismissing him and is very unkind to him, but I'm going with Fred! Today's Meet the Press rules out Romney IMHO.

l

After watching the video, I side with you on Thompson. He's stronger in his convictions. I recall Mitt, not in this interview, saying he wanted to expand legal immigration numbers. That's a losing position for me. We already have 2 million coming in legally every year. No more, I say less is better.

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

Populist, you are free to vote for whoever you want to, but Romney is no different than the rest who want to give a pathway to citizenship. He says they have to go, but says they have to sign up and eventually go home. He's not clear on where he stands. Personally, I don't want a President we have to work on to get him to do the right thing, Either a candidate goes into this office with my views or I won't vote for him. Romney is skirting the issue by saying a little bit of what both sides want.

Then you will end up with Rudi or Hillary or Huck

All PROMISE that they will give them a direct path to citizenship and open borders

Your choice

Don't take what Romney says as being bad , compare it to the alternatives and look at their past records