Posted on 08/09/2007 2:40:03 PM PDT by CheyennePress
(CBS/AP) In a surprisingly strong attack, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Republican rival Rudy Giuliani had turned New York City into a sanctuary for illegal immigrants during his two terms as mayor.
Immigration is a hot-button issue in the GOP and may play especially well in Iowa, an early battleground state where the federal government has raided meat processing plants employing illegals, and where some longtime residents feel their pay is being undercut by cheaper-working immigrants.
"If you look at lists compiled on Web sites of sanctuary cities, New York is at the top of the list when Mayor Giuliani was mayor," Romney said at while campaigning in Iowa. "He instructed city workers not to provide information to the federal government that would allow them to enforce the law. New York City was the poster child for sanctuary cities in the country."
Giuliani, also campaigning in Iowa, offered this response: "Frankly, that designation would not apply to New York City. What you got to look at in fairness to is the overall results — and no city in terms of crime, safety, dealing with illegality of all different kinds has done a better job than New York City."
For contrast, Romney has pointed to his own performance on immigration as the governor of Massachusetts. Romney deputized state police to enforce immigration laws and denied driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
Romney's attack on Giuliani came just three days before the Iowa Straw Poll, a nonbinding beauty contest among the Republican presidential contenders.
In the days leading up it, Romney is airing a new television ad in the state in which he encourages supporters to attend the event, portrays himself as an outsider to Washington and takes swipes at both Republicans and Democrats on the immigration issue.
"Washington politicians in both parties have proven they can't control spending, and they won't control our borders," Romney says in the ad. "I will, but I need your help to do it."
Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain are not participating in the straw poll.
better a moderate than a liberal like Rude E. I’d be for Hunter if he had that presidential ‘factor.’ But he doesn’t.
I’m listening but conscience is important and I don’t feel like I have to make such an early decision.
Why be stampeded by these shows called “debates?”
This campaign has started way too early but I want to emphasize I am uncommitted.
This party has embraced too many “moderates” and we need to look for something better.
We don’t need to jump in early behind someone.
>>>In Mass he came up with “Hillary Lite” making everyone buy health coverage from a private insurer. That’s a baby step that the next politician can take into making a Canadian-European government medical system here in the United States.<<<
Actually, I think it’s moving in the opposite direction. How are you going to put any momentum behind nationalized healthcare controlled by the government if everyone is already insured under private insurance?
And I’ll note it again...you don’t actually have to buy insurance under Romney’s plan. If you opt out, you just have to have enough money in an interest bearing account accessible to the state so that should you fail to pay your medical bills, the state of Mass could retrieve that money and offer compensation to healthcare providers. In other words, there is no more free ticket except for the poorest of the poor.
Romney has called for other states to rethink the way that healthcare is organized, and he has encouraged states to come up with their own ideas in that regard. What works best in Mass might not worke elsewhere, as he said.
The conservative candidates have to be the ones to jump in. Who did we have since Reagan? Bush then Dole and then Bush again!
That's a winning campaign slogan that the base can get behind. Good job, Romney. Very smart.
I'm wit' you.
but what did romney do about illegals in massachusetts?
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7187
Mitt was the first candidate to strongly oppose the amnesty bill. That has got to count for something. Rudy later opposed it also, but only after it was clear the base would not accept it. Mitt Romney has a proven track record in business. I have no doubt that he will make border security a priority as President.
did you join fr to help mitt out?
The Republican version of John Kerry? Please.
His plan was an excellent one, and it bears no resemblence to Hillary's plan. That's why the Heritage foundation endorsed it.
The crux of it was loosening insurance regulations, allowing people to buy private policies that covered fewer unnecessary procedures and had higher deductibles.
Last time I checked, conservatives genearlly support deregulation and allowing the market to offer more choices. That's exactly what his plan did.
Yes, it requires people to buy insurance, thereby preventing them from freeloading off the emergency care system. But requiring people to be to responsible is a fundamentally conservative principle, and frankly, if you don't have health insurance, you are being irresponsible.
That’s a baby step that the next politician can take into making a Canadian-European government medical system here in the United States.
Nonsense. It's a plan that increases competition among private insurers, and increases the number and variety of plans insurers are allowed to offer. This is not even a baby step toward socialized medicine. It's the very opposite of it.
The one thing you may not like about it is that it gives a sliding subsidy to the poor to buy private insurance. But that's less socialist than the old system, in which people who couldn't afford insurance either went on medicade, which is a government-run system, or got emergency care for free, freeloading off the rest of us. At least now poor people are forced to pay something for their insurance.
And if you think it's politically feasible to have a healthcare system where those who can't afford to pay are going to be left on the street to die, you're living in a libertarian fantasy land.
Look at the whole record, not just some TV performance.
If you take the time to objectively study it, it's a fundamentally solid record that any conservative can get behind.
He vetoed over-the-counter morning after pill bills, cut spending, got rid of entrenched bureaucrats, and did everything in his power to fight gay marraige.
While you are considering, please consider Duncan Hunter. If you still choose Mr. Romney, I won't criticize that choice. I like Mr. Romney as well for the reasons that you noted.
Bill
it would be analogous to private accounts for social security instead of wiping out the whole system
Romney just keeps looking better and better. I’ve got some friends that have come around to him. I mentioned him months ago to them and they didn’t even know who he was.
Romney’s health plan sounds reasonable to me. If you are able but not willing to buy health insurance and you end up in the hospital’s emergency room because you cut your foot off mowing your lawn, why should I or some government agency pay the hospital to sew it back on?
I notice in the debates and elsewhere that Romney’s answers make sense. He doesn’t just make rhetorical points or spout slogans or sound bites the way Brownbake or Huckabee or McCain do. He argues a point logically or offers something pragmatic.
Thank you for the clarification. An opt out is crucial for skeptics along with affordability and availability for the working poor and chronically ill.
great post. Thanks.
Romney’s certainly working for the nomination. Watch his campaign efforts as televised on C-SPAN. He’s making multiple stops everywhere, meeting people, answering questions, and then RUNNING to catch up with his car to go to another stop. I’d like to see old geezer Thompson try the punishing schedule Romney’s following. Thompson thinks he doesn’t need to work for the nomination. He’ll just mosey into the campaign, make a few speech, and then sit back and put his feet up. This won’t beat the Hillary machine.
That is a great defense of the healthcare plan that Mitt Romney signed into law in Massachusetts. Do you mind if I borrow from it?
Romney is going to be interviewed this Sunday on Fox by Chris Wallace. I think the program is called “This Week.”
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