Posted on 12/02/2007 12:10:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
New Iowa Leader Criticized by for Indecision on Federal Student Aid.
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who backed in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, hedged Sunday on whether illegal immigrants who have gone to school in the United States should become eligible for federal student aid such as Pell grants and subsidized federal student loans.
"I'm not sure that I would support that," Huckabee told ABC News, "it was a different program in Arkansas."
Huckabee's failure to take a clear position on federal student aid while appearing on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" drew swift rebukes from two Republican rivals.
"Gov. Romney does not support providing federal taxpayer-funded student aid intended for legal residents going to illegal immigrants," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden told ABC News. "Mike Huckabee's position [in Arkansas] that taxpayer dollars meant for students who are legal residents should also be made available to illegal immigrants puts him squarely at odds with the American taxpayer."
Echoing a line that Romney used against Huckabee in last week's CNN/YouTube debate, Madden added, "Mike Huckabee needs to understand that it's not his money. It's the taxpayers' money."
Huckabee's indecision on federal student aid was also criticized by the campaign of former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.
"Children who are born in this country are U.S. citizens and entitled to the privileges of citizenship," said Thompson spokeswoman Karen Hanretty. "Those in our country illegally are not. It's that simple."
Huckabee appeared on "This Week" on the same day that a highly respected poll showed him as the new Republican leader in Iowa.
Huckabee leads the GOP field with 29 percent support, according to a Des Moines Register poll released Sunday. Romney has 24 percent, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has 13 percent, and Thompson has 9 percent. The Iowa Republican Caucuses take place on Jan. 3.
In-state tuition for illegal immigrants was never enacted in Arkansas. But Huckabee's rivals believe that his momentum in Iowa can be stopped once his views on public benefits for the children of illegal immigrants become more widely known.
Asked on "This Week" about his Arkansas record, the former Baptist minister said, "You don't punish a child because a parent committed a crime, or committed a sin, you just don't do it."
Huckabee did not rule out that his principle might extend to the federal level.
He suggested, however, that he might view state and federal benefit questions differently.
"It's the difference between being punished and being rewarded," said Huckabee. ". . . the point in Arkansas was, we had kids who had been in our schools, by law. And to simply shut them out of any additional educational advancement, to me, seemed not only in their worst interests, but ours, as well as the state's."
Agree. This is still going to be a marathon, rather than a sprint, to the nominating convention.
If I'm guessing right, a part of Fred's strategy is to get the support of the lesser candidates (McCain, Tancredo, Hunter) when they drop out. He is the only candidate besides Huckabee from the South, and that's where the votes are.
Again, just my opinion, but there's a comfort factor among Fredheads with their candidate that I just don't see with the others.
We’ve had enough southerners for president. It’s time to move on.
The right to an abortion was conjured out of thin air by the Supreme Court and the best chance of rolling back and eventually overturning that shameful decision is through the courts. It should be through the legislative bodies, but the courts have made themselves superior to the legislatures.
I don't see how support for a strategy which has no hope of success under current conditions is the proper litmus test to apply to candidates.
Every time this a-hole repeats this dishonest cornpone demagoguery my revulsion grows. Huckabee is really earning "barf alert" status.
Egg-zackly. And that's how we know definitively that he is a fraud and a hypocrite.
Politicians just can’t take their eyes off the green. They’re all whores.
Thanks. Both of you. Of course you’re right. Fred is laying the foundation with his policy statements, which nobody else can touch. Nobody else has even tried. (Except Duncan Hunter, of course, who is just as good but not nearly as up to the task of winning.)
Thanks for the reality check.
I am damn near comatose, just like Fred is said to be by some...
Fred has a plan, and it seems to be going well, indeed better now with Huck in the mix...
Mike “The Huckster” Huckabee BUMP!
I have mixed emotions when “Republicans” like Romney or Huckabee have a conversion on an issue and choose the conservative view that their base voters want.
On one hand it is good that they are listening, hear what voters are saying and change their policy (I thought that was the point and it’s what voters want). On the other hand, there is the obvious possibility/probability that they are saying whatever people want to hear and will then revert back to their old ways.
You damn right he does! Fred needs to make his stand in SC and FL and pound Huckabee.
You better believe I’m going to write a letter to the editor about it.
The liberal MSM must really think Social Conservatives are stupid. They keep pitching and pimping the Huckster hoping somebody will buy. 
To be added, please Freepmail me or OB1KnOB
He’s not even consistent on abortion.
“Huckabee leads the GOP field with 29 percent support, according to a Des Moines Register poll released Sunday.”
See Pat Robertson.
Mr. Hucakabee is a POPULIST, not a conservative.
I heard a stat by a reporter that 29% (IIRC, close) of Iowa caucus goers vote strictly for the life candidate. Iowa means little.
Video of Huckabee Calling for Scholarships and In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens (2005)
Arkansas Journal ^ | November 25, 2007 | Henry Rearden
Posted on 11/25/2007 10:12:50 PM MST by RebekahT
I went to the link, watched the video, and transcribed Huckabee's words. Here they are:
TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO (transcription done by FReeper Joya): I’m also going to ask that we open financial aid for any student graduating from a high school in Arkansas. There’s something terribly unjust about a kid whose family came here looking for opportunity and that kid maybe has come, at the age of four, as happened in a school in El Dorado. And that student of hispanic descent, spent his entire career as a student in Arkansas public schools, from the age of four. Graduated from high school, one of the top kids in his class, but when he applied for financial aid, he wasn’t eligible for the various scholarships or grants because of his status — a status that he had no decision in and no control over. Do we want to change fhe future for those kids? Then let’s give them the opportunity. Let’s not say that our doors are open but our opportunities are closed. Let’s open both our doors and our opportunities and create a whole new generation of kids who have the opportunity to be prosperous and to bring to their families a hope that they came here for.
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