Posted on 09/25/2011 10:37:58 AM PDT by Clairity
In this week's GOP Presidential debate, Governor Mitt Romney and Senator Rick Santorum both repeated untruths about Governor Rick Perry's immigration position. It is time to set the record straight.
First let me say, I've not endorsed a candidate and though I've predicted a Perry win in 2012, it is not based on a personal desire, but rather the assessment of all the data that I believe the general election race will be dependent on. I did the same thing in 2006, predicting a Barack Obama win, but by no means endorsing his candidacy.
Second let me also say, this week's debate performance by Governor Rick Perry was bizarre and seemed to run out of complete steam in the final thirty minutes. In fact I was so curious as to the Governor's performance down the stretch I inquired to the Perry campaign to see if the Governor had taken ill, or had some other medical issue arise in the final half hour.
But on Thursday evening it did become clear that the GOP opponents intend to rhetorically bloody Governor Perry as best they can until they begin to be eliminated from the race.
In the debate, Chris Wallace asked a direct question to Mitt Romney regarding the in-state tuition rates of children who live in the state, but happen to have parents who came here illegally.
Mitt Romney replied, "I don't see how it is that a state like Texas--to go to the University of Texas--if you're an illegal alien--you get an in-state tuition discount. D'you know how much that is? It's twenty-two thousand dollars a year. Four years of college you're almost a hundred thousand dollar discount if you're an illegal alien--if you go to the University of Texas. If you're a United States citizen, from any one of the other forty-nine states, you have to pay a hundred thousand dollars more. That doesn't make sense to me. And that kind of magnet, draws people into this country, to get that education, to get that kind of hundred thousand dollar break, it makes no sense..."
I was disappointed that Chris Wallace didn't stop him and make him answer the question he had actually asked him.
Maybe Mitt Romney doesn't realize that many children of illegal aliens aren't illegals themselves. And as long as birth-rite citizenship is the law, anchor babies are protected under the law with equal benefits to all other American citizens.
Maybe Mitt Romney doesn't realize that nearly all of the rest of children of illegals had no choice in whether to live in Texas or not. If they were brought there by parents who were illegal--how is that the child's fault? Is Romney ready to charge those children with crimes? Mass deportations? Even Romney has not pledged to go that far.
Maybe Mitt Romney somehow missed the point that Governor Perry's problem is one that the Federal Government created for him. By refusing to enforce current immigration law, the Obama administration has made life for border states unbelievably difficult. And in some cases the Federal Government is even attempting to choke out state's rights to react to border issues in any way whatsoever.
Maybe Mitt Romney is completely ignorant of what the reality of dealing with the border actually means--in real terms. Gov. Perry had to raise $400 million in state taxes to attempt to shore up the border and do the job that the Feds should be doing.
Or maybe Governor Romney believes he doesn't need any votes from legal Hispanics and legal immigrants who are wrestling with the real issue of being in a position where their family's future is in question.
But to set the record straight, it was the state of Texas, and most specifically its lawfully elected legislature that drafted the legislation and passed it with only 4 votes of 181 possible to vote against it. Yes, Governor Perry signed it into law, but it was a definitively bi-partisan initiative that the people of Texas clearly wanted to see become law.
Additionally, Governor Perry has actual compassion for these children who ended up in his state, outside of their own doing. Educating them gets them working and contributing to the state's treasury faster, and is more meaningful than letting them sit on the sidelines.
And despite what the unusually angry Rick Santorum offered, all the legislation did was allow those children (NOT ILLEGAL ALIENS AT LARGE) to get the same "starting point" in state institutions that all of their classmates got. The stupid argument that Romney and Santorum grew red-faced and spittle-spewing over didn't seem to hold true against Texas where non-Texan students would have to pay $88,000 more than other Texas-raised children. And states discriminate that way against other children from other regions of the country--all the time.
President Obama will need to re-energize the American Hispanic vote in order for him to win re-election. They had left him on the economy, and they were never with him on his values. But Mitt Romney--who vows allegiance to a church that had at its core a racist doctrine until only a couple of decades ago--is verging on alienating other ethnic groups, in part because he is not telling the truth about the Texas legislature's law to allow children (not illegal aliens who crossed the border--the children of) to simply pay the same amount of tuition as the kids they sit next to in class.
In short Perry knows this problem intimately. And it will be a cold day in Hades before he ever signs a federal version of the DREAM Act. He believes in fencing, technology, state's rights, and workplace incentives.
Which more or less means he believes in the same enforcement techniques as all the rest of the GOP field.
And for Santorum and Romney to pretend otherwise is sanctimonious and dishonest.
So what does she really believe — was she lying then, to stay on the ticket or is she lying now. Is that the president we want, who claims positions based on politics?
Jan Brewer blows a lot of smoke.
Has she secured her border?
Yes and Arizona is the only border state not squishy on illegals...
Ho, ho, ho! Oh, boy -- marked for future use.
No waiting, Clairity, I'll tell you right now.
Godzilla's coming.
“If they are not illegal aliens, then they already pay in-state tuition.
We are discussing what citizens of Mexico, or any other nation, should pay.”
That’s the point this guy doesn’t seem to get or is trying to obfuscate. LEGAL immigrants/citizens already get in state tuition w/o any special laws. This law had to do w/ ILLEGAL aliens & how they would be treated. To give illegals special privileges that US citizens don’t have is just wrong.
Sure, they pay their taxes, but because they’re forced to. It’s the small price they pay for being here illegally to pay those taxes w/o the benefits afforded citizens. No one forces them to come here illegally & pay taxes of which they will gain no benefit. It’s the choice they make. THEY, not us, should have to deal w/ those illegal decisions & the repercussions.
Twice now Perry has used emotional ploys to save his butt. It ain't working. The left tells stories like the one about Burcham. Obama does it all the time. It is DISGUSTING to use personal tragedies as political points. He also accused people of not having a heart if they don't want to educate an illegal. EMOTIONAL PLOYS ARE A TRICK OF THE LEFT. And he is practicing them.
the pig is obozo stupid, Perry is the man, wake up!!!!!
the pig is obozo stupid, Perry is the man, wake up!!!!!
What part of Federal don’t you get?
the pig is obozo stupid, Perry is the man, wake up!!!!!
the pig is obozo stupid, Perry is the man, wake up!!!!!
Sarah Palin: Every state should have immigration law like Arizona
This thread is about PERRY. And you are trying to deflect it off his stupid remarks. Won't work.
Well, we did. :-(
Gasp! You mean ..... that happens?!
As in, "Read my lips!"?
As in, "I PAID for this microphone!"
As in, "I am not a crook!"
Oh, I am so ...... disillusioned ....<sob, sob!>
the pig is obozo stupid, Perry is the man, wake up!!!!!
You are premature on discounting Palin. She will get in and has an excellent shot on taking the nomination. However, I’m willing to settle with Herman Cain for the moment.
[To a group of Hispanics while running as the second on the ticket.]
Are you saying that Sarah was lying?
Why is it that Perry supporters always say "Don't look at him! Look over there instead!". Deflection won't work.
Perry is using the left's ploy of emotion. And it is disgusting.
Telling people that are out of work and can't feed their kids that they are heartless because they don't want to pay for an illegals education is NOT a quality I want in a President.
" Palin Position on Immigration
• According to Palin there are 12 million illegal immigrants in the US and deporting them is not possible economically as well as it is not a humane way of dealing with the issue. They should be made to follow rules and made to understand that legal immigrants should have the first preference of opportunities provided by this great country. If they follow the rules they can be treated fairly and equally in the country.
• Not having expressed her views on illegal immigration often, Sarah supports citizenship for illegal immigrants but feels there is no amnesty for the illegal immigrants. Priority should be given to the legal immigrants before granting opportunities to the illegal ones.
• She has reached out to the illegal immigrants requesting their needs. She feels that they require more vocational training, the end of gang violence, assistance to seniors and mostly outreach and communication within their communities. Palin insists on a diversity task force.
• Illegal immigrants in Alaska are at loggerheads over obtaining driver's licenses before Palin was elected Governor. The state Senate then approved a Bill banning licenses to illegals tightening the requirements for obtaining a license only if they prove their legal identity. This has affected the illegal immigrants in Alaska severely.
• Sarah Palin has stated that she is sick to death about the immigration nonsense and has not expressed her views often on illegal immigration. She feels that the new administration needs of Alaska should be energetically started early to enable a co-operative relationship with Canada."
But suppose she would enter the primary and have to defend her position on illegal immigration to the extent that Perry has had to defend. She will be in deep doo doo.
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