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.
But to be fair, is Perry really lying if he cannot himself understand what he’s uttering?
You know? Honest to God I cant follow that link back.
I am going to bed now. I was watching football and yakking on the gun talk radio thread when you showed up.
Gnight Chum
Have a good night.
lol! Good point but I honestly do not believe Perry knows what was in the bill he signed.
Yeah, here it is
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/perry-defends-state-tuition-students-no-matter-how-you-got-state
Your link that claims:
“In fact, U.S. citizens who are residents of Oklahoma and Louisiana—or New York or California, or any other state—who legally enter Texas by driving or flying there are not allowed to pay in-state tuition at Texas public colleges.”
Gnight Chum...
You sleep well bub.
I am really disappointed in CNS news.
I used to hold them in high regard.
Like I said in my post #255, It is not wise for republicans to abandon Perry, not yet anyway. If Herman Cain ebbs out, Perry is still the best next choice. For the time being my cash will flow to Cain. Best to you.
As for the language you quote from the link, do you even know what "instate tuition' means? It means one must reside within the state to get the instate tuition.
From H.B. 1403"
…graduated from a public or private high school or
received the equivalent of a high school diploma in this state;
(2) resided in this state for at least three years as
of the date the person graduated from high school or received the
equivalent of a high school diploma;
So the quote you've gotten yourself all worked up over is entirely true and that is proven within the text of the bill.
This is rocket science here, please tell me that you get this. You should be embarrassed to say you don't.
CNS News is not to blame for your inability to understand simple language.
I think the point is that children do suffer for the actions of their parents in many ways and it seems when it comes to illegals we think we have to treat them better than citizens. Is there a law anywhere that gives tuition breaks to the children of bank robbers? Do we worry about splitting up a family when we send a bank robber to prison?
sure is! and we do not need another GW Bush on illegals stealing our jobs for heaven sakes!
"In fact, U.S. citizens who are residents of Oklahoma and Louisiana—or New York or California, or any other state—who legally enter Texas by driving or flying there are not allowed to pay in-state tuition at Texas public colleges."?
or that..
"The law Perry signed extends that privilege only to foreign nationals living in Texas"?
Nope. You are just a bomb thrower.
Their illegality should not be rewarded.
I'm not a mind reader; what link or who are you quoting now?
Not that many people reading will bother to look it up, but what you are posting is dated and inaccurate information.
See www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2782666/posts?page=264#264 for links and cites to the current Texas law. Or, see post 262 in this thread, which points to the same FR reference.
You are correct that "seeking citizenship" and "on the path to citizenship" are baloney.
I don’t know the rules in TX for homeschooling but who does the transcripts for that? Who does transcripts for those that got a G.E.D.?
Thanks but Rick Perry and the state of Texas cannot change the federal requirements necessary to apply for US citizenship. They can create all the state laws they want but an ILLEGAL alien cannot apply for citizenship which has to be done through the federal government.
your link pal
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/perry-defends-state-tuition-students-no-matter-how-you-got-state
Your link that claims:
“In fact, U.S. citizens who are residents of Oklahoma and Louisiana—or New York or California, or any other state—who legally enter Texas by driving or flying there are not allowed to pay in-state tuition at Texas public colleges.”
Gnight Chum...
Your circular argument gets you nothing but labeled an inept tool. If that was your goal you have succeeded.
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