The Republican debate last night was the first one to actually give a good amount of time to illegal immigration. Unfortunately for Americans it was mostly a lot of bobbing and weaving to avoid actually taking a tough position on ending illegal immigration once and for all.
The candidates sure did attack each other though. From Romney calling out Giuliani on his sanctuary policy in New York City as Mayor, to Giuliani bringing up the landscaping service that hired illegal aliens when it worked on Romney's yard.
Nobody came right out and declared "I would round up every single illegal alien in this country and deport them. Fine and imprison employers who hire illegal aliens. Build a physical wall all along the southern border. Put an end to birthright citizenship. End all social services to illegal aliens. And save America!"
Sure, there was a lot of talk about that, but truth be told only Tancredo would do all of that, with Hunter holding up his end of the bargain on building the fence. The rest are full of a bunch of lip service as their past actions show, from Romney's lack of action to Giuliani's love of illegal aliens to Ron Paul's voting record. Don't even get me started on John McCain...
Videos below of the questions and responses and my commentary on them.
Giuliani vs Romney on Sanctuary Cities and contractors who hire illegal aliens.
Do you promise to veto any legislation that gives amnesty to illegal aliens?
A "poor me" American business says it needs cheap labor in order to compete on a global scale and wants H2B visa to increase. This was of course a targeted question to make Tancredo look mean. A better question would have been "Are you going to pledge to arrest employers at competing businesses that use illegal alien labor to undercut my legitimate business?"
This next question is absolutely brilliant. A young woman asks why Huckabee wants to give illegal aliens in-state college tuition and hasn't brought forth a bill that would give out of state children of US veterans the same benefit? This goes along with the post I made the other day on illegal aliens receiving better health care than our veterans. It's simply ridiculous that foreign nationals who come here illegally receive better treatment time and time again than US citizens. People like Huckabee are part of the problem because they are trying to pander to one racial group at the expense of the rest of the country.
Huckabee tries to play it off saying that in-state tuition is only for those illegal aliens who spent most of their educational time in American schools. To that I say "So now that we've already spent millions on their education we as American taxpayers are expected to once again foot the bill for their higher education as well at the expense of an American citizen?" Romney simply cuts him to pieces - and rightly so- by pointing out that there's only so much money to go around (and I'd also point out only so many seats) and that it shouldn't be taken from US citizens.
The one fault in Romney's response is where I believe he falls down the most, he said "if you're here illegally then you ought to be able to return home or get in line with everyone else". Now the return home part I agree with, but the "get in line with everyone else" is not getting in line with everyone else. Those who are in line to come here legally are in their home countries, and allowing illegal aliens to remain here while they await legal paperwork is amnesty. They do not suffer in any way, they just go on living their lives here like they do now until they get to stay here. How does that stop illegal immigration in any way at all?
Ron Paul makes an absolutely great response to a question about the north American Union. He doesn't come off sounding like a wacko and he really makes his point quite clear. Most of you know that I'm not an NAU dies hard, but Paul certainly is very rational sounding in this response and I was impressed by him.
And that's about it for my coverage of the Republican debates. If you would like to read about the controversy about a suspected plant in the form of General Kerr - an openly gay retired general who speaks out against don't ask, don't tell (yet managed to do quite fine himself with the don't ask, don't tell program and attained the rank of General in the California National Reserve by not telling) then head over to the Politico, Ace of Spades and Adam Yoshida where they delve into the connections this General has with both Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. How much more of a plant can you have? CNN can't do a simple Google vet on someone's name before they choose their question? Or is CNN on the take?
Michelle Malkin has collected even more plants in the questioners. I find it absolutely unbelievable that CNN could simply make this many mistakes in not even looking into who these people were when they finally selected the final questions.
And Wizbang as well.
Lonewacko also has some commentary on the debate and immigration.
YouTube has some of the other questions asked
