Jim Gilchrist and the Minutemen endorse Huckabee - (PV)

[AZXD]

Originally Posted by ArmyGuy45

can i take a rain check for april?

and i like huck aslong as he does what he says he can.. but i dont think he will make it over paul

and whats the minuteman thing?

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by longtalltechsan

Given Huckabee's record as governor I am somewhat surprised at this endorsement.

It's like prolife robertson endorsing pro choice rudy g... makes you say WHAT THE FUDGE?!?!?!?!?

huckabee is about this much *.* better than rudy or romney... how jimbo could endorse huckabee is unbelivable.

Looks like minuteman donation will now just be transfered over to the Ron Paul column.

[PackerfanXD]

Minuteman Express News ©

(A publication of the Minuteman Project)

Why Did Jim Gilchrist Endorse Mike Huckabee?
By Jack Sharpe

Americans say they want another Ronald Reagan to run for President; if that was true Duncan Hunter would be doing much better than he is. If Illegal immigration was the only issue that Republicans care about, Tom Tancredo would be ahead by double digits. Dr. Keyes is the smartest and most conservative of the entire field of candidates, but he is polling less than one percent. Ron Paul? Do I really have to say it? Unfortunately, none of these really good choices seem to have any chance of winning.

From a pragmatic perspective, there are only five candidates that can win enough primaries to be nominated for President. They are Giuliani, Romney, Thompson, McCain and Huckabee. Let’s look at them one at a time; no cheap shots, just a good hard look.

Giuliani: Rudy had the guts and determination to take on organized crime in the most corrupt and crime ridden city in the Nation. As the Mayor of New York he drastically lowered crime, cleaned up Times Square and lowered taxes. He also made New York a sanctuary city, second only to Los Angeles in the number of lost jobs and illegal aliens receiving Federal assistance. Good man, bad choice for President.

Romney: Regardless of what you may think about the Mormon religion, you have to admit they make great neighbors and friends. Mitt Romney has successfully run a business as well as a government and is running on a traditional family values platform. However, Mitt has signed the toughest anti-Second Amendment legislation of anyone currently running for President (Republican or Democrat). Mitt also did nothing about several sanctuary cities in his State while he was Governor of Massachusetts, nor did he do anything about enforcing immigration laws. His claim, "I authorized the State Police to enforce immigration laws" is not true. That “authorization” never took effect; it was just a hollow attempt to obscure his immigration record.

Thompson: I like Fred Thompson, not just as an actor, but also for his brief service in the Senate. Fred Thompson is the author of the Thompson Report that gave clear details of the many sins of Bill Clinton, including the many traitorous deals Clinton made with China. Many Minutemen (like me) supported Fred for President until we were denied access to a Thompson rally because we were wearing Minuteman Project T-shirts. Mr. Thompson has also never returned a questionnaire or a phone call to any organization in the movement. Clearly, Fred Thompson doesn’t want our support.

McCain: John McCain is a war hero and a patriot. He has also never seen an amnesty bill he didn’t like. McCain advocates open borders like he has money ridding on the outcome. Hillary Clinton has a better chance to get an endorsement from a Minuteman than John McCain.

And then there’s Huckabee…

The only thing I knew about Mike Huckabee six months ago was he was a Republican Governor and that he had lost over a hundred pounds.

The Club for Growth claims he is soft on immigration and a tax raising RINO (Republican In Name Only). What do they site as proof he will raise taxes? They site a butchered clip of Mike Huckabee addressing a democratically controlled Arkansas legislature on the eve of a government shutdown (budget crisis). Of course, the Club For Growth didn’t explain these details and they intentionally edited the clip to make a monkey out of Huckabee. In the clip, Mike Huckabee is telling the legislature he would be “OK” with their decision to raise a number of taxes. The truth of the matter is the Democrats engineered a budget crisis for the purpose of raising taxes; the tax hikes Huckabee was talking about were ideas the Democrats had proposed and Huckabee had resisted until the crisis. A crisis brought on by the Democrat’s “tactical over spending.” You would have known this if the Club For Growth had not omitted the last eight seconds, when Huckabee finished with, “If this is what it takes I would be fine with that, but please don’t shut down the government”. Mike Huckabee has signed a pledge to not raise taxes if elected President.

On immigration, Mike Huckabee did support an “In State Tuition” bill for illegal alien children that had completed four years of High School in Arkansas. In State tuition was not available for aliens from anywhere else and only if they spent all four years in an Arkansas High School. This was not a scholarship or a grant, just the same price break that any of their classmates were entitled to.

The question at hand is, “Why did Jim Gilchrist endorse Huckabee?”

Mike Huckabee contacted Jim Gilchrist and asked Jim to read his 9 point plan to solve the illegal immigration problem. I guess Huckabee figured that if Jim Gilchrist liked it, the minuteman movement would like it too. Unfortunately, most of the Minutemen haven’t read it; they seem to prefer taking the word of anonymous partisans on the internet than to read it for themselves. In the spirit of fairness, you can read it here:

1. Build the Fence

Ensure that an interlocking surveillance camera system is installed along the border by July 1, 2010.

Ensure that the border fence construction is completed by July 1, 2010.
2. Increase Border Patrol

Increase the number of border patrol agents by at least 23,000 agents.

Fully support all law enforcement personnel tasked with enforcing immigration law.
3. Prevent Amnesty

Policies that promote or tolerate amnesty will be rejected.

Propose to provide all illegal immigrants a 120-day window to register with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services and leave the country. Those who register and return to their home country will face no penalty if they later apply to immigrate or visit; those who do not return home will be, when caught, barred from future reentry for a period of 10 years.
4. Enforce the Law on Employers

Employment is the chief draw for most illegal immigrants and denying them jobs is the centerpiece of an attrition strategy.

Impose steep fines and penalties on employers that violate the law.

Institute a universal, mandatory citizenship verification system as part of the normal hiring process.

Prevent the IRS and the Social Security Administration from accepting fraudulent Social Security numbers or numbers that don't match the employees' names.*

5. Establish an Economic Border

Move toward passage of the Fair Tax.

The Fair Tax provides an extra layer of security by creating an economic disincentive to immigrate to the U.S. illegally.
6. Empower Local Authorities

Promote better cooperation on enforcement by supporting legislative measures such as the CLEAR Act, which aims to systematize the relationship between local law and federal immigration officials.

Encourage immigration-law training for police. Local authorities must be provided the tools, training, and funding they need so local police can turn illegal immigrants over to the federal authorities.
7. Ensure Document Security

End exemptions for Mexicans and Canadians to the US-VISIT program, which tracks the arrival and departure of foreign visitors. Since these countries account for the vast majority of foreigners coming here (85 percent), such a policy clearly violates Congress' intent in mandating this check-in/check-out system.

Reject Mexico's "matricula consular" card, which functions as an illegal-immigrant identification card.
8. Discourage Dual Citizenship

Inform foreign governments when their former citizens become naturalized U.S. citizens.

Impose civil and/or criminal penalties on American citizens who illegitimately use their dual status (e.g., using a foreign passport, voting in elections in both a foreign country and the U.S.).
9. Modernize the Process of Legal Immigration

·Eliminate the visa lottery system and the admission category for adult brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens.

Increase visas for highly-skilled and highly-educated applicants.

Expedite processing for those who serve honorably in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Improve our immigration process so that those patiently and responsibly seeking to come here legally will not have to wait decades to share in the American dream. Governor Huckabee has always been grateful to live in a country that people are trying to break into, rather than break out of.
Jim Gilchrist read the plan and noticed it sounded very familiar; it was as if it was written by someone that had just read Jim’s book, Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders. Jim called Huckabee and agreed to meet with him. The plan was good, but Jim needed to meet him face to face first.

No one in this movement is more dedicated than Jim Gilchrist. Anyone that would suggest Jim “sold out” or “is smoking something” is rude, childish and ungrateful for all that he has done for the cause. Jim has endorsed Mike Huckabee because Mike Huckabee has a plan and a good chance to win. Have any other “top tier” candidates written a plan? Do any other candidates with a plan have a snowball’s chance of winning the nomination?

It’s coming down to the wire; the Iowa caucus is in less than three weeks and if we don’t make practical decisions about supporting a viable candidate, we will end up with Rudy vs. Hillary. I encourage those of you that have sent the Minuteman Project hate mail to take a fresh look at Mike Huckabee. Research primary sources and be savvy to cheap political hit pieces.

Jack Sharpe, for Jim Gilchrist and the Minuteman Project

[AZXD]

Hmmm

Minuteman reconsiders Huckabee endorsement
Gilchrist discovers candidate favors giving status to illegals within days

---

Posted: December 18, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern


By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com


Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist says he will have to reconsider his endorsement of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee after learning the Republican presidential candidate favors allowing illegal aliens to wait only days to receive documents allowing re-entry into the U.S.

In a Dec. 9 Fox News interview, just two days before Gilchrist's endorsement, Huckabee was questioned by host Chris Wallace about an apparent contradiction between statements last year that he preferred a pathway to citizenship and his current plan. On his campaign website, Huckabee outlines a proposal that would require illegal aliens to repatriate and get on the back of the line, which could mean years for re-entry into the United States.

Huckabee insisted there is no discrepancy, specifying that "the pathway to get back here legally doesn't take years. It would take days, maybe weeks, and then people could come back in the workforce."
Asked by WND to respond, Gilchrist backtracked, admitting he may have been mistaken in his initial assumptions about the repatriation provisions of Huckabee's "Secure America Plan."

"I'm going to have to follow up on this," Gilchrist said. "I had not seen before anything in Huckabee's plan where repatriation and touch-back could involve only days, not years.

"I personally need to talk to Governor Huckabee about this," he added. "This issue needs to be between Governor Huckabee and me."

Huckabee's admission to Fox News directly contradicted a condition Gilchrist stated was a sine qua non of his endorsement.

As previously reported, Gilchrist told WND, "Nothing I can find in Huckabee's plan indicates he is going to let the illegal immigrants back into the country the next day after they go home.

"The illegal aliens, once they are back home, will have to stand in line with everybody else and apply for legal entry at the end of the line," Gilchrist insisted, representing what he thought was the Huckabee plan.

Gilchrist further stated at the time, "If, in fact, there is no standing in line and waiting for legal entry, I would have a serious reservation about endorsing Huckabee."

Despite the new information about Huckabee's plan, Gilchrist declined to withdraw immediately his endorsement.

"I need to get answers from Huckabee himself about this discrepancy," Gilchrist said. "I want a valid explanation and I want it published.

"Plus, I have some other questions too that you're not aware of that I have already queried Governor Huckabee's staff about yesterday and again this morning," he continued. "But it's going to take about 72 hours to get responses."

Gilchrist declined to specify the additional questions.

In the Fox News interview, Wallace asked Huckabee about the apparent inconsistency.

"Well, I don't think there's an inconsistency," Huckabee said. "When I said a pathway, I didn't say what the pathway was.

"I now believe that the only thing the American people are going to accept – and frankly, the only thing that really makes sense – is a pathway that sends people back to the starting point," Huckabee continued.

"But this idea of the waiting years – no, I don't agree with that," he stressed. "In fact, look, if we can get a credit card application done within hours, if we can get passports done within days, if we can transact business over the Internet any place in the world within seconds, do a background check instantaneously – it's our government that has failed and is dysfunctional."

Huckabee went on to say, "It shouldn't take years to get a work permit to come here and pick lettuce."

He further specified, "But the pathway to get back here legally doesn't take years. It would take days, maybe weeks, and then people could come back in the workforce."
That repatriation provisions in Huckabee's "Secure America Plan" apparently are supported by Point 9 of his plan, which calls for an increase in the number of visas available for highly skilled and highly educated applicants.

[Frenchy]

"Well, I don't think there's an inconsistency," Huckabee said. "When I said a pathway, I didn't say what the pathway was."

[PackerfanXD]

That's disturbing.

[AZXD]

Or standard operating procedure.
You decide.