I didn’t hear it.

Do I get water-boarded?
I disagreed with GWB on immigration as well. It didn’t make me a big, chest-thumping fan of John F. Kerry.

Why is nearly every irrational Perry critique predicated on support for either Ron Paul or Mitt Romney…neither of which are acceptable conervative candidates based on their own positions?

I find this mode of attacking Perry transparent and unwelcome.

with Perry as with Romney, that’s for certain.

The immigration issue is multifaceted and complex. I’m staunchly pro-American and support upholding our legal system. The lawlessness factor drives me nuts sometimes. I’d love to take the idealistic viewpoint on this, i.e. “the law is the law, send them all home”, but when it comes to practical application of that ideal, is it truly realistic?

If I was in a position of governance in a border state, and if the Feds wouldn’t do their job to uphold the law, and if every time I tried to take action for the sake of the people in my state to uphold the law the Feds came back at us with some sort of doubling-down response…I have to admit that I might very well find myself making the same kind of choice that Perry has made, i.e. to try to get the people coming into the state, illegally or not, invested in the success of the state rather than being dependent on the state for their support.

Not the all-time ultimate best choice, but it might be the best possible option available at the time.

My friend relayed a story to me about her son’s girlfriend. The poor girl found out she was an illegal alien when she went to get a job and her background check came back as her having the SSN of a deceased person. She never had any inkling because her parents brought her over when she was just a tot and never told her. What a way to find out that although she had lived basically her entire life here, she could now no longer,get a job,a driver’s license to drive her car,cash a check,vote,get married legally,etc. What would be YOUR solution to her dilemma.I’m all for deporting ADULTS who have broken the law and come here illegally,but how about someone who had no choice or even knowledge of it? are you ready to round them all up for the massive democratic photo op that it would be and send them all off? Perry,BTW,did not give them FREE tuition,he gave them in state rates. I’m not sure myself on how to handle this gigantic gordion knot of a mess we have with immigration in the US. There are angles for every viewpoint to be examined. Howeevr,let’s remember the 10th AMENDMENT-it is a state’s right how they deal with illegals in their own state. Perry’s immigration stance is very popular in Texas and that is by both parties. He has said repeatedly,what has worked in one state will not work in all.I agree and so this one is not a concern for me.

I really don’t. If that makes me an enemy of those who are here, so be it. I’m a 2008 Obama voter, 2010 Tea Partier, and in 2012 who knows what I’m going to do. I’m not going to vote for some country bumpkin from Texas calling me a racist for wanting to see immigration law enforced.

to the days of 2006 and 2008 when I and 50+% of the electorate were voting for Democrats?

The Governor Texas is generally expected to focus on dealing with problems in Texas as opposed to how college age kids in “Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico” feel about things. Good grief.

Does a kid from Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico who then lives in Texas for the 3 previous years pay instate or out of state tuition?

Here’s some key words for you to search. “Perry Falcon Lake” “Perry Texas Rangers Increase”

Go forth and do some reading and see what conclusions you come to.

Mew

@usdebateboard, I hear where you are coming from but it should not be a showstopper.

See, I don’t pick a candidate by comparing two candidates and saying “I agree with 80% of what Romney says and 90% of what Perry says, so I’m going with Perry”. Instead, I look at first principles and see whether the candidate is basically in the right place. Is the candidate a Christian? Is he a Constitutionalist? Is he a Conservative? If the answer to these questions is “yes” you’ll get sound positions 99% of the time and that is better than ticking off boxes on a chart.

Now tell me which of the other candidates for president meets these tests? Bachmann maybe but her star is fading a bit. Herman Cain and Santorum but they’re not electable and Santorum even lost his own Senate seat in Pennsylvania which is a must-win state for our nominee.

I also happen to agree with Governor Perry that a fence won’t work. There’s this thing called a ladder that can easily defeat a fence so why waste taxpayer money on building a fence.

nt

You can probably make any point you want.
You did take that sentance one part of one sentance out of context with reguard to the whole ‘open border speech.

The whole sentance, “President Fox’s vision for an open border is a vision I embrace, as long as we demonstrate the will to address the obstacles to it.”

Means more than just the ‘part’ of the sentance you used.
the part you left out, “as long as we demonstrate the will to address the obstacles to it.” could mean something like, ‘you help deal with the illegle immigration problem’, but thats not the point you wanted to make.

The whole speech is here:
http://governor.state.tx.us/news/speech/10688/

The paragraph that you picked a part of a sentance from:
President Fox’s vision for an open border is a vision I embrace, as long as we demonstrate the will to address the obstacles to it. An open border means poverty has given way to opportunity, and Mexico’s citizens do not feel compelled to cross the border to find that opportunity. It means we have addressed pollution concerns, made substantial progress in stopping the spread of disease, and rid our crossings of illicit drug smuggling activity. Clearly we have a long way to go in addressing those issues. At the same time we must continue to deepen our economic ties, expanding opportunities for Mexican and U.S. companies to do business on both sides of the border. The outlook is promising, even if the road to prosperity is a long one. We share a bond as neighbors, and we find our culture north of the Rio Grande to be increasingly defined by the strong traits of people of Hispanic descent. Texas has long enjoyed a unique identity, an identity forged by an independent spirit, and the convergence of many different peoples. We must welcome change in the 21st Century as we have in every century before it.

And note the part,”and Mexico’s citizens do not feel compelled to cross the border to find that opportunity”
What does that one part mean to you.

And just for information, we have an open border with Canada, but they obey our laws, something that Perry wants Mexico to do, as implied in the speech you cherry picked a part of one sentance to use.

If you are trying to provide information, then provide all of the information.

You guys are sooo easy.

to research the issues and understand them completely before going all emotional with absolutes like you just did.

Did you know that the state of Texas cannot legally deport illegals? The only thing they can do is report and turn them over to ICE. ICE right now is taking them and dumping them right back into Texas where they caught them.

Did you know that federal mandates require Texas and other states to provide certain welfare and medical benefits no matter the person’s legal status? If they try to cut off illegals, the Federal Gov will cut medicaid/welfare payments back to the state.

Did you know it’s the Federal Gov’s responsibility to secure the border, which consists of private lands and public lands like the Rio Grande. If the Federal Government isn’t doing it’s job, that opens up population movement that has been happening for decades. Now Texas has a 37% Hispanic population.

So what should Texas do? Can’t deport them, can’t lock them up, can’t shoot them (obviously), can’t refuse them certain medical/welfare. So I ask… what should Texas do?

Here is one clue for consideration. Texas has a sales and user tax system for revenues. You pay taxes whether you are legal or illegal. The illegal’s children work their way up through the education system and graduate high school. They also get into the system to become a legal citizen.

So I ask again, what should Texas do? Are things getting a little foggy now? Issue not so clear cut? Are you still saying you all by your lonesome would overrule 99% of the Texas state legislature and the Governor elected by the Texas people on what they did?

To me that smacks of a NE liberal dictating to the rest of the country the way they should live. No thanks.

It’s not Mexico’s job to build the Berlin Wall and keep Mexicans confined in his country.

It’s also help if you were informed, son, and kept up on who the President of Mexico is. Hint, it’s not Fox.

I mean, it’s .. obvious!

Those searches show Perry is strong on border enforcement.

Strong border enforcement makes benefits for illegals moot as it reduces or eliminates the number of illegals.

And it’s not about me. It’s about learning enough about the candidates to make informed decisions, not just throwing crap around for the fun of it.

Mew

RomneyCare is a plan for a liberal state. He has been adamant about his intent to repeal ObamaCare.

Perry governed a conservative state and, regardless of what he did in the past, has not committed to a conservative illegal immigration position for the future.

That’s the difference. Some people just want to punish Romney for punitive reasons, but the future is more important.

Both will repeal ObamaCare. But only one has committed to conservative positions on illegals as president.

Recall that before Perry got in, convservatives were not predisposed to fall in line behind Mitt because “he was the best we could do.”

The possibilities are endless. He also invented HPV. That way his political patrons at Merck could market their vaccine. Take logic out the equation completely and the world is a happy nut job playground.

I don’t have any sympathy for Perry because he lives in a state with a lot of illegal immigrants. My city and state are completely overrun with them. My bone-headed niece is actually dating one of these “Dream Act” kids that Perry wants to give a tuition break to (and please, Lord, let him be the first one on the deportation bus going back to Mexico!).

How you deal with illegal immigration is you implement E-Verify on all employers, and you deport every illegal alien who comes into contact with law enforcement in any way. And you make sure that they don’t get any public benefits whatsoever. Believe me, you do those three things and we won’t be talking about illegal immigration within the decade.

just burns me up, that illegal aliens = Latinos, and being against illegal immigration = racism. IT’S NOT TRUE!!! I don’t freakin’ care if so-called Hispanic leaders and Democrats continually try to claim that it is, 70+% of the American people know that it is not. Republicans are on a suicide mission if they think that they can continue on like this. All that is going to happen is that millions more Latinos are going to flood into the country, have an average of five babies each, and THEY ARE ALL GOING TO VOTE DEMOCRAT. They are going to vote Democrat because their leaders are telling them that Republicans are racist, WHETHER OR NOT they support amnesty. Do you think any Latinos voted for Meg Whitman because she supported amnesty. Of course not, her Latino maid came out and publicly accused her of being a RACIST mean boss, who fired her when she found out that she was in the country illegally.

You are fooling yourself if you think that you can somehow compromise with this. It’s not going to happen. You are going to be wiped out electorally based on nothing other than demographics. Wake up!