OK, so Huck is flopping around on immigration because the hard core wingnut base of the GOP doesn't like his stance on giving kids that were born in the country some protections because they are US citizens. And he said that if all illegal immigrants were deported. the American economy would collapse.

Download Download

Huckabee: In all due respect, we're a better country than to punish children for what their parents did. We're a better country than that.

What a nice position to have. Fooled ya! After that debate he came out with a new plan that calls for sending all illegal immigrants home---including their children that in his words---would "collapse" our economy. But if the children are American citizens, how can he do that? Wouldn't that be terribly destructive to them? Ahhh, compassionate conservatism. Is this how a Christian warrior treats "children?" Timmeh calls him on it pretty good....

RUSSERT: "Don't punish those kids." A week later, you said, "No, no, no, send the parents home," and what happens to the kids? HUCKABEE: They go with their parents. I mean, I can't imagine a parent not taking their children... RUSSERT: But they're American citizens. Why do they have to leave the country? HUCKABEE: Because they're--first, before they're American citizens, they're the children of their parents. RUSSERT: But aren't we a "better country," to quote someone, than that? HUCKABEE: No, I did not send them home. They will go home within 120-day window, and then they have the process of starting to return. RUSSERT: But that's 15 million people. You're saying to do that would collapse the American economy, and now that's exactly what you're proposing. HUCKABEE: No, I don't think it would collapse the American economy if people went back and did their process of becoming legal. And all of them aren't going to go back on the same day. There's going to be a window of time. How long it's going to take for them to come back, I don't know

Huckabee still says we're a better country than that! He then says he's not sending them home, but he is...Right? Oh, they get a chance to come back some day. But he doesn't have any kind of time frame, just ship 12-15 million people out of the country at an astronomical cost that would probably take years to accomplish and as he said earlier---collapse our economy. He does manage to get a "God" reference into the discussion too....I'm just baffled...(transcript below the fold)

MSNBC:

GOV. HUCKABEE: In all due respect, we're a better country than to punish children for what their parents did. We're a better country than that.

MR. RUSSERT: "We're a better country than punishing children for what their"...

GOV. HUCKABEE: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: ..."parents did."

GOV. HUCKABEE: I still believe that, yeah.

MR. RUSSERT: But a week later, after that comment, you came out with this: "The Secure America Plan."

GOV. HUCKABEE: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: "Propose to provide all illegal immigrants a 120-day window to register with the Bureau of Citizenship" "Immigration Services and leave the country. Those who register" "return to their home country will face no penalty if they later apply," "those who do not return home will be, when caught, barred from future re-entry for a period of 10 years." Children born here are American citizens.

GOV. HUCKABEE: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: And you were saying that.

GOV. HUCKABEE: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: "Don't punish those kids." A week later, you said, "No, no, no, send the parents home," and what happens to the kids?

GOV. HUCKABEE: They go with their parents. I mean, I can't imagine a parent not taking their children...

MR. RUSSERT: But they're American citizens. Why do they have to leave the country?

GOV. HUCKABEE: Because they're--first, before they're American citizens, they're the children of their parents.

MR. RUSSERT: But aren't we a "better country," to quote someone, than that?

GOV. HUCKABEE: Let me be very clear. I stand beside my statement, but here's what we have to do to fix the immigration problem. We've got to seal our border, something our government has been dysfunctional and failed to do. It's also very clear the American people are not going to tolerate people who have gotten here illegally to get in the front of the line. The only way they can get into the back of the line is to go back to the point of origin, to get behind that line, and then modernize that line so it shouldn't take eight years to process a piece of paper to get people the necessary paperwork to be able to do that.

MR. RUSSERT: But, Governor, this is, this is important, because this is what you said back in 2005. "Responding to a question about illegal aliens, Huckabee said `our economy would collapse' without them."

GOV. HUCKABEE: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe that?

GOV. HUCKABEE: I think it would be very, very difficult to do construction and agriculture without them. That's why we need a policy that puts everyone in this country in a legal position. And, Tim, let me, let me go further.

MR. RUSSERT: But, this, this is...

GOV. HUCKABEE: Let me explain why.

MR. RUSSERT: ...important, because your plan says send them all home.

GOV. HUCKABEE: No, I did not send them home. They will go home within 120-day window, and then they have the process of starting to return.

MR. RUSSERT: But that's 15 million people. You're saying to do that would collapse the American economy, and now that's exactly what you're proposing.

GOV. HUCKABEE: No, I don't think it would collapse the American economy if people went back and did their process of becoming legal. And all of them aren't going to go back on the same day. There's going to be a window of time. How long it's going to take for them to come back, I don't know. But part of the process, the first process, if you read my entire plan, is seal the border. Seal the border. If you don't do that, then you don't have any control of who's here, why they're here and what they're doing. This process has to be modernized. It's our government that's been dysfunctional.

Tim, I stand by many of the state--all of the statements I've made, and one of them has been, let's thank God we live in a country people are trying to break into, not one they're trying to break out of. But let's have a rule of law. Let's make everyone live by it. And let me tell you why I believe my plan is not only a plan that respects the rule of law, but I think it's the most humane plan. Because nobody living in this country ought to live with his head down, ought to live in the shadows, ought to live in fear, ought to live every day looking if there's a police car or a border patrol, running and hiding. I want people to live in this country with their heads up. I want them to be able to, if they're going to work here, to work legally. I want them to be able to pay the same taxes, live under the same laws, and also to be able to have the kind of sense of liberty that this country is bound by. That's what we're trying to achieve. Let's not forget that our federal government has made a mess of this. As a governor, I had to deal with their mess, and I believe, as president, one of the highest priorities is to fix the problem.