By Javier Manjarres
The Republican Presidential debates soldier on with last night’s CNN/Heritage Foundation Foreign Policy debate in Washington, D.C. Let me start off by commenting that Congressman Ron Paul had far more than 89 seconds to articulate his unbelievably naive “see no evil, speak no evil’ approach to foreign policy, praise be Jah.
With the exception of Paul, all of the candidate were able to effectively articulate their positions on foreign policy matters and address the illegal immigration problem on our Southern border that also constitutes a national security issue.
Both Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum did exceptionally well in the debate as they continuously bashed President Obama for his lack of foreign policy vision and leadership. Also doing well was Texas Governor Rick Perry, who seems very comfortable in his skin when he offers redmeat rhetoric in his answers to questions.
Do you think the 2nd Amendment will be destroyed by the Biden Administration?(2)
Perry supports a ‘no-fly’ zone over Syria because of their close alliance with Iran, both constitute the largest supporters of Islamic terrorism in the region and throughout the world. Both Herman Cain and Governor Mitt Romney both disagreed with Perry’s proposal of imposing the no fly zone.
All of the candidates with the exception of Paul believe that the United States needs to back Israel’s proactive defense measures. Perry stated that ” if we are going to get serious about Israel, than we better get serious about Syria and Iran.”
When the questioning switch to the illegal immigration issue, all of the Republican candidates expressed their concerns about the contentious issue being more of a national security threat than anything else. Governor Mitt Romney stated that any form of amnesty for illegal aliens would only draw more illegals to come to the states illegally.“Amnesty is a magnet.”- Mitt Romney
Perry stated that his plan to secure the border would involve “boots on the ground” and the usage of the “aviation assets” at his disposal were he to become President. Perry also boldly stated that within 12 months of his inauguration as President of the United States, “the border will be shut down and secured.” Perry has been criticized over his support of the Texas in-state Dream Act that offers tuition for the children of illegal aliens as Governor of Texas.
Paul believes that drug war ravaging the border “needs to be cancelled,” and the US should just mind its own business.
But even with all the tough rhetoric being flung around the stage, the “things that make you go hmmmm” moment came when Newt Gingrich’s addressed the illegal immigration issue. Recall that Gingrich voted for the Reagan-era amnesty measure and stood his ground by stating that ‘we’ couldn’t deport all of the 12 million or so illegal aliens in country, and implied that he supported the not-so-popular federal Dream Act.
“Let’s be humane in enforcing the law.” – Newt Gingrich
Gingrich’s soft immigration position is likely to hurt him amongst the staunch conservative base that supports enforcement of our immigration laws and who were to warm up to the idea of a possible Gingrich nomination. Bachmann and Romney then seized the opportunity and tore into Gingrich’s weak rhetoric on the issue.
During the debate over immigration reform that raged during the George W. Bush Administration, Gingrich joined other open-borders Republicans in supporting Bush’s regrettable proposal for illegal alien amnesty.
As Speaker of the House for four years, Gingrich may have spoken up for stronger enforcement but he ultimately failed to secure the border or significantly curb the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States.
During the debate, Gingrich did state that he would catch flak for standing by his freshly articulated amnesty-ish immigration position.
