By Debbie Schlussel
Today’s Wall Street Journal sums up some of the most ridiculous comments of GOP candidates in attendance at the Miami Spanish language debate. But the article misquotes a Romney answer about the illegal aliens who mowed his lawn, claiming he said it’s not his job to check whether they are legal (he did not say that, according to the transcript). (The full transcript is here.)
First off, my favorite comment was by Tom Tancredo, who said “Yo No Hablo”. He refused to participate in the debate because it was not in English:

The eighth candidate, Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, the toughest of the lot in condemning illegal immigration, boycotted the event because it wasn’t in English. The Univision Democratic debate in September was watched by 2.2 million people.

Good for him. The only guy with real guts in the pack.

Send in the Clowns
Then, there’s the rest of the lot. Some highlights, er . . . lowlights:
* Ron Paul sounds just like the Rosie O’Donnell crowd on the left:

Rep. Ron Paul said the U.S. needs to engage with hostile leaders in Venezuela and Cuba. “We create the [Hugo] Chavezes of the world. We create the [Fidel] Castros,” he said to resounding boos from the University of Miami audience.
He was alone in that view; other candidates drew approval with tough talk on Cuba.

Um, pardon me, but aren’t libertarians (one of which Paul is supposed to be) against “engaging” with governments–any governments, hostile or otherwise? I thought that’s why Paul opposed America going into Iraq. Way to be a consistent “isolationist.”
* Mike Huckabee clearly doesn’t understand that our government barely does more than a few minutes of checking–if that–on temporary workers allowed into this country on visas:

[H]e spent more time explaining how the U.S. government has failed those who seek to come here. “If you can get an American Express card in two weeks it shouldn’t take seven years to get a work permit to come to this country in order to work on a farm,” he said.

Actually, it doesn’t take seven years to get a work permit. It’s much quicker in most cases, far too quick. And the necessary background checks are not being done. An American Express card has absolutely nothing to do with this. That’s about checking credit, not someone’s identity and possible terrorist and/or criminal activity in a foreign country. This guy is clearly too uninformed on a major national security issue to become President.
* Fred Thompson also doesn’t get it on anchor babies. He’s worried about children separated from their illegal alien parents who chose to be here illegally and have them here as a means to try to stay:

Asked whether children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants should be separated from their parents, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson allowed that these children are U.S. citizens. But he used the opportunity to condemn “endless chain migration” where one citizen brings many family members to this country.

Gee, if he really meant that, then why won’t he publicly support an end to birthright citizenship–an end to anchor babyhood. The only Presidential candidate–of either party–publicly supporting that is Tancredo.
Well, that’s because Thompson doesn’t care about the anchor baby problem. The transcript of the debate quotes him as saying this:

The — our courts have ruled that such children, such babies born here are United States citizens. That’s part of the 14th Amendment as has been interpreted by the courts, as I understand it. . . . I believe that the concentration should not be on the concern of waiting until that child grows up and serves as an anchor baby, as we hear so much talk about. . . . So I think that . . . the issue to focus on [is] not innocent children who are born here not of their own accord and who our courts have said our United States citizens.

Um, lawyer Fred Thompson, understands it incorrectly. The 14th Amendment language pertaining to anchor babies has not reached the Supreme Court in contemporary times. The language says that those born within America’s “jurisdiction” are citizens. It was written to make the children of slaves full citizens. It is debatable that anchor babies–born to illegal aliens–are within our “jurisdiction.”
That a lawyer doesn’t know this basic fact on a major issue in the Presidential campaign ought to tell you something. He ain’t prepared.
That he isn’t concerned with anchor babies, some of whom are the children of terrorists we’ve deported, is jaw-dropping. For that reason alone, we should be concerned about anchor babies and end birthright citizenship.
Woe is us. If this is our lot of opponents to Dem Nominee Hillary Rodham Cankles–and it is–Slick Willie will return to the Lincoln Bedroom many times in the not so distant future.