Somebody Smack Me

I suppose that's what I get for giving Mike Huckabee the benefit of the doubt.

Earlier today I posted about Huckabee's support of discounted tuition rates for illegal aliens. Before I pointed out why this wasn't a good idea, I took him at his word on one aspect of the bill:

I didn't know about this provision which required these students to be pursuing citizenship in order to qualify. That would make the plan less outrageous. But unsound, nevertheless.

Now when I hear this, I'm thinking they have to have already filled out the citizenship application and have their feet firmly on the path to becoming U.S. citizens. Silly me.

PolitiFact.com, a group which fact-checks statements made by the candidates (you can find a number of their pieces in the "Election 2008 Articles" links in the upper right corner of this blog), says the bill wasn't nearly as strict as Huckabee claimed:

The bill, proposed by Rep. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, said that students had to have spent three years in Arkansas high schools and graduated, and they had to sign an affidavit saying they intended to pursue citizenship. Then they would be eligible for in-state tuition and a popular state scholarship program, the Academic Challenge Scholarship, just like their fellow classmates.

They had to sign an affidavit saying they intended to. Wow, I'm impressed. Is anyone going to follow up on this affidavit in a year or two to see if they actually did?

Maybe these young 18 year olds know the meaning of responsibility and have the integrity to follow through on the citizenship process...even though their parents--who raise them and instill their values in them--broke our laws to get into this country, and apparently are STILL not citizens after all these years.

Given the overwhelming reluctance of our elected officials (with Huckabee squarely in their number) to enforce our country's laws in the first place, I'm sure these illegal alien affidavit-signers are quaking in their boots at the thought of failing to fulfill their promise to obtain U.S. citizenship.

If I take Huckabee at his word on anything ever again, somebody smack me, please.