Huckabee: Anti-alien mood has racist strain
Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006
WASHINGTON - Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Tuesday that he believes he knows what's behind the anti-immigration feelings of some Americans.
"If I were to say some of it is driven by just sheer racism, I think I would be telling you the truth,"Huckabee said as he shared sandwiches and salad with close to 20 national and regional political reporters.
"I'm not saying everybody who is very, very angry [about immigration ] is a racist. I want to be very clear about that. But I've had conversations with people, and it became evident what they really didn't like is that people didn't look like them, didn't talk like them and didn't celebrate the holidays they do, and they just had a problem with it."
He said many politicians take advantage of that. "We've got people in my own state certainly that have used this as a way to fling red meat out at crowds,"he said, without mentioning names.
Huckabee praised President Bush's approach to im- migration, outlined in a speech to the nation Monday night.
"This is an issue that's not going to satisfy everyone no matter what he proposes,"he said. "What people seem to want is unrealistic, unreasonable and undoable."
At first, Huckabee said, he was worried that putting troops on the border would further strain the National Guard. But he said the president's plan was likely to make a minimal dent in the Arkansas Guard, probably 100 troops or less.
Immigration was just one of several topics that Huckabee, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, seemed eager to address during the nearly 90-minute luncheon meeting at the offices of the National Governors Association. Huckabee is chairman of the group.
Among those in attendance were reporters for Time, The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal, as well as Stuart Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report, a prominent Washington newsletter.
Copies of a brightly colored folder touting Huckabee and what he has done as governor were placed at the seat of each reporter.
On the cover was a collage of photographs of Huckabee in various settings.
Inside were numerous promotional materials, including a biography, copies of favorable articles written about him and a glossy "Quick Notes"list of Huckabee's accomplishments as governor beneath a picture of him playing a guitar.
A Huckabee aide said afterward that the governor's office paid for the folders but she did not know how much they cost.
Huckabee said he is going to delay a final decision on running for president until after he leaves office in January, because he doesn't want the process to take away from his final months as governor.
"Finishing with a bang, not a whimper, is very important to me,"Huckabee said.
He said he knows that fundraising will become paramount if he decides to run. He said he had a plan for that.
"I've got a map of 7-11 s, a bunch of blue-steel revolvers and ski masks. We're going to go all over the country and raise money in a very unique way."
If he does run, Huckabee said, he doesn't want to be "ghettoized"as a candidate whose only issue is health care.
Why would he run ?
"You have enough, hopefully, of humility to think you don't know everything. But you also have enough ego to think you could make a difference."
As a candidate, Huckabee said, he would be a Republican with a perspective of how the little guy struggles to make ends meet.
"You have an understanding that there are some people out there that at the end of the day really are wondering how they are going to pay the rent tomorrow."
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