Presidential Candidates on Border Security

Roy Beck of Numbers USA has posted a grid of the 2008 Presidential candidates based on

Here is what you have to know about the GRID:

My rating of a candidate's past performance in political office is at the bottom of the grid. It can't be changed by new promises. Hence, even though Huckabee now has a lot of green ratings for promises, he still has a red "bad" for his past work as governor.

The rest of the ratings are indeed based on promises. The GRID is primarily forward looking. We want to know what a candidate says he/she will do as President. Many of you are cynical; you believe the candidates will just lie to get your votes and then will do the opposite of what they promise. I don't see it that way. Part of what all of us are doing during this campaign cycle is forcing candidates to make better and better promises in more and more public ways. I think it will be very dangerous for any of them to back out after being so public.

The GRID is so much more important than anything you have heard in the debates and ads which have mainly majored in the minors. All the argument between Romney and Guiliani, for example, about sanctuary cities has been about something that is important but rather minor compared to most of the other items on the GRID.

The grid breaks down border security into 16 specific issues and rates each candidate, side by side, with a green (good to excellent), black (fair to poor) or red (bad to abysmal) rating. The number rankings are my own, based on which candidate has the most excellent/good ratings.

Here's how the GOP stacks up.

1. Tancredo  Excellent 16.
2. Hunter      Excellent 7, Good 9.
3. Thompson Excellent 5, Good 8, Fair 1,  Poor 2.
4. Huckabee  Excellent 5, Good 6, Fair 1,  Poor 3, Bad 1.
5. Paul          Excellent 1, Good 10, Fair 2, Poor 3
6. Romney      Excellent 4, Good 6,   Fair 1, Poor 3 Bad 2.
7. McCain      Good 4, Fair 3, Poor 2, Bad 4, Abysmal 3
8. Giulliani    Good 2, Fair 3, Poor 6, Bad 3, Abysmal 2.

This is how the Democrats fared.

1. Obama        Good 2, Fair 1, Poor 4, Bad 3, Abysmal 6.
2. Dodd    Excellent 1, Fair 4, Poor 2, Bad 7, Abysmal 2.
3. Edwards     Good 1, Fair 1, Poor 8, Bad 5, Abysmal 1.
4. Clinton       Good 1, Fair 3, Poor 4, Bad 3, Abysmal 4.
5. Richardson Good 1, Fair 2, Poor 5, Bad 5, Abysmal 3.
6. Biden          Good 1, Fair 3, Poor 3, Bad 7, Abysmal 3.
7. Kucinich     Good 1, Fair 1, Poor 4, Bad 7, Abysmal 3.

I should note that Numbers USA is a zero population growth group. Four of the issues listed pertain to legal immigration. Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with increasing legal immigration if the borders were secured.

However, I believe Roy Beck's information to be reliable, and a useful tool for examining where pols stand on specific border issues. The grid is laden with links for each issue anddetailed reports on each candidate.

You can also research your local Congressman's immigration report card here.

 

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary's Thoughts, Right Truth, Adam's Blog, Shadowscope, Leaning Straight Up, Cao's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, The Bullwinkle Blog, Chuck Adkins, Adeline and Hazel, Faultline USA, DragonLady's World, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Wolf Pangloss, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.