Joe Klein Gives Huckabee Political Courage Award, Ignores His Backtracking On Immigration

In his new Time column, Joe Klein hands out “Teddy Awards” — in honor of Theodore Roosevelt — to figures who have “performed honorably” in the public arena. One of his “honorable mention” recipients? Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, for his supposedly strong position supporting undocumented immigrants:

Mike Huckabee gets an honorable mention for standing by his position in favor of scholarships to public colleges for illegal immigrants who do well in high school. “We never should grind our heel in the face of a child” is a sentiment that should go without saying, but needed to be said to his Republican colleagues.

The problem with Klein’s endorsement is that Huckabee has largely abandoned his scholarships plan. It’s true that as Arkansas governor, Huckabee supported providing college assistance to undocumented immigrants.

But early this month, Huckabee announced his Secure America plan, which would require all 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States to leave within 120 days. Those who failed to do so would “face deportation if arrested and would be barred from re-entering the U.S. for 10 years.” (It’s awfully tough to get a college education if you’re forced to leave the country.)

Additionally, Huckabee recently received the endorsement of Jim Gilchrist, president of the right-wing anti-immigrant Minuteman Project.

Perhaps Klein had “neither the time nor legal background” to look into Huckabee’s record.