Huckabee needs to think before speaking

I understand that Huckabee is trying to look presidential, but thinking before speaking should be at the top of his priority list.

AP-

Yet, missteps have hurt Huckabee's efforts to make that case as rivals hammer him on foreign policy. He has struggled to explain his comments on the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the resulting upheaval in her country.

In Orlando, Fla., on Thursday, Huckabee expressed "our sincere concern and apologies for what has happened in Pakistan." Amid criticism, his campaign said he meant to say "sympathies" not "apologies." He also referred to martial law "continuing" in Pakistan - though the state of emergency was lifted two weeks ago.

Huckabee also linked the Pakistan situation to illegal immigration in the United States, advocating "an immediate, very clear monitoring of our borders and particularly to make sure if there's any unusual activity of Pakistanis coming into the country."

snip

He made the same assertion to his Iowa audience, saying: "It's interesting that there are more Pakistanis who have illegally crossed the border than of any other nationality except for those immediately south of our border - 660 last year."

Pressed by reporters about where he got that figure, Huckabee said: "Those are numbers that I got today from a briefing and I believe they are CIA and or immigration numbers." Later, in a conference call with reporters, he identified the figure coming from news reports that cited Homeland Security Department figures of immigrants caught entering the country illegally.

Homeland Security figures for 2006 show that many more illegal immigrants living in the United States came from India, Korea, China and Vietnam than Pakistan.

The man needs to get his facts straight before making this kinds of idiotic statements.