Posted on 01/29/2007 1:50:15 PM PST by smonk
Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, jumped into the presidential race yesterday with an appearance on Meet the Press and a speech at the National Review Institute's Conservative Summit. He plans to file papers today forming a presidential exploratory committee and then head off to Iowa to begin campaigning.
Huckabee starts in a hole that he seems ill equipped to dig out of. His strategy thus far seems to be to deflect serious questions with folksy charm (not to mention malapropism; Huckabee seems to think that "emulate" means "venerate"). A former pastor, Huckabee peppers his speech with ministerial alliteration that can border on the absurd, as when he calls for a "flatter, fairer, finite, family-friendly" tax system. His endorsement of a flat income tax seems calibrated to deflect criticism of his record as governor, which has earned him low marks from the Cato Institute and the Club for Growth. It's a cost-free gambit, given that a flat tax is unlikely to pass any Congress in the immediate future. Both on Meet the Press and in a press conference following his NRI speech, Huckabee declined to promise, as Mitt Romney and Sam Brownback have, to never raise taxes.
Nor does he show much evidence of deep foreign policy thought. When I asked him when, if ever, he'd contemplate military action against Iran, he didn't mention anything about the Iranians' progress toward going nuclear, instead taking the opportunity to emphasize diplomacy and coalition-building in the Middle East. Another reporter asked who he'd be taking foreign policy advice from; he didn't have any names at hand.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
He seems like a nice man, but when he started talking about his similarities to Bill Clinton, he lost me. A man who thinks being like Bubba Clintoon in ANY way is a positive quality is Unclear on the Concept.
What a waste of money. He has no chance and for his advisors that may be telling him otherwise...shame on you...la
Like I would really trust ANOTHER Arkansas governor...
They were both born in Hope,Ark. Both were governors in ARK.
That is where the similarities end.
They're both middle-aged white men, too :-).
My concern was not so much that there are similarities, but that Gov. Huckabee thinks that's GOOD.
If anything, Huckabee is running for the VP slot opposite Rudy as a ticket balancer. To get that nod he has to pretend to be a Presidential candidate. My guess is his campaign will fade quickly.
Jimmah is still revered by some people in Georgia.
Not many, but some.
They've got some problems in Americus, down by Plains, with kids and adults wearing 'way too droopy drawers, and the Americus city council was trying to pass a law against 'way too droopy drawers.
Haven't heard Jimmah's position on all this.
He lost me a year or more ago when he was yukking it up about hispanic immigrants becoming a majority of the country. I failed to see the humor in that.
DON'T LET HIM FOOL YOU. He will do NOTHING about ILLEGALS!
He's the same kind of 'conservative' as President Bush. Frankly, I'm sick of 'compassionate conservatives'. I want a hard line conservative to kick some butt, especially when it comes to SPENDING OUR TAX DOLLARS!
Drudge carries a piece saying that McCain looks "tired". And you know I watch the MTP show, and he did. Plus, let us consider that the war probably doesn't go that well in the next 12 to 18 months. Will loyal R's really want to nominate the man who is second only to Bush in being seen as a promoter of the war? I think Rudy can not win the nomination, and therefore I think someone will give Mitt a race before this is over.
Not as long a longshot as some may think.
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