Posted on 12/11/2007 4:20:07 PM PST by pissant
Most of the leading Republicans running for president show some support for Bush’s ideology, but no other candidate so completely embodies it.
As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee dramatically increased state spending. During his two-term tenure, spending increased by more than 65 percent -- at three times the rate of inflation.
The number of government workers increased by 20 percent, and the state’s debt services increased by nearly $1 billion. Huckabee financed his spending binge with higher taxes. Under his leadership, the average Arkansan’s tax burden increased 47 percent, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, including increases in the state’s gas, sales, income, and cigarette taxes. He raised taxes on everything from groceries to nursing home beds.
Huckabee answers these complaints by pointing out that he "cut taxes 94 times" while governor. True. But most of those tax cuts were tiny, like exempting residential lawn care from the sales tax. Some cuts reduced overall state revenues by as little as $15,000. On net, Huckabee increased state taxes by more than $500 million. In fact, Huckabee increased taxes in the state by more than Bill Clinton did.
On its annual governor’s report card, Cato gave Huckabee an "F" for fiscal policy during his final term, and an overall two-term grade of "D." Only four governors had worse scores, and 15 Democratic governors got higher grades, including well-known liberals like Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania.
But Huckabee doesn’t just embrace big government in the form of big taxes. He truly appears to believe that if something is a good idea it should be a federal government program.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Huckabee will be Bush, but worse. I really wish he would quit being selfish and just go away. He can take Rooty with him.
Yeah, but he loves Jesus and all that.
He ain’t goin away. We are going to have to defeat him.
When pressed by polls, Hillary will say she loves Jesus too.
Huckabee will be carter but worse.. separated at birth from WJC. He is the top flip flopper already.
Perhaps, if Jesus was a woman...
Anyways, I meant Huck loves Jésús, not Jesus...
If Huckabee wins the nomination, would Republicans support a Fred "Bull Moose" candidacy? I would.
I hope his rise is MSM bull. If this guy is our candidate, we will lose to the worst of Democrats.
Each day closer to the primaries, my indigestion increases.
The problem is that the Republican candidate can’t win without evangelicals, but he can’t win with ONLY evangelicals, either, and there’s enough in Huckabee’s background that will turn off fiscal conservatives and moderates. And he will absolutely lose anyone who is suspicious of too big a role for religion in public life, which is a whole lot of people who come from smaller, less mainstream faiths, and possibly some Catholics, too. That doesn’t leave him with much wiggle room at all in the general election.
I would. But I will do anything to keep Huckabee from seeing the inside of the Oval Office. If he is the nominee, I will actively campaign against him in the general election. It would be better to lose an election than win and destroy the Republican party and the conservative movement.
Huckleberry reminds me of Robert Tilton. When he is speaking I expect at any moment he will start speaking in tongues.
I don’t think Huckabee would be as good a president as Bush. But then, I think the same about all the candidates in the “top tier”. There are one or two who have the potential to be as good but likely no better. There is only one candidate who will bring Republicans a Gipper-like Administration and a Gipper-like landslide in the general election.
When the race for the primaries first started, I had no intentions to begin bashing any of the Repub candidates. The only one I had bad mouthed up until a few days ago was Ron Paul. But the more I learned about the Huckster, the more I realized what a bad mistake it will be if he gets the nomination...
Well that sounds like 'compassionate conservatism' to me. It's like a nightmare. Eight years of an Arkansas governor I wouldn't trust my sister with, then eight years of a Texas governor who I wouldn't trust anything with, I know let's get a Republican this time...but from Arkansas. With some sort of Jesus loves government complex. This nation can't take four more years of Junior II.
The sad fact is I’d take Bush over any of the ‘top tier’.
I just can’t get into CATO because of their social liberalism.
Still further proof that the GOP is in decline. Only in a party that's tottering on the edge of survival could Huckabee be taken seriously.
Fred's dead. Let him go.
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