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Posted on 05/07/2015 2:46:21 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
A former key Iowa ally of Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee during his 2008 presidential bid blasted his views on entitlement programs.
Radio host Steve Deace delivered a line-by-line takedown of pieces of Huckabee’s presidential announcement speech, specifically honing in on his calls to save “safety nets like Medicare and Social Security.”
“These are not safety nets, these are entitlements. Those programs are the basis for a permanent welfare state,” Deace said Wednesday on the “Steve Deace Show,” according to audio provided by the liberal-leaning Media Matters.
“We can’t afford this, we are currently $18 trillion in debt. To make all those entitlement welfare state programs solvent over the next two decades, we will require another $128 trillion.”
He also criticized Huckabee’s calls for Congress members to sacrifice their pensions to help save Social Security.
“If Congress wants to take away someone’s retirement, let them end their own congressional pensions, not your Social Security,” Huckabee said during his Tuesday announcement speech to applause from his supporters.
Deace called that suggestion both an “applause line” and a “false choice” that wouldn’t stand up in the debates. He added that the line, as well as the first half of his speech, sounded like something the Clintons would have said.
“I hate to say this because I love the guy, but Hillary Clinton could have said that and gotten the same amount of applause,” he said.
“I've heard nothing in [the first half of] this speech that the last guy who ran for president from Hope would say.”
The nationally syndicated host is a popular pundit with Iowa Christian conservative voters, and many count him as one of the main reasons Huckabee won the state’s GOP caucus in 2008.
Doug Goss, the head of Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s 2008 campaign, told ABC that Deace was “practically Huckabee’s campaign manager” in the state.
Deace has since soured on Huckabee politically, although he regularly refers to him affectionately. He has taken on the role as an informal adviser to the presidential campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the state, according to the Des Moines Register.
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Donna,
You should read this.
some people should put their egos on the back burner and realize that in fact they will never be President.
I did it in eight grade, they must have missed that memo.
What does Cruz say that is different about the same subjects?
Fighting for Seniors, Social Security & Medicare
Social Security and Medicare are not voluntary programs. They are based on involuntary confiscation from every paycheck with the promise that people will receive benefits when they retire. The government does enough lying and stealing. It shouldn’t play people for chumps by taking money from workers for 50 years and then fail to uphold its promise. These are earned benefits.
We must repeal and replace Obamacare, which robbed $700 billion from Medicare.
Robbing people of the benefits they have contributed is not a solution — it’s an escape.
20 percent of Medicare spending is waste, fraud and abuse. We must protect Medicare and prosecute fraud.
We must grow the economy and ensure everyone is paying into the system.
As President, I will protect Social Security and Medicare. I will kill anything that poses a threat to the promises we have made to America’s seniors.
I find it odd that Deace is criticizing his old friend Mike for supporting the centerpieces of the the New Deal and the Great Society, when every Republican candidate enthusiastically supports the centerpieces of the New Deal and the Great Society. Including, of course, the candidate he is quite obviously supporting.
I mean, I'm delighted to see someone like Deace recognizing that there is nothing conservative about such support for the permanent socialist welfare state, but he should be consistent about it.
Where does Cruz differ?
“On The Issues” list Sen. Cruz position on Social Security;
Q: How would you protect Social Security for today’s seniors and strengthen it for future generations?
A: On Social Security, I am campaigning on a series of very specific reforms. For seniors receiving Social Security or near Social Security, there should be no changes in benefits whatsoever. For younger workers, we need to do three fundamental reforms.
1. Gradually increase the retirement age.
2.Social Security benefits right now grow about 1% greater than inflation; we should have those benefits grow at the rate of inflation, not 1% more.
3. Third change that I think is absolutely critical is to allow taxpayers to have a portion of the Social Security funds go to a personal account that they own and control.
BTW...I haven’t decided who I will be voting for.
I’m waiting for the debates.
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