Free Republic

Sometimes, probably because he’s such an affable media presence, I forget why I dislike the political version of Mike Huckabee so much. Maybe it’s the aw-shucks populism, which isn’t substantively very different from the class-conflict rhetoric we hear from so many on the left these days. Or maybe it’s that Everyman Huckabee has been running for one political office or another for the past 25 years — a fact that might escape the attention of anyone listening to the nuggets of blue-collar wisdom found in his speeches and those God-guns-grits-and-gravy books he writes. Since his previous run for the presidency,...

LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Huckabee heaped criticism Thursday upon immigration legislation in the Arkansas Legislature, describing it as "inflammatory ... race-baiting and demagoguery" and challenging the Christian values of its main sponsor. Huckabee said the bill, which seeks to forbid public assistance and voting rights to illegal immigrants, "enflames those who are racist and bigots and makes them think there's a real problem. But there's not." The bill was filed by Republican Sens. Jim Holt of Springdale and Denny Altes of Fort Smith, whose northwest Arkansas region includes the state's fastest-growing Hispanic population. Huckabee, also a Republican and a...