Free Republic
Browse · Search
GOP Club
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Huckabee. Really? Huckabee?
Reason's Hit and Run ^ | December 7, 2007 | Brian Doherty

Posted on 12/07/2007 5:44:54 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Ah jeez:

Mike Huckabee has vaulted from nowhere into second place in the Republican presidential race, riding a burst of support from evangelicals, Southerners and conservatives, a poll showed Friday.

The upsurge by the former Arkansas governor has come largely at the expense of Fred Thompson, according to the national survey by The Associated Press and Ipsos. Thompson has dropped after failing to galvanize the party's right-wing core as much as some had expected.

Rudy Giuliani remains the front-runner, yet while his support long has been steady it shows signs of fraying. Huckabee's growing strength in the South has come as the former New York mayor's support there has dropped, the poll found.

"Why not me?" Huckabee said in an interview Thursday. "I meet all the criteria. I'm conservative, but I think I appeal to a broader set of voters. And I think that people are also looking for someone with whom they can identify."

Occasional reason contributor Jim Henley might want to warm up his oven to prepare all the crow he'll have the right to feed to the rest of the doubting world if the Huck keeps surging.


TOPICS: Arkansas; Iowa; Issues; Parties; Polls; State and Local
KEYWORDS: election; electionpresident; elections; gop; mikehuckabee; religion; republicans; rudygiulani
Read the comments: They're PRICELESS!
1 posted on 12/07/2007 5:44:57 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: All
MikeHuckabee.com - I Like Mike!
2 posted on 12/07/2007 5:52:22 PM PST by dano1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
"Why not me?" Huckabee said in an interview Thursday. "I meet all the criteria. I'm conservative, but I think I appeal to a broader set of voters. And I think that people are also looking for someone with whom they can identify."

Shades of Bob Dole!

Too bad his pro-illegal alien record and tax and spend fiscal histo rybely the "I'm conservative" statement.

He is only half a conservative, otherwise I'd be voting for him instead of Fred!
3 posted on 12/07/2007 6:08:02 PM PST by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

Huckabee is charming, likeable, eloquent, witty. He excelled in all five debates I watched and delivered outstanding speeches both at the Value Voters Summit and at the National Rifle Association. I think he is the only GOP candidate (apart from Ron Paul) who made it clear that the Second Amendment is about allowing individuals to protect themselves against out-of-control government if necessary. He is also in favour of a Pro Life Amendment specifying once and for all that life begins at conception thereby overturning Roe versus Wade and protecting the unborn. And he wants to abolish the IRS, income tax, inheritance tax, capital gains tax, and replace it with a 23% sales tax, the Fair Tax. Mike Huckabee (apart from Ron Paul, of course) may be the only GOP candidate behind whom both religious right and libertarian right could unite. He would sweep the religious South (which Giuliani might have trouble winning against the former First Lady of Arkansas), and keep the libertarian West. His compassionate conservative credentials may even appeal to the blue collar Mid West, and he might even make inroads in New England!


4 posted on 12/07/2007 6:26:33 PM PST by atlanticist (Mike Huckabee would be a brilliant candidate!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: atlanticist

And you just signed up today to post all of that BS.


5 posted on 12/07/2007 6:41:08 PM PST by org.whodat (What's the difference between a Democrat and a republican????)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
Arkansas clemencies outpace other states

Huckabee the Parole King

arkansasleader.com - 08/01/2004

If you're wondering how Gov. Huckabee's hundreds of clemencies compare with neighboring states, get ready for a shocker. Huckabee leads the pack. He has issued more commutations and pardons than all of the six neighboring states combined.

Governors seldom reduce sentences in other states – and almost never for murderers serving life without parole or for rapists or for habitual drunk drivers, while in Arkansas it's a regular habit with Huckabee.

Other governors use their clemency power only rarely, while Huckabee has made it routine. As we've told you before, he has issued more than 700 pardons and commutations during his eight years in office – more than 137 this year alone – and more than his three predecessors combined.

Here are the figures for neighboring states since 1996, when Huckabee took office (and keep in mind the population of these states is nearly 20 times ours): Louisiana – 213. Mississippi – 24. Missouri – 79. Oklahoma – 178. Tennessee – 32. Texas – 98 (includes 36 inmates released because they were convicted on drug charges with planted evidence).

Total: 624 vs. Huckabee's 703

Governors in neighboring states almost never grant killers clemency, while Huckabee has commuted the sentences of a dozen murderers. "That is extremely rare here," said one corrections official in a neighboring state. She recalled one case in the early 1990s when the governor commuted a killer's sentence and none since then. In Texas, we could find only one clemency case for a killer.

--snip to end--

Although Huckabee changed his mind about commuting DuMond's sentence, DuMond went free after the governor met with his parole board. DuMond is now serving a life sentence for murder in Missouri, where, the record shows, it's unlikely the governor will pardon him any time soon.

6 posted on 12/07/2007 6:42:37 PM PST by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: atlanticist

And now he’s for the Fair Tax, though he never thought about such in Arkansas.


7 posted on 12/07/2007 6:42:38 PM PST by Sybeck1 (Join me for the Million Minutemen March --- Summer 2008!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Sybeck1
As governor of Arkansas he had to deal with an overwhelmingly Democratic state legislature, and yet he managed to get 94 tax reductions passed.

What do you think about a Fair Tax? Which candidate do you support?

8 posted on 12/07/2007 7:09:27 PM PST by atlanticist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: atlanticist

What is your position in the Huckabee campaign? Is that paid or volunteer? Why did they send you to Free Republic? Isn’t dano1/dane doing a good enough job?


9 posted on 12/07/2007 7:13:40 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Your "dirt" on Fred is about as persuasive as a Nancy Pelosi Veteran's Day Speech)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: atlanticist

I think it’s pie in the sky dreaming, red meat for the Fair Tax crowd. If Arkansas wouldn’t let him do it there, surely no way Charlie Rangel and San Fran Nan will let him do it in Washington.

Candidates?, I’m still deciding really, but McCain and Paul are off my list.


10 posted on 12/07/2007 7:16:43 PM PST by Sybeck1 (Join me for the Million Minutemen March --- Summer 2008!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
I’m not on the Huckabee campaign; I’m currently not even in the US, but in the UK - that’s why I chose the name “atlanticist”. To be honest: I’m in the process of making up my mind as to whom to support. I’m a Pro Life Libertarian, so I like both Paul and Huckabee. My third choice at the moment would be Romney, the only GOP candidate with considerable business experience as Bain & Company CEO and Cain Capital founder; Romney did well in Utah, got elected in a heavily Democratic state (as did Huckabee, by the way) as 4th GOP governor in a row, and he turned a record deficit into a record surplus and introduced health insurance for all by implementing free market reforms and deregulation to reduce costs (while Democrats would rather nationalize health-care). I did not like Romney’s performance in the YouTube/CNN debate though, where he espoused unacceptable views on issues such as torture, the bible, or tuitions for highly talented students who just happen to be children of illegal immigrants. Huckabee was right when pointing out that we should be tough on illegal immigration, but not inhumane, and should not children for what their parents did.

So in my view the race is still wide open with myself wavering between Paul, Huckabee, and Romney. Whom do you support?

11 posted on 12/07/2007 7:42:04 PM PST by atlanticist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Sybeck1
You don’t like Paul? I take it you’re not a libertarian Republican then? Paul is quite radical indeed and his chances of winning may be rather negligible, but he inspires the GOP and the debates.

And McCain? I very much respect McCain and admire many of his views: He’s more fiscally conservative than our current President, who has proven incapable of curbing spending; he’s pro life and pro gun; he’s anti torture. I agree with him on all these issues. Unfortunately he has signed up to what many left-wing activists refer to as the “scientific consensus on global warming”, and he curbed our First Amendment rights via the McCain-Feingold Act. He has also proven a rather dull debater, compared to Paul, Huckabee, and Romney.

12 posted on 12/07/2007 7:42:07 PM PST by atlanticist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

bmflr

.

.

.
Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts


13 posted on 12/07/2007 8:39:25 PM PST by Kevmo (We should withdraw from Iraq — via Tehran. And Duncan Hunter is just the man to get that job done.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: atlanticist

I don’t think so. The comments attached to the article should give you a taste of what small government types think of Huckabee. If you poll the small government/small-l conservative contingent here, you’ll find in most cases that Huckabee is unacceptable. He has a record of hiking taxes, hiking spending, and proposing big-government “solutions” such as national smoking bans, just as a start. In my view as a small government conservative, he is anathema to this wing of the party.

I’ve posted many times that Giuliani cannot turn out the three major constituencies of the Reagan coalition — social conservatives, small-government conservatives and security hawks. Huckabee has the same problem. Giuliani is a slap in the face to social conservatives and in many cases to small government conservatives. Huckabee is a slap in the face to small government conservatives and in many cases to national security hawks.

If we can’t organize behind a candidate who is acceptable to all three groups, we have only two choices: lose the election, or trash the Reagan coalition and form a different one with a different set of groups.

By the way, welcome to Free Republic.


14 posted on 12/07/2007 8:44:36 PM PST by ellery (I don't remember a constitutional amendment that gives you the right not to be identified-R.Giuliani)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
Here's another article along the same lines:

Prosecutor wants moratorium on clemencies

Friday, Jul 16, 2004

By Rob Moritz, Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK - Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley on Thursday asked Gov. Mike Huckabee to stop granting clemencies for violent criminals because of the unprecedented number of early prisoner releases during the governor's eight years in office. Jegley said Huckabee has granted 669 clemencies since he became governor in 1996.

The previous three governors, Bill Clinton, Frank White and Jim Guy Tucker, granted a total of 507 clemencies during their 18 years in office, Jegley said. "In eight years the governor has granted 31 percent more (clemencies) than the previous three governors did in 18 years in office," Jegley said.

The prosecutor said he sent a letter to the governor Thursday asking for a moratorium on issuing of clemencies until the Legislature meets next January to reconsider the provision in the constitution that gives the governor that power. Jegley said he would like to see the constitutional provision changed to require the governor to explain his reasons for granting a clemency.

"Our fellow citizens are deserving of better," Jegley said. "They want transparency and accountability in this process. I know they deserve it."

Jim Harris, spokesman for the governor, criticized Jegley Thursday for releasing the contents of the letter to the media before Huckabee had had an opportunity to read it. The governor was in Orlando, Fla., on Thursday, attending a meeting of the Education Commission of the States.

"There are a number of good prosecutors in this state who are working closely with the governor," Harris said. "They contact him in a professional, businesslike manner and don't send their message to him through the news media."

Last week, Huckabee issued proclamations granting clemency for Denver Witham, who is serving life in prison for a 1974 murder in Saline County, and for John H. Claiborne, who is serving 375 years in prison for a 1994 kidnapping and armed robbery conviction in Pulaski County. Both men are still in state custody and are waiting parole hearings before the state Post Prison Transfer Board. A board spokeswoman said those hearings probably would be in August.

Also last week, the governor announced he planned commute Dennis Lewis' sentence of life in prison without parole to time served contingent upon the successful completion of a pre-release program. Lewis was convicted of capital murder in Washington County Circuit Court in 1975, for shooting a Fayetteville pawnshop owner. Earlier this month, Huckabee issued notice of intent to grant clemency to Glen Martin Green of Jacksonville, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1975 after pleading guilty to first-degree murder.

Jegley, who has criticized the governor several times over the years for granting clemencies for other violent offenders, said Thursday that he decided to write Huckabee after talking to the son of the victims who were kidnapped and robbed by Claiborne.

The son said his mother is still alive and is "scared to death" that Claiborne may be released soon, Jegley said. "The jury didn't sentence Claiborne to 340 years in prison so he could be released in 10 years for good behavior," Jegley said. "They sentenced him to 340 years in jail so he would stay their awhile."

Jegley said he would like the Legislature to change the current rules concerning the governor's power to grant clemency to include more public disclosure. "We the people have the right to an accounting from the governor when he chooses to go contrary to the people's decision to pardon a violent offender or commute a well-deserved punishment," Jegley said.

The prosecutor sent a copy of his letter to the governor to all legislators and asked them to consider his request. "The unprecedented number of pardons and commutations granted by this administration have greatly increased victims' fears, anxieties, and mistrust of the process," he said. According to the information he received from the secretary of state's office, Jegley said White, a Republican, granted 39 clemencies during his two years in office; Tucker granted 42 during his four years in office and Clinton granted 426 during his 12 years in office.

Last year, the governor was criticized for granting clemency to James Maxwell, a convicted murderer who worked as a trusty at the Governor's Mansion. Maxwell was later released. Earlier this year, Saline County Prosecutor Robert Herzfeld sued Huckabee when Huckabee granted clemency to Don Jeffers, also a convicted murderer. That clemency was voided after it was revealed that proper procedures weren't followed. Jeffers has reapplied for clemency.

In 2001, the governor granted clemency to Willie Way Jr., a convicted murderer, and to Donald Clark, a convicted burglar. Way had worked as a trusty at the mansion, and Clark was the stepson of a governor's office employee. In 1999, the governor supported the release of Wayne DuMond, convicted in the 1984 rape of a woman in Forrest City. DuMond later was convicted of killing a woman in Missouri.

15 posted on 12/07/2007 8:46:18 PM PST by ellery (I don't remember a constitutional amendment that gives you the right not to be identified-R.Giuliani)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: atlanticist

Life doesn’t begin at conception. That is biologically impossible. Life is, in fact, an unbroken chain extending all the way back through time to Creation.


16 posted on 12/07/2007 9:37:28 PM PST by SatinDoll
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: atlanticist

Unfortunately, Huckabee seems to have bought into Global Warming BS as well. Of course, he could have just been pandering to the crowd(I hope).

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=huckabee+cap+and+trade&search=Search


17 posted on 12/08/2007 1:08:25 AM PST by Evil_Bok (If not Thompson then Hucklebee)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: ellery

The Huckster really is the Parol King for rapists and killers!


18 posted on 12/08/2007 5:14:44 AM PST by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: atlanticist
You are poking fun at Huckabee or you are Mrs. Huckabee. I have yet to see photos of the family. What are the kids doing? Huckabee = loser.
19 posted on 12/08/2007 5:24:47 AM PST by Jane Austen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: atlanticist

It’s easy for you to support Huckabee. It won’t cost you a
pence/shilling whatever they use in UK now-a-days.

But I am fearful of my wallet if Huckabee gets the nod
considering he raised spending in Arkansas from 6 Billion to
16 Billion as governor.


20 posted on 12/08/2007 1:29:27 PM PST by ajay_kumar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
GOP Club
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson