Posted on 10/24/2007 4:11:29 PM PDT by wagglebee
Instructions were given not to speak to the media, and since I am the media, I took that to mean details discussed were off-the-record and, of course, I'll honor that.
But speaking in generalities, two dilemmas were hashed:
Generalized outcomes of the meeting:
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
Almost. Leaders at the Briefing reminded everyone to pray. It seems we Christians have a propensity not to do that until we're in critical situations with no apparent way out.
This is one of those situations.
People with no faith don't seem to understand this.
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The Family Research Council can’t do math. They have ‘til about the beginning of February to make up their minds. By the end of Feb 5 over 1300 of the 2400 delegates will be chosen.
They must decide on Duncan, Romney, or Thompson within about a month. That’s all the time they have to decide. After that they won’t be able to really help anyone’s candidacy by rallying the troops....unless they can rally them a whole lot faster than I think they can.
From the rest of the editorial (WND is excerpt only now) it seems that the FRC might try to push Mike Huckabee. I don’t know a whole lot about Huckabee because he didn’t seem to be in the running, but it might be time to start reading up on him.
Hunter ping
Although he’s a former governor, he’s also a former preacher, and I’m afraid that this is a shallow selection based on that.
I understand that Huckabee has been Mr Compromise with a number of issues, but I’m willing to wait and see.
Duncan Hunter remains the best conservative in the race.
bttt
I agree that Duncan Hunter is the best candidate, the problem is that he isn’t gaining any traction. However, he is relatively young (he’s 59) and would make an excellent VP and then president in 2016.
Thanks for the ping.
Most in the room supported Mike Huckabee. A few important figures supported Duncan Hunter.
***That would explain the latest bump in polls for Huckabee, but nothing so far for Hunter.
I've been thinking that too. Some (Hugh Hewitt and a couple others) think Governor Pawlenty from Minnesota for VP so that Minnesota and maybe Wisconsin go red, but I think that while Hunter probably cannot turn California red, he can help Romney or Thompson in states where illegal immigration and fair trade with China are big issues. I doubt he'd compromise so much as to be on a ticket with Rudy, Huckabee, or McCain and would almost certainly not be asked.
After that they won’t be able to really help anyone’s candidacy by rallying the troops....unless they can rally them a whole lot faster than I think they can.
***I agree. That’s my biggest frustration with the socon evangelical leaders is that they’ve been sitting on their hands and have waited too long.
Latest FR member Poll.
Duncan Hunter 38.0% 315
Fred Thompson 28.1% 233
Mike Huckabee 6.3% 52
Rudy Giuliani 6.2% 51
Mitt Romney 5.7% 47
Ron Paul 4.6% 38
Tom Tancredo 4.6% 38
Alan Keyes 3.1% 26
Other 2.5% 21
John McCain 0.8% 7
99.9% 828
If Hunter gives up on trying for President this time around, his best bet is to move to some midwestern state where he can win as governor until he becomes pres. I don’t think there’s any room in Kahleefornya politics for a true conservative.
Well he is for amnesty and he only raised Arkansas taxes 0.6 percent.
To his people that is a tax cut.
As I said, I don’t know much about him, so thanks for the info.
Is Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee a Pro-Growth, Economic Conservative?
Taxes
The Club for Growth is committed to lower taxes across the board. Lower taxes on work, savings, and investments lead to greater levels of these activities, thus encouraging greater economic growth.
Governor Huckabee touts himself as an economic conservative, writing in his biography that he “pushed through the Arkansas legislature the first major, broad-based tax cuts in state history” and “led efforts to establish a Property Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights” early on as governor (Arkansas Times 09/22/05), but he only offers a small piece of the picture.
It is true that Governor Huckabee fought for an $80 million tax cut package in 1997 that was passed by the Arkansas legislature (Cato Policy
Analysis No. 315, 09/03/98); cut the state capital gains tax in 1999 (The Commercial Appeal 02/29/99); and passed the Property Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights in the same year, limiting the increase in property taxes to 10% a year for individuals and 5% per taxing unit (AP 03/16/99). However, his record over the rest of his ten-year tenure tells a starkly different story.
Immediately upon taking office, Governor Huckabee signed a sales tax hike in 1996 to fund the Games and Fishing Commission and the Department of Parks and Tourism (Cato Policy Analysis No. 315, 09/03/98).
He supported an internet sales tax in 2001 (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07).
He publicly opposed the repeal of a sales tax on groceries and medicine in 2002 (Arkansas News Bureau 08/30/02).
He signed bills raising taxes on gasoline (1999), cigarettes (2003) (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07), and a $5.25 per day bed-tax on private nursing home patients in 2001 (Arkansas New Bureau 03/01/01).
He proposed another sales take hike in 2002 to fund education improvements (Arkansas News Bureau 12/05/02).
He opposed a congressional measure to ban internet taxes in 2003 (Arkansas News Bureau 11/21/03).
In 2004, he allowed a 17% sales tax increase to become law (The Gurdon Times 03/02/04).
By the end of his ten-year tenure, Governor Huckabee was responsible for a 37% higher sales tax in Arkansas, 16% higher motor fuel taxes, and 103% higher cigarette taxes according to Americans for Tax Reform (01/07/07), garnering a lifetime grade of D from the free-market Cato Institute.
While he is on record supporting making the Bush tax cuts permanent, he joined Democrats in criticizing the Republican Party for tilting its tax policies “toward the people at the top end of the economic scale” (Washington Examiner 09/13/06), even though objective evidence demonstrates that the Bush tax cuts have actually shifted the tax burden to higher income taxpayers.
Finally, Governor Huckabee opposed further tax cuts at a 2005 gathering of Iowa conservatives (AP 09/17/05). On January 28, 2007, Governor Huckabee refused to pledge not to raise taxes if elected President, first on Meet the Press and then at the National Review Conservative Summit. The evidence suggests that his commitment to protecting taxpayers evidenced in his early gubernatorial years may be a thing of the past.
Spending
The Club for Growth is committed to reducing government spending. Less spending enhances economic growth by enabling lower taxes and diminishing the economically inefficient political allocation of resources.
Under Governor Huckabee’s watch, state spending increased a whopping 65.3% from 1996 to 2004, three times the rate of inflation (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07).
The number of state government workers rose 20% during his tenure (Arkansas Leader 04/15/06), and the state’s general obligation debt shot up by almost $1 billion, according to Americans for Tax Reform.
The massive increase in government spending is due in part to the number of new programs and expansion of already existing programs initiated by Governor Huckabee, including ARKids First, a multimillion-dollar government program to provide health coverage for thousands
of Arkansas’ children (Arkansas News Bureau 04/13/06).
These large increases in government borrowing and spending significantly impede economic growth.
http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2007/01/a_report_on_mike_huckabees_fis.php
*******
In a press release issued, former Governor Mike Huckabee took issue with the Tancredo campaign’s characterization of him as a pro-amnesty politician. Unfortunately for the Governor, the facts support the label.
Fact #1. As Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee denounced an immigration bill (Arkansas Senate Bill 206) that “would have required proof of citizenship to register to vote and would have required state agencies to report suspected cases of people living in the country illegally.”
(Doug Thompson, “Immigration Bill un-christian..governor says”Arkansas News Bureau 1/28/05)
Fact #2. As Governor, Mike Huckabee offered a proposal to give state funded scholarships and state benefits to illegal aliens.
(Laura Kellams, “Huckabee Plan would give aid to illegal aliens” Arkansas Democrat Gazette 1/12/2005)
Fact #3. Governor Huckabee supported a Bush-backed immigration plan that provides a path to citizenship for some illegal aliens.
(CNN 2008 Election Center, http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/candidates/mike.huckabee.html)
Fact #4. Governor Huckabee refuses to sign the “No Amnesty Pledge”.
The Governor is suffering from what is called “amnesty amnesia”. It is a contagious ailment spreading rapidly through the ranks of the Republican presidential candidates.
Watch Huckabee admit to selling out our citizenship to illegal aliens. He thinks it’s not amnesty, but illegal aliens still get the grand prize: citizenship.
Why did you put Romney in there, He is a MSM/DNC/RNC pick?
I just emailed Phyllis Schafly. I hope the rest of you will email FRC members to tell them that Huckabee would make a great VP for Hillary Clinton, but certainly no conservative Republican president!
He romanced them, and they fell for it! They must be straightened out, because no informed conservative voter will give the Huckster their vote. Tony Perkins, Dr. Dobson and others should be filled in very soon. Time is growing short.
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