Posted on 10/28/2007 3:34:26 AM PDT by ebmiller
There is great hostility to Govenor Huckabee by many freepers. Since Rasmussen is including Huckabee in the daily tracking poll, it seems he is gaining some traction. I am curious since many on this site have grave doubts about a Huckabee presidency, how many would go to a third party or would just stay home?
Well said.
Party labels blind otherwise intelligent individuals to the undeniable, unpalatable truths.
You sound like a curmudgeon, Harvey. Someone whom nature has failed to equip with a serviceable denial mechanism, but who has been endowed with sly wit and the curse of keen awareness.
As long as we allow candidates to hide behind party label, we will be their servants, not their masters.
Huck is pro-life so what’s not to like?? I disagree w/his stand on Global Scamming, but I don’t like everything about any of them. Some are just trying to go Turd Party.
Pray for W and Our Troops
With a sigh of resignation, I would vote for Huckabee, or for any of the others except, of course, Giuliani. Voting for him is not much different from voting for Mrs. Bill or Hussein,even regarding judicial appointments. Giuliani cannot get strict constructionists or anyone perceived as “conservative” through the Congress that he will face. He will not then do the right thing and leave seats open. He will send 2nd or 3rd choice nominees to congress that congress will finally accept. They will be no better than Mrs. Bill’s first choice nominees.
P.S. I'm voting for Hunter in our primary...and the PRIMARY HASN'T HAPPENED YET.
Let's cross the bridge you so desperately want to burn, when we GET to it.
I live in CA. I voted for ARNOLD, but wanted McClintock. McClintock is FANTASTIC, but would have been sliced up into little idealistic pieces by the mass quantities of Dems in the northern part of this blue state. Those of us in the south can only point to our latest wild fires in contrast to San Francisco's daily ridiculous actions and NO's horrific Dem "leadership" to help the rest of our blue populous to come to their senses, baby steps at a time. One of our Dem friends was really mad at CNN and Boxer about how they didn't give San Diegans the credit for being self-sufficient during this crisis, and how Boxer politicized this tragedy. I'm shocked this person could come out of their personal dem fog to be able to actually SEE this. THIS is progress. Do I want more progress...YES.
It's 1. National Security (WOT) 2. Illegal Immigration/Anchor Babies, and 3. NO new taxes/make Bush's tax cuts permanent.
Talk tough after the primary.
PLEASE GO OUT AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOW---GET YOUR CANDIDATE ELECTED IN THE PRIMARIES. Do something constructive instead of stomping your feet and hurling expletives.
No, it was the clueless RNC hacks in D.C. with their Mark Foley/Larry Craig strategy... just ask Ken Melhman and the Log Cabin crowd...
I lived in California for years, not my problem anymore...
The Pink Elephants infiltrated the GOP central committees and damned the party.
third party, conservative, would allow clinton to get into office. that is what Perot did for us.
I agree with what you say, but I am afraid we are on an unstoppable train to socialism. Academia is brainwashing our young people, so it is only a matter of time. The best we can do is slow things down.
What’s not to like about Huckabee?
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. During Huckabee’s tenure as governor, the average Arkansan’s tax burden increased 47 percent, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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
*******
Immigration
_________
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.
*
January 28, 2005 AR Gov. Mike Huckabee goes on the attack From this:
[AR] Gov. Mike Huckabee on Thursday heaped criticism upon immigration legislation in the Arkansas Legislature, describing it as “inflammatory . . . race-baiting and demagoguery.”
He also challenged the Christian values of its main sponsor.
Huckabee said the bill, seeking to forbid public assistance and voting rights to undocumented immigrants, “inflames those who are racist and bigots and makes them think there’s a real problem. But there’s not...”
...He singled out [Republican Sens. Jim Holt, one of the bill’s sponsors], who often talks of his strong Christian beliefs, saying, “I drink a different kind of Jesus juice. My faith says don’t make false accusations against somebody.
“In the Bible, it’s called don’t bear false witness.”
In response, Holt said he was hurt by the governor’s questioning his faith.
“I just want to uphold the law and protect the benefits that apply to citizens,” Holt said.
*****
Global Warming
____________
Former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, said he supports a mandatory cap-and-trade system to cut US greenhouse gas emissions, becoming the second Republican presidential candidate to call for a carbon market to address climate change.
*****
Nanny-stater
___________
Supports national smoking ban.
Crime
_____
In his book From Hope to Higher Ground, he wrote that Three Strikes was an overraction to the permissiveness of the ‘70s:
“In the 1990s, the pendulum swung harshly back in the opposite direction and very popular policies such as “three strikes and you’re out” and “no parole provisions” were adopted.
Being tough on crime is certainly more popular than being soft, but America needs to be careful that in our attempt to stoutly enforce our laws and protect our citizens, we do not end up with a system that is based more on revenge than restoration. A revenge-based criminal justice system seeks to measure out as harsh a judgement as is possible so as to satisfy the natural inclination to get even.”
*
Huckabee’s poor judgement freed a convicted rapist from prison despite a warning from his victim that he would repeat his crime if turned loose. Soft-hearted Mike ignored the advice and persuaded the parole board to let the dangerous criminal out of prison. Less than a year later, the violent predator sexually assaulted another woman and killed her.’
*****
Betsy Hagan, Arkansas director of the conservative Eagle Forum and a key backer of his early runs for office, was once “his No. 1 fan.” She was bitterly disappointed with his record. “He was pro-life and pro-gun, but otherwise a liberal,” she says. “Just like Bill Clinton he will charm you, but don’t be surprised if he takes a completely different turn in office.”
Phyllis Schlafly, president of the national Eagle Forum, is even more blunt. “He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party a shambles,” she says. “Yet some of the same evangelicals who sold us on George W. Bush as a ‘compassionate conservative’ are now trying to sell us on Mike Huckabee.”
Ditto.
Time for somebody to post that BIG, LONG, list of positions on issues taken by Giuliani and Hillary, and then we will decide who is the liar, who is ignorant, or perhaps who is determined to ignore the facts.
He is not my first choice, Duncan Hunter is. That said I would support him and vote for him if nominated.
I do not believe Huckabee will win the Republican nomination but I certainly would not vote third party or stay home and let Hillary win!
Good post!
I’ll never vote for the Huckster.
I concur, Hunter first, Huckabee second.
I don't know about you, but the last time I checked, I have NO obligation to vote for someone on the "R" side of the ballot regardless of the policies he advances. A candidate has an obligation to EARN my vote, and he will not get it simply because he belongs to the Republican party.
I vote Huckabee; however I would vote third party for RudyMcRomney..!
And Bush has made our borders secure and been a model for fiscal sanity?
Tell me that you were just kidding.
The one thing that Hillary would do is galvanize opposition to whatever she tries to do. BJ couldn’t do everything that he wanted. It took Bush to do it with a GOP Congress.
Perhaps we better make sure that we elect conservatives to Congress since we don’t look like we’ll nominate one for POTUS.
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