Posted on 11/10/2007 1:53:41 PM PST by TheBethsterNH
"Gov. Huckabee is a candidate that should appeal to fiscal conservatives. He has signed the Presidential Taxpayer Protection Pledge which binds the signer to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses … and oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates"; he supports the FairTax, which would abolish the IRS and replace the Internal Revenue Code with a consumption tax; he believes in free trade (that is, fair trade) and claims that "globalization, done right, done fairly, can be the equivalent of a big pay raise by allowing us to buy things more cheaply.""
"Some of us were initially duped by the white paper on Huckabee that was released by the Club for Growth. Even though CFG is slightly outside of the mainstream on conservative fiscal policies (CFG is to fiscal conservatism what the Christian Coalition is to social conservatism), we respect the organization and appreciate their valuable work. Nevertheless, we were dismayed by their report that was at times misleading, if not outright dishonest."
"We acknowledge that the Club for Growth believes that state sales taxes should never be increased to pay for such entitlements as education, Medicare, highways, and economic development. We understand that this is the reason that they oppose Gov. Huckabee’s record. But we believe that most Americans—and most conservatives—are not minarchists. We do not think the fiscal conservative bona fides of a man who cut taxes and fees almost 100 times, saving the taxpayers almost $380 million, and left a surplus of nearly $850 million should be denigrated because he took such actions as implementing a 1/8-cent sales tax hike. Although we respect the CFC, we are dismayed at the disingenuous means that the group has used to smear the Governor’s character. "
This clown is part of the GOP problem, not the solution. Clearly, he is being pushed by the liberal media, nothing more.
My husband recently passed away from cancer. The cancer clinic was filled with young people. I live in the Memphis area, home of Saint Jude’s children's hospital for cancer patients. Thousands are treated at any given time. People can and do get sick at any age.
Not smoking, doing drugs including alcohol, over eating, and a sedentary lifestyle is the cause of most illness that the average person experiences. Mike Huckabee is not trying to mandate a countries health habits, just making common sense suggestions.
In a humane society based on Judeo-Christian principles, you take care of them and make their last days as pleasant as possible. I'm not advocating any change in that, for sure. What I'm saying is that Huckabee is silly to lecture health-care professionals; they know very well what some of the lifestyle factors are which promote disease, but they can't control their patients' behavior. I also think there is no legitimate Constitutional role for the President in health care. It seems the only way the Huckster could actually apply his "preventive" ideas is through some form of government coercion. As far as his leading by example, or using the "bully pulpit," that's fine, but most doctors already do the same. I've been impressed by how fit and slim most doctors are today.
However, I do think maybe the Huckster wasn't being stupid. He was just doing what politicians do, which is telling his audience what they already want to hear.
The people who need to start practicing good preventive medicine are not Drs., but patients.
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.