Good job, Mike! You're one of us.
Posted on 12/01/2007 8:30:01 AM PST by dano1
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee defended Friday his tax and spending record while governor of Arkansas as his surging candidacy brings fresh attacks from primary rivals.
"These are the same critics who if they were around and influential back then, Ronald Reagan would never have been elected president,'' Huckabee told reporters after speaking to the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce at the Holiday Inn here.
"Ronald Reagan got elected governor of California in 1966 by pledging not to raise taxes and in 1967, to balance the budget, he had to approve a tax increase.''
While governor for 10-1/2 years, Huckabee cut taxes several dozen times during the booming economy of the 1990s.
But from 2000-02, Huckabee signed or allowed to become law more than $500 million in tax increases that included a 17 percent jump in the sales tax rate and a gas tax increase tied to highway improvements.
"We had some tax increases due to court mandates or necessitated by deficits which we had to deal with,'' Huckabee explained.
He claimed the rate of state spending over the 11-year period in his state was less than half the national average of a 98 percent jump.
"In the spending and tax side, I have a conservative fiscal record,'' Huckabee said.
Earlier this week, Huckabee's bid moved into a flat-footed tie with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Iowa polls.
The sudden boost has brought both wanted and unwanted attention.
The desirable notice came from more than a dozen television cameras and every major network that chronicled his every move during this one-hour stop, which opened with a flattering introduction by New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, a two-term Democrat.
"Gov. Huckabee was very gracious to me as a new governor,'' Lynch recalled.
Huckabee quipped that Lynch might regret having been the opening act for a socially conservative Republican like himself.
"I have a feeling that Governor Lynch will be in a lot of trouble for having done that today,'' Huckabee said, smiling.
"It sure did me some good but it probably did him some serious harm.''
The unwanted attention is from envious primary opponents like ex-Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who aired before a national debate audience a Huckabee speech to the Arkansas Legislature in which he said he could accept increases in state income or sales taxes to solve a budget crisis.
On Friday, Romney's campaign distributed a list of stinging attacks from Arkansas media and GOP critics in his home state.
"Fact: Newspapers have lambasted Gov. Huckabee and his liberal, fiscal record,'' the Romney release said.
As in all campaign speeches, Huckabee pressed for replacing the federal income tax with the Fair Tax, a 23 percent levy on consumption at all stages of production.
Huckabee insisted he can sell this reform in New Hampshire even though the state has neither a sales nor income tax.
"The average family pays 33 percent of their income in taxes and with this would be paying far less than that, more like 23 percent at the retail side,'' Huckabee told reporters.
"The best thing is it would un-tax the poor and un-tax those on fixed income and give everyone at all levels of the economy benefit.
"You lose the carrying charges of the IRS and the beauty is you don't have an underground economy so you spread that tax burden among all wage earners.''
A poll released Friday by the American Research Group put Huckabee (13 percent) slightly ahead but essentially tied here with John McCain (11 percent) for third place among likely GOP primary voters.
The survey of 600 voters by telephone Nov. 26-29 had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
The improvement comes even though not a single Huckabee television or radio ad has ever aired in the state on the three leading candidates, Romney, Rudy Giuliani and McCain.
"All polls show us on one solid trajectory and it's going up. If you look at every other campaign, no other campaign has had one direction and that is of going up,'' Huckabee said.
"I said from the beginning this was a campaign that was going to be like a marathon. Don't worry about what is going on the first few miles. The race is won at the 26.2 mark, not the 2.6 mark.''
Good job, Mike! You're one of us.
I fact huckster should be in jail awaiting trial instead of running for anything.
One simply cannot be a “compassionate conservative” (grab your wallet) and a true fiscal conservative at the same time. Ya gotta fake it.
QUISLING: a synonym for traitor, someone who collaborates with the invaders of his country.
U.S. Constitution, Article 4 Section 4:
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.
Socialism in America is advancing under the guise of two major issues: Healthcare and the green issues.
Huckabee is to the left of Giuliani on both of those and you can not name 5 Republicans (house, Senate ,Gov) who are to the left of Huck on those two.
He is the most socialistic Republican we have today at the national level. Period.
Nominating the Huckster will be a disaster, much worse than nominating Giuliani. Giuliani was mayor of a very liberal city so has has some excuse for some of his policies. In addition, nominating Giuliani is meant to possibly win some blue states. I doubt that Rudy will win any blue states but I understand the mentality.
The Huckster will not even run well in the south. The country does not want another Arkansas politician. His policies on global warming, energy, immigration, and spending will not be much different than rat policies. Without a clear choice, the rats will win in a landslide.
huck lies like ‘toon. Some Preacher.
LLS
Bears repeating.
Can you imagine the dossier that the Clinton PI team must have on Huck?
This is a great analysis on the Huckster from Allahpundit:
Huck’s sleight of hand here is classically left-wing, equating the denial of benefits to which the recipient was never entitled with “punishment,” the confiscation of a right already held.
He insists the scholarship program would have been a revenue-generator by turning tax-takers into taxpayers, in his formulation, but of course he doesn’t factor in the expense generated by the incentive it gives to further “tax-takers” to come to Arkansas and settle. The taxpayer/tax-taker thing’s a red herring anyway; this is obviously about charity for him, in which case it’s hard to discern why these scholarships should be limited by anything so mean as geography.
If we’re going to spend American citizens’ money on scholarships for bright foreign students, why not just send money to Canada or Mexico for that purpose? The only difference between the talented 17-year-old illegal alien in Little Rock and the talented 17-year-old in Mexico City is that the parents of the former broke the law and got away with it. If Huck’s hung up on that promise to seek citizenship that he mentions as being one of the requirements, no problem: I’m sure the kid in Mexico City will be willing to promise that too in exchange for a free education.
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/11/29/video-romney-and-huckabee-clash-over-scholarships-for-illegal-aliens/
Bud Light presents: "REAL MEN OF GENIUS"
(Real men of genius)
Today we salute you, Mr. Mike Huckabee paid FR campaign shill!
(Mr. Mike Huckabee paid FR campaign shill)
What does a liberal Republican do when he is afraid to face grass roots conservatives himself? He pays his coffee and errand boy minimum wage to do it for him...
(skim milk with three sweet and lows)
Sitting in a cubicle at campaign headquarters you search Conservative websites like the NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Salon, CNN and Daily Kos looking for favorable articles about the Huckster to post on FR
(oooh, here's one from DU!)
Armed with nothing but talking points from Hucks' website, you attempt to convince conservatives that your candidate is not a Christian socialist or a pro-life Democrat...
(Jesus would want amnesty for illegals)
When FReepers say Huck is a fiscal liberal, algore loving environmental wacko, open border amnesty pusher, nanny state smoker banner you provide the brilliant original response...a link to his campaign website
(copy, paste, copy, paste)
Conservatives? We don't need no stinkin' Conservatives!
(Highly overrated)
All we need is a leftist who is pro-life, has an R next to his name, and talks about Jesus.
(Praise the Lord!)
So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, oh Karl Rove of the blogosphere, because when a FReeper runs for office, we'll be calling you...
(Mr. Mike Huckabee paid FR campaign shill)
Bud Light beer. Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, Missouri.
Huckabee is a Bush Republican.
If you liked the twelve Bush years, you will like Huckabee.
Read my lips, Huckabee will raise your taxes.
Huckster, when you want Mitt Romney with a Southern accent.
Ain't that the truth. And yet one of the arguments some pro-Huck Freepers love to use is that he's "honest."
What a crock.
Are Iowa Republicans on drugs?
Yup. I don't like Giuliani either, but I'd take him over the Huckster in a heartbeat. At least Rudy accomplished some conservative goals when he had power. Take on the mob, prevent tax increases, get people off welfare, etc.
What has Huckabee done as governor except tax and spend?
His record as governor is to the left of Bill Clinton's.
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