Posted on 12/01/2007 9:11:57 AM PST by dano1
Mike Huckabee was surrounded in New Hampshire yesterday by a pack of press that's grown with his increasing poll numbers. Reporters asked him to respond to attacks launched by his Republican opponents on his tax and immigration records, as CNN's Anderson Cooper waited for his exclusive.
"I'm going to let Mitt Romney explain all of his positions - and there's plenty of them to explain," Huckabee said, responding to a question about his chief rival in Iowa, who recently stepped up his criticism of the former Arkansas governor. "I'm not running so much against Mitt Romney. I want to be the people's president. And that's why I think people are beginning to respond to me. They know that I believe what I believe . . . They don't hear a lot of different things from me than what I'm saying today."
Voters, meanwhile, seemed less concerned with which presidential candidate said what about whom. They asked Huckabee, who's a former Baptist preacher, about his views on the separation of church and state, his plans to reform social security and whether he'd support a military draft.
Huckabee spoke yesterday at a luncheon for the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, on the first day of a three-day swing through the state. After lunch, Huckabee, who plays bass guitar in his own band, played "Louie Louie" with students from the Tilton School and answered their questions.
David Connor of Center Harbor went to see Huckabee at the Tilton School. After listening to him talk about how his parents scraped together $99 to buy him his first guitar and how he supports arts and music education, Connor left the auditorium with a couple of Huckabee signs tucked under his arm. Connor said he was torn between supporting Huckabee and Romney until about two weeks ago.
"I'm a Christian, and that means a lot to me," Connor said of his decision to support Huckabee, who led Baptist congregations for 12 years in Arkansas. "If that corners me into the religious right, so be it."
Connor said he'd heard the criticisms of Huckabee, but he is willing to take the candidate's word.
"I know they say he raised taxes in Arkansas to meet a budget deficit," Connor said, "but on his website, he says he won't do that as president. I don't favor tax increases of any kind."
The Romney campaign would likely suggest Connor not vote for Huckabee, then. So would Fred Thompson's staff. As Huckabee has climbed to a close fourth place in New Hampshire, according to a Rasmussen poll released yesterday, both rivals have pointed out that Huckabee increased taxes more than 20 times on things such as gas, cigarettes and nursing home beds while he was governor.
Huckabee often says on the campaign trail that he cut taxes 94 times. Yesterday, he admitted there were some tax increases as well, but said they were "court mandates or necessitated by deficits."
"Here is the record," Huckabee said after the Concord luncheon. "The income tax when I left Arkansas was the same as it was when I went in, with the exception that we eliminated the marriage penalty, cut capital gains (and) cut out taxes on colleges savings. . . . We had the first-ever tax cuts in the history of my state in 160 years, and I did it against the headwinds of a Democrat legislature."
Huckabee also invoked Ronald Reagan. If Reagan were on the 2008 ballot, Huckabee said, his opponents would run ads against him because he promised in 1966 not to raise taxes if he were elected governor of California. But once elected, Reagan had to do so in order to balance the budget, he said.
Huckabee, whose only political experience is as a governor, also cited the iconic Republican when asked about criticisms that he doesn't have enough foreign policy expertise. "Some of our most effective presidents in terms of foreign policy would be those who did not come from the background of vast experience," Huckabee said. "Ronald Reagan was often criticized for having no foreign policy experience, having been a Hollywood actor and a governor. But within 10 years of his being president, there wasn't a Cold War, the Berlin Wall had been taken down and there wasn't a Soviet Union."
Huckabee's opponents are also trying hard to publicize the 14 ethics complaints filed against him when he was governor. Five of those resulted in violations. Two were for not reporting gifts.
Huckabee yesterday said the complaints were simply the results of Arkansas politics.
"Stuff was thrown at me all the time," he said. "But if you look at where it came from, it came from either editors of very liberal papers who couldn't stand my being there or the other party and their chairman. In all those years and all those complaints, there was never one finding of some illegal gift I ever received. I came out of there, when others were being hauled off to jail, I came out unscathed."
Huckabee supports the RATS Socialist SCHIP bill
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.
I’m inclined to support him. The tax charge seems bogus. He has experience as a gov. and is a Christian. It sounds like he might even be humane on the immigration problem.
Thanks EB, when I logged onto this site this morning I thought I went to HuckabeeRepublic by mistake.
Good for you, you like Huck. The left wing media is glad you got their memo.
MEMO
TO: Traditionalist rural Christian voters
FROM: LA Times, NY Times, Washington Post, Salon, AP, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN
RE: Mike Huckabee
DATE: November 29, 2007
Dear Bible Thumping toothless rednecks,
Please remember to vote for the tax raising, environmentalist wacko, nanny state sheeple controlling, smoker banning, open border third world America killing, Socialist candidate we tell you to vote for in the primary....Mike Huckabee.
He is pro life and he talks about Jesus. That should be good enough for you.
DO NOT VOTE FOR REAL CONSERVATIVES LIKE FRED THOMPSON OR DUNCAN HUNTER. THAT WOULD DERAIL OUR QUEST TO TURN AMERICA INTO A THIRD WORLD SOCIALIST STATE.
Thank you,
The Elitist left wing media
7 posts pimping Huck in 2 hours. That has to be a record.
On the upper right of my screen there’s:
Home / Forum / Pings / Mail...
Where’s the Pimp section? LOL
I agree. There are no perfect candidates this year, but many people think overall Huckabee may be the best choice from among the current GOP front runners. When I say "overall", I mean judging based on one's assessment of both the politics and the person.
"I'm a Christian, and that means a lot to me," Connor said of his decision to support Huckabee, who led Baptist congregations for 12 years in Arkansas. "If that corners me into the religious right, so be it."
Connor said he'd heard the criticisms of Huckabee, but he is willing to take the candidate's word.
"I know they say he raised taxes in Arkansas to meet a budget deficit," Connor said, "but on his website, he says he won't do that as president. I don't favor tax increases of any kind."
I'm a Christian, but I'm not an idiot or a liberal. Lets see - Conner converts when Huckabee talks about more spending on education (where we already get such a great return on our investment!) and knows the Huckster has a history of raising taxes - but believes the Huckster's web site! Dano1...is that you?
I haven't been so depressed since my Mom voted for Clinton because "Bob Dole has mean eyebrows." We ought to have a test for anyone wanting to vote - be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.
He'd better bask in all of that media glow while he can. It's started to go to his head.
What is humane about giving children here illegally better treatment than children born here, or children in adjacent states who are US citizens? Carried to its logical conclusion, we ought to send money to all the kids in Latin America, almost all of whom have a tough life.
What is compassionate about encouraging illegal immigration, thereby straining social services and driving down wages for citizens who are also facing tough times? Someone working construction here in Arizona has to compete with non-citizens, here illegally, who will work for less and are content to live 10 to a house so they can send money home to Mexico. It can make it tough to raise a family on wages depressed by workers from south Mexico!
REAL compassion is keeping the unhappy in Mexico until Mexico has to reform its own corruption and socialism - which is the cause of the poverty. My wife argues we should invade Mexico and make it work like the US - then their many hard workers and natural resources would quickly make it a vibrant economy.
I agree. It's still early, but I can't help but notice the charges against him don't seem to hold up. The tax issue falls away when you look the income tax did not go up, the marriage penalty was cut, capital gains were cut.
Who are the other candidates:
Guilianni a liberal NY mayor who speaks well.
Romney a former New England Gov. from a very liberal state. Successful in business, did okay as Gov., but his positions have changed in order to run nationally.
McCain hates free speech, washington insider.
Thompson still an unknown. The "anti candidate" candidate.
Hunter can't get into the first tier. Great qualities.
Is it humane to punish the child for the sins of the parents?
What is compassionate about encouraging illegal immigration, thereby straining social services and driving down wages for citizens who are also facing tough times?
I haven't see anything from any of the candidates that they want to encourage illegal immigration.
So you are for open borders.
So are you for genocide?
Just do a search for Dano1, same results. :)
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