Posted on 12/21/2007 8:55:52 AM PST by wastedpotential
CBSNews.com: Let’s start with the attacks on Governor Huckabee from a lot of Republican establishment figures lately. Rush Limbaugh has called him “the Huckster.” Rich Lowry, the editor of the National Review, has said it would be suicide to nominate him. Why do you think he's provoking all of this criticism?
Ed Rollins: Well, I think first of all he is not an establishment candidate. I don't think anybody anticipated early on when he started to run that he would do as well as he's doing. Some of these guys have picked other candidates.
And I think, to a certain extent, the alleged wise men have sat around in either the studios, or the newsrooms, basically writing magazine articles. They didn't see it coming and I think they underestimated him.
CBSNews.com: Does he threaten them?
Ed Rollins: Well, I think he's not their candidate. You know some of them obviously are with McCain. Some of them are obviously with Romney. And I think at the end of the day Mike is a guy who basically was a very effective governor.
You can look at his record. It's a record of accomplishment. He didn't use the governor's office to just purely run for president. He wanted to fix mistakes and do things that are meaningful. And I think the thing they challenge him on is not really about his record.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
The recent level of animosity towards Mike Huckabee from the Republican establishment, and conservative talk radio hosts and columnists in particular, is simply amazing. It manifests itself in a daily waves of distortion and half-truths concerning Huckabee’s record and positions. They have obviously learned their lessons well from the mainstream media and Clinton Inc. The uniformity of their misinformation and talking points is impressive. A solid case can be made that they could be more in agreement about Mike Huckabee, than Senator Clinton, D NY.
This raises the question, WHY?
The fractured nature of the Republican field has prevented the emergence of a clear favorite. All the candidates have serious real or perceived defects. Giuliani is an arrogant Liberal from NY with Slick Willie’s moral compass, McCain has been disloyal to the party, and is to blame for McCain-Feingold and the attempted Shamnesty, Romney is a manufactured flip flopper from Kennedy country, and is the anointed heir of Bush Inc., Huckabee is a Christian, who is so simple minded that he actually believes in Christianity, and therefore can’t be trusted with high political office. Thompson was supposed to be the guy, but his campaign has been a dead horse from day one.
The one name that the Republican establishment never expected to see on this list is Mike Huckabee. The front loading most of the primaries means that all the shouting will be over in less than three months. It also means that a complete unknown can actually upset the apple cart. Huckabee is the wild card that was not supposed to be in the deck. And worst of all he is not beholden, in any way, to the Beltway/Wall Street axis of the Republican establishment. This is an unacceptable sin and the reason why the Huckaboom must be crushed ASAP.
The foundation of the Republican Party used to consist of a combination of fiscal and social conservatives tempered with a healthy dose of free trade and foreign policy expertise. The convention has been that the free traders a fiscal conservatives are the brains of the operation and the social conservatives have been the muscle.
However that all started changing with the election of Dubya and the emergence of an Imperial Congress who together have essentially exterminated fiscal conservatism and have ceased responding to the plebeians who elect them. Life is good with everyone gorging and enriching themselves at the public trough. Currently the principle difference between Republicans and Democrats appears to be a slight disagreement over whether their lust for profligate spending should be paid for entirely with debt, or a combination of debt and higher taxes.
I keep hearing about fiscal conservatives from our esteemed talk radio hosts and columnists, but I challenge them to name names. Who EXACTLY are they talking about? Who is at the barricades trying to prevent the complete looting of our treasury and the mortgaging of our children’s future? All I see is Ted Stevens building another bridge to nowhere. Ted Kennedy and John McCain trying to shove a Shamnesty bill down our throats, while Dubya lurks in the White House rose garden with his pen in his hand. Seriously, how can the President and Congress claim to be serious about the war on radical Islam, when they ignore the will of the people and refuse to secure our borders. I call BS.
The free traders have decided that our National Sovereignty is an impediment to their stampede to accumulate the most toys. Luckily for them, plenty of our former elected officials are for sale, in order to buy the current ones. Am I the only one who understands that the real war against the United States is being fought right now against the our dollar? I hope not. The collapse of our national wealth will cause the gutting of our military. What can’t be done on the battlefield by our enemies will be accomplished by our Congress scrambling to payoff our social Ponzi schemes.
What passes for our foreign policy is confused because our State Department and CIA are unclear about which side they are actually supposed to be on. On the bright side, I suppose it is slightly better than the Clinton administration, which did not have any foreign policy at all.
In short the purported Republican brain trust is flunking lunch, and selling us down the river.
All of which brings us to the case FOR (gasp) a social conservative, Mike Huckabee.
He has THE strongest prolife position. He has a perfect understanding of the Second Amendment, which tells me where he stands on individual rights. He is an honest guy who relies on his core convictions, not the lastest poll. On the fiscal front, he understands that it is immoral to squander our children’s legacy. He actually believes that the American experiment and our Sovereignty are worth defending. His foriegn policy experience is comparable to Ronald Reagan’s. He will communicate effectively and directly with the people to go over the heads of a reluctant Congress. Best of all, he is clearly understands which side he is on... OURS!
Tax will rise under Huck, just like they did in Arkansas.
I think I’ll trust Michael Reagan’s opinion on this one.
He's the ONLY one to line up completely with them on abortion and gay marriage.
Federalism is not good enough for the socons...they want to use the power of the federal govt to further their goals.
It's the antithesis of the intent of the founding fathers, just as is the social engineering of the left.
Yes, if Huck is nominated the GOP will be completely and utterly defeated in 08, from the top of the ticket to the bottom.
Then the party will reform through the cut of the knife.
thank you
“...Most Like Reagan”
You mean like the Linda Blair character in “The Exorcist” ?
America can’t afford another Dope from Hope.
Huckleberry Hound is like Reagan in the same way Hiliarly is the second estrogenic coming of Barry Goldwater.
If someone is pro-life and that’s pretty much the only thing that matters to them, well go ahead and vote for Huckabee.
I’m looking for someone who’s a little more well-rounded than their stance on social issues.
For example, a person’s pro-life values don’t mean a hill of beans when you’ve just been incinerated by a 20-kt nuclear weapon while walking in downtown Omaha or Fresno or Toledo...
Sorry, Huckabee’s sorry record in pandering to illegal aliens and making Bush look like Tom Tancredo by comparison disqualifies him from the presidential slot. I could hold my nose and vote for him in the vice-presidential slot if the presidential candidate had enough to offer and could keep him on a short leash. Until today, I thought that could be either Romney, Thompson or Hunter, but I’m not so sure about Romney now after his Bush-lite type statements on dealing with illegal immigration.
Reagan in his own mind.
I actually agree with you. I believe that Huckabee has surprised all the establishment folks and they are all trying to pound him into submission now. Frankly, his mixture of Reagan communication skills and Perot populism is very attractive to the core areas of Republican strength - the south and midwest.
Huck is no Ronald Reagan. No one is.
Mike Huckabee’s role in the ‘70s Show involves blending Jimmy Carter’s ostentatious piety with Nixon’s knack for oblique nastiness. ~~ George Will
Huckabee is a theocrat, or at least he portrays himself as a theocrat. He reminds me of television minister, who is more interested in taking in the collection than bringing in souls. In Huckabee’s case it’s bringing in the votes. Huckabee has nothing at all in common with Reagan.
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