[Sola Veritas]

“Huckabee IS NOT a conservative.”

NEWSFLASH

Huckabee is the MOST conservative on MORAL issues.

To a GREAT many that register as Republican, that is the MOST important thing. So, to call him a liberal, ticks the BASE of the party off, because on how WE define conservative, he is one.

LIVE WITH IT, or risk having the GOP become insignificant when moral conservatives leave because you Goldwater types don’t want to share power. WE MORAL CONSERVATIVES brought all GOP victories since Ronald Reagan. The party must have us to WIN. So, either live with us and die without us. But, stop this damnable name calling because someone isn’t big business and can see the necessity to raise taxes to fix infrastructure in a rural state dependent on it.

Besides, even if Mike Huckabee wins in Iowa and gets some momentum into South Carolina, etc. He will not win in the big vote states during Super Tuesday. That will probably be McCain. IMO, the best Mike can achieve is to knock Romney out of the race and secure the VP slot. I think the final GOP ticket will be McCain/Huckabee.

Now, all that being said. I fully agree that of all the candidates on the GOP ticket that Fred Thompson is the most balanced conventual conservative (the three legs). I also agree he would make the best candidate to run in a general election. On national security I would feel best with him at the helm. BUT, Fred - unless a near miracle occurs - just isn’t going anywhere. It surprizes me, because I really thought he would. However, don’t blame Huckabee for Fred or anyone else’s demise.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Huckabee is the MOST conservative on MORAL issues. To a GREAT many that register as Republican, that is the MOST important thing

Are you calling for a Theocracy?

[roses of sharon]

LOL, the Goldwater, business types, fiscal conservatives, national security Republicans who are SINNERS had power?

When?

When have the “MORAL” Republicans not nominated their favorite candidate for President?

When have the MORAL ones had to share power with the SINNERS? What is your complaint?

[The Pack Knight]

Newsflash to you, but I would say that those who rank "moral issues" as the very most important issues to them are probably a minority of Republicans.

"Moral conservatives", aka Reagan Democrats, are not "the base." They might be part of the base, but so are those "Goldwater conservatives" you disdain.

Plus, I think you grossly overestimate the disproportionate influence you seem to claim Goldwater conservatives have over the party. After all, the current President was always more palatable to moral conservatives, to use your term, than he was to Goldwater conservatives. We nominated him in a landslide, though.

The GOP might not survive a defection of single issue social conservatives, but it will certainly not survive a defection of fiscal conservatives. Your social-only-conservatives can beat their chests over how the GOP "needs" them, but if they want any voice at all in politics, they need the GOP just as badly.