Mike Huckabee: He left Arkansas a better state

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ^ | 1/6/08 | Paul Greenberg

[Ol' Sparky]

They're back, the out-of-state media types who want to know who this guy is, this presidential candidate out of Hope, Ark.

This year the subject is Michael Dale Huckabee, who's not just a highly effective preacher but a populist. He has a knack for reducing complex issues to simple terms.

There's a species of Republican true believers in Arkansas who've always suspected his bona fides as an honest-to-goodness fiscal conservative and social reactionary. Much the same anti-Huckabee line is now being repeated by the high-powered Club for Growth, which has launched an all-out effort to dub the Huck just another tax-and-spender.

The Club has a point - but only on paper. When you compare the dramatic tax cuts enacted early in the Huckabee administration with the later tax increases, you come up with some $500 million in additional taxes.

But some $400 million of that went to carry out the state Supreme Court's order to keep Arkansas' schools constitutional. Huckabee had little choice.

And as governor, Huckabee did more to improve education than pour money into it; he's been interested in improving outcomes, not just raising inputs.

There were other tax increases in his more than a decade as governor. But should he have left highways in miserable condition? Should he have left the poorest children without health insurance? He left Arkansas a healthier, wealthier state - economically, educationally, physically.

The Huck has his failings as a policymaker. He's got a weakness for untested schemes like the national sales tax he's supporting as a substitute for the income tax. His experience in foreign policy is a vacuum.

But his usual, practical approach to pressing problems isn't anything Huckabee need be ashamed of. Quite the contrary. If he's failed the Club for Growth's litmus test, he didn't fail his state.

[Red_Devil 232]

Yeah, when he left!

[hadaclueonce]

No thanks, I have seen an ex govenor of Arkansas. I have lived in Dallas and have seen what the Southern Babtist and how they rule.

Nope not me. Sorry.

[Poincare]

Is it true that Huck wants for his Secretary of Defense Chuck Norris?

[Farmer Dean]

I can’t trust anything or anybody coming out of that state.Not after the last time.

[trisham]

I'm a conservative. Huckabee is not.

No thanks.

[EyeGuy]

Simple test for all elected officials:

Was the governmental footprint larger or smaller at the end of his term, compared to the beginning?

[Gipper08]

Huckabee is a socialist.

1. Health care he is a socialist

2. Environment he is a socialist

3. Taxes he is a socialist

[Lakeshark]

Does anyone have a link to Sean Hannity’s latest radio interview with Huckabee?

[Gipper08]

Huckabee is an ultra liberal Southern Baptist

[Dagnabitt]

He did a nice job of mouthing empty platitudes at the most recent debate.

[bill1952]

He left Arkansas a better state

For Mexicans.

[skinkinthegrass]

a better state....

YEAH, RIGHT!...(liberalspeak/newspeak:) MORE & MORE & MORE TAXES AND NANNIE-STATE MORONS IN CHARGE....its' all for the chil'ren, (the lost freedoms/more taxation) don't cha know....

[org.whodat]

There is only one good thing you can say about the Huckster, “He’s Not Willard”.

[Dan Lacey]

[TornadoAlley3]

http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=057486f0-1e51-4bb7-8c32-90b7ced0f78a

[Brilliant]

Not too hard.

[FreedomProtector]

Is it true that Huck wants for his Secretary of Defense Chuck Norris?

Huckabee mentioned Duncun Hunter for Secretary of Defence:‘‘What you do,’’ he [Huckabee]explained, 'is surround yourself with the best possible advice.’ The only name he [Huckabee] mentioned was Representative Duncan Hunter of California. ‘Duncan is extraordinarily well qualified to be secretary of Defense,’ he [Huckabee] said.

[attiladhun2]

"He left Arkansas a better state"

For murderers and rapists who claimed to have a conversion experience. Compare that to GW, who signed the death warrant for a twice murderess, in spite of a bunch of softheaded Christian leaders in the mold of Huckafraud, who sniveled long and loud that she should be spared. Bleeding heart Conservatives are probably more sickening than their Democrat counterparts.

[Dustbunny]

Wow, sounds as though they are attempting a Clinton by rewriting his governorship.