Is GOP too biased to tap Huckabee for vice president?

While Democrats duel, the unofficial Republican nominee considers a vice president. John McCain should start by asking what he needs. The admiral’s son fits two legs of his own party’s three-legged stool: foreign policy (zinging terrorism) and economic (scoring spending). Alas, he is out to sea with social and cultural conservatives, the one group without which national Republicans once routinely lost, and will surely lose again.

According to a new Pew Research Forum poll, 44 percent of the electorate terms itself “born-again.” Politically, these Christian, mostly Protestant, evangelicals are the Republican Party’s largest block: 35 percent of George W. Bush’s 2004 vote. More “born-agains” voted then than all blacks and union members.

Moreover, their scorn of secularism, cultural rot and border insecurity tracks the concerns of millions of Catholic, orthodox Jewish and Protestant non-evangelicals.

Prsident Bush coined the term “coalition of the willing.” Born-agains and their friends form the GOP coalition of the winning.

In 2000, McCain attacked evangelical “agents of intolerance.” Mending fences, he still spurns such “values” issues as elitism, political correctness and hostility by state toward church.

Equally unconcerned is daughter Meghan, 23, telling GQ that she likes “bad boys” with tattoos, “bisexual-dating TV,” stripper Dita Von Teese, and “The Big Lebowski” — “I love that [expletive] movie!” Both seem blind to how social/cultural conservatives, tilting Republican, have tipped America to the GOP.

This drift began in the 1960s. Candidates ignoring it lose: Gerald Ford, Robert Dole and George H. W. Bush in 1992. By contrast, evangelicals helped Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan win 49 states. Bestriding the South, born-agains also pivot states like Missouri, Iowa, central Pennsylvania and rural Ohio (only the anti-gay marriage turnout saved Bush in 2004). Without them, Republicans are less a majority party than the Federalists or Whigs.

This year, voting born-agains have treated McCain like Ford or Dole. Some suggest McCain do an extreme values makeover. It would flop — McCain’s a lousy actor — or worse, harm his maverick niche. Others dismiss values voters, wanting an economic conservative vice president where McCain is already strong.

Instead, he needs a running mate with social/ cultural cachet, swelling turnout without changing the Arizonan’s crucial straight-talk front. Only Mike Huckabee can sufficiently help McCain where McCain cannot.

More than any Republican, Arkansas’ ex-governor embodies a silent still-majority trying to save money, buy a home and educate its children. “When you struggle, you look at things different,” said the son of a firefighter who worked “a second job from the shipyard, not Harvard Yard.”

This spring, “entering political folklore,” said CNN’s Lou Dobbs, Huckabee became politics’ David versus Goliath — eight primary and caucus victories, 15 seconds and nearly 4 million votes. As vice president, he would be ready to elect McCain from day one.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy stumped the Northeast, industrial Midwest and West Coast, assigning the South to Lyndon Johnson: sans him, Nixon would have won. Likewise, Huckabee would help sweep Dixie and periphery, wooing people less worried about stock portfolio than human stock — their family. Unlike any other vice president, he would let McCain, running left-of-center, focus exclusively on Blue states from New Jersey to Oregon. In the South, the Arkansan, running right, would become almost a surrogate No. 1. Such amalgams are hard to find.

Specifically, Huckabee would clinch what McCain aides wrongly “believe that he has already won,” the Wall Street Journal says of bornagains. Despite his recent “guns and religion” gaffe, Barack Obama could loosen such evangelical states as Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and even Mississippi. Recently, Houston TV megachurch pastor Joel Osteen lauded Hillary Clinton for “all you’ve done for America.” Kennedy’s fire wall was LBJ. Huckabee would be McCain’s. Overnight he would make the Republicans’ largest block a GOP pro, not con.

George Will thinks “It would be reassuring were [McCain] to select a running mate with executive experience.” Huckabee’s experience dwarfs any potential vice president or president, making Time magazine’s 2005 list of “America’s five best governors.” Another edge is his TV wizardry: acing countless interviews; pitch perfect defending McCain versus the New York Times; excelling in each 2007-08 debate. It is easy to see McCain stumbling in debates this fall. It is even easier to picture Huckabee — another fire wall — trouncing the Democrats’ No. 2.

Finally, McCain and Huckabee like each other, each running a valiant bare-boned campaign, their synergy miming the 1992 Clinton-Gore ticket larger than the sum of its parts. On one hand, Huckabee avoids the me-tooism dooming Ford, Dole and the elder Bush. On the other, the social, economic and foreign policy conservative reaches across the aisle. Four times Huckabee won 4-to-1 Democratic Arkansas, including 40 percent of black voters — unheard of in today’s GOP. Last year, spurning party talking points, he prophesied, “The economy’s in trouble.” Defining a Republican “Big Tent,” Huckabee would show that its Big Top isn’t closed.

Main Street wants a running mate to address, among other things, wage disparity, foreclosure and U. S. sovereignty. Huckabee does. Other rumored vice presidents ape Wall Street from globalism to Nasdaq mania. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist caricatures corporate Republicanism with a George Hamilton tan. Mitt Romney would be perfect if each family earned $300,000. Condoleezza Rice symbolizes her reviled boss and friend. Others hail from states McCain could carry with Jack Abramoff as No. 2: Mississippi’s Haley Barbour, Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn, Utah’s Jon Huntsman Jr., South Carolina’s Mark Sanford. Why not clinch Idaho by picking Larry Craig?

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty couldn’t deliver for McCain on Super Tuesday. Ex-Cincinnati Congressman Rob Portman is unknown in next-door Kentucky. Some hallucinate that ex-SEC head Chris Cox can make California competitive. Maybe McCain plans to revisit amnesty. Each would-be veep helps only with the GOP establishment. Unlike Huckabee, none helps beyond his state.

Twelve years ago, facing a similar choice, Dole tapped Beltway favorite Jack Kemp, whom Will soon dubbed “incoherent.” Incoherent would be McCain ditching a middle-class base that works, for a Fortune 500 base that doesn’t.

Huckabee belongs to — thus, grasps — the coalition of the winning. So did another governor who, more than anyone, made evangelicals Republican. Some call Huckabee as governor a “liberal” for raising taxes. If so, Gov. Ronald Reagan was a greater liberal, having raised them more.

Blue states allegedly feel Huckabee extreme. GOP 1970s elites dubbed Reagan a right-wing nut. Huckabee lacks deep foreign policy bona fides. Henry Kissinger called Reagan “ill-informed.” Reagan would understand Huckabee’s rapport: also, how objections are largely sham — a smoke screen for religious bias.

Reagan’s evangelical mother taught him to hate bigotry. Ironically, the sole obstacle to Vice President Huckabee may be evangelism itself. Leftists bash born-agains and friends — the “religious right” — with relish and regularity. Equally toxic is the GOP’s official and/or neoconservative establishment deeming them, as writer Ring Lardner said, a side dish they decline to order. “Many secular Republicans have contempt for evangelicals,” MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson said. “They want values voters to vote, then disappear” — redolent of GOP bias against Jews and Catholics in the 1940s and ’50s.

Ex-Bush staffer David Kuo’s “Tempting Faith” bared administration disdain for born-agains. Revealingly, the sole cable news network to boycott the book was Fox. Likewise, people “who think summer is a verb,” jokes Huckabee, fear him becoming the elephant in the room. Many neocons don’t mention Huckabee among vice presidents. Fox’s Britt Hume mocks, “We’ll miss the Huck.”

Republicans rarely term John Danforth or Joe Lieberman an Episcopalian minister or observant Jew, respectively. Yet they call Huckabee a “former Baptist preacher” — he hasn’t officiated since 1988 — seeking to ghettoize, thus stigmatize.

“They couch their fears in secular terms,” wrote Newsweek’s Howard Fineman. “Privately, however, what worries the [Republican] insiders is that [Huckabee’s religion will make] Blue and Purple America run shrieking” from the party. Clearly, GOP elites feel a declasse faith is worse than none. For born-agains, such animus may be a turning point — a cause to say “no mas.”

Huckabee’s edge in rhetoric, recognition, executive skill and populism likely will soon become irrefutable. Say that McCain then spurns politics’ Sea Biscuit for Sanford’s Mr. Ed. The snub will be seen as prejudice against nearly one in two Americans: a last GOP insult to family, sanctity of life and religion in the public square.

Some GOP evangelical dons might shrug, preferring access to principle. By contrast, rank-and-file would stay home, or vote Democratic, crippling McCain. It needn’t come to that. Asked to draw McCain’s ideal running mate, you would create Huckabee. Put another way, if Huckabee didn’t exist, we would have to invent him. Happily, he does. All McCain has to do is pick him.

Curt Smith wrote more speeches than anyone forPresident George H. W. Bush, including the “JustWar” and Pearl Harbor anniversary speeches andthe 2004 eulogy to President Ronald Reagan. Authorof 12 books, and a GateHouse Media columnist, hehosts the NPR affiliate series Perspectives each Saturdayat 7 a. m. on WNED Buffalo.

With Mike Huckabee as VP, John McCain should have a winning ticket...

With Mike Huckabee as VP, John McCain ~~should have a winning ticket...~~ won't get my vote.

Conservatism v. Huckabee

Count 1: Weakest in the Republican field on immigration

Exhibit A: Huckabee calls immigration bill "un-Christian, anti-life"

(Arkansas Senate Bill 206 would have denied state benefits to illegal aliens, required proof of citizenship to vote, and require state agencies to report illegal aliens.)

Even if benefits to people who are in the U.S illegally could be stopped, "I don't understand how a practicing Christian can turn his back on a child from this or any other state," Huckabee said.

"Something that's not worth sharing is not worth celebrating," Huckabee said. "This is the kind of country that opens its doors. This bill expresses an un-American attitude."

(Immigration bill un-Christian, anti-life, governor says, Arkansas News Bureau, 01/28/2005)

He said the bill could hurt the state's ability to recruit industries based in countries outside the U.S., such as Toyota or Nestle, a Swiss company.

"If we send a message that essentially if you don't look like us, talk like us and speak like us we don't want you, it has tremendous economic repercussions," Huckabee said.

(Huckabee, callers go toe-to-toe on immigration, Arkansas News Bureau, 02/03/2005)

Exhibit B: Huckabee promotes "open door" policy at LULAC convention

LITTLE ROCK - In a impassioned speech before hundreds of influential Hispanic civil rights leaders from across the nation, Gov. Mike Huckabee told a captive audience Wednesday that America is great because it has always opened it doors up to people seeking a better way of life.

(snip)

Despite several light moments, Huckabee did not stray away from several controversial issues that made him a target of criticism during the recently ended 85th General Assembly. He said Arkansas needs to make the transition from a traditional Southern state to one that recognizes and cherishes diversity "in culture, in language and in population."

(snip)

The Republican governor, who many believe will run for president in 2008, also backed legislation that would have opened the door for illegal immigrants in Arkansas to receive college scholarships.

House Bill 1525 by Rep. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, was approved by the House but eventually failed in the Senate. Huckabee reiterated Wednesday that he believes every child, regardless of their parent's immigration status, should have an opportunity to receive an education in the U.S.

"I ... believe that an education for every child is the most important single factor to give everyone to be their very best," he said.

(Huckabee promotes "open door" policy at LULAC convention, Arkansas News Bureau, 01/30/2005)

Exhibit C: Huckabee threatens to sue feds over ID rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — States are threatening to challenge in court and even disobey new orders from Congress to start issuing more uniform driver's licenses and verify the citizenship or legal status of people getting them.

(snip)

"Governors are looking at all their options. If more than half of the governors agree we're not going down without a fight on this, Congress will have to consider changing this unfunded federal mandate," said Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, vice chairman of the National Governors Association. A Huckabee aide said the options include court action.

(States may disobey new ID rules, fight them in court, USA Today, 05/10/2005)

Exhibit D: Immigration group: Huckabee a 'disaster'

Groups that support a crackdown on illegal aliens haven't settled on their champion in the race for the White House, but there's little doubt which Republican scares them most — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

"He was an absolute disaster on immigration as governor," said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that played a major role in rallying the phone calls that helped defeat this year's Senate immigration bill. "Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens."

As Mr. Huckabee rises in the polls, his opponents are beginning to take shots at him on immigration. Just as problematic for the former Arkansas governor, however, is that the independent interest groups that track the issue are also giving him the once-over, and don't like what they see.

"Huckabee is the guy who scares the heck out of me," said Peter Gadiel, president of 9-11 Families for a Secure America, a group instrumental in fighting for the REAL ID Act that sets federal standards for driver's licenses.

(Immigration group: Huckabee a 'disaster', By Stephen Dinan, Washington Post, November 30, 2007)

Exhibit E: Illegals foes reject nod to Huckabee

Minuteman co-founder James Gilchrist's endorsement of presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has spurred a backlash among illegal-immigration opponents who say the former Arkansas governor is soft on immigration enforcement.

"Mike Huckabee is pro-amnesty and favors a path to citizenship for illegal aliens currently in the U.S. that would require a lifting of current penalties," said William Gheen, whose 25,000-member Americans for Legal Immigration sent mass mailings yesterday to more than 300 pro-enforcement groups.

"Huckabee has released an immigration plan that contains the deceptive 'touch back' provision that the pushers of amnesty tried on us in Washington this year," he said. "He wants to trick the nation by having illegal aliens leave for a day to pick up new papers at an office set up across the border and then walk right back."

(snip)

Bob Wright, who heads the Patriots' Border Alliance, another Minuteman splinter group, said although Mr. Gilchrist helped move the issue of illegal entry into the U.S. "to it's rightful place on the national stage," his endorsement of Mr. Huckabee "is at best disturbing."

"While I believe it is possible for a professional politician to change his mind on a subject as he becomes more informed, I have serious doubts that is the case with Huckabee," Mr. Wright said. "His past rhetoric about the goals of Minutemen everywhere has been vicious — parroting the tired and discredited foolishness that an American citizen's desire to see the law enforced is somehow racist or xenophobic."

(snip)

(Illegals foes reject nod to Huckabee, By Jerry Seper, The Washington Times, 12-13-2007)

Exhibit F: Corsi: Huckabee's tough talk on immigration doesn't match his record/ Mexican Consular Office Affair

"Huckabee has the same problem on immigration that Mitt Romney has -- and that is Mitt Romney and Huckabee, as governors, do not have a strong secure border record. And Huckabee's record is terrible," according to Jerome Corsi, an adamant border hawk. (be sure to go to the source and read the whole article)

I would argue that while Romney's record is less than stellar, he's head and shoulders above the duplicitous Huckster (whose record on immigration is detailed on this blog, just scroll down). While Romney tolerated sanctuary cities in his state, Huckabee encouraged them by rewarding illegal aliens with scholarships, discounted college tuition, and state benefits.

Huckabee also established a Mexican Consular office in Little Rock, which "increases the capacity of the Mexican state to bring attention, protection, and assistance to all of those living abroad, independently from their immigration status", according to Mexican ambassador Arturo Sarukhan. It also issues "matricula consular" cards, with which illegal aliens can open bank accounts and obtain other services.

In 2003, Huckabee (on a state-owned aircraft) to Mexico with Robert Trevino, who was the director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (aka LULAC) and Huckabee's "Economic Development adviser". There they met with Vincente Fox.

In 2006, Arkansas leased government office space, including furniture, to the Mexican government for $1 per year to house the Consular office until they built their own headquarters. It's unclear whether this subsidized lease was in violation of state law.

(Critics question Huckabee's role in establishing Mexican consulate in Little Rock, Legality of Huckabee's Mexican consulate deal questioned)

Exhibit G: 84 leaders of Immigration Enforcement Groups Rebuke Gilchrist's Endorsement of Huckabee

From Americans for Legal Immigration:

PLEASE POST, FORWARD, and BROADCAST!

In reaction to Jim Gilchrist's (Co-Founder of Minutemen) lone endorsement of pro-amnesty Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee:

We, the undersigned, state that our organizations stand against racism and Amnesty for illegal aliens. Instead, we stand for the enforcement of our existing immigration laws, the securing of America's borders, and attrition enforcement.

We have dedicated our efforts to fighting illegal immigration and we are compelled to warn the American public about the immigration stance and record of Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee.

We denounce Jim Gilchrist's solo endorsement of a pro-amnesty and Open Borders candidate for President. Mr. Gilchrist does NOT speak for us!

Mike Huckabee is pro-amnesty and favors a "path to citizenship" for illegal aliens currently in the US, which would require a lifting of the current penalties.

Mike Huckabee is against ICE raids and decried them in his home state, when illegal aliens were arrested at companies that financially support his campaigns.

Mike Huckabee supports benefits for illegal aliens such as taxpayer subsidized in-state tuition.

Governor Huckabee also favors a "touchback" provision, which we feel is a trick to confuse voters. He would have illegal aliens leave for a day, pick up new papers, and then reenter the US LEGALLY, which is not the back of the immigration line! He has stated that illegal aliens could leave and "You do have a pathway to get back here legally that would take days, maybe weeks, not years."

Mike Huckabee supported Comprehensive Immigration Reform Amnesty that failed in the US Senate and was rejected by a large majority of Americans. He stated that those who opposed the legislation are "driven by racism or nativism."

Mike Huckabee has distorted the goals of "attrition enforcement" and the positions of Mark Krikorian by adding visa expansions, expedited visas, and "touchback", which would counteract enforcement measures.

In truth, Mike Huckabee's stances on the illegal immigration issue are out of line with the vast majority of Americans.

Go to the source to see the impressive list of signatories, as it's too long to post here.

Exhibit H: WaPo Fact Checker: Three Pinocchios for Huckabee on Illegal Immigration

WaPo is link only.

Exhibit I: Huckabee: I can’t compromise on scholarships for illegals because “my soul will not let me” (video)

Count 2: Liberal on Taxes and Spending

Exhibit A: Huckabee's tax hikes and tax "cuts"

Hikes:

-Signed a sales tax hike in 1996 (Cato Policy Analysis No. 315, 09/03/98)

-Supported an internet sales tax in 2001 (Reuters, 02/23/04)

-Publicly opposed the repeal of a sales tax on groceries and medicine in 2002 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 09/11/02)

-Signed a gas tax in 1999 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 06/29/99)

-Signed cigarette tax hike in 2003 (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07)

-Signed a bed tax on private nursing home patients in 2001 (Associated Press 06/29/01)

-Proposed a sales take hike in 2002 (Arkansas News Bureau 12/05/02)

-Opposed a congressional measure to ban internet taxes in 2003 (Arkansas News Bureau 11/21/03)

-Allowed a 17% sales tax increase to become law in 2004 (The Gurdon Times 03/02/04)

"cuts":

When questioned on the taxes hikes he was responsible for during his tenure as governor (a whopping inflation-adjusted sum of $505 million, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette), his response is usually that he cut taxes 90 times.

The only real cut he made was $90.6 million in 1997. The rest of his "cuts" were minor adjustments and exemptions. Here are some examples:

1997

-Authorized tax-exempt bonds for fire-ant abatement (-$100,000)

-Exempted residential lawn care from the sales tax (-$210,000)

-Exempted Heifer International from the sales tax (-$60,000)

-Exempted some county fairs from the special-events sales tax (-$15,000)

1999

-Exempted equipment used to produce sod, grass and nursery products from the sales tax (-$200,000)

-Repealed the 20 percent tax on bingo admissions and cards (-$200,000)

2001

-Reduced taxes on bets made on horse races at Oaklawn Park (-$1,700, 000)

-Reduced taxes on bets made at Southland Greyhound Park (-$600,000)

2003

-Exempted some health-club services from the sales tax (-$160,000)

-Gave income-tax credits to biodiesel wholesalers (-$200,000)

2005

-Granted an income-tax deduction for organ donation (-$76,000)

-Exempted Arkansas Symphony Orchestra purchases from the sales tax (-$20,530)

Net difference:

These 90 cuts amount to a total of $378 million. On the other side of the ledger, Huckabee's 21 tax hikes amount to a total of $883 million, a net difference of $505 million. The average taxpayer's annual tax burden grew from $1,969 in 1997 to $2,902 in 2005.

(source: Arkansas Democrat Gazette)

Exhibit B: Spending under Huckabee

http://www.arkansas.gov/dfa/accounting/documents/2006_arkansas_cafr-web_version.pdf

According to this doc, under Huckabee’s tenure as gov, spending on Health and Human Services (aka welfare) in Arkansas went from $2.44 billion in 1997 to $4.65 billion in 2006, a 92% increase. (see pages 130-131 of the .pdf file). He claims most of the increases were for roads and education. Education increased from $1.81 billion in 1997 to 3.04 billion in 2006 (a 68% increase, 24% less than the HHS increase), but transportation spending actually decreased from $677 million in 1997 to $320 million in 2006, a 53% decrease.

Overall spending increased at three times the rate of inflation. (source)

Exhibit C: Huckabee refuses to endorse President Bush's veto of SCHIP, aka HillaryCare Lite (source)

Exhibit D: Huckabee earns a D on fiscal policy from the Cato Institute

Exhibit E: Huckabee on Global Warming: Huckabee supports cap-in-trade system (source)

Count 3: Soft on Crime

Exhibit A: Huckabee granted more clemencies than all neighboring states combined

If you're wondering how Gov. Huckabee's hundreds of clemencies compare with neighboring states, get ready for a shocker.

Huckabee leads the pack.

He has issued more commutations and pardons than all of the six neighboring states combined.

Governors seldom reduce sentences in other states – and almost never for murderers serving life without parole or for rapists or for habitual drunk drivers, while in Arkansas it's a regular habit with Huckabee.

Other governors use their clemency power only rarely, while Huckabee has made it routine. As we've told you before, he has issued more than 700 pardons and commutations during his eight years in office – more than 137 this year alone – and more than his three predecessors combined.

Here are the figures for neighboring states since 1996, when Huckabee took office (and keep in mind the population of these states is nearly 20 times ours):

-Louisiana – 213
-Mississippi – 24
-Missouri – 79.
-Oklahoma – 178.
-Tennessee – 32.
-Texas – 98 (includes 36 inmates released because they were convicted on drug charges with planted evidence).

Total: 624 vs. Huckabee's 703.

Governors in neighboring states almost never grant killers clemency, while Huckabee has commuted the sentences of a dozen murderers.

(snip)

Governors in the states we studied grant clemencies only on special occasions, such as when they leave office. Last January, after Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, a Democrat, lost his re-election bid, he issued 16 clemencies, and there was a huge outcry. That's how many Huckabee averages per month.

By contrast, Haley Barbour, Mississippi's new Republican governor, has issued no clemencies all year, nor has Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, Louisiana's new governor, a Democrat.

In Tennessee, Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, has issued no clemencies since he took office in January 2003.

(snip)

(Arkansas clemencies outpace other states, Garrick Feldman, The Arkansas Leader 08-11-04)

Exhibit B: Wayne DuMond

Mom: 'Carol Sue Would Be Alive Today' If Not for Huckabee

A Missouri mother says she will do "whatever it takes" to stop former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee from becoming president, because he freed the man who went on to rape and murder her daughter, Carol Sue Shields.

(snip)

Wayne Dumond was initially sentenced to life plus 25 years for raping a 17-year-old Arkansas high school cheerleader. In 1999, a parole board voted to free Dumond, after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee announced his desire to see him released.

A former parole board member tells ABC News that Huckabee exerted strong pressure on the board to release Dumond.

(Mom: 'Carol Sue Would Be Alive Today' If Not for Huckabee, Brian Ross and Anna Schecter, The Blotter at ABC News, 12-04-2007)

Exhibit C: Glen Green

Why parole a monster like Green

(snip)

Green, a 22-year-old sergeant, kidnapped Helen Lynette Spencer on Little Rock Air Force Base, where he beat and kicked her as he tried to rape her in a secluded area. She broke loose and ran toward the barracks' parking lot, where he caught up with her and beat her with a pair of nunchucks.

He then stuffed her into the trunk of his car and left her there while he cleaned up. Several hours later, he drove down Graham Road, past Loop Road and stopped near a bridge in Lonoke County. Green told investigators he put her body in the front seat and raped her because her body was still warm.

He dragged Spencer out of his vehicle and put her in front of the car and ran over her several times, going back and forth. He then collected himself long enough to dump her body in Twin Prairie Bayou.

This is what the Rev. Johnny Jackson, interim pastor at Bethel Baptist Church in Jacksonville, calls an accident, and apparently Huckabee believes him.

"There is no doubt in my mind that he could kill again," warns Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley.

The crime started out in his jurisdiction and ended in Lonoke County, where Prosecutor Lona McCastlain has also spoken out against the clemency.

"Life means life," she said, referring to Green's sentence after he plead guilty to Spencer's kidnapping, rape and murder.

(snip)

(Why parole a monster like Green, Garrick Feldman, The Arkansas Leader, 07-21-04)

Count 4: Naive, Liberal, and Wrong on Foreign Policy

Exhibit A: Called our foreign policy an "arrogant bunker mentality", blames terrorism on economic conditions, thinks diplomacy and foreign aid will solve every problem

Huckabee's 'Clueless' Foreign Policy

(snip)

More than anything, Huckabee's essay is startling in its incoherence, and it has something within it to scare off any faction of the conservative movement. To those who remain supportive of President Bush and believe he has helped keep us safe since Sept. 11, Huckabee writes that "the Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad." He goes on to echo liberal talking points in criticizing Bush for his handling of Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Al Qaeda. For those conservatives who believe that Iran does not deserve to be awarded with diplomatic ties to the U.S. given its "a world without America" and "wipe Israel off the map" rhetoric—not to mention funding of terrorist activities directed at Americans in Iraq—Huckabee thinks we should talk with the Islamist government, because "When one stops talking to a parent or a friend, differences cannot be resolved and relationships cannot move forward. The same is true for countries." I'm sure there are some non-interventionist conservatives who may agree with Huckabee's criticisms of the Bush administration for being overly macho, and needlessly confrontational with Iran. Yet what they have to look forward to in a Huckabee administration would be continued U.S. presence in Iraq, possible air strikes on Pakistan, a larger military, and a foreign aid program that would make Lyndon Johnson's Great Society look like a trivial domestic initiative. "We must first destroy existing terrorist groups and then attack the underlying conditions that breed them: the lack of basic sanitation, health care, education, jobs, a free press, fair courts -- which all translates into a lack of opportunity and hope," Huckabee writes. "The United States' strategic interests as the world's most powerful country coincide with its moral obligations as the richest."

(snip)

(Huckabee's 'Clueless' Foreign Policy, Philip Klein, The American Spectator, 12-15-2007)

Exhibit B: Just like Barack Obama, Huckabee Wants to negotiate with Iran and invade Pakistan

Tin Mike

(snip)

Just as Huckabee has cited executions in Arkansas as evidence that he was not as soft on criminals as the rest of his record strongly suggests, his defenders have pointed to examples of tough foreign policy statements he has made to argue that he is not as weak-kneed on national security as he seems. "I would prefer to skip the next attack [on the United States] and the exasperated fury it will rightly generate and cut to the chase by going after Al Qaeda's safe haven in Pakistan," Huckabee said at a September speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But vacillating from one extreme to the other is not an example of intelligent foreign policy -- it's indicative of inexperience. Wasn't it just a few months ago that conservatives were slamming Barack Obama for wanting to negotiate with Iran and invade Pakistan?

(snip)

(Tin Mike, Philip Klein, The American Spectator, 12/12/2007)

Count 5: Ethical Lapses

Exhibit A: Fiscal malfeasance

-Used campaign funds to pay himself $14,000 for being his own media consultant.

-Used campaign funds to pay himself $43,000 for use of his private plane while attempting to hide what the payment was actually in return for.

-Used an account set up to cover operational costs of the governor's mansion to pay such obviously personal expenses as fast-food and dry-cleaning bills.

-Set up a nonprofit organization that paid him $23,500 without disclosing the source of the money.

-Attempted to take $70,000 of furniture with him when moving out of the governor's mansion.

-Took more than 130 gifts worth more than $300,000 – while suing to overturn a law that made him disclose the gifts.

(source: Meet the Huckster, San-Diego Union-Tribune Editorial, December 3, 2007)

Exhibit B: Cover-up of son's criminal depravity

This is in regards to Huckabee's son torturing and killing a dog, and Huckabee's subsequent cover-up.

News-Weak is link-only.

Count 6: Flip-Flopping on Abortion as a State vs. Federal issue

(snip)

Huckabee said it was preposterous to say that such a deep moral issue should be left up to the states. If abortion is immoral in one state it is immoral in all of them, he said. He was “shocked” at Thompson’s stance. He claimed that he had always believed in a federal ban on abortions.

But a short time earlier Huckabee had sat down with the conservative essayist John Hawkins for a long conversation about the issues. He was asked about abortion. Huckabee said the legality of abortion should not be settled at the national level but should be left up to the states. This is the direct quote from the transcript, which until recently you could access on the Huckabee presidential campaign website:

“I’ve never felt that it was a legitimate manner in which to address this and, first of all, it should be left to the states, the 10th Amendment. . .” The 10th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution is the states-rights doctrine.

(snip)

(Huck flip flops, Editorial, The Arkansas Leader, November 28, 2007)

Count 7: Damage to the Republican Party and Conservative Movement

(snip)

Betsy Hagan, Arkansas director of the conservative Eagle Forum and a key backer of his early runs for office, was once "his No. 1 fan." She was bitterly disappointed with his record. "He was pro-life and pro-gun, but otherwise a liberal," she says. "Just like Bill Clinton he will charm you, but don't be surprised if he takes a completely different turn in office."

Phyllis Schlafly, president of the national Eagle Forum, is even more blunt. "He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party a shambles," she says. "Yet some of the same evangelicals who sold us on George W. Bush as a 'compassionate conservative' are now trying to sell us on Mike Huckabee."

(snip)

(Another Man From Hope: Who is Mike Huckabee?, OpinionJournal.com, 10-26-07)

Count 8: Endorsed by the NEA

Huckabee is endorsed by the National Education Association. What else needs to be said?

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