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You should have seen the threads about "socialist" Mike Huckabee back in 2008. (Funny they didn't think he was a "socialist" four years earlier when he headlined the FR inaugural ball).

Maybe his "court-mandated" tax hike and his spending kick came after the ball. Or no one had taken notice before he ran for President.

I'll grant you he's a bit better than Mitt and McLame. Likely he would have been a reliable Senator. But as a Chief Exec I have to call fail. A bit hyperbolic to call him a 'socialist' I've done it myself I'm sure. But big government 'conservative', check.

Huck became Governor of Arkansas in '96. By 2004, he had already been governing the state for eight years. He had raised taxes and the time and was anti-tobacco. If he had really been an awful "socialist RINO nanny stater who is liberal on every issue but abortion", as some freepers alleged, you think SOMEONE would have loudly protested such an awful "RINO" being the star attraction at FR's big event.

Not one person complained at the time.

Had a truly awful sitting RINO governor been selected to headline a FR event at the time (Christie Todd Whitman, Tom Ridge. Bob Taft, George Ryan, etc.), I have no doubt freepers would have raised hell about it and complained loudly to the owner. Possibly boycotted the event. (I know I would if some socialist scumbag like George Ryan was the "attraction" at a FR event)

Of course Huck was a flawed Presidential candidate (my ideal choice was Duncan Hunter, but he was polling 1% and I believe wasn't even on the ballot by the time Illinois voted). But as you said, the alternatives at the time were Giuliani, McCain, and Romney. I would rank Huckabee as the most conservative of those four.

I don't question the fact Huck sucked on a handful of important issues. Huck was mostly conservative, but had some glaring problems in his record (like John Thune, except a bunch of freepers drool over Thune when he comes on TV and would NEVER question his "true conservative" beliefs, let alone call him a "socialist")

I question those who ranted and raved that Huck was an evil socialist Clintonite and insisted the "only" conservative position he had was pro-life (they refused to explain to me how Huck was "liberal" or had any kind of "socialist record" on guns, gay rights, isreal, the WOT, ANWR drilling, etc. etc.).

The thing Titan seems to have missed out on is there are plenty of "mostly conservative" candidates who freepers have demanded be purged from government and have been subject to far worse attacks than Sarah Palin ever has. Apparently he never noticed until he saw people trashing his gal.