Posted on 05/06/2015 11:16:35 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee responded to a fiscal crisis by working with Democrats in the Arkansas legislature to raise taxes and eliminate the deficit. Then, in his first presidential campaign in 2008, Huckabee converted himself into a starve-the-beast Republican, signing a pledge not to raise taxes and proposing to replace the income tax with a national sales tax, which would likely amount to a large tax cut for the wealthy.
On this record, it isn't clear whether Huckabee truly is a fiscal conservative who was simply pandering to the Republican base when he promised not to raise taxes in his last campaign. Maybe he really does believe that taxes ought to be cut, and raised them only because he was confronting a solidly Democratic legislature. What Huckabee actually thinks about the budget is the biggest question in his second presidential campaign.
In announcing that he would run again on Tuesday, Huckabee cited the 90 tax cuts that became law when he was governor. As The Washington Post reported the last time Huckabee ran, that number is misleading. Many of those tax cuts were nominal, and they were far outweighed by the few large increases in taxes that became law while he was in office.
In 1996, the year before Huckabee took office, residents of Arkansas paid 9.5 percent of their income in state and local taxes annually, on average. Ten years later, when Huckabee left office, the rate was 10.3 percent, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research group. The Club for Growth, a group that advocates for lower taxes, is responding to Huckabee's announcement with an advertisement criticizing him for the increases.
Huckabee, though, doesn't deserve all of the blame -- or the credit, depending on your point of view -- for the increases.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
None of those three impressed me.
It was so pathetic that Levin was begging Fred Thompson to jump in and save the day.
Thanks for the ping, red.
Deserves repeating: “The National Retail Sales Tax, or Fair Tax, is a way to take power back from the politicians and lobbyists by doing away with all the federal income taxes (personal, estate, gift, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes)
“THE FAIR TAX WOULD BE THE BIGGEST TRANSFER OF POWER FROM DC BACK TO THE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY’S HISTORY”
Gov. Huckabee is to be applauded for pushing the FairTax, and, hopefully, he and Senator Cruz will forward our FairTax agenda.
HST, I believe Senator Cruz is the better candidate. And, I like Governor Walker. But if Sarah runs, I am all in for Sarah!
Would you rather have that ground war there? Or here? Osama's already told us what he wanted, redoubled now by the ISIS calls for Gen 4 War here by shaheed-minded lusers.
Bush was right, Ron Paul was wrong. Get over it.
Only businesses wanting to shift their tax costs to the People want that, and only Paulbots and small children (but I repeat myself) actually believe it; the rest are grifting.
Gov. Huckabee is to be applauded for pushing the FairTax,...
He absolutely is not, and it's one of a string of reasons, like mi casa su casa (actual quote) why conservatives will do infinitely better with other candidates you mentioned, like Sarah, the love child of Theodore Roosevelt out of Calamity Jane and a descendant of Molly Pitcher and Joan of Arc.
Then declare war. They have tied our troops up in this politically generaled war for a dozen years now. There is no way that Patton or Eisenhower would have fought a war this way.
This has gone on far too long to pretend it’s just a reprisal.
It is IMMORAL to have our troops die for a political conflict they have no intention of trying to win.
It took almost 30 years for the British to put down the Fuzzy-Wuzzies, but put them down they most certainly did, and they proved along the way that the board-certified fire extinguisher for the burning faith of the Dervishes was a Niagara of Dervish blood. They danced them around for years, until they were ready at last to bring them to battle on prepared ground .... and then they slaughtered them without pity until the Dervish armies were dead.
That's the big leagues, amigo, and it takes a big pair to prosecute a generational war in a faraway country. That's what it took to keep Egypt and Suez British, and Aden, and the ports of northeastern Africa.
Better a generational war in Sudan, or Iraq and Persia, than a generational war in the United States with armies of Dearborn shaheedis.
Nope. Better an all-out, send them to meet their maker war. You and I both know that politics now decides who is targeted, who is surged, who is bombed. It’s despicable that our troops aren’t just symbolic cannon fodder, but the real thing. It is immoral to ask them to die for a cause the nation has no intention of trying to win.
At least you 2 can be taken seriously. I recognize you.
Eight years ago there was some guy with the screen name dano who was working for the Huckabee campaign I guess who was posting Huckabee stuff nonstop here.
You said all that needs to be said. Exactly.
May be a nice guy, good father good husband good citizen decent talk show host.
He is not a conservative. (<-—— period....notice The period)
I won’t support Huckabee. Cruz is my man, and then it will be Walker.
However, we need to start being precise, in my opinion, about our political candidates. We have been told there are 3 legs that make up a truly conservative candidate: fiscal, social, defense. (I add another, life, because without a belief in LIFE, then liberty and pursuit of happiness are just talk.)
Huckabee rates as follows:
Life: conservative
Fiscal: moderate
Defense: moderate, since national security includes border issues and he waffles on amnesty
Social: conservative
So, on a 4 point conservative scale, Huckabee is a 2+.
Doing the same with Jeb Bush we get:
Life: moderate (remember Terry Schiavo)
Fiscal: liberal stimulus spender
Defense: liberal - rejects national security with full amnesty and maximal immigration
Social: liberal - accepts homosexual marriage, common core, etc.
Jeb Bush is a minus 3 on the scale. He is a liberal.
Yep. Life is a God-given right. Not granted by the government. Can’t be taken away by the government.
Huckabee is the type of politician who will say that big government is okay if the ends justify the means. All that matters is that he meant well. Typical liberal. Don’t judge me by the results judge me by my intentions.
I’m leaning towards Rand Paul. Give me your breakdown on the three stools. Admittedly I lean libertarian.
Much like the NFL draft, I don’t have the patience to blog about prospects that my team will never take. I will trust your readers digest scouting report.
Rand Paul on a 4 point conservative scale
Life: moderate; Will not define what he means by many exceptions regarding life of mother between her and doctor
Fiscal: conservative - strict anti-spending positions;
Defense: libertarian non-interventionist, moderate secure border reformist
Social: states rights, libertarian on drugs, conservative on marriage.
Rand Paul is a 1+ on a conservative scale
Thanks.
Sounds accurate. I learned a lot from Free Republic. Eight years ago I had never heard of his father. Another freeper gave me the complete bio on Dr. No.
I liked his style. The substance was lacking.
That said, I would easily vote for Rand Paul over Hillary Clinton. It would be no contest. Clinton is a -4+, radical liberal on all issues. That’s why a Clinton/Bush ticket isn’t a fantastical thought. There’s a basis in reality for it. Won’t happen, but imagine the ‘bipartisan’ harping of the media.
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