Two items related to Huckabee caught my eye.
First, WaPo’s Trail Blog has a post describing some unwelcome assistance that’s come to the Huckabee campaign:
The effort, launched by Common Sense Issues Inc. this weekend, is a major phone and Internet operation designed to identify potential Huckabee supporters and urge them to register as “precinct captains” for the Iowa caucuses. The group’s e-mail pitch told supporters who signed up that its goal is to “identify existing supporters of Governor Huckabee through telephone surveys and broadcast advertising in order to educate them on the importance of the caucuses and show them how to win their respective caucuses for Governor Huckabee.”
Ugh. Spam and robocalls? Can we please criminalize this stuff?
Meanwhile, over at RedState, Erick mulls over Huckabee’s seeming lack of fiscal conservative credentials:
I can’t really get that worked up about Huckabee supporting a tax increase to fix roads in Arkansas. The only people who could ever get worked up about that are people who have never been through Arkansas. The stark contrast in Arkansas pre-Huckabee and post-Huckabee is compelling. Prior to Huckabee, you might drive down the interstate only to meet your end in a pot hole deeper than your Hummer. After Huckabee, Louisiana had to get a new Governor who would make roads a priority so we could get back ahead of Arkansas on something.[...]
Here’s the thing though, Huck. [...] [R]egardless of where you go, you need to start speaking. Romney is doing a “Come to Jesus” meeting on his faith to shore up support with evangelicals. You best do the same with fiscal-cons, because most of us have known the Club for Growth a lot longer than we’ve known you. And we trust them.
Much of my recent interest in Huckabee has because of his candid public face. He comes off as a nice guy; he doesn’t reek of political corruption; and for the most part he seems like a realist. I am concerned about what sort of appointees he would designate, and I disagree with him on many social issues…but those are concerns that would presumably be kept in check by a Democratic Congress.
I definitely would be interested in hearing a fiscal “come to Jesus” meeting like Erick calls for.
1 response so far ↓
1 Vincent Freeman // 4 Dec 2007 at 1:02 pm
Huckabee is the smoothest politician since Bill Clinton (maybe it’s an Arkansas thing). As long as I don’t listen to the words he’s saying, I come away charmed. Everything he says supports that he’s a mixture of the evangelical half on the GOP, but anti-Barry Goldwater (the fiscally conservative side of the GOP). Huckabee is pro-life, anti-gay right, pro-2nd amendment, but is also pro-amnesty. However, unlike Reagen, who both parts of the GOP see as a greatest president in many of our lifetimes, Huckabee will almost certainly flipflop on his evangelical right principles when he endorses Giuiliani (who’s still the poll leader). Giuliani is pro-choice, pro-gay rights & pro-gun control.
During his tenture as Governor, he hiked up Arkansas tax burdens by 47%, while also taking state money to pay for personal lavish expenditures. The American Spectator reported that “Fourteen times, the ethics commission–a respected body, not a partisan witch-hunt group–investigated claims against Huckabee. Five of those times, it officially reprimanded him. And as only MSNBC among the big national media has reported at an real length, there were lots of other mini-scandals and embarrassments along the way.” Short article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/25/AR2007112501547_pf.html
I normally leave politician’s familiy out of such discussions, but his son is known for torturing animals, hanging them & stoning them to death. I’m all for innocent “boys will be boys”, but ask any psychologist about this. There is something seriously wrong w/ this family. There are so many anecdotes of Huckabee being two-faced & vindicative.
This guy is absolutely not the right guy to lead the GOP. He can’t win the general election, b/c he won’t get the moderate vote, and more details about his character will come out. Discounting the moderate vote, even the fiscally conservative GOP balk at electing him.