Huck throws down
Examiner feature on Huckabee. Relevant quotes:
“I have a hard time seeing [McCain] being elected president, just because I think, at times, some of his views have alienated very important segments of the Republican Party,” Huckabee says. But Huckabee himself risks alienating a significant segment of the Republican Party with his support for President Bush’s controversial guest-worker program, which would grant legal status to illegal aliens.....
Take taxes, for example. While Huckabee has cut some taxes as governor, he has raised others, earning the ire of fiscally conservative groups such as the Club for Growth.
“Just because you’ve cut taxes a couple of times, that doesn’t justify raising taxes,” says Andrew Roth, the club’s director of government affairs.
“The Club for Growth, for some reason, is all on my back, and I think, in part, because I had the audacity to challenge some of them," Huckabee said.
Huckabee devotes so much energy to the health issue that he sometimes sounds like he’s running for surgeon general, not president. This has caused some critics to write him off as a sort of political novelty act.
“They want to ghettoize me as a single-issue candidate, but I’m not,” he says.
Huckabee is certainly laying his stake with the SoCo's and he clearly has some bitterness with the anti-tax lobby and the first quote is interesting because you could sub out the word McCain and enter the word Huckabee and it would still be cogent.
Ghettoize?
Edit: We gave the Romney people a shot so it's time to be fair. Huckabloggers, what do you think of the article?
posted by Caucus Cooler at 9/13/2006
17 Comments:
Nice post. Ghettoize - word of the day, for sure.
Much to the chagrin of many bloggers, Huckabee is not a one-issue candidate. In fact, he rarely mentions his weight loss anymore. He does make a point that we can save somewhere around $700 billion of we were to eliminate chronic diseases primarily caused by smoking, over eating, and under exercising.
The taxes in question that he raised were highway taxes. Simply put, the state had one of the worst highway systems in the nation when he took office. They simply had to be redone. It wasn't an option. That's why taxes were raised, and most Arkansans are happy they were.
I think you omitted the best part of that article, Cooler.
Referring to the Club for Growth: “They like for you to just sort of bow and kiss their ring. And, you know, I’m not going to do that. I don’t care who they are.”
As far as the McCain comment, he's exactly right. McCain HAS alienated some of the conservative right. So has Giuliani. It's not really a bold statement, is it? You bloggers have said that for months now. Huckabee is just the person who said what everyone else has been writing.
On immigration, he knows that we cannot deport every illegal worker. Especially those with families who would be left behind. You cannot leave the kids of a family behind and kick the parents out. That's his compassion coming through. He cares about people, and that's what we have to do.
I won't get in to the economic disaster that would ensue from a mass deportation, but you and I know, it would be tragic.
Honestly, seriously, we need to level with ourselves. It is IMPOSSIBLE to deport every illegal. Say it again. It is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE. Not only would we have a shortage of workers, but the number of man hours and paperwork necessary...it would never be done. So lets deport those without families. Let's deport those who have only recently arrived illegally (if we can prove that). Let's deport those who are not entwined in the fabric of our society. But for those who are, we need to offer them a way to become legal, proud citizens of the United States.
Even if everything you say is true, show me how he raises the money to be a competitive threat to John McCain.
This race will be between McCain and someBODY, not five someBODIES.
Huckabee ain't gonna raise the dough. Go ahead and get all nostalgic about how the Iowa caucuses can slingshot someone, but it's too compressed - it doesn't work that way anymore.
So it's welcome to Iowa, thanks for playing... Now go home.
Hmmm... As an admitted Mitt backer, I applaud Huckabee's tough stance on Tobacco....
11:57, I agree that Iowa's value has been diminished, but it won't be a two-horse race. There are still three tickets out of Iowa, and I think there will be five people vieing for those spots.
I don't know about fundraising. I know about message. Why don't you tell me how McCain will appeal to conservative Iowans. And don't get all nostolgic on me and say because Larson or Terry Nelson is on his side. If the primaries told us anything, it's that endorsements don't mean jack anymore.
And we all know how often senators fail in POTUS races.
For us the most interesting part about Huckabee is not only that he is the opposite of a supply sider, but that he's not scared to admit it. That's where he stands. We think it's quite bold.
There hasn't been to our knowledge a serious politician who is a SoCo but also takes the same Christian philosphy to having the government help those in need. Will be interesting to see how that message plays.
Exactly, Cooler. He's a true compassionate conservative, across the board. A lot of people might not like him for some of those things, but he is who he is. That's why I like him. Plus, he made me think.
I wanted to export all illegals too, until I read about families in Arkansas who were exported, but their children were left behind. They then became a burden on society, going into government care. This is worse for the taxpayer AND the family.
Huckabee's (social) message and stance make perfect sense for those who try to live their lives like Christ.
I didn't say Iowa's role was diminished, to the contrary. It's more important than ever. My point is simply that it's not possible to use Iowa as a starting place where you can all of a sudden put serious money together to fund the remaining three weeks, which is what it will take to lock down this nomination.
McCain has one ticket. Romney should have another, barring some disastrous misstep. The final ticket may be relatively meaningless, unless it's Giuliani's if he has some kind of massive wave to ride due to some unforeseen circumstance (another NY terrorist attack, for instance).
Huckabee, whom I think is a great guy with a good chance for the nomination, is the perfect example of the great diversity of thought within the same general ideological alliances that make up our party.
No one is going to agree with Huck on every issue, and I'm pretty far from his immigration position for example, but can ANYONE think of any Democrat that wouldn't govern far to the left on immigration policy, and for the far worse reasons of racial and electoral exploitation of new Americans to accelerate the multi-cultural nightmare vision of the liberal left?
P.S. There are four and maybe five tickets out of Iowa this year. I think we are going to have a wild season in '07-'08 guys.
By the way, humor contest at http://therealsporer.blogspot.com/
Hmmm.... Ted, my friend. 3 tickets out of Iowa. Always has been the case, always will it be.....
Two of which, perhaps even three will be Republican Governors.....
WAR Republican Governors
BTW Ted, Aren't you forgetting something in our Fantasy Football League?
I would still like to know why conservative Iowans would vote for McCain. I admitted not knowing much about Huckabee's fundraising, but I definitely know about his message and why he'll appeal to SoCos across the state. I know why Brownback and Romney appeal to voters. I do NOT see how McCain does.
They say an elephant never forgets. I won't forget his stance on ethanol, gay marriage, teaming up with Feingold to appeal to moderates, and of course, his skipping Iowa last time. That's gonna hurt him, I'd imagine.
The Club for Growth is a one-issue organization. That's it's job and we can't fault it for doing it. It wants taxes cut AT ALL COSTS, without consideration for what such cuts might do to the most vulnerable members of society. That's it's position, but it is unworkable in a real-world environment. For example, it harshly criticized Huckabee for opposing the Bush administration's plan to cut a program that matches a nursing home taxes collected by the states that is then used to reimburse the nursing homes for care they provide to Medicaid and Medicare patients. All the Bush admin (and The Club for Growth) cared about was cutting over $3 billion from Federal outlays -- what Huckabee cared about, however, was that the result would be a $6 billion cut from nursing homes' reimbursements from the states..leading to cuts in services, poor quality of care, and higher out-of-pocket costs for the most vulnerable members of society.
Tax-cutting rhetoric is easy. Throwing stroke patients and people with feeding tubes out on the street isn't.
BSR
As someone who didn't know anything about Huckabee before reading this post (and the linked article), I appreciate the thoughtful discourse between all of you.
It is a great point on immigration. While none of us want to reward breaking the laws of this country, mass deportation is not workable. People seem to think that such a move would provide more open jobs for the American citizens that are either out-of-work or underpaid, but they neglect the fact that illegals are not occupying the $15+/hour jobs in this country.
If we deport all of them, you are going to find yourself waiting at the grocery store for three hours to get checked out, your fruits and veggies are going to triple in price, and a lot of the other services we rely on every day are going to shut down or slow down, from service at bars and restaurants on down the line to the people that repair the drive through car wash you stop at once a week.
These 11 million people should by no means be rewarded. However, mass deportation is something that no one should want. We won't be able to afford the consequences.
WAR Republican Governors
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