Regular readers of this blog know I’m no fan of Mike Huckabee. If you need a refresher:
- Huckabee surge is bad news for serious, coherent conservatives
- Why not Huckabee? The slime
- Colorado GOP should heed Kafer and Hillman, not Parker and Huckabee
Today, Dr. Jay Greene brought my attention to a story from Arkansas that further highlights the problem. Mike Huckabee’s populist themes, identity politics, and underhanded tactics are complemented by his dedication to old-fashioned Southern cronyism. Conservatism and the movement it represents appear to be little more than tools in Huckabee’s political toolbox.
Or, as Jay Greene puts it:
The Huck’s indifference to ideas and obsession with building his personal political network, make Don Corleone look like an advocate for the civil service.
If the Republican Party is to have hope for a coherently conservative (not to mention successful) future, Mike Huckabee cannot be its leader and standard-bearer. We can do a lot better.
I wish Huckabee well in his television career.
I am a conservative of about 35 years. I’ve always been conservative. I subscribed to national review when it was a more intelligent journal in the 70’s. Huckabee is not only coherent, he was the most conservative candidate in the recent admittedly weak Republican field.
Do yoour research. Don’t just swallow the reports of people with political or personal vendetta’s. Huckabee opposed these manic bailout activities from the start. He supports revolutionizing the tax system, eliminating income taxes and the IRS. He had the most strict and throughly articulated plan to deal with illegal immigrants. He was way ahead of the curve on the need to appeal to Hispanic and black populations, which the recent election demonstrated dramatically. In his reelection as governor, Huckabee won 47% of the black vote.
About what do you suppose he is incoherent? Do you just consider anyone who is a Christian incoherent?
I have done my research. He showed himself to be conservative on some issues during the Republican primary, but he certainly wasn’t the most conservative in the field (Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, Ron Paul in his own way, come to mind). On issues like education reform, his positions are weak.
I have compared Huck’s stances with his record as governor, especially on tax and fiscal issues. It is concerning to me how many enemies he has left within the Arkansas GOP, and observations like this post concerning his cronyist approach to politics.
Sure, he happens to be right on some issues, but for the reasons articulated we don’t need him as a national leader of the party. I am open to being convinced otherwise, but I’ve yet to see a compelling case.
And no, I don’t “consider anyone who is a Christian incoherent”. I am a devout Christian myself. Feel free to search through my blog or just read my bio:
https://bendegrow.com/who-writes-this-blog/
I would argue that Mike Huckabee was the LEAST fiscally conservative of the non-nominees who ran for President, including Rudy Giuliani.
Huckabee had his social conservative bona fides, but also the big government mentality. If Obama could paint John McCain as a third term of President Bush, he would have had a field day with Huckabee. Huckabee would have expanded the “Compassionate Conservative” (read big government) programs. In addition, his nasty rhetoric about businesses and his not-so-subtle attacks on Mitt Romney’s faith makes one question his temperament for leadership.
I do think there is a place for Mike Huckabee in the Republican Party, and I do not dislike him as a person. He has been a solid supporter of Republican candidates and a large fundraiser. But, as a standard bearer, I’m afraid that Mike Huckabee is the wrong person around which to rebuild the Republican party.
Plus, ol’ Mike didn’t diss th’ Confederate Battle Flag, like ol’ Juan Mequeno ‘n MItt Romney did.
http://coloradoconfederatarian.squarespace.com/journal/2008/1/17/albannach.html?SSLoginOk=true
I have no inclination to question your Christianity. Are you doubting that I am a conservative?
My first vote was cast in the 1976 primary for Reagan, against incumbent president Ford. I further voted for Reagan 4 more times in primaries and generals in ’80 and ’84. I supported Huckabee from before he announced until his withdrawal and studied his ecord and rhetoric all year. Huckabee signed tax increases as governor to 1) rebuild a dilapidated highway system, 2) improve schools after a Supreme Court order, and 3) to update and maintain public parks and game areas. That’s the stuff for which STATE GOVERNMENTS EXIST. Both highways and schools (with Huckabee’s accountability measures) improved from near the bottom to the top 10% in the country.
The Club for Growth’s yearlong anti-Hickabee campaign was a payoff to some of their largest contributors. A couple were wealthy Romney supporters and one was an Arkansas billionaire for whom governor Huckabee had not suitably hopped to on a pet project.. It’s not nice to not carry water for billionaires; especially in Arkansas.
Romney was a political and shamelessly posturing poliotical adversary. His expertise was in tax and expense savings specifically for the wealthy. The Fair Tax Huckabee supports poses economic vitality FOR EVERYONE. Thompson likewise picked up on the “liberal” line when he decided to compete in SC. He succeeded in diverting enough support to throw SC to McCain, his old buddy for whom he was, for example, a McCain-Feingold co-sponsor. That’s not what I call sterling conservatism. Duncan Hunter was a good guy. But, he hadn’t a fraction of Huckabee’s personal appeal. So, who did Hunter endorse when he dropped out? Huckabee.
You don’t know me, but I’m a far-cry from a dupe for liberals, or for that matter for posturing conservatives like Romney and Thompson. On many issues, Romney ran to the left of Ted Kennedy when he ran for The Senate in MA. And, he introduced a health-care mandate as governor. He spoke at my state’s convention banquet. To me, I heard conservative button-pushing, not lucid conservative philosophy.
Thompson is sentimentally conservative, but not intellectually lucid: McCain-Feingold was manifestly unconstitutional, for one thing. McCain just said he’d rather be unconstitutional than watch big money buy favors. I’d rather fire the favor-givers.
The other thing about Huckabee besides the fact that he’s more lucid and conservative than these others, is that I read of and met liberals who said, I disagree with him on a lot of his positions, but I like him. That doesn’t grow on trees.