OK! I've got to write this fast since he might drop out of the presidential race at any minute. At last look, Mike Huckabee was in deep financial trouble, having only won one primary vote and heading into Florida and Super Tuesday.
What can we say about Mike Huckabee? Well, the former Baptist minister who turned politician in 1992, is the Legacy Media's second favorite Republican candidate, right behind John McCain. He has authored several books and he was the governor of Arkansas from 1992 until 2007. Time Magazine named him, in 2005, one of the five best governors in America, while the CATO Institute gave him a grade of "F" for his spending and tax policies.
Mike Huckabee is betting on his ministry in the Church to bolster his electability with evangelical Christians. Unfortunately for him, I doubt evangelical Christians are as one dimensional as they'd need to be to vote for him. Huckabee is, for instance, quite strong on the Life issue, calling for an amendment to the Constitution to ban abortion. Yet he allowed a convicted rapist to be released, only to find said rapist went on to rape and murder another woman in Missouri.
He tries to talk tough on immigration, yet he, for all intents and purposes, tried to turn Arkansas into a sanctuary state.
He cites Ronald Reagan and touts his own tax cuts, but the simple fact is, under his stewardship Arkansas spending went up 65.3%, according to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, while taxes rose more than half a billion dollars.
Mike Huckabee poses a number of problems for Conservatives, of which evangelical Christians form a subset. He is trying to remake the Republican Party in his own, more moderate image. Unfortunately for Huckabee, Conservatism is the bedrock of the GOP. Without Conservatism, Republican candidates tend to lose, and lose big.
Examples of this abound in elections past: Al Damato, in New York, was reelected like clock-work, until he moved away from his Pro-Life stances. George H.W. Bush lost his presidency by moving to the Left on taxes. Even Mitt Romney lost a Senate race to Ted Kennedy only when he tried to move to the Left. The Democrats that got elected to Congress in 2006 were running to the Right of the Republican candidates.
Conservatism wins every time it is run on. Which will also serve to explain why Mike Huckabee is the second favorite Republican candidate of the Legacy Media.
First, the Legacy Media likes Huckabee for his Liberal stances on some issues: taxes and spending, social programs, immigration, and the like. The Legacy Media has been in the tank for these Leftist causes for decades, and, despite the inroads made by the New Media, show little sign of changing their minds.
Second, the Legacy Media knows that, should Huckabee get the nomination, they and their allies in the Democratic Party, can portray him as a religious nut, who is out of touch even with his own constituency, the evangelical Christians.
Would some evangelicals like to see an antiabortion amendment to the Constitutions? Sure, they would. But would most of them? Not likely, folks! The Pro-Life Movement will be happy with merely overturning Roe v. Wade and turning the matter back to the states, where it belongs. Besides, the Pro-Life Movement wants real solutions, not pie-in-the-sky proposals that will never garner the supermajority they need in Congress, let alone among the state legislatures. A Right to Life Amendment stands no chance of approval at either the congressional or the state level.
And they would certainly be opposed to opening our borders to anybody who can walk across from Mexico. With polling ranging from 60% to 75% opposed to open borders and sanctuary cities and states, I doubt few folks will go along with a Huckabee presidency.
And then there's the issue of health and the government's role in protecting it. Mike Huckabee used to be overweight, until just a few years ago. Upon losing his weight, quitting smoking and going on an exercise regime (all admirable endeavors, to be sure) he decided that he would do for everyone what he had done for himself. Unfortunately, that means a highly intrusive government. He would legislate against fatty foods, smoking, sedentary lifestyles, and anything else he thinks is unhealthy. He has been noted in the media to have proposed banning tobacco everywhere in the United States. These are not at all Conservative ideas.
Taxes and spending, alone, ought to finish Mike off. The Conservative base is looking for someone to wear the Reagan mantle. Huckabee is definitely not that guy.
All in all, while I believe that Huckabee is superior to anyone in the Democratic field, I would hope he is defeated for the Republican nomination. He agrees with the Democrats on far too many issues. And, as has been observed in the past: "When given a choice between a Democrat and a Democrat, the people will take the Democrat every time!" Of course, that was said by Harry Truman about Conservative Democrats voting with the Republicans, but you get my drift.
You can't beat the Left by moving to the Left. Mike Huckabee is just a bit too Leftish and, as such, deserves to lose the nomination in the Republican Party.
Copyright Jan. 23rd, 2008
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