Thursday 20 December 2007
Wednesday 19 December 2007
Port and Cigar Club Scared.
December 19, 2007
Limbaugh, Hannity Irk Base on Huckabee, Highlight Top-Down Clash
By Dean Powers
The corporate secularist policy makers for the Republican Party are in the midst of an all-out "Anybody but Huckabee" war chant.
The New York Times, in their "Caucus" blog, points click here to leading conservatives Richard Lowry and Stephen Hayes, both attacking Huckabee in the National Review, as examples of this clash.
Well, what's the problem? Mike Huckabee is actually an authentic Evangelical Christian, who may even have a conscience.
As governor of Arkansas, his second act to signing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in 2004 was a campaign to promote stronger and more binding marriages. These "convenant marriages" are augmented by a contract that makes it harder for heterosexual couples to divorce.
The lack of enthusiasm for covenant marriages, in even the reddest of red states, is one sign that Huckabee (unlike Mitt Romney) adopts his political views as an authentic expression of his faith rather than to exploit the Christian base.
Only Arkansas, Arizona and Louisiana offer couples the option to upgrade their marriage. Legislation was introduced but not passed in, get this: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.
What? How could Republican leaders so obsessed with Jesus fail to pass legislation that would strengthen the family? Because it does not effectively mobilize and exploit the Evangelical base.
In fact the only reason that Republicans like Larry Craig, Mark Foley, and Ted Haggard oppose gay marriage is because it makes them look more religious than a year's worth of perfect attendance at the local church. They can have sex men because they oppose same-sex marriage.
Huckabee is different, and the Republicans who represent the values of Larry Craig, Mark Foley and Ted Haggard simply can't stand the fact that there is finally an authentic Christian in the presidential running.
Rush Limbaugh, who likes to use "bending over and grabbing its ankles" in tandem with a invocation of the Congress of the United States of America (on a national broadcast that reaches children), attacked Huckabee today hiding behind the commentary of William Gheen to do the hit job. Gheen is the vitriolic president of Americans for Legal Immigration..
Limbaugh quoted Gheen and by extension warned his listeners that with regard to Huckabee, "A major deception is underway here."
"This is one of the attacks on Huckabee, one of the many one of the complaints is that he is disingenuous, and sort of Clintonesque. Will say whatever he has to say to whatever audience he is speaking to."
Of course Limbaugh could say he is simply reporting what is already out there for public consumption, but attacking Huckabee fits a pattern. Just the day before, Limbaugh fielded a caller who liked Huckabee--many do.
Limbaugh, working as a Republican Company spokesman, tried to subtly dissuade the man by pointing out that Huckabee wrote Bush has a "bunker like mentality" on foreign policy.
He then compared Huckabee and his "cult-like" following to the 1996 presidential campaign of Ross Perot. This time, Limbaugh hopes his listeners will heed his warnings: things are not always what they seem.
Rush and his allies are wrong. Huckabee is the man for the Republican Party ticket, and as Iowa draws near, more and more people are realizing this.
That so many Republican Company spokespeople are so out of touch with their base is a compelling reminder that the Republican Party is in a full-out tail spin going into 2008. These people are getting sloppy and its beginning to show.
Also on Monday, Sean Hannity pulled a "phony soldiers" hit job on one of his callers who was trying to support Mike Huckabee's opinion of President Bush's foreign policy. The caller was clearly a Republican who supported Huckabee's opinion, but all Hannity heard was "If you're pro-life from the womb, why aren't you pro-life in foreign policy."
His caller rebuffed that she simply opposed a bull-headed foreign policy that creates more enemies than it eliminates. Right then and there, Hannity cut her out of the Republican fold by panning to the audience and saying something like, "This is how a liberal thinks."
The message was clear: all Republicans must bow at the altar of Sean Hannity.
I know this is confusing. Some of you are thinking, "How could these Republicans claim that their party embodies the Christian mantle and turn their back on Huckabee? After all, they supported President Bush."
They could support Bush whole-heartedly, because he, through his father, had secularist corporate connections up the tail pipe. All Bush had to do was plug in some key Christian phrases and the populace would elect him and give him free reign to give Halliburton our tax dollars by the billion; to let oil companies evade taxes and get tax breaks while we're paying for it at the pump.
Meanwhile, Evangelicals got left behind. They were used and exploited for their beliefs and all they got was a bumper sticker. In fact, Christians should make a conscious decision to avoid any candidate upon whom the Republican Company spokespeople pin their endorsement.
Evangelicals around the nation must take notice. We are finally seeing a clash between secularist-corporate-interest Republicans who exploit the Evangelical Christian vote and actual Evangelicals who see in Mike Huckabee an authentic spokesperson for their beliefs.
Will Evangelicals allow themselves to be fooled again by the Republican Company media and instead endorse a secularist corporate Republican like Mitt Romney who decided he opposed gay marriage at about the same time he set his eyes on the White House?
Or will they abandon the wolves that are trying to shepherd their flock and vote for Mike Huckabee?
Limbaugh, Hannity Irk Base on Huckabee, Highlight Top-Down Clash
By Dean Powers
The corporate secularist policy makers for the Republican Party are in the midst of an all-out "Anybody but Huckabee" war chant.
The New York Times, in their "Caucus" blog, points click here to leading conservatives Richard Lowry and Stephen Hayes, both attacking Huckabee in the National Review, as examples of this clash.
Well, what's the problem? Mike Huckabee is actually an authentic Evangelical Christian, who may even have a conscience.
As governor of Arkansas, his second act to signing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in 2004 was a campaign to promote stronger and more binding marriages. These "convenant marriages" are augmented by a contract that makes it harder for heterosexual couples to divorce.
The lack of enthusiasm for covenant marriages, in even the reddest of red states, is one sign that Huckabee (unlike Mitt Romney) adopts his political views as an authentic expression of his faith rather than to exploit the Christian base.
Only Arkansas, Arizona and Louisiana offer couples the option to upgrade their marriage. Legislation was introduced but not passed in, get this: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.
What? How could Republican leaders so obsessed with Jesus fail to pass legislation that would strengthen the family? Because it does not effectively mobilize and exploit the Evangelical base.
In fact the only reason that Republicans like Larry Craig, Mark Foley, and Ted Haggard oppose gay marriage is because it makes them look more religious than a year's worth of perfect attendance at the local church. They can have sex men because they oppose same-sex marriage.
Huckabee is different, and the Republicans who represent the values of Larry Craig, Mark Foley and Ted Haggard simply can't stand the fact that there is finally an authentic Christian in the presidential running.
Rush Limbaugh, who likes to use "bending over and grabbing its ankles" in tandem with a invocation of the Congress of the United States of America (on a national broadcast that reaches children), attacked Huckabee today hiding behind the commentary of William Gheen to do the hit job. Gheen is the vitriolic president of Americans for Legal Immigration..
Limbaugh quoted Gheen and by extension warned his listeners that with regard to Huckabee, "A major deception is underway here."
"This is one of the attacks on Huckabee, one of the many one of the complaints is that he is disingenuous, and sort of Clintonesque. Will say whatever he has to say to whatever audience he is speaking to."
Of course Limbaugh could say he is simply reporting what is already out there for public consumption, but attacking Huckabee fits a pattern. Just the day before, Limbaugh fielded a caller who liked Huckabee--many do.
Limbaugh, working as a Republican Company spokesman, tried to subtly dissuade the man by pointing out that Huckabee wrote Bush has a "bunker like mentality" on foreign policy.
He then compared Huckabee and his "cult-like" following to the 1996 presidential campaign of Ross Perot. This time, Limbaugh hopes his listeners will heed his warnings: things are not always what they seem.
Rush and his allies are wrong. Huckabee is the man for the Republican Party ticket, and as Iowa draws near, more and more people are realizing this.
That so many Republican Company spokespeople are so out of touch with their base is a compelling reminder that the Republican Party is in a full-out tail spin going into 2008. These people are getting sloppy and its beginning to show.
Also on Monday, Sean Hannity pulled a "phony soldiers" hit job on one of his callers who was trying to support Mike Huckabee's opinion of President Bush's foreign policy. The caller was clearly a Republican who supported Huckabee's opinion, but all Hannity heard was "If you're pro-life from the womb, why aren't you pro-life in foreign policy."
His caller rebuffed that she simply opposed a bull-headed foreign policy that creates more enemies than it eliminates. Right then and there, Hannity cut her out of the Republican fold by panning to the audience and saying something like, "This is how a liberal thinks."
The message was clear: all Republicans must bow at the altar of Sean Hannity.
I know this is confusing. Some of you are thinking, "How could these Republicans claim that their party embodies the Christian mantle and turn their back on Huckabee? After all, they supported President Bush."
They could support Bush whole-heartedly, because he, through his father, had secularist corporate connections up the tail pipe. All Bush had to do was plug in some key Christian phrases and the populace would elect him and give him free reign to give Halliburton our tax dollars by the billion; to let oil companies evade taxes and get tax breaks while we're paying for it at the pump.
Meanwhile, Evangelicals got left behind. They were used and exploited for their beliefs and all they got was a bumper sticker. In fact, Christians should make a conscious decision to avoid any candidate upon whom the Republican Company spokespeople pin their endorsement.
Evangelicals around the nation must take notice. We are finally seeing a clash between secularist-corporate-interest Republicans who exploit the Evangelical Christian vote and actual Evangelicals who see in Mike Huckabee an authentic spokesperson for their beliefs.
Will Evangelicals allow themselves to be fooled again by the Republican Company media and instead endorse a secularist corporate Republican like Mitt Romney who decided he opposed gay marriage at about the same time he set his eyes on the White House?
Or will they abandon the wolves that are trying to shepherd their flock and vote for Mike Huckabee?
Paula Opinion - Time to Fess-Up
I think it would be wise for big money Republicans to fess-up and admit that the word 'Liberal' now means something very different than once thought.
I have scrutinized Huckabee's so called "Liberalisms" and the only thing conclusive is that Huckabee doesn't think like the rest of the snooty, upscale politicians. Instead, his "Liberal" crime is that he thinks like a man with hope.
Huckabee is not a member of the Big-Business-Boy's-club and doesn't feel the need to support/design laws that keep him and his well-to-do friends in the Luxury-Zone. His compassion for the everyday man has caused an uproar among the now common, old-money, self-indulgent Republicans, and we can now see - in full view - these power hungry men punching, kicking and scratching up anything - even a lie- to shut Huckabee down. I believe a Huckabee win is so scary for all the uni-brow, port swigging and cigar smoking gents who are known to pay themselves $5million bonus' and in the same breathe lay off 300 workers. So their plan.... attack, attack and then re-attack on the same issues - even if the evidence is weak hoping that the majority of voters will not check out the real story. Isn't power and money mixed with fear an incredible motivator?
As Dean Powers wrote today...
"We are finally seeing a clash between secularist-corporate-interest Republicans who exploit the Evangelical Christian vote and actual Evangelicals who see in Mike Huckabee an authentic spokesperson for their beliefs."
Yes, we Christians are looking for a candidate with a responsible heart and vision to take our country forward for ALL people, not just the wealthy. I personally prefer to call Huckabee "The Generous Republican."
Oh and by the way...Many people can see right through Romney's repetitive accusations. Not only are they all just a can of unsubstantiated and opinionated rubbish, but they continue to highlight just how whiny, boring and desperate Romney's campaign must be. There. That was my sling for the day!
I have scrutinized Huckabee's so called "Liberalisms" and the only thing conclusive is that Huckabee doesn't think like the rest of the snooty, upscale politicians. Instead, his "Liberal" crime is that he thinks like a man with hope.
Huckabee is not a member of the Big-Business-Boy's-club and doesn't feel the need to support/design laws that keep him and his well-to-do friends in the Luxury-Zone. His compassion for the everyday man has caused an uproar among the now common, old-money, self-indulgent Republicans, and we can now see - in full view - these power hungry men punching, kicking and scratching up anything - even a lie- to shut Huckabee down. I believe a Huckabee win is so scary for all the uni-brow, port swigging and cigar smoking gents who are known to pay themselves $5million bonus' and in the same breathe lay off 300 workers. So their plan.... attack, attack and then re-attack on the same issues - even if the evidence is weak hoping that the majority of voters will not check out the real story. Isn't power and money mixed with fear an incredible motivator?
As Dean Powers wrote today...
"We are finally seeing a clash between secularist-corporate-interest Republicans who exploit the Evangelical Christian vote and actual Evangelicals who see in Mike Huckabee an authentic spokesperson for their beliefs."
Yes, we Christians are looking for a candidate with a responsible heart and vision to take our country forward for ALL people, not just the wealthy. I personally prefer to call Huckabee "The Generous Republican."
Oh and by the way...Many people can see right through Romney's repetitive accusations. Not only are they all just a can of unsubstantiated and opinionated rubbish, but they continue to highlight just how whiny, boring and desperate Romney's campaign must be. There. That was my sling for the day!
Democrats Vote to Undermine Security
News Release: Mike Huckabee Charges Speaker Pelosi with Sending “Lump of Coal to Troops in Iraq”
December 18, 2007
LITTLE ROCK, AR – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat leadership failed to support American troops fighting the Global War on Terrorism yesterday by passing a $515 billion omnibus spending bill that included funding for all Cabinet agencies, except the Department of Defense, and specifically did not include funding for the Iraq war. The bill, passed in a hurry so Congress can go home for Christmas, allows spending to support our troops in Afghanistan, but not in Iraq.
“Last night, Speaker Pelosi and her fellow Democrats passed a spending bill that concealed a lump of coal for our troops serving overseas in Iraq,” former Arkansas Governor and Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said. “Democrats are signaling that they are unhappy with the fact that our surge in Iraq is working. Violence is down. Order is being restored. And terrorists are learning they are not welcomed by the people of Iraq.”
The Senate is expected to add funding for the troops in Iraq in debate today. “But why is the House leadership playing politics with funding for the war?” asked Huckabee.
Additionally, the spending bill, written by Democrats and passed 253-154 with mostly Democrat votes, undermines the 2006 Secure Fence Act. That act specifically required a two-tier barrier, like the one that has worked in California; the new version downgrades the provision to require only a single-tier barrier. The Pelosi spending bill also eliminated the list of locations where the fence would be built.
“This serious reduction in security along our southern border was buried in a massive, 3,500-page bill. Nancy Pelosi hoped it would go unnoticed by the American people. Republican are serious about making our borders secure,” Huckabee said. “This effort to sneak one by the people is just another move in a continuing pattern Democrats have established to prevent resolving our illegal immigration crisis.”
December 18, 2007
LITTLE ROCK, AR – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat leadership failed to support American troops fighting the Global War on Terrorism yesterday by passing a $515 billion omnibus spending bill that included funding for all Cabinet agencies, except the Department of Defense, and specifically did not include funding for the Iraq war. The bill, passed in a hurry so Congress can go home for Christmas, allows spending to support our troops in Afghanistan, but not in Iraq.
“Last night, Speaker Pelosi and her fellow Democrats passed a spending bill that concealed a lump of coal for our troops serving overseas in Iraq,” former Arkansas Governor and Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said. “Democrats are signaling that they are unhappy with the fact that our surge in Iraq is working. Violence is down. Order is being restored. And terrorists are learning they are not welcomed by the people of Iraq.”
The Senate is expected to add funding for the troops in Iraq in debate today. “But why is the House leadership playing politics with funding for the war?” asked Huckabee.
Additionally, the spending bill, written by Democrats and passed 253-154 with mostly Democrat votes, undermines the 2006 Secure Fence Act. That act specifically required a two-tier barrier, like the one that has worked in California; the new version downgrades the provision to require only a single-tier barrier. The Pelosi spending bill also eliminated the list of locations where the fence would be built.
“This serious reduction in security along our southern border was buried in a massive, 3,500-page bill. Nancy Pelosi hoped it would go unnoticed by the American people. Republican are serious about making our borders secure,” Huckabee said. “This effort to sneak one by the people is just another move in a continuing pattern Democrats have established to prevent resolving our illegal immigration crisis.”
Tuesday 18 December 2007
Ask the People From His Past - The Arkansas Residents.
Huckabee's sudden rise mirrors his past success
Mike Madden
Republic Washington Bureau
Dec. 18, 2007 12:00 AM
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Until a few weeks ago, Mike Huckabee was an unknown commodity to most of the country.
Not in Arkansas, though. As governor for more than 10 years, Huckabee kept a high profile in the state, whether he was pushing for highway improvements or exhorting his fellow citizens to lose weight.
In many ways, the Republican's lingering image here reflects how he is coming off nationally as he tries to maintain leads in the GOP presidential races in Iowa and South Carolina: He is well-liked by social conservatives and detested by fiscal ones, yet appreciated by both sides for his wit and charisma.
As lieutenant governor, he moved up to governor in July 1996 when Democratic Gov. Jim Guy Tucker resigned after a fraud conviction. Huckabee then won two terms of his own.
He left the statehouse in January and started what looked like a long-shot presidential campaign. Now, propelled by support from evangelical Christians in Iowa, Huckabee leads polls there and is second to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in most national surveys.
For those here who know Huckabee, his sudden rise in the GOP presidential campaign mirrors his career in Arkansas politics, where he blended social conservatism with economic populism and used his quick wit and roots as a Southern Baptist preacher to win over voters.
In the complicated logic of a wide-open GOP primary contest, Huckabee could help Arizona Sen. John McCain's attempt to revive his own presidential campaign.
If Huckabee beats former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Iowa, McCain's aides believe, it would slow Romney's momentum enough to help McCain win the next primary in New Hampshire.
"Anything but a comfortable victory for Mitt Romney in Iowa throws big question marks," said Dave Roederer, McCain's campaign chairman in Iowa.
After months leading the polls in Iowa, Romney now is calling himself the underdog, trailing Huckabee even though he has poured millions of dollars into building an organization in Iowa.
Huckabee's views resonate in his home state, as well.
"The fact is that he placed himself squarely where most Arkansans are," said Janine Parry, a political-science professor at the University of Arkansas who runs the school's Arkansas Poll.
Parry noted that 55 percent of Arkansas voters last year said they still liked Huckabee, 10 years after he took office.
"(That's) pretty respectable, especially for anyone who's served more than six to eight years in public life," Parry said. "It's ample time for everyone to be disappointed in you at least once."
On the campaign trail, Huckabee, 52, talks frequently and proudly about his accomplishments here:
How he pushed for badly needed improvements to the state's highway and road infrastructure; how he expanded ArKids First, the state's health-insurance program for children in poor and working-class families; how he championed school reforms that consolidated several rural districts, although he disagreed with the Democratic Legislature about the final shape of that plan.
He occasionally was more liberal than his current campaign positions. On immigration, he pushed to allow in-state tuition for some illegal-immigrant kids who graduated from Arkansas high schools, although he lost that fight. He recruited the Mexican government to open a consulate in the state, and he opposed a Republican bill in the Legislature that would have denied health care for undocumented immigrants.
Still, throughout his tenure, Huckabee was a Republican governor in a Democratic state, with a constitution that limited the power he could wield on his own. That left him with a narrow margin in which to operate.
"He was a pragmatic conservative, not an ideologue, and I saw that as his strong point," said Rex Nelson, a former Arkansas political journalist and Huckabee's spokesman for most of his gubernatorial term. "He didn't just run for office; he was able to govern once he got into office."
Some of Huckabee's pragmatic politicking infuriated the Republican base in Arkansas, especially his support for various tax increases that helped fund some of the improvements he advocated.
Huckabee campaigned aggressively to raise taxes on diesel fuel and gasoline to pay for road projects, a sales-tax increase to improve state parks and a tax on nursing homes to cover Medicaid shortfalls. Although his campaign touts the 90 taxes he cut overall, the state's tax revenues increased during his tenure by almost $500 million.
"He thinks about government as running a business, and he needs more revenue to run his programs, and he doesn't think twice about increasing those taxes," said Patrick Briney, head of the Arkansas Republican Assembly, a conservative group that has been loudly critical of Huckabee's tax record.
The Club for Growth, a national anti-tax organization, also has blasted his policy, buying hundreds of thousands of dollars of anti-Huckabee advertising in New Hampshire and other key primary states.
In debates and in stump speeches, Huckabee's jokes and one-liners have helped him attract attention on the presidential trail. He also employed wit during his days as governor.
Critics say, though, that he frequently took disagreements personally and that he could flash a temper that so far hasn't appeared much in his national campaign.
He once ordered his press office to take the Arkansas Times, a Little Rock alternative weekly paper, off the list for press releases. He called conservative Republicans who differed with him about financial issues "Shiites," implying they were radicals.
"If you did not agree with him on a policy issue, he took it personally," said Randy Minton of Ward, Ark., a former GOP lawmaker who was one of Huckabee's critics. Minton campaigned for Huckabee during elections in the 1990s but split with him about taxes.
Huckabee mostly shrugs off such attacks, saying the taxes were necessary to pay for popular programs. His allies point out that Minton and other critics are so conservative that they are marginalized in Arkansas politics, something on which analysts agree.
"This is the scrutiny that I've been going through since I first put my name on the ballot in 1992. And for me, it's sort of like, 'Gosh, do they not have anything new?' " Huckabee said last week while campaigning in Iowa.
Among Arkansans, the affable nature Huckabee displays on the campaign trail mostly helped keep him popular.
"He's like a common guy," said Ron Platzer, 65, a salesman from Hot Springs, Ark.
Reach the reporter at mike .madden@arizonarepublic.com.
Mike Madden
Republic Washington Bureau
Dec. 18, 2007 12:00 AM
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Until a few weeks ago, Mike Huckabee was an unknown commodity to most of the country.
Not in Arkansas, though. As governor for more than 10 years, Huckabee kept a high profile in the state, whether he was pushing for highway improvements or exhorting his fellow citizens to lose weight.
In many ways, the Republican's lingering image here reflects how he is coming off nationally as he tries to maintain leads in the GOP presidential races in Iowa and South Carolina: He is well-liked by social conservatives and detested by fiscal ones, yet appreciated by both sides for his wit and charisma.
As lieutenant governor, he moved up to governor in July 1996 when Democratic Gov. Jim Guy Tucker resigned after a fraud conviction. Huckabee then won two terms of his own.
He left the statehouse in January and started what looked like a long-shot presidential campaign. Now, propelled by support from evangelical Christians in Iowa, Huckabee leads polls there and is second to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in most national surveys.
For those here who know Huckabee, his sudden rise in the GOP presidential campaign mirrors his career in Arkansas politics, where he blended social conservatism with economic populism and used his quick wit and roots as a Southern Baptist preacher to win over voters.
In the complicated logic of a wide-open GOP primary contest, Huckabee could help Arizona Sen. John McCain's attempt to revive his own presidential campaign.
If Huckabee beats former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Iowa, McCain's aides believe, it would slow Romney's momentum enough to help McCain win the next primary in New Hampshire.
"Anything but a comfortable victory for Mitt Romney in Iowa throws big question marks," said Dave Roederer, McCain's campaign chairman in Iowa.
After months leading the polls in Iowa, Romney now is calling himself the underdog, trailing Huckabee even though he has poured millions of dollars into building an organization in Iowa.
Huckabee's views resonate in his home state, as well.
"The fact is that he placed himself squarely where most Arkansans are," said Janine Parry, a political-science professor at the University of Arkansas who runs the school's Arkansas Poll.
Parry noted that 55 percent of Arkansas voters last year said they still liked Huckabee, 10 years after he took office.
"(That's) pretty respectable, especially for anyone who's served more than six to eight years in public life," Parry said. "It's ample time for everyone to be disappointed in you at least once."
On the campaign trail, Huckabee, 52, talks frequently and proudly about his accomplishments here:
How he pushed for badly needed improvements to the state's highway and road infrastructure; how he expanded ArKids First, the state's health-insurance program for children in poor and working-class families; how he championed school reforms that consolidated several rural districts, although he disagreed with the Democratic Legislature about the final shape of that plan.
He occasionally was more liberal than his current campaign positions. On immigration, he pushed to allow in-state tuition for some illegal-immigrant kids who graduated from Arkansas high schools, although he lost that fight. He recruited the Mexican government to open a consulate in the state, and he opposed a Republican bill in the Legislature that would have denied health care for undocumented immigrants.
Still, throughout his tenure, Huckabee was a Republican governor in a Democratic state, with a constitution that limited the power he could wield on his own. That left him with a narrow margin in which to operate.
"He was a pragmatic conservative, not an ideologue, and I saw that as his strong point," said Rex Nelson, a former Arkansas political journalist and Huckabee's spokesman for most of his gubernatorial term. "He didn't just run for office; he was able to govern once he got into office."
Some of Huckabee's pragmatic politicking infuriated the Republican base in Arkansas, especially his support for various tax increases that helped fund some of the improvements he advocated.
Huckabee campaigned aggressively to raise taxes on diesel fuel and gasoline to pay for road projects, a sales-tax increase to improve state parks and a tax on nursing homes to cover Medicaid shortfalls. Although his campaign touts the 90 taxes he cut overall, the state's tax revenues increased during his tenure by almost $500 million.
"He thinks about government as running a business, and he needs more revenue to run his programs, and he doesn't think twice about increasing those taxes," said Patrick Briney, head of the Arkansas Republican Assembly, a conservative group that has been loudly critical of Huckabee's tax record.
The Club for Growth, a national anti-tax organization, also has blasted his policy, buying hundreds of thousands of dollars of anti-Huckabee advertising in New Hampshire and other key primary states.
In debates and in stump speeches, Huckabee's jokes and one-liners have helped him attract attention on the presidential trail. He also employed wit during his days as governor.
Critics say, though, that he frequently took disagreements personally and that he could flash a temper that so far hasn't appeared much in his national campaign.
He once ordered his press office to take the Arkansas Times, a Little Rock alternative weekly paper, off the list for press releases. He called conservative Republicans who differed with him about financial issues "Shiites," implying they were radicals.
"If you did not agree with him on a policy issue, he took it personally," said Randy Minton of Ward, Ark., a former GOP lawmaker who was one of Huckabee's critics. Minton campaigned for Huckabee during elections in the 1990s but split with him about taxes.
Huckabee mostly shrugs off such attacks, saying the taxes were necessary to pay for popular programs. His allies point out that Minton and other critics are so conservative that they are marginalized in Arkansas politics, something on which analysts agree.
"This is the scrutiny that I've been going through since I first put my name on the ballot in 1992. And for me, it's sort of like, 'Gosh, do they not have anything new?' " Huckabee said last week while campaigning in Iowa.
Among Arkansans, the affable nature Huckabee displays on the campaign trail mostly helped keep him popular.
"He's like a common guy," said Ron Platzer, 65, a salesman from Hot Springs, Ark.
Reach the reporter at mike .madden@arizonarepublic.com.
Sunday 16 December 2007
How did this Happen?
(National Review Online)
This column was written by Michael J. Petrilli.
Mike Huckabee made news - and history - Tuesday when the New Hampshire affiliate of the National Education Association endorsed him for president in the upcoming primary - the first time it ever recommended a GOP candidate. (It picked Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side - no surprise there.) His support from teachers stems partly from his policy views (opposition to vouchers and support for art and music education, which he calls “weapons of mass instruction”) and partly from his outreach efforts (this summer he addressed the NEA convention - the first Republican presidential candidate ever to do so - plus he met personally with the New Hampshire union).
But that doesn’t fully explain Huckabee’s appeal to teachers. After all, he also supports policies that they oppose, such as teacher testing and abolishing tenure. While he’s expressed reservations with No Child Left Behind, he hasn’t proposed scrapping it, as the unions would prefer. And while “reaching out” to strange bedfellows can make headlines, it rarely yields endorsements.
The Huckabee-teacher connection reveals something about politics that is likely to transcend New Hampshire: Teachers, like Huckabee, tend to be culturally conservative and economically populist. And they like these views packaged in an optimistic, positive message. To the degree that people like to support candidates whom they can relate to, Huckabee is a natural fit for the teacher vote.
First, consider teachers’ values. The conventional wisdom says that most teachers are die-hard liberals, trying to foist a secular worldview on their hapless students. But research doesn’t show that. Consider their views on homosexuality. According to an article by scholar Robert Slater which appeared in a recent issue of Education Next, teachers aren’t terribly tolerant. Only thirty percent of teachers believe that homosexual relations “is not wrong at all,” compared to over 40 percent of the general college-educated population. Furthermore, greater numbers of teachers attend church regularly than other Americans: 37 percent go at least once a week, compared to 26 percent of the general population. Many teachers are cultural conservatives - just like Huckabee.
At the same time, teachers earn a modest income compared to other college graduates. (This is where the conventional wisdom is right.) Their average income of about $49,000 is roughly $10,000 more than the national average for all workers but about $10,000 less than nurses and accountants earn and less than half the pay of lawyers. Huckabee’s class warfare, anti-big business language resonates with many teachers. His focus on kitchen-table issues, his personal history of coming from meager means, and his “I feel your pain” rhetoric is thus tailor-made for this group.
Finally, teachers are positive - about their work, and about life. According to April’s job satisfaction survey published by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, educators express a high degree of job satisfaction and happiness. Only clergy, physical therapists, firefighters, and artists express more satisfaction on the job. And remarkably, special education teachers are happier than everyone but clergy, firefighters, travel agents, and architects. (Elementary teachers and education administrators aren’t far behind.) Thus, the stereotype of a smiling, caring kindergarten teacher seems closer to the mark than a caricature of an angry NEA delegate at the Democratic National Convention. And there’s a good chance that happy, satisfied people will respond well to a positive, upbeat message - Huckabee’s stock in trade. His line at the CNN/YouTube debate (defending his support for in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants) that “we are a better country than to punish children for what their parents did” no doubt resonated with these legions of smiling teachers.
It also has not hurt that, as governor of Arkansas, he increased spending on education (something most teachers love). Huckabee is a self-styled “paradoxical conservative” - fiscally liberal, economically populist, and culturally conservative. He will say that he is both pro-life and pro-poor. Outside of the Christian Right, this may not sell well with rank-and-file GOP activists. But it does strike a chord with teachers, many of whom are also “paradoxical conservatives.”
Will any of this matter in 2008? Perhaps not; most teachers are registered Democrats, so their support may not do Huckabee a lot of good in the primaries. But if he makes it through to the general election, it’s conceivable that he could steal a lot of their votes from the Democratic candidate. And that could make a big difference to the outcome; there are three million teachers, after all. In a close election, a major swing to the GOP could be a deciding factor. Teachers like Mike - and if Huckabee is to make a truly serious run at the White House, he will need them more than ever.
By Michael J. Petrilli
Reprinted with permission from National Review Online.
This column was written by Michael J. Petrilli.
Mike Huckabee made news - and history - Tuesday when the New Hampshire affiliate of the National Education Association endorsed him for president in the upcoming primary - the first time it ever recommended a GOP candidate. (It picked Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side - no surprise there.) His support from teachers stems partly from his policy views (opposition to vouchers and support for art and music education, which he calls “weapons of mass instruction”) and partly from his outreach efforts (this summer he addressed the NEA convention - the first Republican presidential candidate ever to do so - plus he met personally with the New Hampshire union).
But that doesn’t fully explain Huckabee’s appeal to teachers. After all, he also supports policies that they oppose, such as teacher testing and abolishing tenure. While he’s expressed reservations with No Child Left Behind, he hasn’t proposed scrapping it, as the unions would prefer. And while “reaching out” to strange bedfellows can make headlines, it rarely yields endorsements.
The Huckabee-teacher connection reveals something about politics that is likely to transcend New Hampshire: Teachers, like Huckabee, tend to be culturally conservative and economically populist. And they like these views packaged in an optimistic, positive message. To the degree that people like to support candidates whom they can relate to, Huckabee is a natural fit for the teacher vote.
First, consider teachers’ values. The conventional wisdom says that most teachers are die-hard liberals, trying to foist a secular worldview on their hapless students. But research doesn’t show that. Consider their views on homosexuality. According to an article by scholar Robert Slater which appeared in a recent issue of Education Next, teachers aren’t terribly tolerant. Only thirty percent of teachers believe that homosexual relations “is not wrong at all,” compared to over 40 percent of the general college-educated population. Furthermore, greater numbers of teachers attend church regularly than other Americans: 37 percent go at least once a week, compared to 26 percent of the general population. Many teachers are cultural conservatives - just like Huckabee.
At the same time, teachers earn a modest income compared to other college graduates. (This is where the conventional wisdom is right.) Their average income of about $49,000 is roughly $10,000 more than the national average for all workers but about $10,000 less than nurses and accountants earn and less than half the pay of lawyers. Huckabee’s class warfare, anti-big business language resonates with many teachers. His focus on kitchen-table issues, his personal history of coming from meager means, and his “I feel your pain” rhetoric is thus tailor-made for this group.
Finally, teachers are positive - about their work, and about life. According to April’s job satisfaction survey published by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, educators express a high degree of job satisfaction and happiness. Only clergy, physical therapists, firefighters, and artists express more satisfaction on the job. And remarkably, special education teachers are happier than everyone but clergy, firefighters, travel agents, and architects. (Elementary teachers and education administrators aren’t far behind.) Thus, the stereotype of a smiling, caring kindergarten teacher seems closer to the mark than a caricature of an angry NEA delegate at the Democratic National Convention. And there’s a good chance that happy, satisfied people will respond well to a positive, upbeat message - Huckabee’s stock in trade. His line at the CNN/YouTube debate (defending his support for in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants) that “we are a better country than to punish children for what their parents did” no doubt resonated with these legions of smiling teachers.
It also has not hurt that, as governor of Arkansas, he increased spending on education (something most teachers love). Huckabee is a self-styled “paradoxical conservative” - fiscally liberal, economically populist, and culturally conservative. He will say that he is both pro-life and pro-poor. Outside of the Christian Right, this may not sell well with rank-and-file GOP activists. But it does strike a chord with teachers, many of whom are also “paradoxical conservatives.”
Will any of this matter in 2008? Perhaps not; most teachers are registered Democrats, so their support may not do Huckabee a lot of good in the primaries. But if he makes it through to the general election, it’s conceivable that he could steal a lot of their votes from the Democratic candidate. And that could make a big difference to the outcome; there are three million teachers, after all. In a close election, a major swing to the GOP could be a deciding factor. Teachers like Mike - and if Huckabee is to make a truly serious run at the White House, he will need them more than ever.
By Michael J. Petrilli
Reprinted with permission from National Review Online.
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