Power Line News

Jim Addison - 14 December 2007 09:53 PM

Huckabee’s record on taxes, spending, and nanny-state programs is anything but conservative.

His lying about his qualifications hardly does credit to his professed Christianity, and neither does his habit of accepting luxurious gifts from supporters and those doing business with the state while he was Governor.

I’m pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, and against banning religious expression from the public square.  But I am also conservative on foreign policy, tax policy, growth of government, & etc.  I cannot imagine so many of my Christian brethren will be fooled, in the end, by another slick-talking huckster from Arkansas.

way to go, Jim..

Huckster is a chrome plated phony.  Lying about the degrees he has earned would get him fired immediately from most jobs.  The fact that, despite all the dirt that follows him around, he now leads in some states speaks very poorly indeed for the state of the party.  Just one of many signs that a major butt-whipping is waiting for the GOP in 08.

Charlie IL - 14 December 2007 05:33 PM

I am surprised the the level of vitriol PL has shown for Huckabee.  He may be strong on some areas, and weak on others, but I don’t see how he is “wrong” on the war on terror.  Is he calling for immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq? Is he complaining about wiretaps of Al Qaeda?  Is he calling for unconditional dialogue with Iran?

Mike Huckabee’s ability to capture the imagination of social conservatives, who are a significant part of the conservative coalition, is not something that should be dismissed so handily.  Huck’s ability to gather in the rest of the coalition, as well as independents, with his positive message, is something that at least requires further reflection.

are you kidding?

have you paid attention to his offerings on foreign policy?

he thought we had to be in Iraq cause ‘we broke it’.

he wants to close GITMO for the feelings of others.

he had absolutely no knowledge of the latest NIE report on Iran.

where is this idea Huckabee is gathering independents?

he seems to be exciting a lot of Democrats, like Mr. Rich of the NY TMES, who sees Huckabee as an easy target in the General Election.

Huckabee raised taxation, offered Illegal Immigrants tax payer money for education, wanted to stop the embargo of Cuba, pardoned numerous dangerous criminals, etc…

this is a terrible Candidate for the Republican side.

he would fit right into the Democrat Race.

Jim Addison - 14 December 2007 09:53 PM

Huckabee’s record on taxes, spending, and nanny-state programs is anything but conservative.

His lying about his qualifications hardly does credit to his professed Christianity, and neither does his habit of accepting luxurious gifts from supporters and those doing business with the state while he was Governor.

I’m pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, and against banning religious expression from the public square.  But I am also conservative on foreign policy, tax policy, growth of government, & etc.  I cannot imagine so many of my Christian brethren will be fooled, in the end, by another slick-talking huckster from Arkansas.

well stated JIM.

Is there something in the water at the Gov’s Mansion in AK??? This guy must not get the nomination...never, never, never…

Attacking Huckabee on the specific verbage about his degrees is just further evidence of how badly this forum has been infected with Huckabee Derangment Syndrome.

His name is also not “Mike”, it’s “Michael”. But the sinister “Huckster” insists on his lie that his name is “Mike”. How long till someone here hits him on that?

He’s the Republican’s Carter.

I am surprised the the level of vitriol PL has shown for Huckabee.  He may be strong on some areas, and weak on others, but I don’t see how he is “wrong” on the war on terror.  Is he calling for immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq? Is he complaining about wiretaps of Al Qaeda?  Is he calling for unconditional dialogue with Iran?

Oh?  You SHOULDN’T Be.

Huckabee Sees WH ‘Bunker Mentality’

Dec 14 10:12 PM US/Eastern
By LIBBY QUAID
Associated Press Writer

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Mike Huckabee, who has joked about his lack of foreign policy experience, is criticizing the Bush administration’s efforts, denouncing a go-it-alone “arrogant bunker mentality” and questioning decisions on Iraq.

Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor now running for the Republican presidential nomination, lays out a policy plan that is long on optimism but short on details in the January-February issue of the journal Foreign Affairs, which is published by the Council on Foreign Relations.

A copy of his article was released Friday.

“American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out,” Huckabee said. “The Bush administration’s arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad. My administration will recognize that the United States’ main fight today does not pit us against the world but pits the world against the terrorists.”

In one specific criticism, Huckabee said Bush did not send enough troops to invade Iraq. And he accused the president of marginalizing Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, who said at the outset of the war that it might take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to control Iraq after the invasion. “I would have met with Shinseki privately and carefully weighed his advice,” Huckabee said.

He said this year’s troop increase under Bush has resulted in significant but tenuous gains, and he said—much as Bush has—that he would not withdraw troops from Iraq any faster than Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander there, recommends. The military has now slowly begun to reverse the troop increase. Huckabee has previously joked about his lack of experience in international affairs. ”I may not be the expert as some people on foreign policy, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night,” he said earlier this month.

While the Foreign Affairs article is missing the one-liners he is known for, it does have a few folksy comparisons to illustrate his points. On Iran, for example, he makes a case for diplomacy by saying, ”Before we put boots on the ground elsewhere, we had better have wingtips there first.”

<snip>

http://tinyurl.com/3dczkb

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The lying, clueless hick belongs NO WHERE NEAR the White House!

He’s real good at parroting left-wing talking points and talking up his own non-existent resumé.

Increase Mather - 15 December 2007 09:02 AM

He’s the Republican’s Carter.

It’s even worse, he’s our William Jennings Bryan.  The GOP is in the process of becoming the Democratic Party, c. 1896.  I know any minute know he’ll start talking about crosses of gold.

Pagliacci - 15 December 2007 10:10 AM

Increase Mather - 15 December 2007 09:02 AM

He’s the Republican’s Carter.

It’s even worse, he’s our William Jennings Bryan.  The GOP is in the process of becoming the Democratic Party, c. 1896.  I know any minute know he’ll start talking about crosses of gold.

He will never get the nod. Huckabee’s support--chiefly evangelical--represents merely one-fourth of the party--the least loyal part, I might add--though it acts as if it runs the show. The rest of us will coalesce around either Rudy or Mitt.

This is a non story.

He said he had a degree in theology, and it turns out he only had a degree in religion. Well, I have a degree in religion too… and that is a degree in theology. As a Protestant, I was an avid reader of American (Protestant) Church history… particularly the period of the 19th Century. When you read a lot of books from this period, one thing that strikes you is that Protestant terminology has evolved over time. For example, time was when if you spoke of a “professor of religion”, you were not talking about a college instructor who taught world religious studies courses, but you were a professing Christian. A famous book from the 19th century by noted Christian evangelist Charles Finney, was entitled “Lectures on Revivals of Religion” http://www.charlesgfinney.com/1868Lect_on_Rev_of_Rel/home68revlec.htm
-- and he was not speaking of revivals of just any religion, but was using the word “religion” as a synonym for “Christian Faith”. Another phrase which you still hear occasionally is that someone has “got religion”, which means they have made a commitment to Christ.

When I was attending Southern Nazarene University, I was a Religion Major in the Religion Department, and I received a B.A. in Religion. Not long after I graduated, they changed the name of that Department and it is now “The School of Theology and Ministry”, and were I graduating today, I would be awarded a B.A. in Theology.

It has been my experience that telling people you have a degree in Religion only results in them coming to false conclusions about the nature of that degree, and so I have generally just told people that I have a degree in theology, because as a matter of fact, that is what I have, and that term is less prone to misinterpretation… which is why my Alma Mater changed the name of that degree. A rose by any other name is still a rose. A theological degree by any other name is still a theological degree. http://snu.edu/?p=&#x7B;1156C193-693B-429A-A50D-D529EE40B83C&#x7D;

Fr. John—That’s not the point.  Everything that this guy does is for a reason.  When he made the statement about Romney’s religion, he tried to claim that he was asking an innocent question that he asked without thinking.  Wrong.  He couldn’t get away with attacking the Romney through his religion directly so he tosses the seeds of criticism so the evangelicals could connect the dots, i.e., Romney and his religion think that your Savior is the equivalent to Satan!  He was caught and never apologized to the public or pointed out that he was wrong.  This statement regarding his degrees likewise is not an innocent statement.  He deliberately was trying to boost his weak credentials so that it would resonate with the evangelical community.  Deliberate, manipulative, dishonest and untrustworthy.

I find it equally ironic that some Huckabee supporters like Medved claim that his recent success is an indication of how the Republican party is more inclusive.  That also is not true.  As a 9/11 convert, as I indicated earlier in this thread, I have drifted over for the strong national defense stance.  My hope was that the party would accept other former dems like me by offering a broader umbrella that could include more people from a more progressive background and not be a slave to the evangelical component.  I respect that element of the party but do not believe that it should dictate every move.  Having this light weight atop some of the polls now tells me that I may have been wrong and that this party has not evolved.  It appears that there in fact could be a litmus test, which is sad.

Those of you who despair that Huckabee might actually get the nomination need to read this thread top-to-bottom like I just did. Save for a few vacuous but well-intended romantics, the rest of us are on to him. I won’t take the space to reiterate all of the salient points from above; they’re all there. And I think the only thing necessary is to continue to discuss these shortcomings with the good folks who are not paying as close attention as we are. Save for the irretrievable fanatics, when they discover what we already have, they’ll step back from the edge; particularly as Hillary’s fading star due to the Arkansas hucksterism of she and her husband reminds people of the new huckster-sounding guy on the stage.

Pagliacci - 15 December 2007 10:10 AM

Increase Mather - 15 December 2007 09:02 AM

He’s the Republican’s Carter.

It’s even worse, he’s our William Jennings Bryan.  The GOP is in the process of becoming the Democratic Party, c. 1896.  I know any minute know he’ll start talking about crosses of gold.

I agree....there is a strong connection to Bryan...a three-time loser (1896,1900, 1908)…

I amde the point also in another thread.

Fightforright—I hope you’re right.