There is an adage which warns against kicking a man when he’s down, but what is one to do when that man paints a target on himself and begs for it?

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee today gave what can only be termed as the most bizarre press conference of 2007. Given that today is New Year’s Eve, that’s quite an accomplishment.

To believe Huck, you have to believe that he spent a chunk of cash (which is no doubt in short supply) creating a “negative ad” with which he was planning on pummeling Mitt today starting at noon. Then – and one can only venture a guess as to why – Huck had an epiphany this morning and decided to keep his campaign on a “positive” track rather than stooping to mudslinging.

This would all be fine and good with the glaring exception of his Bizarro Press Conference where he showed his negative ad to a room packed with reporters. The ad basically accuses Mitt of being a bold faced liar. If ever there was a case of the pot calling the kettle black, this is it. The New York Times link has video I’m sure will be plastered across the net. You’ll note the raucous laughter of the reporters as Huck tells the story of his epiphany.

No, Huck, they aren’t laughing with you. Neither am I. I’m laughing at you.

You see, I don’t buy Huck’s story. Not in the least. I think he’s being disingenuous. In short, I think he’s lying.

Political ads don’t just grow on trees. They take time to make and cost a wad of cash to generate. I don’t know the full extent of Huck’s finances, but I think it’s a safe bet he doesn’t have cash to throw down the rat hole by creating hit ads he’s never going to use. In my not so humble opinion, Huck’s Bizzaro Press Conference was part of a seriously flawed strategy that has now blown up in his face.

Huck wanted to throw down a hit ad on Mitt and still come away smelling like a rose. He wanted the people of Iowa specifically, and Americans in general, to believe he had Mitt lined up in his sights and his finger on the proverbial trigger and then at the last moment decided to be merciful and positive. The only problem with his plan is the number of people who believe his epiphany story can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Iowans know hypocrisy when they see it, and right now they see it personified by Mike Huckabee.

Huck has spent the better part of the past two days whining about comparison ads run by Mitt in Iowa and New Hampshire. Methinks the Gov doth protest far too much. Mitt’s ad barrage is devastatingly accurate and Huck knows this. He also knows he doesn’t have the resources (or the record) to go toe to toe with Mitt in the last few days leading up to the Hawkeye Cauci. Huck knows if he loses Iowa people will be chasing him down trying to jab him in the hindquarters with a huge fork because he’ll be way past done.

While Huck’s Bizarro Press Conference won’t eclipse Howard Dean’s spectacular Iowa implosion, I’m beginning to think it might come in as a close second.

Labels: ads, huckabee, press, Romney. Poll

When we take on Mike Huckabee we will do so on his record and his actions as Governor.

Beyond the Wayne DuMond case (paroled by Huckabee and went on to murder someone); Eugene Fields (DWI sentence commuted but re-arrested 3 years later after almost hitting a cop drunk); Samuel Taylor (granted clemency for drugs and theft only to go drug dealing again)... Mike has commuted serious murderers whose whereabouts are unknown:

Labels: clemency huckabee, commutations, crime, huckabee

A bit late on this, but I haven't seen a whole lot of comment/opinion about the utter hypocrisy of Huckabee's responses on this.

I've got the whole post available at Iowans for Romney.

Concluding argument below:

So, we can sum up Huckabee's 1992 HIV/AIDS plan as follows:

AIDS poses a serious public health risk and so, because we don't know exactly all the ways it's passed on, we should:

1. Quarantine all HIV carriers or those with clinical AIDS immediately.
2. DECREASE HIV research funding and let all the rich Hollywood types pay for ways to figure out excatly how/why HIV is transmitted.

Jeff Fuller

Labels: AIDS, gay rights, HIV, homosexuality, huckabee

Mitt,

You have had my support since you announced you were running. I've followed your campaigns since you ran against Ted Kennedy. I was impressed when you turned around the Winter Olympics. I grew up in Massachusetts and I know how hard it is for a Republican to lead in that state, but you did a fantastic job. I believe that you have truly evolved as a person and candidate and your positions and values best qualify you for the Presidency.

I really want you to win this election. I'm going to offer some amateur advice, which hopefully you will consider since I am a prototypical primary voter.

Stop Huckabee
This Huckabee phenomenon has been impressive, but now is the time to stop it. I think Mike Huckabee is a decent, likable man and a good debater. I understand his appeal. He says is in favor of the fair tax which is an increasingly popular position. However, when I saw this video of Governor Huckabee begging Arkansas for a tax increase, I must say, I was deeply concerned.


Play this video again and again and again in campaign ads. It's going to stop people in their tracks.

Mike Huckabee is far better than any Democrat alternative, but he is not the ideal candidate. If most Republican voters are like me, the most important things they want is a victory over terror and low taxes. Huckabee believes Gitmo is not in America's interest.



On his campaign site, he says, "As president, I will fight this war hard, but I will also fight it smart, using all our political, economic, diplomatic, and intelligence weapons as well as our military might."

When you read between the lines, it sounds a little soft as though he might try to negotiate with our enemies. Maybe he could make Nancy Pelosi Secretary of State.

In an interview with George Stephanopolous, he starts channeling Ron Paul:

" Stephanopoulus: Pres. Bush said in his second inaugural address, "It is the policy of the US to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture." Has Pres. Bush's policy been a success?

Huckabee: Well, the problem is, sometimes when you get what you want, you don't want what you get. And this is a great case of that happening. I don't think it's the job of the US to export our form of government. It's the job of the US to protect our citizens, to make us free and us safe, and to create an enviable kind of government and system that everybody else will want.

Q: So it wouldn't be the core of your foreign policy?

A: Absolutely not, because I don't think we can force people to accept our way of life, our way of government. What we can to is to create the strongest America, freedom internally, secure borders, a safer nation. That makes a whole lot more sense to me than spending billions to try to prop up some government we don't even like when we get it."

Huckabee has granted clemency to 703 criminals including a dozen murderers during his terms as governor which is more than all six of his neighboring states and more than Bill Clinton:

Louisiana – 213.
Mississippi – 24.
Missouri – 79.
Oklahoma – 178.
Tennessee – 32.
Texas – 98.

As for Immigration, these are some of Huckabees positions:

"When he was governor, Huckabee held the following positions on illegal immigration: He supported higher education benefits for children of illegal immigrants, opposed a federal roundup of illegals from his state in 2005, opposed a 2001 bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote in the state, and in 2001, a member of his administration pushed for legislation to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants."

Taking all of these facts into consideration, I get the impression that the Compassionate Conservative in Huckabee seems to be more soft than compassionate.

Since Huckabee has only recently surged in the polls, his record might not be very well known. It is very important to show these differences.

Now that I've gotten Stop Huckabee out of my system, there are two more issues I would like addressed which I think are winners.

The CIA
Someone HAS to fix this. Our intelligence is an embarrassment. How can we stop Al Qaeda if we cannot infiltrate their organization? How can we formulate a position against Iran when our intelligence keeps contradicting itself. How can we protect ourselves with such an incompetent agency? I trust Israel's intelligence far more than our own.

A 10 year plan to eliminate our need for foreign oil

I am sick and tired of having to kiss the ass of dictators and radical Islamists stuck in the 12th century simply because they have oil. The way Islam treats women is disgusting. Take the case of the woman who was gang raped in Saudi Arabia by 7 men and then sentenced to 200 lashings and 6 months in prison for being in the company of a man who was not a relative. Let's not even mention that the Saudis financing terror and Wahabism around the world and that most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi. If Saudi Arabia did not have oil, we would have labeled them a terrorist and criminal nation a long time ago. Politics sure makes for strange bedfellows. We are supposed to champion human rights, not ignore them when convenient. Then we have Hugo Chavez reviving communism in our hemisphere and making billions from Citgo while constantly insulting us and aiding our enemies.

This has got to stop. I find it hard to believe that with all our innovation, we cannot become oil independent in 10 years. We are The United States of America for crying out loud. Where is my hydrogen car? Where are my ethanol gas stations? Let's stop messing around and get it done. I'm about to get a new car next year and I'm very disappointed in my choices. Believe me, this will tremendously improve our foreign policy position and make us much safer. I don't hear any Republicans leading the charge in this area. I truly believe Republicans will stand up and applaud this leadership.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Good luck in January, Mitt. As my father always told me, "The cream always rises to the top". I have confidence you will prevail.

Scott Allan

Labels: energy, huckabee, mitt romney, Taxes, terrorism

NewsMax just carried a piece entitled "Huckabee Won't Give Views on Mormonism" containing this paragraph:

Huckabee has consolidated the support of influential religious conservatives, primarily by reaching out to a network of pastors across the state. He spoke privately Monday night to several hundred gathered in Des Moines for a conference, the only presidential candidate to do so.

Does anyone else find this as upsetting as I do? Can anyone imagine what would be said if Mitt Romney met with a group of any size of LDS bishops and stake presidents from around Iowa to discuss his campaign and his qualifications to be president? Official LDS Church policy is of course that this will not happen in any way, shape, or form. If it happened in public, folks would be upset. If such a thing happened in private (just as it did for Huckabee and his group), then they would be insensed. Rightfully so on both counts.

What will they say about Huckabee's cozying up?

Then again, perhaps the same group invited Mitt to speak, so they could get to know him better, but he refused?

Yeah, right! For anyone who believes that, I have a bridge in New York City for sale...

Update: Various reports like this one on the Time Web site have added that Huckabee, "appeared with more than 60 Iowa pastors endorsing him at a news conference Tuesday..." While it is true that most pastors might not speak about candidates from behind the pulpit, is this not a very fine line that is being drawn? Consider this report from Iowa:

Every Sunday, Pastor Darran Whiting talks to his small yet devout flock in Coggon, Iowa, about faith and family values. He’s careful not to talk politics in his sermons, but as soon as he steps off the pulpit, Whiting is eager talk about the presidential candidate he thinks is practicing what he’s preaching: Mike Huckabee. “Gov. Huckabee stands on the issues I stand for. Socially conservative as far as being pro-life, as far as being pro-family,” said Whiting. It is support from evangelicals like Whiting that is driving Huckabee’s surge in Iowa, where Christian conservatives make up an estimated 40 percent of the GOP vote. Matt Reisetter, a young evangelical leader who signed onto the Huckabee campaign this month, said the former Arkansas governor is gaining momentum among pastors across Iowa with his anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage record and because Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher, speaks their language. “We don’t question where he’s at, we don’t question what he believes. He’s one of us,” said Reisetter.

Will the attention given this by the press compare with their focus earlier this year on the number of LDS people who were campaigning for Mitt?

Sure there are LDS people who are campaigning for Mitt, but I also know from well-placed sources that there are quite a few LDS folks in at least one key state who would otherwise be overtly supporting Mitt, but they do not want to appear to violate what they feel is a principle of not mixing church and politics. They will vote for him, but no more than that.

A recent visitor to Utah with whom I spoke a few days ago commented that there are LOTS of Ron Paul signs there and virtually no Romney signs! One of those Ron Paul signs is in the front yard of our former neighbors.

Interesting times these are...

Labels: huckabee

Kudos to Mike Huckabee who gave an excellent speech and was able to win the local straw poll. Congrats to Mitt for winning the overall straw poll with online savvy.

Couple of thoughts here:

1. Here's a quick genesis of how things happened from the Romney side of things. Over a week ago the Romney camp caught wind that over 1000 people had already voted in the straw poll. I guess Romney can count better than the other candidates (j/k) and quickly realized that this thing was going to be won online. In short: if 2500 people were attending the straw poll and 1000 people had already voted... anyone who didn't make an online showing would lose. They called up supporters and asked them to email their personal lists about the opportunity. We held the news from our blogs until Thursday night so as not to tip the other candidates (who apparently didn't put 2 and 2 together - again j/k) and the race was off.


2. 600 attendees actually voted online.... so the 952 votes is misleading. I'm not saying Romney won... but the seeming on-site rout for Huckabee needs a little context.


3. The big losers as Erick and Politico point out are Fred and Rudy. The former came in behind Romney and the later came in second. Second, that is, in the least acceptable candidate group.


4. Talking to numerous people at the convention... the flurry of Romney endorsements didn 'tnot go unnoticed. Many people came up to me asking numerous questions about Mitt. At one point a prominent radio host asked me to come over and explain where Mitt stands on stem cell research to another fellow news maker.
   
   
5. Here's a better contextual look at why Huckabee is a great guy... but won't be able to make it happen:


(note: legend got cut off on the graphic. All you need to know is this. Huckabee is the small almost non-existent line at the bottom of the graph.

Labels: frc, huckabee, mike huckabee, mitt romney, straw polls

It's Wednesday, which means bath night for my kids. But when they got out the tub I was the one dripping wet... from the rushing deluge of satire and classic Coulter criticism.

Her latest article cuts deep:

Conservatives unhappy with our Republican presidential candidates seem to be drifting aimlessly toward Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee in the misguided belief that these candidates are more conservative than Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. This is like breaking up with Bobby Brown so you can date Phil Spector.

First she slices away at Huckabee:

On illegal immigration, Huckabee makes George Bush sound like Tom Tancredo. He has compared illegal aliens to slaves brought here in chains from Africa, saying, "I think frankly the Lord is giving us a second chance to do better than we did before."

(Frankly, I didn't know that quote) She drives on:

(I just realized why Mike Huckabee can't run for president as a Democrat -- they've already got Mike Gravel.)

Then, onto Fred:

In 1999, Sen. Fred Thompson joined legal giants like Sens. Jim Jeffords, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to vote against removing Bill Clinton from office for obstruction of justice.

Thompson, whom President Nixon once called "dumb as hell," claimed to have carefully studied the Constitution and determined that obstruction of justice by the president of the United States did not constitute "high crimes and misdemeanors." He must have been looking at one of those living, breathing Constitutions we've heard so much about.

...

Only a handful of Republicans voted against all law and reason to keep Clinton in office, and only one of them was from Tennessee.

This isn't the time to be toying with any Republican who had a Clinton in his sights and ended up shooting himself in the foot.

If you're bored with our top candidates, go see a slasher movie. Don't take it out on a presidential election.

OK. I was at CPAC when she dropped the "F" bomb on Edwards. I thought it was way overboard but that didn't seem to stop the book-signing line meandering out the door. If she comes back to CPAC... I think the line will be shorter.

When Gov. Romney was told at the CPAC bloggers table that Coulter had "endorsed" him... he grew a bit uncomfortable in a comical way shrugged his shoulders and said: "well, I guess we welcome everyone." He got a good laugh.

In my opinion, Coulter is a combination of Jonathan Swift, Chris Rock, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, all wrapped up in one thin blond package. No one can deny her talent for writing but her shock-value comedy overwhelms her articulation of conservative values.

Labels: ann coulter, fred thompson, huckabee

Gov. Mike Huckabee was on This Week Sunday morning and stated that in more words or less that there is nothing wrong with higher taxes as long as it is being spent correctly. In issues of health care, housing, and education, there should be higher taxes to be able to afford programs that help out the neediest of people.

Now, this sounds all well and good, except that in reality, the Federal government has a poor record of using taxpayer's money appropriately. In the past, billions were spent in helping the poor and needy to get out of poverty and to improve their lives. Billions were spent on education to help troubled schools compete with better schools.

Yet, all of this spending that was done has not ended poverty or helped kids become educated. Health Care, under government's watch, has given some people access to medical care, but kept many from not receiving from health care, due to the bureaucracy that is involved and the waste that has gone on. Huckabee's answer that taxes are needed to help make things better won't help but hurt since government would be involved in issues that could be solved through private charity or action.

Looking at his record as governor of Arkansas, he raised taxes to try and fund improvements to the state, yet they rank in the bottom for health care, economic growth, and education. If raising taxes are a good thing, Arkansas would be having great growth in all of these areas.

Mitt Romney offers a contrast of leading Massachusetts in economic growth, improving schools and health care during his four years in office without raising taxes, compared with Mike Huckabee's 8 years in office and lack of improvements in any of those categories while raising or implementing a series of taxes. Mike Huckabee is a good and decent man, but he is wrong about tax, education, and health care policy and raising taxes will not solve any of those problems.

You can watch a portion of the exchange here

Labels: huckabee, mitt romney, Taxes