Mike Huckabee: "take this nation back for Christ"

http://www.newsweek.com/id/74472/output/print

The man he is now trailing in Iowa is smooth on the campaign circuit, appealing to conservative Christians without alienating other kinds of voters. How long this will last is an open question. Huckabee the front runner is only now beginning to face new scrutiny. A speech he gave in 1998 is likely to come up again. Addressing Southern Baptist pastors gathered at the Salt Palace Convention Center, Huckabee, then governor of Arkansas, said that he "got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives … I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."

More detailed coverage at the time it happened is here:

http://www.ardemgaz.com/prev/jonesboro/afhuckabee08.asp

Side note:  Many will remember that this 1998 meeting of Baptists in Salt Lake City where Huckabee spoke had the intent of proselytizing Mormons to become "Born Again"

That Huckabee, as a Political figure (governor at the time) would participate in a convention in Utah with such anti-Mormon messaging may tell us where he really stands on Mormonism.

More coverage of the convention here.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1998/06/06/MN78538.DTL

http://www.baptiststandard.com/1998/5_6/pages/sbc_groups.html

http://cnview.com/news_service/cnv_may_1998.htm
Two religions are colliding in Salt Lake City. More than 10,000 Southern Baptists are invading the Mormon stronghold during their annual convention June 9-11. The meeting takes place in the Salt Palace Convention Center, across the street from the Mormon Temple.

...The convention is almost secondary to what is going on around it. Baptists are evangelizing the city with an extensive campaign before and after the meeting. Some 3,000 Baptists are canvassing 140,000 homes door-to-door in 18 neighborhoods. (Excerpts from Religion News Today)

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E3D7163DF937A25755C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

http://www.shields-research.org/Critics/SBC.html

http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RIN%20Vol.1No.2/salt_lake.htm

Excerpts from "An Open Letter to Iowa Voters"

Excerpts from An Open Letter to Iowa Voters by Matt A.

“There are many issues to be considered in this election, and for many voters, including myself, social issues, including abortion and gay marriage, are high on that priority list. Because of this, many voters in your state have recently turned to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as their favorite candidate, believing that his strong Christian background and Socially Conservative positions would help to make him a capable, strong, and trustworthy leader on these and other important issues. I believe that these voters are making a very serious mistake, and that the results for both the nation and the party could be extremely severe.”

“I don’t dispute Gov. Huckabee’s record or opinions on Social Issues, and, if they were the only issues at state in this election, I can say that he would probably be my first choice as well. However, the reality is that there are other issues that must be considered, issues that are no less important, and, in some cases, far more pressing. And it is on these issues where I find Huckabee to be a poor choice for the Republican Nomination.”

“…in choosing Mike Huckabee as our next President, they would risk returning illegal-friendly policies to the White House with a new mandate. During his term in office, Mike Huckabee supported tuition breaks and scholarships for illegal aliens, and, in a speech to the Arkansas legislature, he called on America to “open our doors and our opportunities” to illegals. What is more, he attacked opponents of Amnesty during a Republican debate, calling them “racist” and “mean-spirited”.”

“Another issue where Conservatives must be wary of Gov. Huckabee is taxes. During his administration, the Governor raised taxes several times, with actual amounts far exceeding other tax cuts during his term.”

“Mike Huckabee has many other dark spots on his record, including reversals on important terror-fighting policies, the pardoning of convicted criminals - who would return to their murderous ways, and ethics problems, and Mike Huckabee is much less Conservative than he appears to be at first glance.”

“As a fellow Conservative who wants what is best for America, I have only one request for those who read this letter: Step back for a moment, avoid getting caught in a snowball that may only lead to disappointment, and, before you vote for Mike Huckabee - or any other candidate - make sure you know their positions.”

Fred Criticizes Huckabee on Iran

Posted on December 7th, 2007
By Sean Hackbarth in Iran

In Columbus, OH Fred had a few words to say about Mike Huckabee's lack of knowledge about Iran and the National Intelligence Estimate:

"Not only is Iran the major long-term threat to our country, the nuclear program is the most important part of the Iran consideration. For a presidential candidate not to know that and not to keep up with that is very surprising," said Thompson.

"These are the kinds of things I've been talking about all of my life. Now, if the American people have other priorities, if they want someone who smiles a lot more than I do, or someone who is a better quipster than I am, who has no experience in these areas, that's for the American people to decide."

UPDATE: Yesterday on MSNBC Huckabee found an excuse as to why he didn't know about the NIE:

HUCKABEE: Well, I don't blame my staff. It is a situation where a report was released at 10:00 in the morning, the president hadn't seen it in four years and I'm supposed to see it four hours later.

Think Progress notes the following:

1) The NIE was released the previous day, not that morning. The NIE was released to the public in the early afternoon on Monday, December 3rd. The dinner where Huckabee was asked about the NIE took place on the evening of Tuesday, Decemeber 4th.

2) Huckabee had more than "four hours." According to the timeline above, Huckabee could have learned about the NIE anytime overnight or during the course of the next day if he had picked up a newspaper. Hotline notes, on the same day Huckabee said he hadn't heard of it, the Iran NIE "not only dominated the Democrats' debate here in town but also prompted a presidential press conference in response."

3) Bush couldn't have seen the report "four years" ago. The NIE was initially completed only a year ago, thus Bush couldn't have had "four years" to see the report. While the intelligence community did eventually learn that Iran shut down its nuclear program four years ago, that knowledge didn't come to the intelligence community until this past summer.

Mike Huckabee should be a little more thoughtful before looking for a clever quip.

Huckabee Released One Felon Every Five Days

Mitt Fans,

 

Slick Willy--who occasionally posts at NY for Mitt--put together a wonderful story:

 

It drives home the point that Huck released a felon about every five days!  Below are a few key paragraphs:

 

Huckabee's Very, Very Poor Judgment: Released One Felon Every Five Days

 

Earlier this week I posted a story about Gov. Huckabee influencing the parole board to release convicted rapist Wayne DuMond from prison and DuMond's subsequent two rapes/murders. In addition to making me sad, the story convinced me that Huckabee's judgment is a big problem. 

 

These numbers are staggering. To put them into context, on average, Huckabee was prematurely releasing 70 felons a year. Or, one felon every five days.

Do you really believe he knew their cases and history as well as the jury that put them behind bars? Do you really believe he studied the data well enough to truly be informed about each of these decisions? Impossible. Where was his respect for the legal/criminal process the founders created?

But then again, how could he be expected to do all that homework? Between fighting for the rights of illegal aliens, raising the taxes and out-spending the liberals where would he find time to read tedious pleas from victims of the felons he was forgiving?

 

Slick Willy did a fine job.  This is a weak spot for Huck that we need to magnify.

 

Neal

--
NY for Mitt
http://nyformitt.blogspot.com/

Red State Huckabee Reading

Huckabee Fundamentally Reshaping American Politics by RainbowRepublican

This is my greatest fear. As someone who is both a social conservative AND an economic conservative, I've always suspected that the South American model of social conservative/economic populist could possibly catch fire in the United States and have the same detrimental economic consequences as they have experienced in South America.

If elected, Mike Huckabee would be that fear realized.

Like many of the wannabe conservatives... by jforFRED

Huckabee is putting on a show, fooling people into thinking he is someone he is not. He is receiving a free media ride right now because he is a good talker. Without funny one-liners at the last debate, he was a non-issue. It would be nice to see him respond to a question with something other than a sermon or a joke. I've been critical of Romney's flip-flopping (he did give a good speech today) and of Guiliani's reference to 9-11 or New York on every issue (I still admire his leadership.)

Though a strong Fred Thompson supporter, I'll take Mitt or Rudy any day right now over Huck. Are voters really fooled into thinking that this guy is anything other than a comedian with a theology degree? Early in this campaign, despite my obvious support for Thompson, I was able to find something positive about all the other top tier candidates. I've yet to find anything about Huck. (other than the party line of taking him over Clinton any day.) If voters are concerned that America will have trouble voting for a Mormon for president who is doing his best to prove he will not govern as a Mormon, what will America do with a candidate who seems to be nothing without his Bible?

Separation of church and state still should mean something.

www.fred08.com

The first (and last) Fred08 link on my site!

Gopher holes by David Ribeirao

Mike Huckabee reminds me of the gopher that lived in my backyard for a few months. For quite a while there was only one hole with the dirt piled around. Every once and a while the cute little gopher would poke it's head out and we didn't really mind having him around. Then it actually became kind of fun to see him poke his head out of the hole, it made us smile. Then I woke up one morning and there was another pile of dirt, the next day another, and so on until there was dirt all over the place.

Long story short - we finally poisoned the gopher and got rid of the dirt.

 

 

Larry Kudlow and Mike Huckabee

LK: Regarding Governor Huckabee, Governor Huckabee is a very interesting guy who is not running as the kind of traditional, free-trade, cut taxes, limit government, supply side conservative. He is not. And we walked through a whole bunch of things on trade and China and taxes, and also, he just blurted out CEO pay, which he violently disagrees with. And in fact, he said he would…he doesn't want to regulate it, but he said at one point he would regulate CEO pay as a last resort. 

HH: Oh. 

LK: I thought that was very important. He's very biased against China trade. He's skeptical. He says the middle class is in trouble. He didn't acknowledge the prosperity. I really asked him about today's excellent jobs report, and the general prosperity we're enjoying. He didn't want to go there.  

HH: You know, Larry, last night I watched Glen Beck as I was preparing to give a speech. I'm told it was a replay of a Huckabee interview. But what I heard last night, he was talking about the ruling class in America. 

LK: Yeah. 

HH: You know that's populism, Huey Long yahooism.  

LK: Yeah. 

HH: That's not the Republican Party. 

LK: Nope. It's interesting to me, because I mean, I said are you a pessimist, I say you sound pessimistic on the campaign trail. And he said I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. And I think he's the only candidate, Hugh, who is acknowledging these middle class anxieties, almost reaching out to them. He doesn't have a solution except to curb trade. But he's really playing to that, in that sense, just like the Democrats are. And the thing is, you have to look at this in a serious vane, because he's doing so well in the polls. I mean, it would seem that the more his message gets out, the better he's doing. And I find that quite troubling, but I think that's the reality. I'm going to look at the tape of my interview tonight, because as you know, it's awfully hard when you're on the spot, I've got producers in my ear… 

HH: Right. 

LK: And I want to look at the whole thing. I didn't dwell on his sales tax hikes and all that in Arkansas, because he's already answered those charges, and he's been beaten up. I was interested in what his future policy was, and it's very vague. The reality is his future policy is very vague.  

Victim’s mother will do “whatever it takes" to stop Huckabee

A Missouri mother says she will do "whatever it takes" to stop former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee from becoming president, because he freed the man who went on to rape and murder her daughter, Carol Sue Shields. Full story here

This was only one clemency in a long list of clemencies, this online petition documents some of the more offensive clemencies.

The signers of the petition also gave their views on Huckabee’s clemency policy, pleaded for him to change his policy, and shared some of the grief caused by his policy in comments made with their online signatures. Those signatures and comments can be viewed here

Huckabee Won't Give Views on "Mormons"

Huckabee sidestepped a question about whether or not The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or “Mormons” is a Christian faith saying, "I'm just not going to go off into evaluating other people's doctrines and faiths. I think that is absolutely not a role for a president,"

Yet a Southern Baptist President (Jimmy Carter) has already don just that, not only did he confirm that “Mormons” are Christians", but he chastised the Southern Baptist Convention for trying to characterizes them as non-Christians. “Too many leaders now, I think, in the Southern Baptist Convention and in other conventions, are trying to act as the Pharisees did who were condemned by Christ, in trying to define who can and who cannot be considered an acceptable person in the eyes of God," he said. "In other words, they're making judgments on behalf of God. I think that's wrong."

It’s sad when a Republican Candidate can’t convey the same religious tolerance as Democrat President did 10 years before.

From Jeff about Huckabee

You have got to see this article:

 

http://www.liberty.edu/libertyjournal/index.cfm?PID=15758&ArtID=42

 

Huckabee told [Liberty] university leaders during a visit here last year that "if this candidacy really took off it would have to be a God thing."

It seems God has done His thing.

. . .

"He's one of us," Falwell said. "A lot of the other candidates try to talk like evangelicals, but he's actually one of us. He believes like we do on all the issues.

. . .

And, while the research continues to show Huckabee climbing in the polls, he said the "God thing" will continue to amaze those on the outside.

In a brief question-and-answer period after his talk, one student asked Huckabee what he can attribute the surge in success to. Huckabee replied: "There's only one explanation for it and it's not a human one. It's the same power that felt that … two fish and five loaves could feed a crowd of 5,000 people. … There literally are thousands of people across this country who are praying that little would become much and it has."

So Huck's saying that not only is his successful surge God's will/doing, but it's analogous to one of Jesus' greatest miracles.

I'm simply baffled.  I still believe that this is the "master plan" (brokered by Dick Morris) for a Rudy/Huckabee ticket.  By tying himself so tightly with the Evangelical movement, he will help Rudy avoid the third party pro-life scenario because Huckabee can tell them that this is all part of God's plan after all.

Huckabee a Shameless Follower

Richard Cohen calls Huckabee a Shameless Follower for campaigning on the principle of religious intolerance in his article Un-Mormon and Unchristian

Iowa Push-Pollers are Huckabee Donors

It’s been discovered that the push-pollers in Iowa are also Huckabee donors “Estruth was also a sponsor of Huckabee’s fundraising reception earlier this month and he and his wife have already given $2,300, the maximum allowed in a primary, to Huckabee..” “Swift and his wife served as co-hosts for a Huckabee fundraiser earlier this month in suburban Cincinnati.”

The group intends on continuing their push-polls, expanding into other early primary states. They also have refused to give out the names of others who are funding these push-polls.

Since these push-pollers are donors, will Huckabee return their donations, and the donations received at fundraisers they hosted and sponsored?

Pro-Huckabee Group Push-Polling in Iowa

Politico has discovered a pro-huckabee group doing push-polls in Iowa.

A newly-formed group claiming to support Mike Huckabee hit the phones of Iowa
Republicans tonight with an automated push-poll attacking Huckabee's GOP
opponents and praising the former Arkansas governor.

Huckabee Tries to Gloss Over Ark. Record

Huckabee Tries to Gloss Over Ark. Record

Nov 28 12:00 PM US/Eastern By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press Writer

 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Mike Huckabee's presidential rivals are pointing to chinks in his record as Arkansas' governor—from ethics complaints to tax increases to illegal immigration and his support for releasing a rapist who was later convicted of killing a Missouri woman.

...his record has rough edges, and Huckabee has a habit of playing fast and loose with it.

"People are starting to contact us and they're saying we want everything on Mike Huckabee," says Graham Sloan, director of the state's Ethics Commission.

What they'll find is 436 pages of documents chronicling Huckabee's various tangles with a commission he's derided as a political tool of Democrats. It's a panel that has held proceedings 20 times on the former governor and lieutenant governor.

But the Ethics Commission files don't cover everything, and this year—anticipating criticism—Huckabee's campaign set up a "truth squad" to push his side of various stories. It often offers, at best, an incomplete account of his record.

On major issues:

_The truth squad says the only finding by the Arkansas Ethics Commission that Huckabee accepted a gift improperly was tossed out by a state court. In fact, the panel investigated 16 complaints against Huckabee and found five violations. Only one, for accepting a $500 canoe from Coca-Cola, was tossed out.

Two of the complaints against Huckabee pertain to unreported gifts—the canoe and a $200 stadium blanket received by his wife, Janet. Two stem from cash the governor or his wife received but did not initially report. The panel also ruled in 2003 that Huckabee's campaign violated state law when it used its funds to pay for an event during the summer of 2002 called Gospel Fest

During his tenure, Huckabee accepted 314 gifts valued overall at more than $150,000, according to documents filed with the Arkansas secretary of state's office. (He accepted 187 gifts in his first three years as governor but was not required to report their value.)

_Huckabee has consistently understated his role in the parole of rapist Wayne DuMond, who had been convicted in the 1984 rape of a distant cousin of former President Clinton.

Two months after taking office, Huckabee stunned the state by saying he questioned DuMond's guilt and that it was his intention to free the rapist, who had been castrated by masked men while awaiting trial. Huckabee said then he had "serious questions as to the legitimacy of his guilt" and acknowledged later that he had met with DuMond's wife about the case while he was lieutenant governor. Two months after ascending to the governor's office, Huckabee met with the woman again.

The ex-governor now blames his predecessor for making DuMond parole eligible—Jim Guy Tucker commuted a life-plus-20 years sentence to 39 1/2 years—but distances himself from his role in DuMond's release. Huckabee met privately with the state parole board, and two members have said he pressured them for a vote.

"He made it obvious that he thought DuMond had gotten a raw deal and wanted us to take another look at it," former board member Charles Chastain said in 2001. "Some board members who were usually very tough about letting people out ... (later) voted in favor of him, and seemed eager to."

On his campaign Web site, Huckabee says the parole board was made up entirely of Democrats appointed by Clinton and Tucker. It doesn't mention that Huckabee reappointed board member Railey Steele days before he voted with three other members to set DuMond free. DuMond was later convicted of killing a woman in Missouri and died in 2005.

_Huckabee likes to say he was tough on taxes in Arkansas, noting a $100 million tax cut in 1997 that until this year was Arkansas' largest. When asked about a fuel tax increase he backed in 1999, Huckabee says incorrectly that he joined 80 percent of Arkansas voters in approving it.

Huckabee in 1999 supported a $1 billion highway bond program, including costs for interest and lawyers' fees, but the question on the ballot was only whether the state could take on the debt, not how Arkansas would pay for it. Huckabee had signed the fuel tax increase two months earlier.

Shortly after taking office, Huckabee took a four-day trip by bass boat along the Arkansas River to tout a 1/8th-cent sales tax increase for outdoor programs. (Two nature centers now carry the names of Huckabee and his wife.) Taxes went up $40 million in the months before the $100 million tax cut Huckabee touts.

Other taxes went up as Arkansas changed its property tax system and made improvements to its school system.

_Huckabee's recent strong stand on immigration, including an intolerance toward companies that employ illegal immigrants, runs counter to the image he crafted in his final years in office. He was battling conservatives within his own party who were pushing for stricter state-level immigration measures.

Huckabee opposed a Republican lawmaker's efforts in 2005 to require proof of legal status when applying for state services that aren't federally mandated and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Huckabee derided the bill as un-American and un-Christian and said the bill's sponsor drank a different "Jesus juice."

That same year, Huckabee failed in his effort to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded scholarships and in-state tuition to Arkansas colleges. At the time, Huckabee said he didn't understand the opposition to it.

...

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Harsh Words about Huckabee, from Conservatives

In an Illinois Review article Tyler Jones shows some of the harsh comments directed at flavor of the month Mike Huckabee, from conservatives.

“He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas”

“He was pro-life and pro-gun, but otherwise a liberal”

“He has zero intellectual underpinnings in the conservative movement”

"Mr. Huckabee was the only GOP candidate to refuse to endorse President Bush's veto of the Democrats' bill to vastly expand the Schip health-care program. Only he and John McCain have endorsed the discredited cap-and-trade system to limit global-warming emissions that has proved a fiasco in Europe."

Romney Vs. Rudy and Huckabee on Wolf Blitzer