Huckabee Gets Serious

Some limited quotes from a 2006 Washington Times piece about Huckabee have been floating around. Not being able to find the full article, I requested and received a full copy - that's below the fold. But here are a few more quotes:

The governor described himself as a conservative who welcomes immigrants, cares about the poor, respects the environment and thinks twice before committing the U.S. military to armed intervention abroad. But he also said the question of whether the Bush administration should have invaded and occupied Iraq should be left to historians to answer.

Why no answer on Iraq? No other candidate has gotten a pass on that? And this speech he liked so well didn't exactly go over well with the grassroots:

Mr. Huckabee said he approved of virtually everything in the Monday night speech on immigration by Mr. Bush, including his National Guard and guest-worker initiatives, even though that agreement put Mr. Huckabee at odds, he said, with some fellow conservative Republicans.

This below you probably already read:

“I do believe some of it is driven by racism or nativism,” he said of the opposition within his party to Mr. Bush’s view that illegal aliens should not be deported but rather fined and eventually allowed U.S. citizenship.

And I'm sure Gore and Clinton would be pleased:

As president, he said, he would have no problem working on common goals with fellow Arkansan Bill Clinton or with other Democrats for that matter.

On the environment, he said: “We have done more to abuse than use the planet.” He added that it’s better for Americans “to act as if global warming” is a scientific fact because there is “no downside in conserving our resources.”

Headline: Huckabee 'serious’ about presidency
Subhead:
Byline: By Ralph Z. Hallow, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Body:
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee yesterday made it official - sort of. He is “seriously” preparing a run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
---- He will devote full time to the task, however, only after he finishes his last full term this year by rebating to taxpayers a large part of the $600 million budget surplus that he expects the state to ring up come July.
---- “I want to finish my term with a bang, not a whimper,” Mr. Huckabee, 50, told reporters over a luncheon in a meeting room next to office space his administration rents on Capitol Hill.
---- The nation’s longest-serving governor Mr. Huckabee moved up from lieutenant governor in July 1996 after the resignation of Gov. Jim Guy Tucker said he is talking this early and this frankly about 2008 because he wants to be “candid” with people.
---- He acknowledged that his biggest impediment may be raising the millions of dollars required for a presidential campaign a task made particularly formidable for someone from a small state.
---- In 2004, Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, raised more than $317 million for the contest he lost to President Bush, who raised $360 million.
---- Mr. Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, said he wouldn’t mind being tagged in a presidential run as a “populist.”
---- “I have more in common with the people working in the kitchen than with those sitting at the head table,” he said.
---- The governor described himself as a conservative who welcomes immigrants, cares about the poor, respects the environment and thinks twice before committing the U.S. military to armed intervention abroad. But he also said the question of whether the Bush administration should have invaded and occupied Iraq should be left to historians to answer.
---- Mr. Huckabee said he approved of virtually everything in the Monday night speech on immigration by Mr. Bush, including his National Guard and guest-worker initiatives, even though that agreement put Mr. Huckabee at odds, he said, with some fellow conservative Republicans.
---- “I do believe some of it is driven by racism or nativism,” he said of the opposition within his party to Mr. Bush’s view that illegal aliens should not be deported but rather fined and eventually allowed U.S. citizenship.
---- “It’s not amnesty to make people pay for breaking the law,” Mr. Huckabee said.
---- As president, he said, he would have no problem working on common goals with fellow Arkansan Bill Clinton or with other Democrats for that matter.
---- Mr. Huckabee said he probably will not accept public financing of his presidential nomination campaign. If he wins, he said, he probably will follow Mr. Bush’s 2004 election campaign example and not accept public financing in the general election either, thus freeing himself from restraints on fundraising and spending that go along with public financing.
---- On the environment, he said: “We have done more to abuse than use the planet.” He added that it’s better for Americans “to act as if global warming” is a scientific fact because there is “no downside in conserving our resources.”

Publication name: The Washington Times
Publication date: Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Creation date: Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Archive date: Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Page Number: 06
Section: A
Author: Ralph Hallow
Format: Head.tsb.42
Area: USA
Article Category: NATION
Source: TWT

Comments

[Craig Dunkerley]

I'm sad to hear that Huckabee will probably forego public financing of his campaign. What that means is that he, like all other candidates who opt out of that system, will be soliciting and accepting as much private cash as he can get his hands on from as many wealthy special interests as he can contact. And if we voters think all those private donors are not expecting a handsome return on their "investment," we're sadly mistaken. Private financing of campaigns is little more than legalized bribery....and government of the people, by the people and for the people will soon become a distant memory unless we get rid of it.

[Dave]

Other than the fact that he's a Christian pastor, there seems to be little difference between Huckabee's views and the average liberal. He's economically almost illiterate, and he is one of those people who liked Bush's speech and thinks I'm a racist because I believe we should control our borders.

In other words, he's utterly unqualified to represent the conservative view. If it weren't for the facts of the Mormon and the 'liberal conservative' being the leaders so far, Huckabee wouldn't get the time of day from the base.

I wonder if Christian conservatives (and I am one, albeit probably better informed about Huck) really know what they'd be getting with this guy. IF they're worried about their Christianity not being represented, their choice of Huckabee would result in their conservatism not being represented.

He's a LIBERAL.

[seekeronos]

"--- I wonder if Christian conservatives (and I am one, albeit probably better informed about Huck) really know what they'd be getting with this guy. IF they're worried about their Christianity not being represented, their choice of Huckabee would result in their conservatism not being represented.

He's a LIBERAL. ---"

Bravo, and well spoken, Dave.

Huckabee is NOT a conservative candidate, and I fear that he will embody all the worst qualities of Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, save perhaps for the "Biblical knowledge" of any female within a 5km radius of himself.

For certain, I believe that Fred Thompson will do a much better job of representing the values and wishes for Christians and near-Christians who identify politically as conservatives.