Filed under: video
Clips and quotes from Republican presidential nominee Mike Huckabee.
Mike Huckabee tells everyone how to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps following the Steve Skvara interview. He does slam the corporations for what they’re doing but his solutions are to put the problems back in the individuals laps rather than the government having a safety net for them, and he does not explain what they should do about corporations being out of control. He seems a little more concerned for the collapse of the Republican party.
Ok, I feel compelled to respond separately (again) to bigjolly’s post regarding GOP presidential candidate and erstwhile governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee. Huckabee isn’t within earshot of winning the nomination, I don’t want anyone to get the idea that he’s the pure, unadulterated conservative while the major candidates (including Thompson) all possess crippling flaws.
The skinny on Huckabee? He’s a lousy fiscal conservative.
Now, this gets thrown around a great deal, but I’ll start out with the basic facts. As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee was responsible for 37% higher sales tax, 16% higher motor fuel taxes, and 103% higher cigarette taxes. He opposed a repeal of the sales tax for groceries and medicine, opposed an internet sales tax ban, and criticized the Bush tax cuts for being tilted “toward the people at the top end of the economic scale.” On top of it all, state spending increased by well over 60% during his tenure.
Of course, I’m aware that Huckabee has “responded” to these allegations with letter emphasizing, in part, that he cut taxes 94 times, that when he raised taxes it was the public doing so, not him, and that the budget was beyond his control. However, none of these justifications wash. First of all, Huckabee’s tax cuts were dwarfed by his tax increases. In 1996, when Huckabee first entered office, Arkansas ranked 30th in the nation for its state tax burden. By 2006, it had risen to 13th with an average state tax burden well above the national average.
Secondly, it’s highly, highly deceptive for Huckabee to claim, for instance, that “over 80% of the voters of Arkansas supported a 4-cent tax on diesel fuel to fix the roads.” Sure, if you couple a tax increase that doesn’t apply directly to you (most people use unleaded) to a good cause (fixing roads) and then whip up a poll question based on this scheme, people are going to overwhelmingly support it. However, that’s not good policy.
Thirdly, Huckabee cannot argue that he lacked control of the budget process. As governor, he submitted initial budget proposals and ultimately had to approve the entire budget. He could have compelled spending cuts had he tried to use the full power of his office; he simply failed to do so. He is no more helpless in this process than President Bush is.
In short, Huckabee isn’t much of a fiscal conservative. If anything, he leans left on the issue.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich predicted former Arkansas governor and presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee will catch on with Republican primary voters.
Gingrich himself is flirting with a White House run, and also complimented GOP candidates Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney during a luncheon today in Washington.
Gingrich said Huckabee is going to emerge as “the most interesting dark horse” over the next few weeks. He said Huckabee has a level of authenticity and candor that is beginning to resonate with people.
Huckabee has been largely in single digits, trailing others, but is competing hard in this week’s Iowa straw poll.
BOONE, Iowa – Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is not the tallest fellow in the Republican presidential race.He’s not even the round mound of rebound that he was before he lost more than 100 pounds.
So some of the folks gathered under a tree outside the Boone courthouse on Wednesday smiled when the little fellow started comparing himself to a basketball player.
“I’ve not been spending my time trying to bash other candidates,” Huckabee said. “I believe the best way to win a campaign is to hit the three-point shots from out on the perimeter, not by going under the goal and elbowing somebody or knee-capping them, but rather to be able to play your best game.”
In Boone, as elsewhere, Huckabee got a warm reception with his soft-spoken, amiable style. But pick apart his remarks and there are plenty of pointed jabs for all those “nice, decent people” who are in the crowded Republican field with him.
Filed under: speaker
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is the latest Republican presidential candidate to sign up to speak at the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference in Indianapolis later this month.
 |
|
He joins former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee — who has not yet announced his candidacy — as speakers at the event, which will be at the Westin Hotel in Downtown Indianapolis from Aug. 24 through Aug. 26.
There’s another governor from Hope, Ark., seeking to become the president of America. He’s Mike Huckabee. And while many would think that his hometown is the only thing Mr. Huckabee has in common with President Clinton, they share one other thing as well: Mr. Huckabee knows how to appeal to both the party base and middle America at the same time.
Just as New Hampshire made Bill Clinton the comeback kid in 1992, this weekend’s Iowa straw poll could do the same for the charismatic, but underfunded Mr. Huckabee, especially since Messrs. Giuliani and McCain have backed out of it and Mr. Thompson isn’t even in it.
WASHINGTON — A pep rally and a proving ground, the Iowa Straw Poll on Saturday gives Mike Huckabee his first and perhaps his best chance to improve his standing among Republican presidential contenders.
Huckabee looks to the straw poll as an indicator of what he sees as growing momentum in Iowa, the state with the first 2008 presidential caucuses. He will battle six other Republicans.
The votes that will be cast Saturday are not binding in any way. Still, the event has won a place in the campaign tapestry as a sign of a candidate’s organizational strength in Iowa.
