November 14, 2007
Hi, Mike!

Mike Huckabee comes to town and lands the endorsement of a prominent pastor. On one hand it's par for the course - like Mitt Romney capturing a business executive's endorsement, or John McCain that of veterans. On the other it's a nice little media splash.

As Postman noted, Huckabee is the current hot commodity on the Republican side of the aisle...at least in media circles. What I want to see is how well he wears after the shine wears off and the media starts playing "let's examine Mike." Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney seemed to have survived there turn at that grinding wheel. John McCain took some grave wounds over the summer under the media glare but he's still kicking. Fred Thompson has taken his lumps too though the verdict may still be out on how well he survived the scrutiny of the 4th Estate. How will Mike do?

For an early sampling of the next phase of press coverage there are takes here and here from some folks from Huckabee's Arkansas days that land some punches. I'm not clear how well they'll stick, though that's before conservative press outlets take a look at him. It's all but a taste of what Huckabee may yet face, especially with the Club for Growth doing what it does.

So, we'll know whether Huckabee's candidacy is built to last in the next few weeks. Every candidate has their strengths and weaknesses, Huckabee has to show how he handles the latter, even as he goes on the air with a limited TV buy in Iowa.

In the meantime, props to the King County Republicans for at worst landing a heckuva speaker.

Posted by Eric Earling at November 14, 2007 09:32 PM | Email This
Comments
1. He was in town and I MISSED it??

Posted by: Cydney on November 14, 2007 10:15 PM
2. Huckabee....... social conservative.....fiscally liberal... not gonna happen

Posted by: andre on November 14, 2007 10:34 PM
3. And he has Ted Nugent's endorsement as well.
Good enough for me.

Posted by: PC on November 14, 2007 10:37 PM
4. Chuck picks Huck too:

My choice for president


Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on November 14, 2007 11:12 PM
5. Mike Huckabee. The Socialist From Arkansas. http://www.cofcc.org/?p=811

Mike Huckabee disses Americans, Mexicans, promotes illegal immigration
http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/005609.html

Christians Need To Beware Of Mike Huckabee
http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2007/cbarchive_20071102.html

While Gov. of Arkansas, Huckabee was AGAINST proving citizenship in order to register to vote. He called those who were in favor of this ?racists?...
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050218/news_lz1e18perkins.html

Huckabee fought hard to kill an Arkansas bill which would have cut off social services for illegal aliens. Huckabee called the bill, ?anti-Christian? and ?un-American?...
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/01/28/News/316347.html

Huckabee supported in-state tuition for illegal aliens...
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/03/11/News/318458.html

Huck?s opposition to the illegal aliens bill:

http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/000718.html

Posted by: Alan Dows on November 15, 2007 12:27 AM
6. He sounds like a great candidate, but I just can't get past the idea of having another Arkansas governor. The last one did horrible.

But, following the old standby- ABC, except Ron Paul.

Posted by: swatter on November 15, 2007 06:58 AM
7. But, following the old standby- ABC, except Ron Paul.

Yep, that's exactly my thoughts.

Posted by: cliff on November 15, 2007 07:25 AM
8. survived there (sic) turn"

Perhaps you meant:

"survived their turn"

Posted by: Syntax Police on November 15, 2007 08:00 AM
9. I don't know about all that Alan Dows is talking about, but in general, Hucakbee is at the bottom of my list because of his fairly extreme (for a Republican) liberal tendencies to want to fix social problems using the federal government: health care, education, housing for minorities, and more.

Posted by: pudge on November 15, 2007 08:50 AM
10. Syntax Police: Most people here overlook typos and make substantive comments on the topic presented. If you can't do that, go away.

Posted by: katomar on November 15, 2007 11:49 AM
11. I prefer "ABM" Anybody But a Mormon.

I donated money to Ron Paul

Posted by: JKA on November 15, 2007 01:07 PM
12. The more I hear about Huckabee the more he scares me.
The latest is the news about his ethics.
This story is from the Arkansas Times.

As you'll remember, in early January 2007, as his tenure as governor ran out, Gov. Huckabee ordered his staff to electronically wipe and then crush the hard drives of almost 100 laptop and desktop computers in the governor's office (soon after taking office, incoming governor Mike Beebe had to allocate $335,000 from his operating fund to buy new hard drives and computers to replace those crushed by [Huckabee]). At the time, Huckabee said that the decision to crush the hard drives was made in order to protect the privacy of those who had personal information on the drives. Critics, however, recalled that early in Huckabee's term as governor, documents, e-mails and memos stored on hard drives just like the ones that were destroyed formed the basis of embarrassing stories about Huckabee, including a 1998 story in the Arkansas Times detailing how Huckabee and his family were using the $60,000-a-year Governor's Mansion fund as their personal piggy bank.

What was he trying to hide?

Also,
This article.
http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=154e1aad-fd18-4efd-8d80-b5dab8559419

What was he thinking?

Also, I will never forgive him for calling those against amnesty for illegal immigrants racists. Clearly, his ties to Tyson (an employer of illegals who is on of Mike's largest contributors) are clouding his judgement.
It is interesting that Mike seems to speak out of both sides of his mouth about illegal immigration.
His says he is against illegal immigration but he supports every magnet
that brings illegals to our country - education, health care etc. His thinking is the same kind of thinking that brought high tech toilets to Seattle and brings homeless people to Seattle from around the country.

I especially like this quote from one of his supporters. He sounds just like Mike.
"It has also been said that Mike Huckabee was in favor of providing college scholarships for illegal immigrants while he was Governor. The governor only supported the measure that applied to those who met the academic qualifications and applied for legal citizenship. The measure didn't pass. Governor Huckabee stressed that any student would simply be treated as any other graduate of an Arkansas High School, and not given any special consideration."

Wow what spin job. There was no proposed law that every said illegals would be granted access to college with low grades. They need to apply for citizenship in other words they are illegal to begin with! Sounds like amnesty to me.

Posted by: M&M on November 15, 2007 02:32 PM
13. I liked the Tyson connection comment, M&M. If I recall Tyson was also the Slick's biggest supporter for president. Trouble was, Slick sent Tyson packing regarding an offshore fishing issue. This case, if I recall, was Clinton didn't mind the foreign countries from fishing in our waters.

Posted by: swatter on November 15, 2007 03:41 PM
14. Syntax police @ 8: "judge not, lest ye be judged." This is a well-written article, in general, and though you are technically right, few will like you for pointing such things out. I make a mistake or two myself, and I want people to stay focused on my ideas, instead of quibbling over spelling errors. I'm sure you do as well.

There is a YouTube video that is really popular these days of Huckabee in front of the Arkansas legislature basically saying that any tax they want to pass is just fine with him. He practically begs for a tax increase to sign.

Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pLOC4krZI4

If he really is a big government RINO (Republican in Name Only... Club For Growth) then wouldn't Ron Paul be better?

Ron Paul has never voted for a tax increase or an unbalanced budget in his 20 years in Congress. He didn't accept federally subsidised student loans for his five kids, even though they qualified. He does not participate in the Congressional pension system. He has never voted to raise his own pay. He wants to eliminate the IRS and replace it with NOTHING!

How did big-government liberals take over the Republican Party? Better yet, how can the fiscal conservatives take it back? Dino Rossi is a great move at the state level, but we need more true fiscal conservatives in the belly of the beast: DC.

Posted by: Bruce Guthrie on November 15, 2007 06:39 PM
15. Be careful of Huckabee - he is not for smaller government. He may make a good Vice Presidential candidate.

The Clintons were pushing Huckabee as a dark horse because they know that they could have their way with him if he were the Repub. candidate.

Posted by: KS on November 15, 2007 09:24 PM
16. Bruce: big-government liberals have not taken over the GOP. They've been in control of the national party since before you or I were born! Reagan and Newt simply made us forget that fact, we got complacent, and left them alone to fight our fight.

The way to "get it back" is to fight for it -- the huge majority of grassroots Republicans are small-government conservatives -- and then next time, keep fighting to hold on to it.

Posted by: pudge on November 16, 2007 08:16 AM
17. Eric: Rudy Guiliani's "turn at that grinding wheel'" has hardly begun. The matasticizing scandals around Bernard Kerik; and the widening Regan/NewsCorp allegations make it very possible that an unknown Christianist with a funny name like Huckabee can still be nominated. I say, here here! (unless of course you guys wanna nominate Ron Paul).

please don't delete me, please don't delete me, please don't delete me...

Posted by: blathering michael on November 16, 2007 01:14 PM
18. Why would you be deleted? The moderators go overboard on posters' comments and seldom does anyone get deleted. Those that do deserve it. This isn't your NPI.

Posted by: swatter on November 16, 2007 02:01 PM
19. I get deleted frequently around here. I kibnd of expect it...

Posted by: blathering michael on November 16, 2007 04:57 PM
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