What's going on with all these Hucksters calling into Rush's show today?  Why can't they just look past his 'evangelical' background to what he actually represents.  

THIS GUY IS NOT CONSERVATIVE!

neocon wrote:What's going on with all these Hucksters calling into Rush's show today?  Why can't they just look past his 'evangelical' background to what he actually represents.  

THIS GUY IS NOT CONSERVATIVE!

I am amazed by this too!  I am a CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN, WHITE MALE.  I have been to seminary.  I should be Huck's biggest supporter.  But he isn't a conservative.  I am not going to vote for a liberal, tax and spend, big government guy just because he reads from the same Bible.  Being a Christian and evan a pastor doesn't make you always right.  Nor does it require me to turn off my brain!

Lol, maybe they're the new version of the Paulbots. I think they call themselves members of "Huck's Army".

I agree - he may be a social conservative, but that's the record of a fiscal liberal. That and all those frickin' pardons. I want a conservative on both counts and he/she doesn't have to be an ordained priest or an elder in a church.


Psssssssssst,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Fred...............................

Who says any of those calling in were conservatives?  Since the press is trying very hard to decide for us who our nominee is going to be, I would suggest that perhaps some of those calling in were actually democrats and some of those calling in were people who are buying the Koolaide the press is dishing out.  

What I want to know is why aren't the evangelical leaders stepping forward to say this man is NOT a conservative and therefore should not be the nominee?

I'm hoping his campaign crashes and burns as the primaries continue.  Huckabee is a GW lookalike (maybe not for the war though) and that's why the press would love to see him be the nominee.  Bush derangement syndrome is still very much alive and well.  It would not be a huge stretch for the press to put that syndrome onto Huckabee.

If you're inclined toward the North American Union "conspiracy", it might interest you that Huckabee just named Richard Haass as one of his chief advisors.

Richard Haass is the President of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is not at all shy about openly declaring his support not only for a North American Union, but also the elimination of United States borders, TOTAL dissolution of United States sovereignty (title of 2nd chapter in his book is "Too Much Sovereignty?"), and subjecting the U.S. to the jurisdiction of a Global Government.  There's nothing hidden about his agenda in this regard - it's all online.

Antisoros wrote:I agree - he may be a social conservative, but that's the record of a fiscal liberal. That and all those frickin' pardons.

How in the WORLD could he pardon over 1000 convicts in just 10 years.  That is 100 pardons a year on average.  What was he thinking?  Sometimes a pardon is justified.  Sometimes innocent men get sent to prison.  But 1000 pardons in 10 years?  That is outrageous.

Having known Mike for over 12 years I can tell you he is as conservative as they come.  The pardon issue is junk unless you view it in the context of his overall record on crime in Arkansas as Governor.  The crime rate went down.  He carried out the death penalty over 15 times.  The rate of prisoners going back to prison also went down.   Arkansas law rquired Mike to review all requests for some type of pardon by prisoners.  The 1000 figure represents roughly 10% of the total he had to review.  Not one serious criminal got out of prison because of any of Mike's actions.  The vast majority of those 1000 were folks already released and seeking some type of relief from having to list their relatively minor conduct on applications for jobs.  The single Mom who could not get a job 10 years later after getting convicted of writing a hot check when she was a teen.  Every tax increase during Mike's years was either voter approved 80% approval for new roads or mandated by a court decision increased funding for eeducation.  Mike took steps to streamline the cost of education so that the tax increase did not have to be as large as it would have been and then managed the the education system in Arkansas so that it saw dramatic improvements in relation to quality of Education.

eball wrote:Having known Mike for over 12 years I can tell you he is as conservative as they come.  

This is silly.  Conservatives don’t advocate in-state tuition breaks for illegals.  Or rent state government space to foreign government representatives to help illegals immigrate to Arkansas.  Conservatives don’t raise taxes like Huckabee did consistently over a 10 year period.  Conservatives don’t believe more and bigger government is the solution to our problems.  Huckabee espoused and did all these things until he decided to run for President.  

eball wrote:The pardon issue is junk unless you view it in the context of his overall record on crime in Arkansas as Governor.  The crime rate went down.  He carried out the death penalty over 15 times.  The rate of prisoners going back to prison also went down.  

The crime rate in the entire nation went down during that period.  And it wasn’t because Huckabee was governor.  And pardoning criminals has never been proven to have any net deterrent on crime rates.  

eball wrote:Arkansas law rquired Mike to review all requests for some type of pardon by prisoners.  The 1000 figure represents roughly 10% of the total he had to review.  

Okay, so law required Mike to “review” all requests.  Now, how does that require him to actually release any of them?  During this time Huckabee pardoned or released twice as many convicts as his three predecessors combined!  During the years Huckabee was governor and pardoned 1000 convicts the governors in six surrounding states only pardoned 624!  This seems to be a significant deviation from the statistical norm for pardons.   I don't know but 10% percent sounds like a high percentage to me.  

eball wrote:Not one serious criminal got out of prison because of any of Mike's actions.  The vast majority of those 1000 were folks already released and seeking some type of relief from having to list their relatively minor conduct on applications for jobs.  The single Mom who could not get a job 10 years later after getting convicted of writing a hot check when she was a teen.  

Well, technically, Mike didn’t pardon DuMond, the serial rapist who went on to rape and kill again.  But then his senior aide at that time, Olan W. “Butch” Reeves, said, “Huckabee indeed told the state’s parole board that he supported the release of a convicted rapist.”  So, he certainly had influence on this murderer’s release and must bear some of the responsibility for the deaths that followed.  And I didn't realize that Keith Richards was one of those poor and downtrodden.  Yes, Huckabee pardoned this zombie evidently because Huckabee played bass guitar.  

eball wrote:Every tax increase during Mike's years was either voter approved 80% approval for new roads or mandated by a court decision increased funding for eeducation.  Mike took steps to streamline the cost of education so that the tax increase did not have to be as large as it would have been and then managed the the education system in Arkansas so that it saw dramatic improvements in relation to quality of Education.

Mike’s “streamlining” of education in Arkansas must have done wonders.  The good people of the state only spent more for fewer results instead of spending much more for much fewer results.  That is hardly a resounding endorsement for his work in education in Arkansas.  

As far as taxes go, some dispute your assertions with a few facts to back them up.  Try this one for example:

But according to data compiled for Cybercast News Service by Stephen Slivinski, director of budget studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, the tax hikes Huckabee supported between 1997 and 2007 were far heftier than his tax cuts. (Slivinski compiled his report from tax records available at the bi-partisan National Conference of State Legislatures.)

The numbers show that taxes increased at an average of $15 per person per fiscal year during Huckabee's tenure (1996-2007). The net tax cuts supported by Huckabee from fiscal years 1997 to 2007 totaled $222 million, while net tax increases supported or unopposed by Huckabee totaled $864 million.

The net increase in taxes supported by Huckabee, therefore, equaled $642 million. With a population slightly declining - from 2.7 million in 1997 to 2.5 million in 2007 - net taxes collected in Arkansas rose by more than $3 billion during Huckabee's gubernatorial tenure.

In the early months of 1996 leading up to the special election to determine the replacement for Gov. James Guy Tucker, Jr. - who had resigned after his conviction for a Whitewater-related crime - interim Gov. Huckabee staked his campaign on promises of lower taxes for Arkansas, especially the elimination of a grocery tax he described as unfair to the poor.

"Either we will exert the leadership to make that happen or it will be exerted by the people. It's going to happen," Huckabee promised voters.

But six months into the term, Huckabee - citing stiff opposition from the Democrat-controlled state legislature and concerns there would not be funds for education, Medicaid, and health insurance for poor children - took his tax cuts off the table.

Two days after his decision to drop the grocery tax rebate, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette published a poll, which showed 66 percent of voters supported the grocery tax repeal.

Read the rest here.

Huckabee might be a nice guy.  And I might even worship in his church.  But, he is not a conservative and many of us recognize that fact from his record.  I will be voting for someone who better supports my principles.  Huckabee's record is way too clear for us to just take your word for it.

Paleocon,
Let me take your "factual" arguments one at a time:
"Silly... conservatives don't advocate in-state tuition for illegals...or rent space... to foreign government Reps to help illegals immigrate to Arkansas...don't raise taxes like Huck did consisently over a 10 year period ... con't bvelieve more and bigger government is the solution to our problems...espoused and did all these things"

Huck did not advocate in-state tuition breaks for illegals.  He did support a proposal to offer scholarships to deserving public high school graduates.  Public schools have children of illegals who are born here and are citizens. They also have some illegals who are students, in order to qualify for the scholarship they would have to come forward identify themselves and get on the track to being legal.  Not one illegal ever qualified.  The Federal government has not done the job in preventing illegals from coming into the US.  Mike had to deal with the problem the Fed's allowed to happen.  Whether you like it or not a lot of small and large business utilize illegals to do jobs that they otherwise could not fill.  Mike had to deal with the economics of this question as well as the legal side of it.  I don't understand why anyone would be criticized for working with Mexico and the local business community in dealing with this National problem.  How that makes him less than conservative is silly it makes him a person willing to work to make things better for everyone.  He improved the road system in Ark.  can you say infrastructure!  This brought jobs and improved the econmy of the State.  80% of the voters in Ark voted for that tax increase to improve the roads.  I guess you would fall in the 20% that believes in no taxes and therefore no government?  There is a difference between taxes at the local and State level and Federal Income taxes!  Oh that is right Huck is the only candidate that wants to eliminate the IRS and do away with Federal income taxes sorry he is such a liberal!  Limited government is a conservative principle no government is anarchy!  No government exists with out money (ie taxes).  The other reason for any overall increase in taxes in Ark. while Mike was Governor is the court case he inherited which required Ark to more fairly fund public schools.  Mike went to work not only coming up with the funds (ie taxes) to comply with the court order but worked through consolidating districts to save money and reduce the overall tax hike necessary.  He also cut many taxes in Ark.  When you compare the overall tax increase per year during Huck's tenure to Mitt's in taxatuchetts (oh thats right Mitt did not raise taxes he only raised fees what a crock!) Mitt's per year growth is much greater than Mike's.  The club for growth that is blasting Mike is receiving huge sums of money from political opponents of Mike who happen to be supporters of Mitt.  they have maxed out to Mitt ie 2300 but given sums as high as 250,000 to club for growth to run negative ads.  Try looking at all the facts that are out there before jumping to conclusions.

Paleeocon,
The rest of your reply while broken up nicely does not rebut anything I said in my original post it is only your opinion of some facts and figures which do not begin to tell the story.  Arkansas schools were ranked at the bottom 45-50 in State rankings concerning quality of education when Mike took office now they ranked 8th in a recent report.  Tell me that is not an accomplishment to be proud of by any conservative.   Unlike Mitt who looks after his own political interests by granting 0 pardons, Mike actually reviewed close to 9000 requests over his 10 and 1/2 years and took action where he felt it was warranted.  Only one case is he criticized for the Dumond case which truth be told he took no action to cause that as Governor.  Did he support the action yes as did the majority of folks in Ark at the time.  Hind sight is 20/20 even for conservatives.  Does being conservative mean you never grant any relief to folks convicted of a crime even if it turns out it was undeserved?  It looks to me that his overall judgment was pretty good in terms of the decisions he made.  Once again I think it is conservative to do what you believe is right and not be swayed by thoughts of political expediency or the polls!  There is a big difference in talking conservative values and walking them.  Mitt is talking a good game now but he has come to these positions right before he runs for President does no one see a problem!  As a good old Southern boy I am skeptical of a man who can be elected Governor of the most liberal State in the Union now trying to tell me he is conservative.