It had been quite some time since Mike Huckabee had insulted, crossed, and otherwise annoyed limited-government conservatives. As one of the very few high-profile Republicans to openly oppose TARP, he had a tremendous opportunity to rebuild bridges.
Today, at King’s College (NYC), Huckabee not only refused to rebuild those bridges, but he set fire to a few more (Brian Stewart – NRO: The Corner):
Huckabee flatly denied being a “pro-life liberal,” an accusation often made in certain quarters on the right. Not a trace of defensiveness could be detected on this point. To the contrary, the governor gave an all-out defense of his tax hikes while governor of Arkansas on the grounds that they were the only responsible course of action to repair state roads. He snorted with derision at “libertarians” who fail to recognize that “we don’t have a health care crisis in this country, but a health crisis.” He spoke with passion and knowledge on the need for preventative care to bring down exorbitant costs. And then, without the least amount of prompting, he mustered a vigorous defense of Mrs. Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity. This was the “art of governing,” he argued, rather than the cheap “science of campaigning.”
Where to begin!
For starters, the tax-hikes-for-roads nonsense is a common feature here in Virginia, at least until Speaker Bill Howell and his fellow Republicans in the House of Delegates finally got over their HB3202-induced tax-fever. The rest was just Huckabee’s typical drivel. In fact, his last line about the “art of governing” - citing a First Lady campaign – would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragically ignorant.
He then digs himself even deeper with this:
Invited to plea for cuts in defense spending, he delicately declined, but noted that combat operations in Afghanistan were futile and therefore constituted government “waste.”
Let that sink in for just a minute: fighting the Taliban is now government waste to Mike Huckabee.
Stewart called Huckabee “The Face of Conservative Populism.” That Huckabee can still manage to get “conservative” attached to himself is all the more reason I call myself a right-wing liberal.
Cross-posted to Virginia Virtucon and Virginia Bloggers Against Mike Huckabee
[...] There he goes again « The right-wing liberal says: January 22, 2011 at 2:34 am [...]
[...] There he goes again « The right-wing liberal, on January 22, 2011 at 2:34 am said: [...]
Translation – Hucabee will never be a true right winger!
you guys kill me D.J.
You’d have a Republican President in office right now – Mitt Romney – if ya’ll could get your act together on just how “conservative” they need to be before you’ll let them run.
Ya’ll have yet to face up to the simple realities here than only about 20% of Americans support the “pure” right wing agenda.
I ask the simple question.
Do you guys want to “RULE” or do you want to “GOVERN”.
Governing requires compromise even on core principals. You advocate for what you believe in – but you have to decide if you really do want to represent MOST voters.
Do you actually understand what you just said? If governing requires compromise even on core principles, who needs voters — at least honest voters. We just “rightfully” do whatever it takes to win.
You foolishly blame people who stand for something for greed of others. Don’t you realize that to operate a republic the People must exhibit a relatively high degree of morality? Otherwise, majority rule collapses into majoritarian tyranny. Since majoritarian tyranny cannot be sustained for any length of time (As we are now seeing, such rule wrecks havoc on the economy.), majoritarian tyranny must eventually fall to just plain tyranny.
If we are willing to compromise core principles then we do not have any core principles (by definition). Thus, when we have demonstrated that we are willing to compromise our core principles, we can no longer present a viable alternative based upon those principles. We just become a mushy moderate nobody trusts or respects. We become part of the problem, not the solution.
You’re actually using the prospect of President Romney as the ‘what-if?’ scenario to showcase the need for compromise? Way to prove DJ’s point you tool.
Huckabee sucks, and I hear he has a disturbing amount of support from the ever-malevolent Religious Right, but he’s mostly right about Afghanistan. It’s obvious the US is making no headway and therefore logically the money spent there is waste.
If you read the PN editorial on Sunday, you would see that the Times Dispatch notes that Virginia has budgeted $2,000 – yes – thousand for road repairs and has come out for increase in the gas tax…yes the times dispatch!!!!