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Add to NewsvineA sure sign that Huckabee's rise is starting to freak some people out: lots of negative stuff about him is coming out. The thing is, it's fairly substantive.
John Fund writes about how he personally likes Huckabee, but he governed Arkansas with a fairly liberal fiscal hand (caveat: he was dealing with a Democratic state legislature). That wouldn't necessarily hurt him in the general election, for better or for worse, certainly against any Democrat. But it'll be hard for Huck to walk away from that record in the primary race, especially given how sore GOP primary voters are at Bush for his free-spending ways (at least Huck seems to have had the sense of responsibility to raise taxes to pay for his spending, unlike Bush). According to Fund, not a lot of conservatives back in Arkansas have much use for him. He comes across as the kind of Republican who will eventually be praised by the media as having "grown in office."
Quin Hillyer at the American Spectator has the real dirt, though. Well, it hardly qualifies as "dirt," and heaven knows it's not remotely as troubling -- or as disgusting -- as Giuliani's statement that in defining waterboarding as torture, "It depends on who does it." Still, read the Hillyer piece; it appears that Huck's skin is a lot thinner than his avuncular personality lets on, and it also appears that he has a rather broad view of ethics.
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I've read the good and the bad on Huckabee for some time. John Fund's piece confirmed what any person can find on their own just by using google and the Arkansas government websites. A record is a record. The question is will Huckabee be honest about it or try to excuse it? He seems to be choosing the later, either by blaming the agenda driven Club for Growth or he seems to say he did the best I could with a democratic legislature). But if he's going to let the Dems walk all over him in Arkansas, what does that tell us will happen in DC? A lot.
Like it or not, the governer takes the heat for what goes on in his state. Running away from his record, by blaming the democrats or agenda driven conservatives is not helpful and certainly not presidential qualities I would hope for in a conservative Christian candidate.
His last line of defense seems to be his willingess to sign the "No Tax Pledge." Given his record in Arkansas, his signing of the pledge as a distinct "read my lips" quality to it that could come back to bite us in the wallet if Huckabee makes it as the nominee and into the White House.
Posted by: Spunky | October 26, 2007 6:41 PM
This 2002 Arkansas Times article lays out the basis for the concerns about Huckabee's parole of
Dumond. http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=154e1aad-fd18-4efd-8d80-b5dab8559419 .
Posted by: sj | October 26, 2007 10:16 PM
If the Republicans with to continue being beholden to the fundies, then they'll nominate Huckabee. If they nominate Giuliani, that doesn't necessarily mean that they've ceased to fear the fundies, but it would suggest that they're no longer willing to be owned by them.
I'm terrified of a Giuliani presidency (and equally terrified of a Clinton Redux presidency), but would love to see the GOP call the Christianists' bluff.
Just my $0.02 (Canadian dollars ;-)
Posted by: weemaryanne | October 27, 2007 7:56 AM
Rod, here's the thing... The John Fund piece has been pretty thoroughly refuted. First, by a long-time newspaper editor from Arkansas. Second, by the president of the Arkansas Health Care Assocation. And third, by Governor Huckabee himself:
http://roebuckreport.blogspot.com/2007/10/funds-column-assassination-of-huckabee.html
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=563
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110010794
The source of most of the vitriol is ultimately the Club for Growth, whose accusations against Huckabee have been responded to by Joe Carter of the Evangelical Outpost:
http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/archives/004053.html
As far as the Hilyer piece... I read through every single bit, and what struck me was how many of the ethics complaints made against him were made during election years, were put forth by the same person (and dismissed again and again), or were put forth by vocal opponents. When you're a Republican governor in a heavily, heavily Democrat state, it's not that surprising that his enemies were looking for any way to take him down.
Max Brantley, executive editor of the Arkansas Times, has had a long-standing hatred of Huckabee. He slams him at every chance he gets. He even had his staff (or maybe he did it himself) type out his old articles as Word documents so he could attack Huckabee again. All of the articles are based on him and one disgruntled former state employee. Seems entirely fishy, to me.
Posted by: AJ | October 30, 2007 11:28 PM
What an informative article on "The "Huck-ster?". Yes lots of negative stuff about him is coming out.I thought i was a terrific writer, however after reading your article i had to alter my thoughts.
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James Chapel
Addiction Recovery Arkansas
Posted by: jchapel | July 1, 2008 3:36 AM
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