The Huckabee Thread

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070128/ap_on_el_pr/huckabee2008

"I think this is an opportunity to show the American dream is still alive and there's hope and optimism that can be awakened in a lot of people's lives if they think that a person like me can run and actually become president," Huckabee told The Associated Press

The 51-year-old Huckabee, who took over as governor at the height of Bill Clinton's Whitewater scandal, comes from the same small town — Hope — in the same rural state as the former Democratic president.

"One of the reasons that I'm running for president is because I think that America needs folks who understand what it is to start at the bottom of the ladder and climb their way to the top," Huckabee said in a broadcast interview. "We've got a lot of people who are born on third base and think they've hit a triple. LBBC: I absolutely LOVE this line.

While Arkansas is a predominantly Democratic state, Huckabee won two full terms in landslides. He championed tax increases for public schools, expanded state insurance programs for the children of the working poor and opposed banning state services for illegal immigrants.

Biggest obstacle for Huckabee has to be that name.

I know nothing on this site but here is the link...

http://www.ontheissues.org/Mike_Huckabee.htm

Biggest obstacle for Huckabee has to be that name.

Bigger than Barak Hussein Obama?

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/05/insider_interview_mike_huckabe.html

Huckabee would like voters to know about the successes he says his administration achieved in Arkansas, and in the interview he ticked off what he claimed were significant improvements in education and transportation as well as a committment to environmental conservation. But when it gets down to it, what animinates Huckabee most is his faith, and it's his background as an evangelical Christian from the South that could very well distinguish him from the rest of the GOP pack.

Asked whether he considers himself to be more "preacher" or "politician," Huckabee insisted that it is impossible to separate the two. "I would say that my faith has everything to do with my politics," he explained. "The reason I care about people in poverty, the reason that I care about people who live in substandard housing, the reason that I was moved to compassion [for the victims of Hurricane] Katrina without any doubt was because of my faith."

Well this stands in exact opposite to the stance Kerry espoused in 2004.

Huckabee spent the 1980s as a Baptist minister in Pine Bluff and Texarkana. He rose to prominence in the state as the head of the Arkansas Baptist Convention, which boasted a membership of nearly half a million people.

Could speak well to the evangelicals.

On immigration, Huckabee aligns himself with President Bush rather than more conservative elements of the Republican Party, favoring a "pathway to citizenship" for those who at one time entered the United States illegally.

"To think that we're going to go lock up 12 million people or even round them up and drive them to the border and let them go might make a great political speech but it's not going to happen," said Huckabee.

He downplayed the political consequences of the issue, insisting that while there is a segment of people who are "truly exercised about this and virtually nothing but this," the vast majority of voters are not up in arms over the idea of offering illegal immigrants a chance to be citizens. "I just don't believe that at the breakfast table in most homes in Arkansas the first thing that happens is the man throws his cereal spooon down and says: 'Let's talking about immigration, honey,'" said Huckabee.

A politican who says "you might want to hear it but it's not going to work."

Reading his stances, it seems like at times, I could have typed them.

While Huckabee's faith at times leads him into conflict with the Republican base, it also makes him the poster child for social conservatives on hot-button issues like abortion. Huckabee said he would have signed the strict abortion law enacted recently in South Dakota had he been that state's governor. "If I'm going to err, I am going to err on the side of life," he said.

In his decade as Arkansas governor, Huckabee said he has signed "every kind of pro-life legislation that we can sign under existing law," but added that ultimately the change should be "more in the hearts of people than in the laws of people." That transformation, said Huckabee, comes from a reassessment of the culture in American today; "I think we need to recognize that we have had a cultural shift, and it hasn't necessarily been all that positive."

Example 2:

Huckabee rattles off a series of statistics to back up that claim. If an individual graduates from high school, holds a job for at least five years and gets and stays married (and remains monogamous), there is a 91 percent chance that person will not spend a single day in poverty. On the other hand, an individual who marries before age 18, does not finish high school and is not regularly employed has an 86 percent chance of spending the majority of his or her life in poverty.

"If you just look at the sheer statistical numbers from a dispassionate perspective, there has been in fact some real consequences as there has been a growing instability of the family unit," he said. Huckabee's solution is a refocusing -- on a personal and public policy level -- on rebuilding communities.

I saw him on Meet the Press yesterday. He will face a few problems. The born on third base line has been used many times before, most recently as a shot at President Bush. Tim Russert hung him with his past statements on homosexuals. My guess is that he goes nowhere.

Quotes:

Pray a little more, work a little harder, save, wait, be patient and, most of all, live within our means. That's the American way. It's not spending ourselves into prosperity or taxing ourselves into prosperity.

I liked gravy poured on top of a big glob of mashed potatoes, I liked biscuits a lot, and a lot of them. I liked going to the state fair and having a fried Twinkie. They were my choices. They were bad choices.

The health care system is really designed to reward you for being unhealthy. If you are a healthy person and work hard to be healthy, there are no benefits.

There is a crisis in America. That crisis is divorce. It is easier to get out of a marriage than (to get out of a) contract to buy a used car.

I saw him on Meet the Press yesterday. He will face a few problems. The born on third base line has been used many times before, most recently as a shot at President Bush. Tim Russert hung him with his past statements on homosexuals. My guess is that he goes nowhere.

My dad wouldn't vote for me if I ran as a Republican and he seemed to think this guy had a good chance. He saw the Meet with Press segment and said he aligned with traditional Republican viewpoints very well. Could see him getting the bid over Rudy G or McCain.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/27/Huckabee.ap/index.html

Huckabee faces difficult odds as he enters a crowded Republican field topped by better-known, better-funded candidates such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

All three have spent the last few months building their national campaign organizations, courting fundraisers and lining up grass-roots supporters in primary and caucus states. However, they also have records or positions on social or fiscal issues that don't sit well with conservative voters -- and that could give Huckabee an opening.

My feeling is that running as an outspoken Christian is probably political suicide.

My feeling is that running as an outspoken Christian is probably a political death sentence.

Because of the media or lack of support from the voters. It seemed pretty much a consensus that evangelicals were the reason why Bush was elected. Would they not support a candidate that says what they are thinking?

Also, would that not be considered intolerant of those who might dismiss him because he is Christian? :sssh:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Huckabee

In November 2005, TIME named him one of the five best governors in the U.S

Soon after taking office, Huckabee signed legislation creating ARKids First, a health insurance program designed to provide insurance to children of families who could not qualify for Medicaid but could not afford private insurance.[2] He signed legislation to cut taxes, and simplified the automobile registration procedure.

Huckabee also led a campaign to dedicate via constitutional amendment 1/8 of one cent of the state sales tax to improvement of the state's park system and natural resources, which had fallen into serious disrepair (and was an embarrassment for a state billing itself as "The Natural State"). As part of the campaign Huckabee (an avid outdoorsman) traveled the entire length of the Arkansas River (the part within Arkansas) by boat.[3]

After Hurricane Katrina made landfall and numerous evacuees fled to Arkansas (the total number was estimated at around 70,000), Huckabee ordered state agencies to "take care of those human needs first and worry about the paperwork later".

When elected governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee was significantly overweight. During 2003, physicians diagnosed the governor with adult-onset diabetes and informed him that he would not live more than 10 years if he did not lose weight. This diagnosis (as well as the subsequent death of former Governor Frank D. White, whose obesity led to a fatal heart attack) shocked the governor into reflecting on his own mortality, and his ability to serve as the governor of Arkansas. Huckabee subsequently lost over 110 pounds through a disciplined diet and exercise,[5][6] according to a New York Times article at a pace so rapid that "it was as if he simply unzipped a fat suit and stepped out." [7] The governor now wakes up at approximately 5 a.m. for a five-mile jog, and he and his wife routinely pack his own healthy meals for lunch and dinner in a portable cooler--even when attending political, ceremonial, or fund-raising events.

He has publicly recounted his previous burdens as an overweight man: the steps of the Arkansas capitol building from the entrance of the building up to the Governor's office were so long and steep that Huckabee would be out of breath and exhausted by the time he reached the top of the stairs; Huckabee secretly feared that he would be interviewed by media at the top of the steps, and that he would be unable to respond appropriately due to his overexertion and breathlessness.[8]

Appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on January 10th, 2007.

Mentioned on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on January 23rd, 2007 after a CNN poll showed Huckabee polling at 1%, with a margin of error of ±5%. "According to that poll, Mike Huckabee might be imaginary." --Jon Stewart

Saw him on meet the press also. Kind of like voting for the Pope.

Saw him on meet the press also. Kind of like voting for the Pope.

Huckabee's not Catholic. He's Baptist. (Not that it really matters when voting for president.)

Huckabee's not Catholic. He's Baptist. (Not that it really matters when voting for president.)

That's why I said Kinda Like

ttt