Posted on 10/22/2007 9:28:06 AM PDT by pissant
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, a proudly conservative Republican, was determined to solve his state's fiscal crisis without raising taxes. Last year, he pulled it off, but the pain was everywhere: large layoffs and tuition increases at state colleges; reduced child-care subsidies for parents among the working poor; an end to dental care for adults on Medicaid.
This year, facing another 10 percent budget gap, Kempthorne said these were his only options left: Close the state parks; end state aid to public health clinics; abolish state support for community colleges and student financial aid; cut public education; slash Medicaid and programs for seniors and veterans.
(snip)
When Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) of Arkansas earlier proposed a sales tax increase to help close that state's budget shortfall, the idea received an icy reception from lawmakers. So when Huckabee went before those lawmakers earlier this month to deliver his State of the State address, he told them, in effect, he didn't care whether they adopted his proposal or came up with their own, but that Arkansas needed to raise more money to balance the budget.
"And if you deem that all new revenue sources, your proposals or mine, are indeed dead on arrival, then you'll be saying that teacher pay increases are dead, scholarships are dead, medicine for the elderly is dead, that long [prison] sentences are dead, and that we'll have to have a massive early release of thousands of inmates from the system," Huckabee said. "To be blunt, our problems aren't that simple, and the answers aren't either."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Pawlenty pulled it off in MN and nobody suffered at all. He stood up to democrats and RINOS who howled for giant increases.
Bump!
A flashback from one of Giuliani’s “Fruitless Five”
I don’t think I would stay in New Wave Oh Hersey. Maybe some more could be convinced to move to those socialist havens like Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Cuba.
Is he trying to antagonize us? Calling us racists, looking forward to gleefully working with Bill Clinton, treating global warming as real because “there is no downside” (to expanding government power)...
Huckabee 2008: for the children - if you don’t support me, you are probably a racist, and women, children, and minorities will be hit hardest.
That is a Kiss Of Death, right there.
The Democrats are not interested in us conserving our resources. They are interested in the dismantling of our industrial economy. If we "act as if global warming is a scientific fact", we are giving them license to do whatever they think needs to be done to save the planet.
It is not just the camel's nose, but the entire FReepin' camel standing in the middle of the damn tent.
This kind of attitude is just too cute by half. If Huckabee is willing to base national energy policy on a convenient lie, what else is he willing to lie about?
I just gotta make my pile, then I'll get out. Everybody in New Jersey is saying pretty much the same thing.
Of course, an fortunately for the rest of the country, that piling-up process can take a lifetime. That pile never does seem to be quite tall enough...
When he called the Club for Growth the Club for Greed, I knew he was bad news.
I know Rudy is no so con but atleast he doesn't attack em and name call em.
Yup. They always cut parks, schools, fire and police FIRST. Whatever is the most visible and painful. They never fire the armies of unionized fat-assed useless eaters in the civil service bureaucracy.
-ccm
Huck is the darling of the "establishment" religious right--I still am not convinced he is that popular with the average religious conservative...
Some detect bigotry in immigration debate.
From: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO)
Date: June 4, 2006
(snip)
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2008, told a group of reporters here recently “that some anti-immigration Republicans are guilty of demagoguery and racism.”
“I’m not saying everybody who is very, very angry (about immigration) is a racist. I want to be very clear about that,” he said. “But I’ve had conversations with people, and it became evident what they really didn’t like is that people didn’t look like them, didn’t talk like them and didn’t celebrate the holidays they do, and they just had a problem with it.”
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada raised the issue when legislators took up an amendment to the Senate immigration bill it approved last month to mandate that English be the nation’s official language.
“While the intent may not be there, I really believe this amendment is racist,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “I think it is directed basically to people who speak Spanish.”
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-146605348.html
Hey, at least he is in tune with Dingy Harry....
Yep. I guess they are unaware of his history, or don’t mind being labeled as racists.
Good job shedding the light on this guy.
I suspect you’ll now get swarmed by Huck supporters or as I call them Huckaberries.
So, basically what you’re saying/doing is that Hunter is going nowhere and you’re trying to tear down one of the remaining credible alternatives to Rudy and Mitt.
Unlike Thompson, who I do not support (see tagline), at least I understand why others DO support him. Huck, as someone earlier quipped, was ‘more slippery than a greased pig’
It’s his record and words, not mine.
I admire your support for your candidate.
My anti-Huckaberry comes from not wanting a 5 man race, as Rudy911 would win that.
I like Fred, I’d settle for Mitt, if Hunter gets the nomination I’d be shocked but pleased but the one thing that scares me is a Rudy911/Huckabee combo. The only thing they agree on is banning smoking.
Never said it wasn't. Just still fascinated at the people who think the way to build up their own candidate is to trash the others.
What else are we to judge a man on? His words, votes and deeds in office are pretty much it. If we base it on current rhetoric, we would have 7 Ronald Reagans and one Ron Paul.
Not my point. But carry on.
I do not think Huckabee helps either Fred or Hunter with his presence. All he needs to do is bite his lip and say “I feel your pain” and the mushy conservatives will start swooning.
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