Republican Race Turns Negative - Romney, Huckabee Continue to Trade Barbs

ABC News ^ | JAKE TAPPER

[Tlaloc]

OSCEOLA, Iowa -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was locked and loaded to hunt pheasant in Osceola today. "See, that's what happens when you get in my way," the candidate said.

It's an annual tradition and a conscious contrast with his chief rival here, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who earlier this year said he was a lifelong hunter, then took it back, acknowledging he'd only hunted a few times.

"I certainly understand the culture of being outdoors. It's not something we had to go out and get a primer in. It's very much ordinary to me," Huckabee said. "It was a good hunt, a great day, and Iowa's a beautiful place to hunt pheasant. Something we don't get to do in Arkansas because we don't have the pheasants where I live. We have ducks and turkeys and deer. This was awesome."

And how many birds did Huckabee bag today?

"I got one," he said. "I could have had some others, but I might have risked shooting my campaign manager to do it."

Huckabee himself is being hunted with negative TV ads by Romney for his crime record and by a business lobby for having raised taxes.

Tonight a conservative group opposing illegal immigration will contact thousands of Iowa voters with this automated phone call:

"Do you support or oppose Mike Huckabee's touchback amnesty plan to allow illegal aliens to leave the U.S. and return legally one day?"

Asked if he was concerned that some people are now hearing things about the candidate they don't like, Huckabee replied: "They're hearing things about me that I don't like. But they're also hearing things that aren't necessarily true."

Huckabee talked up his record in Arkansas and, in a veiled shot at Romney, a one-term governor, said "some of the other people running couldn't even get re-elected. If you can't talk about your own record, you try to distort the other guy's record."

Romney is the only Republican running major campaigns in both Iowa and New Hampshire. He is also the only one going so aggressively negative --

against Huckabee in Iowa and against Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the Granite State.

"He voted against the Bush tax cuts. That's failing Reagan 101," said Romney of McCain.

Today McCain, a former Navy pilot shot down over Vietnam, said, "I know something about tailspins, and it's pretty clear Mitt Romney is in one."

[Tlaloc]

Mitt Romney has been hunting all his life. Mitt's daddy gave him a varmint rifle he got from Martin Luther King himself. He didn't even need a hunting license because the NRA gave him their personal permission to hunt without one.

[Travis McGee]

[keepitreal]

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was locked and loaded to hunt pheasant in Osceola today. "See, that's what happens when you get in my way," the candidate said

Interesting comment.

[Brimack34]

Man you can tell this moron hates Romney and Loves McCain.

[Kevmo]

Huckabee has surged because he won a couple of debates and he’s got evangelical support. If a quick rise can happen to the liberal pro-life evangelical Huckster, it can happen to the conservative pro-life evangelical Hunter.

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According to Intrade, the winner of the December 12th GOP debate was... Duncan Hunter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938773/posts

Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts

In this poll Hunter is up 3% and even with Paul and Thompson.
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3481ef60-8195-46a9-af04-b87b907bcfdd

[redgirlinabluestate]

So funny. Did you come up with that yourself? While you are laughing yourself silly, the real liberals/RINOs in the race, Huckabee and McCain, are trying to win the nomination or hand it to Rudy.

--Huckbee would not Veto the S-Chip bill that Bush vetoed. Neither would McCain.

Huckabee still supports his illegal alien scholarship program. McCain is the King of Shamnesty and voted to give the illegals social security benefits.

-- Huckabee is in favor of mandatory greenhouse gas caps. So is McCain. Did you see the McCain-Leiberman global warming bill? Very Kyotoesque.

-- Huck was the weakest of all the candidates on illegal aliens, except McCain, calling law and order GOPers racists and demagogues.

-- Huck now wants to close Gitmo and outlaw waterboarding. McCain too.

-- Huck has the highest pardon/commutation numbers for criminals, probably in the history of the country. McCain didn't get a chance to do all that, but he wants to protect terrorists from harsh interrogations.

-- Huck got an F from the CATO institute, McCain got a C+ from the NRA.

In other words, Huck and McCain are not conservatives, but Huck is the true "life-long" hunter. That's what counts. LOL.

[big'ol_freeper]

=

..Without the wandering libido. 

[redgirlinabluestate]

That is ridculous. Both Huckabee and McCain support far more of the Clinton platform (Part 1 & 2) than does Mitt. And Mitt's personal life is the furthest from Clinton's. More and more the anti-Mitt charges, which so blatantly lack any basis in fact or reality, seem to be bordering on delusional.

+ =

[Petronski]

It's an annual tradition and a conscious contrast with his chief rival here, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who earlier this year said he was a lifelong hunter, then took it back, acknowledging he'd only hunted a few times.

[big'ol_freeper]

Mitt's a flip-flopping slickster liberal just like Clinton. I said he doesn't have the wondering libido like Bill though.

[redgirlinabluestate]

You are still wrong. Romney’s campaign platform, of all the top tier canidates, least resembles Clinton’s. Romney is no liberal and converting from pro-choice to pro-life does not equate to flip-flopping within a single campaign on the same issue like Kerry did. The term is childishly over-used and really has no meaning at all anymore. Further, since all politicians running have changed their positions on several issues, it really has no power to hurt Romney anyway. But when it’s all you’ve got.... Good luck with that.

[big'ol_freeper]

When I look at a candidate I look at his record not what he says. In that regard I totally agree with Rush Limbaugh. Mitt's record is atrociously a big government liberal record pretty similar to Bill Clinton's Arkansas record. You can try to discredit me with your personal attacks of "childish" or whatever you want but you can't change his totally liberal record. I'd be hard pressed to find issues that Mitt has not had to flip flop on to masquerade as a liberal.

[1Old Pro]

Huck and McLame are enjopying their 15 days of fame. Rootie is still the frontrunner and Romney is the only guy who can stop the rudy express.

[Badeye]

I have one you can add to the Huckabee ‘list’ you put up here.

He felt the need to apologize for Bhutto’s assasination.

I still can’t figure out WHY he said that today.

[Sybeck1]

Becoming pro life right around the time he considered national office does say alot. But, I would vote for him over McCain and Huckabee.

[RachelFaith]

Liberals ALWAYS feel the need to apologize for someone else’s misdeeds.

[Badeye]

Yep.

[johnthebaptistmoore]

Anything and everything that truly will seriously help both Duncan Hunter and Fred Thompson boost their chances for victory, I’m for it!

[redgirlinabluestate]

Rush never said any such thing. He couldn't have. Mitt has no big government liberal record. Mitt may have said a few things during campaigns and such that were less than right-wing conservative (which Rush noticed that Mitt, as a frontrunner, has had to explain), but he has no liberal record. Your blatant exaggerations and half-truths cause your credibility to plunge with each post.

There is nothing liberal about his actual record (a sampling):

In the four balanced budgets he signed into law, Governor Romney used the line-item veto or program reduction power to cut spending by nearly $1 Billion.

4 years ago --- before the illegals marched in our streets --- Romney opposed a bill that would have allowed illegal aliens to get driver’s licenses. "Those who are here illegally should not receive tacit support from our government that gives an indication of legitimacy," the governor said. (Scott S. Greenberger, "Romney Stand Dims Chances Of License For Undocumented," The Boston Globe, 10/28/03)

Romney vetoed a bill in 2004 that would have permitted illegal aliens to pay the same in-state tuition rate paid by citizens at public colleges and universities in Massachusetts.

Romney vetoed the bill providing state funding for human embryonic stem cell research

Romney vetoed a bill that provided for the "morning after pill" without a prescription because it is an abortifacient and would have been available to minors without parental notification and consent

He vetoed legislation which would have redefined Massachusetts longstanding definition of the beginning of human life from fertilization to implantation

Governor Romney strongly supported a successful ballot initiative that replaced the state's bilingual program with English immersion. (Romney Vows to Protect English Immersion Law, May 1, 2003)

Governor Romney demonstrated his commitment to school-choice by vetoing a bill that would have canceled funding for Massachusetts' charter-school program. (Romney to Veto Charter School Moratorium, June 23, 2004)

He supported parental notification laws and opposed efforts to weaken parental involvement

He fought to promote abstinence education in public school classrooms with a program offered by faith-based Boston group Healthy Futures to middle school students.

Governor Romney made over 300 line-item reductions, 350 line-item eliminations and struck language 150 times

Gov. Romney was instrumental in passing a bill abolishing a retroactive capital gains tax in the state that would have forced nearly 50,000 taxpayers to pay an additional $200 million in state taxes and fees

When Gov. Romney left office in 2007, there were 600 fewer government workers employed by the state of Massachusetts than at the beginning of his term. Spending in the Governor's office dropped from $5.6 million in 2002 to $4.6 million in 2006.

There's more conservative record available. None of it looks Clintonesque.

____________

Massachusetts Citizens For Limited Taxation Executive Director Barbara Anderson: "There was no one else out on the horizon and with the legislature almost entirely Democratic, we felt it was necessary to have a grown-up in the corner office. ... And we were right to back him. He's been a really good friend to the taxpayers." (Shawn Macomber, "Mighty Mitt Romney," The American Spectator, March 2006)

[big'ol_freeper]

Try reading my post correctly. Rush says you should judge a candidate by his record not what he says.