Posted on 01/18/2008 4:37:51 PM PST by wagglebee
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Presidential candidate Fred Thompson is going after Mike Huckabee for comments the former Arkansas governor made about his support for a human life amendment to the Constitution. Huckabee characterized the Constitution as a "living, breathing" document -- using code words normally associated with pro-abortion judges.
Huckabee talked with CNN on Friday about his views.
He said he has been outspoken on the issue of a human life amendment, which has been in the Republican platform since 1980.
"I'm one of the few Republican Party candidates who actually supports our party platform on that," he said.
He said abortion is one of just two areas "where I believe we ought to amend the Constitution right now. But I do believe we should and settle this issue of having 50 states running around trying to decide what's right and what's wrong in relationship to the sanctity of human life and the dignity and worth of people."
"The Constitution and the genius and brilliance of it was that it was intended to be amended," Huckabee said.
He rattled off a list of the current amendments that he feels were important.
"The Constitution is a document -- it's a living, breathing document written in order that it could be changed," Huckabee explained.
"Life is something that we always treasure," Huckabee added saying that the founding fathers meant for all people to be treated equal. "Now if we really believe that ... then we would understand that no one person is more equal than another, therefore there is no such thing as a life unworthy to be lived because someone has deemed it less than equal to another life."
Fred Thompson's campaign sent LifeNews.com a statement saying the former Tennessee senator took issue with Huckabee's used of the term "living, breathing document."
"Frankly, I assumed this came from Senator Clinton or Senator Obama," Thompson said.
"It is identical to what Al Gore said when he was running for President in 2000, when he said he would look for judges 'who understand that our Constitution is a living, breathing document, that it was intended by our founders to be interpreted in the light of the constantly evolving experience of the American people,'" he added.
"Now I know Governor Huckabee was talking about amending the Constitution, but I don't think he understood that he was using code words that support judicial activism," Thompson explained.
"He does not appear to understand that reliance on the notion that the Constitution is a living, breathing document is precisely the kind of wrong-headed thinking about the Constitution that gave us Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion across our nation," Thompson added.
"I do not believe the Constitution is a living, breathing document. I am committed to appointing strict constructionist judges to the bench if I am elected President, strict constructionists who believe the Constitution has a fixed meaning that can be applied to cases that come before the courts today," Thompson said.
Thompson said he feared "this loose language about our Constitution calls into question Governor Huckabee's appreciation and understanding of the issue of judicial activism and raises questions as to what kind of judges he would appoint were he to become President."
But of course, with the public-education system system in enemy hands, what hope does America have of its voters realizing that?
You are not exagerating either...
Schlafly: Huckabee ‘destroyed conservative movement in Arkansas, left Republican Party a shambles’...
Yup, and now we got this shyster with his vile Fair Deal using FDR’s populism to try to fool Republicans...
McCain is the MSM favorite not Huckabee. Anyway I think Thompson is carrying McCain’s water.
Bears repeating ... the linchpins of Huckabee's campaign are pie-in-the-sky promises to do things he would have no hope of enacting without a massive sea change in American politics. If Huckabee were swept into the presidency with a Reagan-like landslide and Republicans not only retook the majority but won significant gains in both houses of Congress, then maybe he'd have a shot, but otherwise there's not a chance.
There’s absolutely no need for a constitutional amendment. The constitution is just fine. The problem is that we are operating under a bastardization of the constitution. It was only through a torturous and wildly creative interpretation that this “right to privacy” and notion that women had a right to control their bodies to the extent of killing their own offspring was created.
The fact that we now have fetal protection laws, allowing prosecution for murder those killing a fetus illustrates how stupid and ridiculous the whole thing is. I mean, someone else who dose this is a criminal, but if the mother takes her child’s life, it’s perfectly understandable.
They’ve both been active in destroying the GOP [i.e. Reagan coalition] in their respective areas. Huckabee in Arkansas and McCain in the Senate.
Seldom has either one been on the conservative side on most issues. I didn’t say never, I said seldom.
Example...analysts such as Dick Morris and Newt Gingrich have been consulting Huckabee, while keeping their day jobs as Fox News analysts. Is it little wonder that they were promoting Huckabee? Where was the disclosure there?
Sounds like a good strategy to me. Fred knows that McCain won't be as popular in the rest of the South, but Huckabee would be. He needs to expose Huckabee's liberal bent so that he can knock down some of his support before the SC primary. After Huckabee has been taken down a few notches, he can go back to McCain.
Fred’s been talking about the issues for months. It’s only recently that he’s started showing the other candidates for what they are.
Precisely!
If Fred wanted McCain to win, he would have campaigned in Michigan.
Huckabee has gone way beyond dangerous.
Those that have been deluded into voting for Mikey, if they would open their eyes., would find the guy they most line up with is Fred. Thus Fred trying to peel away voters mainly from Mikey’s camp versus any other candidate.
Those that support McLame, are the moderate and liberal factions of the party and would probably not align with Thompson. They would probably go with Rudy.
This is also the reason I don’t think Fred goes after McLame as fervently as Suckabee. I don’t buy into the “Fred has a back room deal with McLame” theory.
The Constitution of the United States is a written and specific delgation of authority from the People to federal institutions of their creation for their self-government. It is of the nature of a limited and specific power of attorney. Saying that it is a “living document” is like saying a limited power of attorney is flexible and can be expanded to fit new situations through interpretation.
The tenth Amendment says that if the People didn’t delegate a specific authority to the federal government, then they either delegated it to their State governments or they kept it for themselves. Fred is saying there is no such delegation of authority to the federal government over abortion. You have to look to the General Government of the states and their police powers to find it.
Yep and if you s*it in one hand and wish in the other, guess which one would fill up first?
As you probably know, the more likely outcome of a Huckabee candidacy will be to drain campaign resources away from lower level races and drag congressional candidated down-ticket along with him.
The social conservatives need to understand this before it is too late.
As you probably know, the more likely outcome of a Huckabee candidacy will be to drain campaign resources away from lower level races and drag congressional candidated down-ticket along with him.
The social conservatives need to understand this before it is too late.
You're preaching to the choir. Huckabee is throwing out proposals to appeal to social conservatives with his Constitutional amendment talk on abortion and gay marriage, and to fiscal conservatives (or at least a segment of fiscal conservatives) with the Fair Tax/eliminate the IRS proposal, none of which have any real hope of being enacted in the current political landscape. Like you said, it's all just wishful thinking, which may sound more appealing than boring incrimentalism in the context of a campaign speech, but will fall flat in the real world.
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