Posted on 02/26/2008 7:25:32 PM PST by unspun
The Honorable John McCain
John McCain 2008
P.O. Box 16118
Arlington, VA, 22215
Dear Senator McCain:
It's been my pleasure sharing the stage with you this past year, as we have worked to promote our ideas to lead this county. I have the deepest respect for you as a person, politician, and an American hero – and I appreciate the way you have run such an issue-based, positive campaign.
Now that the race for the Republican nomination is down to just the two of us, I believe this is the time for a real discussion about our vision for the future of this great country. I encourage you to join me in a Lincoln Douglas-style debate so that voters can better understand our views on critical issues such as health care, education, energy independence, terrorism and national security.
Our Democratic counterparts, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have had recent opportunities to underscore the differences in their positions. It seems only fitting to me that Republican primary voters are offered the same.
I look forward to working with your staff to schedule this as soon as possible. I would suggest we set the debate before the March Fourth Primaries. It is my hope that one of the TV networks would offer to sponsor such an event.
Senator, let's lead by example and get the ball rolling. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this idea and debating you in front of the American people
Sincerely,
Mike Huckabee
Former Governor of Arkansas (1996-2007)
LOL! Reminding people about Tax Hike Mike’s record is “a slur campaign”?
If your argument is that Romney got more support because he spent more money and spent more time and campaigned in more places earlier, that’s what the name of the game is.
You do that long enough and hard enough and good enough, you get a majority of the votes and win the election.
BTW, I didn’t spend ANY MONEY AT ALL to be president, and Huckabee spent millions of dollars. I didn’t spend any time, and Huckabee spent lots of time. And yet, in the end, he’s not going to win any more than I am. In fact, his delegates cost him a lot more in time and money than mine did.
Romney wasnt my choice but I would have voted for him. He is head and shoulders over McCain and the huckster by any measure. McCain will be the nom and huckster will go on to something else. I hope the Republicans can re-grow a set by 2010/2012.
Maybe it has to do with those who are our "leaders," now, compared to those who used to be conservative leaders, so recently. (Maybe also, the overall contempt in politics, especially reacting to the cynicism of liberals and their Democarat party.)
We used to have William F. Buckley, Ronald Reagan, Everett Dierksen to a degree, and we thought we had grouchy Barry Goldwater -- though that one may have been a harbinger of the poorer direction to come.
Now, we have Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and "we" even have Michael Savage, who seems to be a borderline sociopath.
But, we also have another course we can take, with those who prefer statesmanship and honorable, effective communication -- people such as the aforementioned fellow who actually did grow up in Hope.
Conservatives such as Mike Hucakbee, Joe Scarborough, and Newt Gingrich also seem to be conservative in the true sense of preserving and carrying forward in modern society the principles and ideals of America's founding. Others seem to want to merely conserve as much liberty, license, and hubris as they can get away with -- and they actually become patriotic about it! Maybe that spirit is politically akin to a "religious spirit." The way that Huckabee's record and sometimes-but-rarely wayward words were twisted and distorted is a sign of that.
One way to tell the difference between authentic conservatism and egocentric revisionism is to use words terms such as "greed," or "the poor," or "workers," or "equality," or "oppression," or "classless" (casteless) in a well reasoned sentence and see who goes ballistic.
Through it all, though, I think we really do have consistency and continued development among those who take what material is most valuable and read, meditate, watch, pray -- and act accordingly. Once one knows his true leader, one appears to stand on his own two feet, afterall.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1971675/posts?page=132#132
Yawn....
Face it. It's over. McCain is it and Huckabee saw to that.
Thank you so much for sharing your insights!
Voters saw to it. You might as well say that Fred Thompson saw to it.
But pardon me. It is not over. We do not know what will transpire between now and the convention.
Hang on to that thought. I'll get back to you.
Here is the bottom line. Huckabee never had a chance and still doesn't. Romney did but you hate him for being a Morman. Now you have McCain. Sleep tight. By the way I am not a Morman so don't try using that tack.
You know my heart, eh? That makes you a kind of god, then. What else can you do?
At least then your class warfare flies its flag openly.
Amnesty has had a fair hearing, and it's a big winner.
McCain's position is the right-most position that can secure a major party nomination.
Face it. Those who are here, are staying.
OR say maybe;
a Boston Tea Party at the republican Convention..
With some "Indian" socio-paths raising HELL in a handbasket..
Would make a delicious sound bite too..
It’s all speculation. Who knows what would have been different had people taken different actions.
For example, suppose Huckabee had decided not to take McCain up on his offer in West Virginia, and instead had had his supporters vote for Romney.
That would have inspired Romney voters in California, and maybe Romney would have taken half the delegates instead of 6.
Further, maybe people in Missouri mad at what appeared to be Huckabee working with McCain wouldn’t have voted for McCain, and instead may have voted for Huckabee. So he might have won all the Missouri delegates.
Or maybe if Huckabee hadn’t spent time in Mass. helping McCain get an extra delegate, he could have spent the extra 5 hours in Missouri needed to have that one more rally that would have gotten him the extra 5000 voters he needed.
Or if Huckabee hadn’t given up on Florida and handed his support to McCain, maybe Romney would have won there.
It’s all speculation, but if Huckabee had attacked McCain back in December and January, maybe he would have helped derail him.
Instead, the only candidate to really go after McCain was Romney. It hurt Romney to do so, because it made him look mean-spirited, especially with Huckabee there with his smile talking about how mean Romney was being and how great McCain was.
Huckabee used Romney’s going after McCain to score points against him.
There are a lot of reasons why people feel Huckabee was a major contributer to McCain’s being our nominee.
Of course, some say Fred did so as well, because he didn’t really attack McCain and his entry in the race in the end seems to have saved McCain by ensuring that no other candidate really caught on before South Carolina.
I think we can get rid of another 6 million pretty easily, and people will be fine with it. Just expand the guest worker program, put it under tight control, and give every illegal immigrant 6 months to register for the guest program with sponsorship of their current employee.
Let those who have been here longer than 5 years and are paying taxes and have learned the language stay, by fining them yearly for the privilege of a special visa that depends on them continuing employment and staying out of trouble. Let them sign up for citizenship if they want but at the back of the line.
After the 6-month signup, anybody who you catch who hasn’t registered you kick out. And you crack down on the employers in the meantime, to cut off their work opportunities.
Bias the program so that non-mexicans get a numerical parity with mexicans, so as to not “reward” people who simply had it easier because of proximity.
But you are right, we aren’t getting rid of every person who snuck in, nor would we want to. Even with the uptick in unemployment, there are fewer people LOOKING for work now than there are illegals in this country DOING work.
Unless people think that those jobs are unnecessary, or that there are a large number of people not looking for work who would nonetheless come into the work force for minimum-wage hard-labor jobs simply because the illegals have gone, we NEED a lot of those jobs filled somehow — hence my expansion of guest-worker programs which provide temporary employment opportunities with a firm exit rule.
At least then your class warfare flies its flag openly.
Case in point, it would appear. Who said anything about "class warfare?" You did, steve-b. Getting the picture? How can one consider that "class warfare" is being waged unless one believes in a classes of man?
I prefer America's foundational principles.
Wow, that's a silly statement even for you (which is saying something). By this "logic", it is impossible for someone who does not believe the tenets of Islam to recognize the fact that Islamic Fundamentalist radicals are waging war on Western Civilization.
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