Posted on 12/01/2009 3:40:52 PM PST by rabscuttle385
If you liked George W. Bush's brand of big-spending, big-government conservatism, you'll love Mike Huckabee.
BY MICHAEL D. TANNER
Most of the leading Republicans running for president show some support for Bush's ideology, but no other candidate so completely embodies it.
As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee dramatically increased state spending. During his two-term tenure, spending increased by more than 65 percent — at three times the rate of inflation.
The number of government workers increased by 20 percent, and the state's debt services increased by nearly $1 billion. Huckabee financed his spending binge with higher taxes. Under his leadership, the average Arkansan's tax burden increased 47 percent, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, including increases in the state's gas, sales, income, and cigarette taxes. He raised taxes on everything from groceries to nursing home beds.
Huckabee answers these complaints by pointing out that he "cut taxes 94 times" while governor. True. But most of those tax cuts were tiny, like exempting residential lawn care from the sales tax. Some cuts reduced overall state revenues by as little as $15,000. On net, Huckabee increased state taxes by more than $500 million. In fact, Huckabee increased taxes in the state by more than Bill Clinton did.
On its annual governor's report card, Cato gave Huckabee an "F" for fiscal policy during his final term, and an overall two-term grade of "D." Only four governors had worse scores, and 15 Democratic governors got higher grades, including well-known liberals like Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania.
But Huckabee doesn't just embrace big government in the form of big taxes. He truly appears to believe that if something is a good idea it should be a federal government program.
For example, having become health conscious while losing more than 120 pounds (a remarkable feat), he now calls for a national smoking ban. Because he believes that "art and music are as important as math and science" in public schools, he wants these programs funded — and thus, directed and administered — federally.
Huckabee is, incidentally, the only Republican candidate for president who opposes school choice.
Huckabee has called for increased federal spending on a variety of programs from infrastructure to health care. He wants more energy subsidies, including, naturally, more subsidies for ethanol. In fact, he supports increased agricultural subsidies generally. He is the only Republican candidate who opposes President Bush's veto of the Democrats' proposed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and he is skeptical of most conservative proposals for entitlement reform.
Calling himself "a different kind of Republican," Huckabee often appears to be channeling John Edwards or Lou Dobbs. He rails against high corporate profits and attacks free trade agreements. As governor, he raised the minimum wage and increased business regulation. He says it is "a biblical duty" to pass more regulation to fight global warming.
Perhaps Huckabee's only claim on conservative credentials is that as a former Baptist minister, he is more anti-abortion and anti-gay than the other candidates. In many ways, he has been running an overtly religion-based campaign. But even here, his preference is to increase and centralize federal government power. Unlike Fred Thompson, John McCain, or Ron Paul, Huckabee rejects federalist solutions to these issues and would have the federal government overrule state abortion and marriage laws.
Under the Bush administration, the Republican Party has increasingly drifted away from its limited government roots. It has come to be dominated by a new breed of conservatives who believe in increasing the size, cost and power of government to achieve "conservative ends," even if that means limiting personal freedom in the process. Bush has brought us No Child Left Behind, the Medicare prescription drug benefit, and a 23-percent increase in domestic discretionary spending, and Huckabee's been right there with him.
On election night in 2006, 55 percent of voters leaving the polls said they believed the Republican Party had become the party of big government. Mike Huckabee is doing his best to convert the other 45.
It’s sad to see conservatives doing to Huckabee what some do to Palin. Try not to hate, just don’t vote for him.
All chances for hukster are DOA after he turned the murderer loose.
Huck is not one of us. He is a poser. His stand on illegal immigration alone is enough to make me puke. He has no place in the conservative founded Republican party. We must put his kind to the rear and promote and help and support conservatives. This will be the only thing that will get our country out of this terrible mess that we have now. We do not need any democRat lites. There has to be a clear and distinct difference between us and the liberals or the people in the middle (sheeple) won’t be able to see the fine lines. Huck is a huckster. Push him out of our party before he stinks up the house.
tell him not to run. He’s too busy anyway bashing Mormons for sport.
Four police officers dead, at least one child raped and who knows what else.
I know it’s not fair Huck, but I’m puttin it on you. Hit the road jack and dontcha come back.
If he ever makes it to president, look at the money he would save the country by emptying the prisons. Maybe he'll give them all a sermon of "Christian compassion" as he turns the murderers, rapists, pillagers and plunderers loose on society.
He has blood on his hands.
The following is easier to read on the original Betterimmigration.com site.
Huck's stand was no worse than any of the other candidates, and in many cases much better. He was mostly criticised for allowing illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition as long as they had met the residency requirements. I don't have a problem with that, but a lot of conservatives wanted to punish the illegals and make second class citizens out of them. I'm for sending them home but not for punishing them, as long as we are refusing to send them home.
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SOURCES & EXPLANATIONS
ROY BECK’S CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING: “I look at these candidates ONLY in terms of what they have done about immigration and what they are promising to do on the issue. “I grade all these candidates on how well they promise to carry out the recommendations of two national commissions in the 1990s and on other widely accepted goals for reducing overall illegal and legal immigration. “I know that citizens choose to support a candidate based on many issues and on character and on past experience. I don’t endorse candidates because I don’t consider all those other aspects of the whole candidate. But I do candidly assess how each of them stacks up on immigration issues. “I give the most weight to an official statement of promises, unless the candidate has said or done something since stating the policy to cast doubt on the promise. “Absent an official policy, I give considerable weight to recent public statements. I leave room for candidates to shift positions; I don’t forever label them based on past statements or actions. The point here is what a candidate is most likely to do in the future as President, not grade them on past performances. But when current statements are ambiguous, contradictory, less than enthusiastically embraced or non-existent, I use past actions to help assess. "If a candidate has said or done something new that calls into question a rating in a category, we will place black question marks (? ? ? ?) until we have sorted out where the rating should be." “If you don’t like my assessment of a candidate because you think I have used faulty information, contact us with your information. If you want your favorite candidate to get a better assessment from me, work to get that candidate to make better, more convincing promises on immigration.” |
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NOTHING.
Grow up and stop using schoolgirl lingo.
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