Mike Huckabee backtracks from support of Lindsey Graham in South Carolina senate race

Former Arkansas Gov. Mick Huckabee praised South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in this TV ad but now insists it wasn't an endorsement. SC CAA/via YouTube

Former Arkansas Gov. Mick Huckabee praised South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in this TV ad but now insists it wasn't an endorsement.

It looked like an endorsement and sounded like an endorsement but Mike Huckabee is backtracking now from his support of Lindsey Graham, insisting he did not mean to back the South Carolina Senator even though he appeared in a TV ad singing the politician’s praises.

The former Arkansas Gov. and current FOX News host starred in ad for the South Carolina Conservative Action Alliance, calling Graham a "leader in South Carolina who knows what it takes to win."

Calling the Republican “a champion for peace,” Huckabee thanked the southern senator for demanding information on the Benghazi attacks and for supporting Israel.

The spot was uploaded to the SCCAA YouTube account on Dec. 11 but only aired this Wednesday during the Capital One Bowl when the University of South Carolina beat Wisconsin, 34-24.

The Columbia based SCCAA is a "grassroots advocacy organization that promotes common-sense, conservative solutions," according to their website.

Now Huckabee insists the ad wasn’t an endorsement for Graham, who is running for a third term, but merely a chance to thank the politician for standing behind Israel.

"Last year, I voiced an ad thanking him for support of Israel," Huckabee wrote in a statement this week.

"It was not an endorsement for his reelection. In fact, I don't plan to endorse anyone in SC Senate race in the primary but I will certainly help in the general election if asked."

"Huck may be a RINO, but he ain't stupid."

Have any proof?

• Immediately upon taking office, Governor Huckabee signed a sales tax hike in 1996 to fund the Games and Fishing Commission and the Department of Parks and Tourism (Cato Policy Analysis No. 315, 09/03/98)
• He supported an internet sales tax in 2001 (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07)
• He publicly opposed the repeal of a sales tax on groceries and medicine in 2002 (Arkansas News Bureau 08/30/02)
• He signed bills raising taxes on gasoline (1999), cigarettes (2003) (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07), and a $5.25 per day bed-tax on private nursing home patients in 2001 (Arkansas New Bureau 03/01/01)
• He proposed another sales take hike in 2002 to fund education improvements (Arkansas News Bureau 12/05/02)
• He opposed a congressional measure to ban internet taxes in 2003 (Arkansas News Bureau 11/21/03)
• In 2004, he allowed a 17% sales tax increase to become law (The Gurdon Times 03/02/04)
• He raised at least nine (9) different taxes: A 47% increase in taxes totaling $505 million on middle-and-lower income Arkansas citizens. Huckabee did cut taxes. It’s just that he raised much more than he cut. Huckabee raised more taxes in 10 years in office than Bill Clinton did in his 12 years. (Source: The Leader, 08/30/2006)
• The well respected Cato Institute (not aligned with any candidate) gave him a ‘F’ rating in last term in office for fiscal conservatism. They rated him lower than even hardcore liberal democratic governors.
• He consistently supported and initiated measures that increase government’s interference in markets. He raised the minimum wage in 2006 from $5.15 to $6.25 an hour and encouraged Congress to take the same initiative on a national level (US Newswire 08/03/06), a proposal that President Bush and most congressional GOP members opposed. He signed a bill into law that would prevent companies from raising their prices 10% ahead of a natural disaster; services like roof repair and tree removal were targeted. He ordered Arkansas regulatory agencies to investigate “price-gouging” in the nursing-home industry and threatened to launch investigations of “gouging” on gas prices after 9-11. He told the Washington Times he supports “empowering people to make their own decisions.”
• He opposed a congressional measure to ban internet taxes in 2003. (Source: Arkansas News Bureau, 11/21/03) and supported an internet sales tax in 2001 (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07).
• He referred to the Constitution in this video as a “living, breathing document” as liberals do. Then later, Huckabee’s websites stated: “I firmly believe that the Constitution must be interpreted according to its original meaning, and flatly reject the notion of a “living Constitution.”
• He granted pardons or clemency to over 1,030 criminals, including 12 convicted murderers, some of whom raped or murdered again. In one case, the rape victim pleaded with Huckabee in person and via letters to not to have Wayne Dumond be released, but he did anyway allegedly with Huckabee’s support after serving 12 years of a 20-to-life sentence. He called the parole board and lobbied for clemency and Huckabee himself personally wrote a letter saying that he believed Dumond, the rapist of Ashley Stevens, 17, should be freed. (You can read the actual letters here. Of course, Dumond was released, and he went on to kill and rape two more women. Huckabee denied he put pressure on the board. But critical sources say otherwise. Then, on Nov. 30th, 2009, another violent felon, Maurice Clemmons, who also was granted clemency by Huckabee nine years earlier killed four policemen in a Seattle coffee shop as they typed away at their laptops. Prior to his clemency, Clemmons’ criminal history included at least five felony convictions in Arkansas.
• He turned Arkansas into a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants while he was governor and promoted tuition breaks for the children of illegal immigrants insisting, “You don’t punish a child because a parent committed a crime or committed a sin.” Click here for more Huckabee spin titled: Lies, Deceit & misrepresentation or more spin here or click here to read Michelle Malkin’s take on Huckabee’s illegal immigration pandering or click here.
• During the campaign last year, Huckabee promoted his new and improved “The Secure America Plan” which detailed his 9-point plan to facilitate the “enforcement of our immigration laws and results in the attrition of the illegal immigrant population” Huckabee makes it clear that illegal aliens will have to leave the U.S. However, what he is advocating is the ‘touch back’ provision which was a trick fielded by the supporters of the failed “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” amnesty bills in the U.S. Senate. Click here for a slew of documented articles revealing Huckabee’s Liberal Nature or here You can view a Youtube clip of Huckabee pleading for the scholarships for illegals: here. I fear Huckabee would grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Yup.
• He opposed a bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote in his own state. (Source CNS NEWS, Some GOP Concerned about Huckabee’s Immigration Views, Fred Lucas, 12/04/2007) Click here.
• He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, sometimes campaigning for Democrats against Republican candidates and as Phyllis Schlafly says: “left the Republican Party a shambles.”
• He glowingly boasted that he “balanced the budget every year” he was governor, but that’s not much to crow about. Like other governors, he must balance the state budget by law.
• He supposedly supports homeschooling, yet implemented arcane, awful homeschooling rules in Arkansas. He has played politics with the issue to please both unions and homeschoolers in his state. In 1999, Mike Huckabee signed into law a bill which added major restrictions on homeschooling parents and which was opposed by the HSLDA. Yet, he claims he is a big homeschool proponent. He adamantly opposed school vouchers.
• He has strongly advocated that federal funds be distributed to pay for ‘arts and music studies’ in state schools as a “reform” to the No Child Left Behind act, a position that is a big hit with the teachers unions. And, just like a well-spoken Democrat, Huckabee wants more money for public education.
• He joined Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in declaring his opposition to the interrogation procedure known as “waterboarding,” and said he would support closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and moving the Guantanamo prisoners to the military’s only maximum-security prison, Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. This move would grant habeas corpus rights to “enemy combatants.”

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