Posted on 06/23/2015 3:54:45 AM PDT by HomerBohn
While some 2016 White House contenders are debating the propriety of the Confederate flag flying at the South Carolina state house, there's one candidate who won't join the fray.
Speaking to NBC's Face the Nation Sunday, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he won't become part of the argument because he believes it has nothing to do with running for president.
"Everyone is being baited with this question as if somehow that has anything to do whatsoever with running for president, and my position is it most certainly does not," the Arkansas Republican told host Chuck Todd Sunday. "People want their president to be focused on the economy, keeping America safe. I don't think they want us to weigh in on every little issue in all 50 states."
The issue has been a contentious one in the United States since the end of the Civil War, but the debate once again entered the public consciousness following Wednesday's deadly shooting rampage that killed nine at a South Carolina church. Photos of the accused gunman, who police believe is a racist, ultimately surfaced online showing him posing with a handgun and a Confederate flag.
While he acknowledged the symbolic flag's significance in the public consciousness, Huckabee said he just doesn't believe it's a matter that should occupy the time or efforts of the person sitting in the White House.
GOP candidates Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham and Mitt Romney have all addressed the controversy within the last several days.
"If you can point me to an article and section in the Constitution in which a United States president ought to weigh in on what states use as symbols, then please refresh my memory on that," he said.
During his last run for president in 2008, Huckabee briefly touched on the issue at a rally in Myrtle Beach -- during which he indicated that states should have the right to fly whatever flag their constituents support.
"You don't like people from outside the state coming down and telling you what to do with your flag. In fact, if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we'd tell them what to do with the pole," he said at the January 2008 rally, which was replayed for Huckabee on Meet the Press.
"I still feel like it's not an issue for a person running for president," he replied.
"We are asking, 'is South Carolina a racist state because of the flag that flies on their capitol grounds?'" he continued. "Here's what I can tell you. As a frequent visitor to South Carolina, this is a state that, largely, white people elected a female governor of Indian descent, and the first-ever African-American United States senator from the South."
"I don't think you could say that the presence of one lunatic racist, who everybody in this country feels contempt for and no one is defending, is somehow evidence of the people of South Carolina," Huckabee said.
One of Huckabee's Republican opponents, Rick Santorum, also said on ABC News' This Week Sunday that the issue isn't relevant to presidential candidates.
"Like everybody else, I have my opinion," he said. "But I think the opinion of people here in South Carolina and having them work through this difficulty is much more important than politicizing it."
(Video at link)
Huckabee's handling of the question shows him to be a man of character and it shows that watching Meet the Depressed is a waste of time.
Todd should have asked: Why does Obama hate the Jewish nation of Israel? Why does Obama want ethnic cleansing of the Kurds? Why does Obama want Iran to rule the Middle East? Why does B.O. encourage Russia to continue to invade the Ukraine? Why does he want to ‘cut our military down to size’ Why is Obama a race baiter?
Why has the media shifted from the murderer and his manifesto to the flag? Even Drudge is shamefully plugging that poorly thought out bit of propaganda (honestly folks he could do much better)
I can’t stand Huckabee, but he nailed this one.
Good post, why indeed.
These bastards on the left try to trap only Republicans. No matter what the Republican says, they will trash him.
Having an opinion on what a state should or shouldn’t do isn’t a threat to states’ rights.
This is what that frigging idiot Reinse Priebus should have said. He should have told the Left to stop exploiting a symbol and using it to fan the fans of racism even more. But noooo...he had to completely cave and accept the premise that Republicans were racist. Just an absolute, total, blithering moron.
I agree.
I’m just happy they didn’t find a picture of Mr. Root eating an ice cream cone.
Huckabee needs to split conservative votes in the South so Cruz will lose.
So he can’t join the mob against the flag.
Cruz did say let the people in SC decide and said he understands the arguments on both sides, having to be careful with his words but at least being able to express a viewpoint of some kind unlike Huckabee.
The Republican candidates were being asked about the flag in order to connect their party to the Charleston church massacre by way of the flag. The whole premise of the question was guilt by association. There was no practical reason to ask Scott Walker, running for president from the notorious Southern outpost of Wisconsin, about a flag flying in South Carolina.
What they were really being asked is, “Have you racist Republicans ended your support for killing black people.”
The first thing Republicans need to understand is the press hates them. Every question they're asked needs to be analyzed with liberal hatred in mind.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3303157/posts?page=2
Because "President Hillary" has such a nice ring to it?
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