Thread: Another Man From Hope

Another Man From Hope
Who is Mike Huckabee?

Friday, October 26, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

Republicans have won five of the last seven presidential elections by running candidates who broadly fit the Ronald Reagan model--fiscally conservative, and firmly but not harshly conservative on social issues. The wide-open race for the 2008 GOP nomination has generated two new approaches.

Rudy Giuliani, for example, isn't running away from his socially liberal views, although he has modified them. But he is campaigning as a staunch, even acerbic economic conservative. Should he win the nomination, conventional wisdom has it he may balance the ticket by picking former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as a running mate.

Mr. Huckabee, on the other hand, is running hard right on social issues but liberal-populist on some economic issues. This may help explain why the affable, golden-tongued Baptist minister was the clear favorite at the pro-life Family Research Council's national forum last Saturday. And why Mr. Huckabee's praises have been sung by liberal columnists such as Gail Collins of the New York Times and Jonathan Alter of Newsweek.

Mr. Huckabee attributes his support to the fact he is a "hardworking, consistent conservative with some authenticity about those convictions." He is certainly qualified for national office, having served nearly 11 years as a chief executive. I have known and liked him for years; on the stump he often tells the story of how we first met outside his boarded-up office in the state Capitol, which had been sealed by Arkansas Democrats who refused to accept he had won an upset election for lieutenant governor in 1993. But I also know he is not the "consistent conservative" he now claims to be.

Nor am I alone. Betsy Hagan, Arkansas director of the conservative Eagle Forum and a key backer of his early runs for office, was once "his No. 1 fan." She was bitterly disappointed with his record. "He was pro-life and pro-gun, but otherwise a liberal," she says. "Just like Bill Clinton he will charm you, but don't be surprised if he takes a completely different turn in office."

Phyllis Schlafly, president of the national Eagle Forum, is even more blunt. "He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party a shambles," she says. "Yet some of the same evangelicals who sold us on George W. Bush as a 'compassionate conservative' are now trying to sell us on Mike Huckabee."

The business community in Arkansas is split. Some praise Mr. Huckabee's efforts to raise taxes to repair roads and work with an overwhelmingly Democratic legislature. Free-market advocates are skeptical. "He has zero intellectual underpinnings in the conservative movement," says Blant Hurt, a former part owner of, and columnist for, Arkansas Business magazine. "He's hostile to free trade, hiked sales and grocery taxes, backed sales taxes on Internet purchases, and presided over state spending going up more than twice the inflation rate."

Mr. Huckabee told me yesterday he also cut some taxes, and has taken the Americans for Tax Reform no-tax pledge. Former GOP state Rep. Randy Minton is not impressed. In 1999, he was urged by the governor to back a gas-tax increase. "I'd taken a pledge against higher taxes, but he sniffed that my constituents didn't understand what we have to do in state government to make it work," Mr. Minton says. "His support for taxes split the Republican Party, and damaged our name brand." The Club for Growth notes that only a handful of the 33 current GOP state legislators back their former governor.

Governors who served with him praise Mr. Huckabee for his ability to work with others, but say he was clearly a moderate. "He fought my efforts to reform the National Governors Association and always took fiscal positions to my left," former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, a supporter of Mitt Romney, told me.

Rick Scarborough, a pastor who heads Vision America, attended seminary with Mr. Huckabee and is a strong backer. But, he acknowledges, "Mike has always sought the validation of elites." When conservatives took over the Southern Baptist Convention after a bitter fight in the 1980s, Mr. Huckabee sided with the ruling moderates. Paul Pressler, a former Texas judge who led the conservative Southern Baptist revolt, told me, "I know of no conservative he appointed while he headed the Arkansas Baptist Convention."

Mr. Huckabee's reluctance to surround himself with conservatives was evident as governor, when he kept many agency heads appointed by Bill Clinton. Zac Wright, a spokesman for incoming Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, was asked this year why 15 Huckabee agency heads had been retained. Most of them were "Clinton people," he replied, not "Huckabee people." Mr. Huckabee told me many of his agency heads had "apolitical" responsibilities.

Many Huckabee supporters have told me their man should be judged by what he's saying on the campaign trail today. Fair enough. Mr. Huckabee was the only GOP candidate to refuse to endorse President Bush's veto of the Democrats' bill to vastly expand the Schip health-care program. Only he and John McCain have endorsed the discredited cap-and-trade system to limit global-warming emissions that has proved a fiasco in Europe.

"It goes to the moral issue," he told an admiring group of environmentalists this month. Alan Greenspan blasts cap-and-trade in his new book as not feasible, noting that "jobs will be lost and real incomes of workers constrained." Mr. Huckabee defends his plan as an "innovative" way to attain complete energy independence from foreign oil by 2013.

During a visit to the Journal last spring, Mr. Huckabee joked that one of his biggest challenges is that "like Bill Clinton I hail from Hope, Arkansas, and not every Republican wants to take a chance like that again." But it's Mr. Huckabee who is creating the doubts. "He's just like Bill Clinton in that he practices management by news cycle," a former top Huckabee aide told me. "As with Clinton there was no long-term planning, just putting out fires on a daily basis. One thing I'll guarantee is that won't lead to competent conservative governance."

http://opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110010782

Then, there is his "Fair Tax"

He talked about the "Fair Tax" on Roger Hedgecock yesterday. I know that he shocked Hedgecock as well when he started talking about this---based on Hedgecock's comments/questions.

I would rather have the income tax----as if they put into effect the Fair Tax, you will be paying MORE in taxes, not less.

You will be paying a tax of 23% on EVERYTHING!!!!

When I first heard about this, I supported it. I was thinking-----okay, they will raise sales taxes 2% or so----and this would mean that EVERYONE----even illegals----end up paying their fair share.

However, this is 23%!!!

I would NO WAY support this!!!

Hedgecock specifically asked him----so if I buy a car or a house, an automatic 23% tax will be placed on these purchases??? Huckabee says----"Yes, but you will have your entire paycheck to make these purchases". What an idiot!!!

He's just like Bill Clinton in that he practices management by news cycle," a former top Huckabee aide told me. "As with Clinton there was no long-term planning, just putting out fires on a daily basis

Huckabee must govern by reaction rather than be proactive.

Fences make good neighbors.

Originally Posted by Bren4824

Then, there is his "Fair Tax"

He talked about the "Fair Tax" on Roger Hedgecock yesterday. I know that he shocked Hedgecock as well when he started talking about this---based on Hedgecock's comments/questions.

I would rather have the income tax----as if they put into effect the Fair Tax, you will be paying MORE in taxes, not less.

You will be paying a tax of 23% on EVERYTHING!!!!

I don't quite understand some of these alternative taxation proposals. I admit I don't know a whole lot about them. Do they ever show how their proposal will raise enough money for the government to function at current levels and what benefit(s) it will have for the American people?

I mean, I'd like to see something that would be a side-by-side comparison comparing what we have now to what they are proposing. Is drastically reducing federal spending the key to their tax proposals working?

Originally Posted by patbrunz

Originally Posted by Bren4824

Then, there is his "Fair Tax"

He talked about the "Fair Tax" on Roger Hedgecock yesterday. I know that he shocked Hedgecock as well when he started talking about this---based on Hedgecock's comments/questions.

I would rather have the income tax----as if they put into effect the Fair Tax, you will be paying MORE in taxes, not less.

You will be paying a tax of 23% on EVERYTHING!!!!

I don't quite understand some of these alternative taxation proposals. I admit I don't know a whole lot about them. Do they ever show how their proposal will raise enough money for the government to function at current levels and what benefit(s) it will have for the American people?

I mean, I'd like to see something that would be a side-by-side comparison comparing what we have now to what they are proposing. Is drastically reducing federal spending the key to their tax proposals working?

Huckabee was getting a lot of people to support his "Fair Tax" plan saying-----you won't have to deal with the IRS or pay taxes to the IRS again. We will just have a "Fair Tax".

Like I said.....At first I liked this idea---thinking a 2% or so "consumption" tax (that is what they call the Fair Tax)---would be applied to purchases. However, like I said----they are talking about 23%.

Republicans have won five of the last seven presidential elections by running candidates who broadly fit the Ronald Reagan model--fiscally conservative, and firmly but not harshly conservative on social issues. The wide-open race for the 2008 GOP nomination has generated two new approaches.

I am really getting tired of the revisionist history surrounding Ronald Reagan's presidency, as if he were the greatest thing since sliced bread. I distinctly remember Ronald Reagan slept through the majority of both his terms while those around him made the decisions and did the heavy lifting

Originally Posted by Bren4824

Then, there is his "Fair Tax"

He talked about the "Fair Tax" on Roger Hedgecock yesterday. I know that he shocked Hedgecock as well when he started talking about this---based on Hedgecock's comments/questions.

I would rather have the income tax----as if they put into effect the Fair Tax, you will be paying MORE in taxes, not less.

You will be paying a tax of 23% on EVERYTHING!!!!

When I first heard about this, I supported it. I was thinking-----okay, they will raise sales taxes 2% or so----and this would mean that EVERYONE----even illegals----end up paying their fair share.

However, this is 23%!!!

I would NO WAY support this!!!

Hedgecock specifically asked him----so if I buy a car or a house, an automatic 23% tax will be placed on these purchases??? Huckabee says----"Yes, but you will have your entire paycheck to make these purchases". What an idiot!!!

Hello, Bren. Most people (with some exceptions) have about 25% of their earnings withheld for income tax currently. We would save about 2% on that. However, paying 23% on the purchase of a basic house would be $23,000 in tax!

Isn't there a way to have a fair tax for some thing and an income tax for others? What I mean is have about 3% withheld from paychecks to cover the tax on buying big ticket items. It couldn't be more complicated than the IRS is ...

Originally Posted by SeaTurtle

Originally Posted by Bren4824

Then, there is his "Fair Tax"

He talked about the "Fair Tax" on Roger Hedgecock yesterday. I know that he shocked Hedgecock as well when he started talking about this---based on Hedgecock's comments/questions.

I would rather have the income tax----as if they put into effect the Fair Tax, you will be paying MORE in taxes, not less.

You will be paying a tax of 23% on EVERYTHING!!!!

When I first heard about this, I supported it. I was thinking-----okay, they will raise sales taxes 2% or so----and this would mean that EVERYONE----even illegals----end up paying their fair share.

However, this is 23%!!!

I would NO WAY support this!!!

Hedgecock specifically asked him----so if I buy a car or a house, an automatic 23% tax will be placed on these purchases??? Huckabee says----"Yes, but you will have your entire paycheck to make these purchases". What an idiot!!!

Hello, Bren. Most people (with some exceptions) have about 25% of their earnings withheld for income tax currently. We would save about 2% on that. However, paying 23% on the purchase of a basic house would be $23,000 in tax!

Isn't there a way to have a fair tax for some thing and an income tax for others? What I mean is have about 3% withheld from paychecks to cover the tax on buying big ticket items. It couldn't be more complicated than the IRS is ...

Hello:

Based on how he was explaining it on the show----we would be paying a 23% "consumption/FAIR Tax" on everything!!!

How much we pay in taxes would be increased, not decreased!!!

I don't know if there are other "plans" that are different for the Fair Tax---but this is how Huckabee explained it on the show!!

Yep, you are right about the taxes on the house!! Figure it out on a $20,000 car purchase as well!!!