With Senator Thompson's departure from the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the field of conservative candidates has narrowed to two. This bodes well for Governor Huckabee because the vote will now only be split two ways rather than three. As I had written last Saturday morning, before the South Carolina results were available, my prediction was that the conservative vote would be split in three parts and that the result could be a win for Senator McCain. This, in fact, is exactly what happened. If Senator Thompson had not been in the race, I believe that most of his support would have gone to Governor Huckabee, thus giving him the victory.
However, since there was only one moderate candidate running, Senator McCain, who received a majority of his support from independents, against three conservatives, he was the victor with 33% of the vote. Please note that the combined vote percentage for the three conservatives was over 60%. If the situation had been one conservative versus Senator McCain, the outcome would have been the same as it was eight years ago, a landslide victory for the conservative, just as it was for George W. Bush.
I am now more convinced than ever before that Governor Huckabee is the best candidate for everyone, especially for the conservative voter. He is by far the most consistent supporter of conservative family values. He hasn't had to rethink his position on abortion and traditional marriage. He is a strong supporter of the second amendment.
Governor Huckabee's overall plans for the various issues confronting our country would lead us back to a sound economic footing. The Fair Tax is something that is long overdue, as is the elimination of the IRS. This would bring into play all of the economy that is currently underground (illegal immigrants and others who get paid under the table) and eliminate the tax loopholes that are available only to the extremely rich. It also provides for those who are at poverty level incomes to pay no tax at all. No one else is proposing anything like this type of reform.
He has a solid plan for addressing the situation with the illegal immigrants. His nine point plan is on his website, http://www.mikehuckabee.com/, and is endorsed by the head of the Minutemen organization as the best plan out there. It would secure our borders first and then require the illegal immigrants to go back to their native countries and get in line to legally enter the country. The Fair Tax would also encourage them to do so because they would have to pay taxes on all their purchases and would no longer be hidden from our tax system.
Governor Huckabee is an advocate for the U.S. to achieve energy independence. He has an ambitious goal of getting us there in ten years. He supports exploration and free market solutions. We absolutely need to become energy independent. Our national sovereignty and our economy depend upon it. Some say it can't be done in ten years. There were similar naysayers in 1960 when it was proposed to put a man on the moon in ten years.
He has proposed health care reform via free market solutions. He doesn't support nationalized health care.
All these things, the lack of energy independence, illegal immigration, rapidly rising health care costs, and the current oppressive tax system, combine to drag down our economy. He is the only candidate putting forth a comprehensive, conservative solution to address these issues.
Finally, Governor Huckabee's record as governor in Arkansas is one of getting things done. He saw the challenges that were there for the people of Arkansas, and fought to get the things done that needed to be done. They improved their infrastructure (roads), their education system, and their health care system. He has a proven record of accomplishment. And all this was with a heavily Democratic legislature.
One last comment. A number of sources have repeatedly stated that Governor Huckabee isn't a true conservative. However, in all the times that I have heard this stated, I have never heard a sound basis for reaching this conclusion. The things that I have heard don't stand up to scrutiny. They are the same repeated talking points. Normally, when one is making an argument and offers supporting evidence, one provides the most solid evidence available. This in particular makes me very suspect of their claims.
Even Rush Limbaugh offered the normal littany of lame reasons. For stating that Governor Huckabee was a tax and spend fiscal liberal, he offered that taxes increased from the time that Governor Huckabee took office to the time that he left office. That was the one and only piece of evidence cited. While this is a true statement, one needs to look at the full picture. Part of the increase was due to the courts mandating an increase in spending for schools. Thus it was necessary to increase taxes. In order to reduce unnecessary costs however, he also closed some schools in order to consolidate schools where there weren't enough students to warrant the number of schools at that time. Additional taxes were voted by the people of Arkansas because they recognized that they needed to do something about their roads. Finally, at the end of his last term, the state had a budget surplus of about $850 million. If he were truly a tax and spend liberal, that money would have been spent and not ended up as a surplus. Can you imagine a tax and spend liberal not spending money that was available?
Rush Limbaugh also stated that he was weak on immigration. He cited that Governor Huckabee had changed his position on immigration at the South Carolina debate. Apparently Rush hadn't read Governor Huckabee's nine point plan on addressing illegal immigration which has been on his website now for probably over two months. The "weakness" is generally cited as Governor Huckabee's support for allowing children of illegal immigrants who had gone through school in Arkansas, who had excelled academically, had not been involved with drugs, and who would apply for citizenship, would be eligible to apply for a scholarship in that state. This allowed for the cream of the crop to be able to become contributing citizens of this country. Please note that this would have been very limited and was available only to the children who met very specific criteria. As Governor Huckabee has stated, he doesn't think it is right to punish the children for what the parents have done.
Also to be noted is that this proposal was supported during a time when the federal government was not only abdicating its responsibility to deal with the illegal immigration issue, but also actively punishing those that did. You may recall the border incident where the two border guards were sentenced to jail for shooting an illegal immigrant drug smuggler on the border. They were doing their jobs to protect our country and ended up in jail because of the so-called rights of the illegal immigrant.
If you have found Governor Huckabee to represent your positions, I would ask you to consider supporting his campaign in some way. We have the opportunity to select a candidate that we can support and one who truly represents us in November. However, you will need to participate in order for that to happen. He doesn't have the means to buy his way to the White House. One way that you can support him is by making a contribution to his campaign. Even if it is only a buck for Huck or a little more, it all adds up.
Perhaps you can't make a contribution now, you might be willing to make phone calls for him. If you have a cell phone with national long distance, your cost would be nothing if you call in the off-peak hours. You can sign up at his website to make calls.
Another easy thing you can do is to communicate this to your friends via e-mail. It is extremely important to get the message out as quickly as possible. The Florida primary is next week. Super Tuesday is the following week. The Ohio primary is in the first week of March. Let's do what we can to get an authentic, family friendly conservative as our President.
Please note the box on the upper right hand side of this blog. If you wish to contribute to his campaign, please use that link and my donor code, R10734. For every two dollars donated to Governor Huckabee's campaign, I will personally match it with one dollar up to a total $200.
Please feel free to comment on the opinions of this blogger.
Another Chuck for Huck
My Goal:
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
South Carolina Republican Primary
As I have watched the polls recently, and especially the SC polls, I have been surprised to see McCain either in the lead or tied for it. That makes no sense that a man who has taken such very clearly non-conservative positions (opposing tax cuts, McCain-Feingold campaign reform, Gang of 14 on Supreme Court justice nominations, and amnesty for illegal immigrants) can garner such support. Then it dawned on me. He is basically the only one running in SC that holds to his particular set of positions. He is running against three other candidates who would appear to be the same on conservative issues (i.e. Huckabee, Romney, and Thompson). When all three of these candidates split up the conservative vote, none of them has more than McCain. However, the conservative vote, when combined, beats McCain in a resounding fashion (something like 50 to 25).
Here is why I am writing. As of last night, Huckabee and McCain were essentially tied for first, somewhere around 25%. Romney and Thompson were third and fourth, somewhere around the 13 to 15% range. If conservatives continue to split their vote we could end up with McCain. A similar set of circumstances yielded Bill Clinton as president in 1992 when Ross Perot took 19% of the vote.
I think that Huckabee is the right man for the Presidency. This is why. First, my foremost consideration is character. That he is a believer is not in question. Is he a fundamentalist? No, but neither are any of the others. I don’t believe that Ronald Reagan would have been considered a fundamentalist either. The reason for Huckabee’s character is his faith in Christ. He is unashamed in his faith and openly admits to seeking God’s direction each day. For this reason, he is the strongest candidate on the issues of life, marriage, and family. He is the candidate least likely to be swayed from those positions.
Think about what made Ronald Reagan such a good president. Was it that he was a conservative? Yes, but why was he a conservative? He was a conservative because he had a core set of beliefs which were founded on his belief in God. I don’t think that this can be underestimated in the evaluation of a candidate.
Second, contrary to what the other candidates would have you to believe about Huckabee, he is a fiscal conservative. Some of the leading businessmen of Arkansas just put out a statement that Huckabee was getting “unwarranted criticism” for his record. The complete statement is available at the link below. I am convinced that his record has been completely distorted by his opponents. Even the New York Times felt compelled to take a fair look at his fiscal record and came to the conclusion that the attacks were unwarranted.
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Newsroom.PressRelease&ID=511
Third, Mike Huckabee, again contrary to what his opponents would want you to believe, is for decentralizing the federal government in those areas in which the federal government isn’t specifically authorized to have jurisdiction. He, of course, is no Ron Paul in this area, but takes a good, sound approach.
Fourth, Mike Huckabee has been categorized by Rush Limbaugh as a “populist”. If speaking the truth about the economy and what the federal government has done (or not done) to hinder it, then so be it.
There are three major things that the federal government hasn’t done. It hasn’t addressed the issue of illegal immigrants which is costing taxpayers untold numbers of dollars. Huckabee has a nine point plan on his website, endorsed by the head of the Minute Men, to address this issue.
Second, it has failed to address the issue of energy independence as we are held hostage by oil producing countries that do not have our best interests in mind. Huckabee’s position on this is also on his website. Part of his plan is exploration which we desperately need to tap our own oil.
Third, we have a health care system problem that needs to be addressed by private sector solutions. Government intervention and lack of tort reform have contributed to the skyrocketing costs of health care. Caryn just told me yesterday of the individual that wasn’t concerned about the cost of an unnecessary CT scan that the individual wanted to have for his/her child. Caryn explained that it was medically unnecessary and that there is a significant cost to it. The individual came back with the answer that the cost didn’t matter. He/she was on Medicaid.
This lack of action by the federal government to address these issues makes me wonder what Senators Thompson and McCain were doing to address these things. What plans did they bring forth in the Senate? I guess Thompson comes off better on this because I don’t know of any solutions that he has presented. McCain didn’t help any and was going to hurt us big time on illegal immigration.
So, if you have read all this, I congratulate you. Please give these things consideration.
Chuck
Here is why I am writing. As of last night, Huckabee and McCain were essentially tied for first, somewhere around 25%. Romney and Thompson were third and fourth, somewhere around the 13 to 15% range. If conservatives continue to split their vote we could end up with McCain. A similar set of circumstances yielded Bill Clinton as president in 1992 when Ross Perot took 19% of the vote.
I think that Huckabee is the right man for the Presidency. This is why. First, my foremost consideration is character. That he is a believer is not in question. Is he a fundamentalist? No, but neither are any of the others. I don’t believe that Ronald Reagan would have been considered a fundamentalist either. The reason for Huckabee’s character is his faith in Christ. He is unashamed in his faith and openly admits to seeking God’s direction each day. For this reason, he is the strongest candidate on the issues of life, marriage, and family. He is the candidate least likely to be swayed from those positions.
Think about what made Ronald Reagan such a good president. Was it that he was a conservative? Yes, but why was he a conservative? He was a conservative because he had a core set of beliefs which were founded on his belief in God. I don’t think that this can be underestimated in the evaluation of a candidate.
Second, contrary to what the other candidates would have you to believe about Huckabee, he is a fiscal conservative. Some of the leading businessmen of Arkansas just put out a statement that Huckabee was getting “unwarranted criticism” for his record. The complete statement is available at the link below. I am convinced that his record has been completely distorted by his opponents. Even the New York Times felt compelled to take a fair look at his fiscal record and came to the conclusion that the attacks were unwarranted.
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Newsroom.PressRelease&ID=511
Third, Mike Huckabee, again contrary to what his opponents would want you to believe, is for decentralizing the federal government in those areas in which the federal government isn’t specifically authorized to have jurisdiction. He, of course, is no Ron Paul in this area, but takes a good, sound approach.
Fourth, Mike Huckabee has been categorized by Rush Limbaugh as a “populist”. If speaking the truth about the economy and what the federal government has done (or not done) to hinder it, then so be it.
There are three major things that the federal government hasn’t done. It hasn’t addressed the issue of illegal immigrants which is costing taxpayers untold numbers of dollars. Huckabee has a nine point plan on his website, endorsed by the head of the Minute Men, to address this issue.
Second, it has failed to address the issue of energy independence as we are held hostage by oil producing countries that do not have our best interests in mind. Huckabee’s position on this is also on his website. Part of his plan is exploration which we desperately need to tap our own oil.
Third, we have a health care system problem that needs to be addressed by private sector solutions. Government intervention and lack of tort reform have contributed to the skyrocketing costs of health care. Caryn just told me yesterday of the individual that wasn’t concerned about the cost of an unnecessary CT scan that the individual wanted to have for his/her child. Caryn explained that it was medically unnecessary and that there is a significant cost to it. The individual came back with the answer that the cost didn’t matter. He/she was on Medicaid.
This lack of action by the federal government to address these issues makes me wonder what Senators Thompson and McCain were doing to address these things. What plans did they bring forth in the Senate? I guess Thompson comes off better on this because I don’t know of any solutions that he has presented. McCain didn’t help any and was going to hurt us big time on illegal immigration.
So, if you have read all this, I congratulate you. Please give these things consideration.
Chuck
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Thoughts on the ABC debate on 1/5/08
After watching the Republican debate last night, I have a few thoughts. First, the debate seemed much like having leftovers again. Many of the questions covered much of the same territory that had previously been covered. Most of the candidates, with the exception of Ron Paul, had the same, though slightly varying, positions on the issues.
Probably the biggest benefactor of the range of issues covered in the questions was Rudy Giuliani. There were no questions relating to two key issues: abortion and the definition of marriage. I guess for ABC these aren't important issues, at least not to be discussed from a conservative point of view.
With that said, there didn't seem to be much revealed that hasn't already been revealed. John McCain still believes in a pseudo-amnesty for illegal immigrants. It was unclear to me that Rudy Guiliani isn't in the same camp. Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee were more clearly taking a non-amnesty position.
All the candidates support improving our health care situation by private sector solutions while decreasing the involvement of government in the process.
The comments by a number of the candidates regarding Mitt Romney's change of positions and his negative ads took away from the debate, but nevertheless left a strong impression regarding these facts concerning Romney. My preference would have been that the candidates who partook in this also hurt themselves. And I would have strongly preferred that Mike Huckabee hadn't gone there, but he is also in a position where he has to take whatever opportunities present themselves to refute the misrepresentations attributed to him by Romney's organization.
So, who was the winner? I don't think there was any clear cut winner. No one stood out to me. I thought Fred Thompson performed better than he has in the past, so I thought he exceeded expectations. However, since the questions and the format were conducive to pretty much deal with issues on which there was general agreement, I don't think it would be expected that one candidate would stand out. One thing, though, is obvious. Any of the Republican candidates, with the possible exception of Ron Paul, would make a much better President than any of the Democratic candidates.
Probably the biggest benefactor of the range of issues covered in the questions was Rudy Giuliani. There were no questions relating to two key issues: abortion and the definition of marriage. I guess for ABC these aren't important issues, at least not to be discussed from a conservative point of view.
With that said, there didn't seem to be much revealed that hasn't already been revealed. John McCain still believes in a pseudo-amnesty for illegal immigrants. It was unclear to me that Rudy Guiliani isn't in the same camp. Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee were more clearly taking a non-amnesty position.
All the candidates support improving our health care situation by private sector solutions while decreasing the involvement of government in the process.
The comments by a number of the candidates regarding Mitt Romney's change of positions and his negative ads took away from the debate, but nevertheless left a strong impression regarding these facts concerning Romney. My preference would have been that the candidates who partook in this also hurt themselves. And I would have strongly preferred that Mike Huckabee hadn't gone there, but he is also in a position where he has to take whatever opportunities present themselves to refute the misrepresentations attributed to him by Romney's organization.
So, who was the winner? I don't think there was any clear cut winner. No one stood out to me. I thought Fred Thompson performed better than he has in the past, so I thought he exceeded expectations. However, since the questions and the format were conducive to pretty much deal with issues on which there was general agreement, I don't think it would be expected that one candidate would stand out. One thing, though, is obvious. Any of the Republican candidates, with the possible exception of Ron Paul, would make a much better President than any of the Democratic candidates.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Why I Support Mike Huckabee
Here is why I support Mike Huckabee. First, he is extremely solid on family values. He is adamantly opposed to abortion. He strongly supports marriage in the traditional sense. Second, he has a solid and definitive plan in how to deal with immigration. He also understands and supports our need as a country to become energy independent. He is a strong supporter of the second amendment. I could go on, but you can see exactly what his positions are on his website.
I have to admit that I don’t agree with Huckabee 100% on everything. But in order for me to find a candidate with whom I agree 100% on everything, I would have to run myself. I just see a very strong agreement on virtually all the issues that matter.
I would like to make one more comment about Huckabee. You may have already or will hear negative things about him. I have heard those things as well. When I have checked them out, I have found much of the information to be either taken out of context, misrepresented, or in some cases altogether false. Huckabee’s website addresses a number of these misrepresentations in his Truth Squad section.
If, after checking out Mike Huckabee for yourself, you find that he is a candidate that you can support, please consider letting others who might be interested in such a candidate know about him. Mike Huckabee does not enjoy the support of the Republican mainstream politics machine, but his organization and candidacy is largely dependent upon grassroots support from individuals such as you and me. If you are able and willing to support his campaign with a monetary contribution, you can do so on his website. I believe Mike Huckabee to be a born again Christian. As such, I’m sure he would appreciate your prayers for strength and direction during the campaign. Please keep in mind that you have the opportunity at this time to help bring about having a candidate that you can support in November.
If you like Mike Huckabee as a candidate, please add your comments to this blog.
I have to admit that I don’t agree with Huckabee 100% on everything. But in order for me to find a candidate with whom I agree 100% on everything, I would have to run myself. I just see a very strong agreement on virtually all the issues that matter.
I would like to make one more comment about Huckabee. You may have already or will hear negative things about him. I have heard those things as well. When I have checked them out, I have found much of the information to be either taken out of context, misrepresented, or in some cases altogether false. Huckabee’s website addresses a number of these misrepresentations in his Truth Squad section.
If, after checking out Mike Huckabee for yourself, you find that he is a candidate that you can support, please consider letting others who might be interested in such a candidate know about him. Mike Huckabee does not enjoy the support of the Republican mainstream politics machine, but his organization and candidacy is largely dependent upon grassroots support from individuals such as you and me. If you are able and willing to support his campaign with a monetary contribution, you can do so on his website. I believe Mike Huckabee to be a born again Christian. As such, I’m sure he would appreciate your prayers for strength and direction during the campaign. Please keep in mind that you have the opportunity at this time to help bring about having a candidate that you can support in November.
If you like Mike Huckabee as a candidate, please add your comments to this blog.
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