See Ya Dubya

I haven’t been much of a Huckabee fan over the past few weeks. In spite of his recent win in the Iowa caucus he’s garnered some less than flattering press. The good people of Iowa see something in him, so I decided to give Huckabee another look with the intent of affirming or negating my first impressions. After taking a look at Huckabee’s statements and record while in office, I’m not swayed. Mike Huckabee is, in my estimation, one of the scariest Republicans in the mix. Here are ten reasons the Mike Huckabee for President campaign needs to be derailed.

1. Taxation - Huckabee claims to have cut taxes 94 times during his tenure in Arkansas. The truth is that he likes taxing his constituents. In fact, he not only raised taxes, he did it over and over again. In a 2006 report the Cato institute had this to say “Mike Huckabee of Arkansas also went from being one of the best governors in America to one of the worst. He receives an F for his current term and a D for his entire tenure. The main reason for the drop was his insistence on raising taxes at almost every turn throughout his final term.” Mike Huckabee is clearly NOT a fiscal conservative.
2. Pardons - While he was Governor of Arkansas, Huckabee enjoyed the privilege of granting clemency. Huckabee pardoned at a rate of once every four days throughout his time in office, totaling over 1,000 pardons in all. Huckabee is apparently proud of this feat. One note on this point, I had heard one famous case in which a castrated man went on to rape and murder a woman after being paroled. There are conflicting stories on Huckabee’s involvement, but he did not directly pardon this man.
3. Received Gifts - Huckabee accepted thousands of dollars worth of gifts while in office. Rather than denying, explaining or being helpful in any way, Huckabee dismisses this by reminding us that he was never found guilty of receiving an illegal gift. If you really want to send the Governor over the edge, ask him about registering for gifts at Target and Dillard’s. Once again he doesn’t deny it, he defends it.
4. He’s Broke - in spite of his salary as Governor and the gifts that he received, Mike would have us believe that he’s broke. While on the campaign trail he’s giving speeches to congregations for no less than $25,000 to keep his family fed. This isn’t the first time that Mike has been broke. In a 1997 interview he claimed it was costing him money to serve as the Arkansas Lieutenant Governor. He accepted a job that wouldn’t cover the bills, then complained about it? How classy is that! And what happened to all of the money that he earned and accepted while he was governor? What does he do with his money?
5. Faith - for someone that has served the church, a few of his beliefs are questionable. He’s stated that he’s not only believes that only Baptists will be redeemed, he’s not certain that all Baptists will make the cut. He also had this to say about non-believers “Men who have rejected God and do not walk in faith are more often than not immoral, impure, and improvident. They are prone to extreme and destructive behavior, indulging in perverse vices and dissipating sensuality. And they—along with their families and loved ones—are thus driven over the brink of destruction.“
6. Family Trouble - Huckabee’s son David has come into some legal trouble while Dad is on the campaign trail. As a teenage he brutally killed a dog, and more recently he tried to carry a handgun onto a public plane. Before you dismiss the sins of the son, keep in mind that Huckabee has been a Baptist pastor for a couple of decades, and he’s held a public executive office for the past 10 years. Could this have been what Mike was referring to in the above quote? Clearly David Huckabee has missed some of the points of the gospel, or public service, or human decency.
7. Immigration - Huckabee has recently flipped on the issue of immigration. While in office he was an advocate of illegal immigrants, something he’s had to answer for on the campaign trail. He recently changed his position, putting together a plan to seal the border and hire additional agents. This has some of his long time supporters concerned about him taking office.
8. Ethics Complaints - While holding office Huckabee was subjected to ethics complaints at least 14 times. Four of these resulted in admonishments for failing to report gifts received. He also received a letter of caution from the Arkansas Ethics Commission for his involvement with the non-profit organization Action America.
9. Humor - I’ll concede that my last point is less substantive than the previous nine, but its worth saying that Huckabee’s morbid sense of humor rubs me the wrong way. He’s recently alluded to killing those that don’t vote for him. That’s not funny, its offensive. He advertised his plan to secure the border in a Mike Huckabee and Chuck Norris commercial. That might have been funny two years ago, now its stupid. And he’s also claimed that playing one of his commercials backwards reveals the message “Paul is dead.” I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he’s referring to the Paul McCartney hoax. Its in poor taste and he had to know that people would assume he is speaking of his competitor Ron Paul.
10. Paradoxical Republican - Huckabee is a self proclaimed “Paradoxical Republican”. What does that mean, exactly? Huckabee goes on to explain that its because he supports music and arts. The real paradox for me is, how on earth did someone so sleazy make it on the GOPs short list? I’m not alone.

After closer inspection, I’m more convinced than ever of Mike Huckabee’s sleaziness. His record, family and statements all indicate one thing, he’s more than a paradoxical Republican, he’s unfit to lead. From what I can tell, he has responded to some of these allegations, though never in a helpful way that would give reassurance that he has the people’s interest in mind. Every response I could find has Huckabee either mad or on the defensive. Either way, he’s not repentant or trying to clear anything, he’s trying to get us to shut up and drop the subject.

I’ll let you decided if he’s fit to lead your church, but I definitely do not want him leading the country. America, please correct Iowa’s mistake, do not let this man come into power.

Share This