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Personal Presidential Elimination Process: The Case Against Mike Huckabee
In my continuing quest to decide which (if any) of the GOP candidates to support in the 2008 Presidential primaries, we come back to the case of Mike Huckabee. Ive joked in the past about never giving Hope, Arkansas, another chance at the presidency, but more serious and substantial reasons for eliminating Huckabee have now become apparent. Heres a few in no particular oder:
1. Hes a wowser. Consider, for example, that he supports a national smoking ban. Theyre just bad policy (see my TCS column).
2. Hes a religious bigot, as Hugh Hewitt points out (granted, Hughs got an agenda; i.e., boosting Romney, but that doesnt make him wrong):
Huck asks in this Sundays New York Times Magazine, Dont Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?3. He sounds pretty homophobic, as Andrew Sullivan points out:
No word yet on whether the former Arkansas governor asked if the Jews killed Jesus or if Catholics pray to Mary as a god.
The revelations of his previous statements about gay people and people with AIDS are immensely depressing but should hardly be surprising. The views Huckabee held were much more common in 1992 than now - although even then, Huckabees callous sentiments were irrational, outside any scientific consensus, ignorant for 1992, and clearly based on animus. I dont doubt he will distance himself from those early statements about HIV, just as even Jesse Helms did in his later years. But I wonder if Huckabee will be able to distance himself from the statements about gay people as such. Watching every Republican debate this year, you can see how no one ever dares take a position that could be deemed in any way supportive of gay people, understanding of the challenges many gay people face in a sometimes hostile world, let alone supportive of those of us constructing stable relationships.I disagree with aspects of Sullivans positions on issues such as gay marriage, but Sullivans absolutely right about the callous nature of Huckabees comments. A Huckabee nomination, moreover, would simply prolong the divisive culture wars. In the long run, this is a losing issue for the GOP. As a Barna Group poll found:
Today, the most common perception is that present-day Christianity is anti-homosexual. Overall, 91% of young non-Christians and 80% of young churchgoers say this phrase describes Christianity. As the research probed this perception, non-Christians and Christians explained that beyond their recognition that Christians oppose homosexuality, they believe that Christians show excessive contempt and unloving attitudes towards gays and lesbians. One of the most frequent criticisms of young Christians was that they believe the church has made homosexuality a bigger sin than anything else. Moreover, they claim that the church has not helped them apply the biblical teaching on homosexuality to their friendships with gays and lesbians.
The GOP brand image of an unloving attitude towards gays and lesbians, as well as its positions on a variety of other social issues, seems increasingly likely to cost the GOP among younger voters. There are issues where one must draw a line in the sand, such as respect for all life, including the unborn variety, but Im not convinced that issues arising out of someones sexual identity is among them.
4. Speaking of respect for life, Huckabee supports the death penalty. Although I freely acknowledge (and, indeed, have insisted upon) the moral differences between the death penalty and abortion, I was persuaded by John Paul II that:
Nowadays, in America as elsewhere in the world, a model of society appears to be emerging in which the powerful predominate, setting aside and even eliminating the powerless: I am thinking here of unborn children, helpless victims of abortion; the elderly and incurably ill, subjected at times to euthanasia; and the many other people relegated to the margins of society by consumerism and materialism. Nor can I fail to mention the unnecessary recourse to the death penalty when other bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons. Today, given the means at the States disposal to deal with crime and control those who commit it, without abandoning all hope of their redemption, the cases where it is absolutely necessary to do away with an offender are now very rare, even non-existent practically. (Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia in America January 1999)Id like to hear some Presidential candidate articulate a consistent respect for all life, even the hardened criminal variety.
5. Speaking of hardened criminals, is Wayne Dumond Huckabees Willie Horton?
6. Hes clueless on foreign policy.
7. Huckabees a serial tax hiker.
8. Hes probably a closet economic populist, as the Club for Growth noted:
Governor Huckabees record on pro-growth, free-market policies is a mixed bag, with pro-growth positions on trade and tort reform, mixed positions on school choice, political speech, and entitlement reform, and profoundly anti-growth positions on taxes, spending, and government regulation.Ditto from Cato:
On its annual governors report card, Cato gave Huckabee an F for fiscal policy during his final term, and an overall two-term grade of D. Only four governors had worse scores, and 15 Democratic governors got higher grades, including well-known liberals like Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania.
But Huckabee doesnt just embrace big government in the form of big taxes. He truly appears to believe that if something is a good idea it should be a federal government program.
For example, having become health conscious while losing more than 120 pounds (a remarkable feat), he now calls for a national smoking ban. Because he believes that art and music are as important as math and science in public schools, he wants these programs fundedand thus, directed and administeredfederally.
Huckabee is, incidentally, the only Republican candidate for president who opposes school choice.
Huckabee has called for increased federal spending on a variety of programs from infrastructure to health care. He wants more energy subsidies, including, naturally, more subsidies for ethanol. In fact, he supports increased agricultural subsidies generally. He is the only Republican candidate who opposes President Bushs veto of the Democrats proposed expansion of the State Childrens Health Insurance Program, and he is skeptical of most conservative proposals for entitlement reform.
Calling himself a different kind of Republican, Huckabee often appears to be channeling John Edwards or Lou Dobbs. He rails against high corporate profits and attacks free trade agreements. As governor, he raised the minimum wage and increased business regulation. He says it is a biblical duty to pass more regulation to fight global warming.
In sum, Mike Huckabee may be a different kind of Republican. Hes also the wrong kind.
Posted on Wednesday, December 12 2007
Again, I am not a Huck supporter, but if you listenened to him talk, you would have heard how it was Bill Clinton is the one who was responsible for this killer.
