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Time to ground the Huckabee balloon

The Rocky

Published January 5, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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'In light of what happened in Pakistan yesterday," Mike Huckabee said the day after Benazir Bhutto's murder, "it's interesting that there are more Pakistanis who have illegally crossed the border than of any other nationality except for those immediately south of our border."

The man who would win the Iowa Republican caucuses a few days later is so at sea on foreign policy that he resorted to using an incident of supreme international importance to make a point about a domestic issue. And a false point at that.

A month earlier, Huckabee was asked about a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran that had shocked Washington and much of the world the day before by concluding that Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Hadn't heard of it, Huckabee replied.

Meanwhile, the former Arkansas governor's principal domestic policy initiative has zero chance of enactment ("to completely eliminate all federal income and payroll taxes [in return for a consumption tax]. And I do mean all - personal federal, corporate federal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment"). Why, he'd have a better shot at curing cancer. Even more wildly, he believes that the United States can achieve energy independence "by the end of my second term" and invents phony distinctions between an imaginary "fair" trade that never hurts any workers and free trade, which of course sometimes does. (To be sure, Huckabee has a lot of company among candidates in misunderstanding trade.)

Oh, and did we mention that he injected religion into the campaign to undermine the Mormon Mitt Romney, and has described himself as a "Christian leader" in a political ad? He may well be a Christian leader whose faith "defines me," as he likes to say. We welcome such a man running for president. But to make an explicitly religious campaign appeal in order to undermine someone of another faith is not just bad form in America. It's totally out of line.

Why are we spending so much time trashing Huckabee in his moment of triumph? After all, the victory of Barack Obama in the Democratic primary is much more historic than the emergence of Huckabee in the GOP. For that matter, the fact that the high-powered Romney campaign has taken a torpedo in its hold is yet another lesson in the futility of spending big money on a candidate who lacks charisma and who seems too calculating by half (the good ship Hillary Clinton may be in the process of learning this same lesson.) And then there is John Edwards, whose unshaded view of the world, stocked solely with blue-collar heroes and boardroom villains, ought to embarrass a class of first-graders but instead inspired Democratic caucus-goers to reward him with second place. No shortage of commentary fodder, that's for sure.

Maybe we focus on Huckabee because we don't find anything surprising in Obama's rise, in Romney's and Clinton's slide, or even in Edwards' detestable cynicism. But we do confess surprise, and a bit of worry, over Iowa Republicans' embrace of a seat-of-the-pants candidate such as Huckabee, no matter how charming and amusing he might be on the stump. The man is simply not ready for the White House, and it's up to Republicans in New Hampshire and elsewhere to make sure he doesn't take another step closer to that goal.

Comments

  • January 5, 2008

    8:06 a.m.

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    seeingeyeseesall writes:

    Another candidate by, for and of the less-than-100-IQ side of the bell curve... and face it, statistically, half of the total population is a member of that group. We've had 7 years of this group's "leadership." God help us if we get four more...

  • January 5, 2008

    8:22 a.m.

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    vudumom writes:

    I don't understand Huckabee's rise at all. He has a bad record on taxes,immigration and health care. He has no understanding of world affairs and is ignorant when it comes to what is really going on and what is really important to voters.Religion is not and should not be a reason to vote or not to vote for someone. we need someone who has a grasp on the reality of today's world and the challenges our country faces.Religion is not going to fix our tax system,our immigration problem,our schools,our health care,the threat of terrorism and the world events that affect the U. S. All the prayer in the world can't fix these real problems.This is pure insanity. Haven't American's had enough of nothing getting done?Who is going to step up and lead this country through the will of intelligent sound decisions?I'm just not seeing anyone who fits that job description. I am not a religious person, but God help us all,we are in real trouble here.

  • January 5, 2008

    8:45 a.m.

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    DougH writes:

    Republicans came into power by pandering to the religious right and getting them the votes they needed to get elected. Now, the chickens have come home to roost and the evangelicals on the right have enough political moxie to run their own guy. Mike Huckabee is surely not a traditional Republican, but he surely is a creation of Republican politics. Good Luck to him.

  • January 5, 2008

    8:51 a.m.

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    ColoradoDave writes:

    I do not understand why the GOP echo machine is so against Huckabee. He is exactly the type of person to whom they have catered and pandered. He is a Family Values Guy. He Hates Homosexuals. He considers Abortion Murder. He wants Prayer in Schools. He wants Creationism taught along with (or even instead of) Evolution.

    Vince, are you telling me that the Republicans have only been pandering to the Christian Right? Do you mean you really didn't believe any of that Values Voters talk.

    The Republicans, since Ronald Reagan, have depended on Conservative Christians to turn out at the polls and work the Get-Out-The-Vote machine.

    Now that an actual Conservative Bible Beating Christian is running for President we find out that the Republicans don't care for the Christian Right's views only their votes.

    Well Ha Ha. You guys created Huckabee. He is your Frankenstein enjoy him for he is your dream candidate.

  • January 5, 2008

    10:22 a.m.

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    popo writes:

    I guess the old axiom "Be careful what you wish for" certainly applies in this case. Those who would replace our Constitutional Republic with a God-fearing Theocracy should remember that the abuses of King George III and his Church of England was a large part of why our Revolutionary War began, and also why the establishment clause is at the top of the list in our Bill of Rights.

  • January 5, 2008

    11:12 a.m.

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    Romulus writes:

    You accuse Edwards of "detestable cynicism." I would say that it's more cynical to passively accept the dominance of corporate interests in our political processes than to try to do something about it.

  • January 5, 2008

    11:42 a.m.

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    jkl writes:

    To seeingeyeseeall, it's been 15 years, not seven years of inept leadership.

  • January 5, 2008

    12:03 p.m.

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    jvb writes:

    Waiting for the bus after exiting the VA hospital I asked a white man and a black man who will be our next president. The black man was vocal and opted for "Hucklebury" because though he favored Obama there were enough rednecks out there to assassinate him and he didn't want to go through any more assassinations.

    Personally I'm for "Hucklebury" being the candidate because, surely, Christians are not so dense they have had enough of Bush and his "Jesus Christ told me to attack Saddam Hussein," and his giveaway of $65 billion tax dollars to this jew morphed into a Christian anti-Semitic god, Bush and "Hucklebury's" brand of snake oil.

  • January 5, 2008

    1:05 p.m.

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    aeb1barfo writes:

    We've had too many HUCKSTERS as president. Time for a STATESMAN and a LEADER....

    Too bad the M$M won't appoint one....

    The current crop are from the same old, same old...

  • January 5, 2008

    1:32 p.m.

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    Andy writes:

    "We welcome such a man running for president. But to make an explicitly religious campaign appeal in order to undermine someone of another faith is not just bad form in America. It's totally out of line."

    Oh, really? Conservatives have made huge gains putting religion first in the last 20 or so years. The whole idea behind such things as "faith based initiatives", "family values", and attacks on the contemporary interpretation of the separation of church and state are completely in line with this philosophy. This is the first time I remember the Rocky speaking out on this. Why the change?

    I'm a Democrat. I don't have any skin in the game at this point, so maybe I should just keep out of it. Still, this viewpoint seems hypocritical to me. A conservative candidate's piety is critical to conservative voters. Pretending it isn't is at best inaccurate and at worst a calculated deception.

  • January 5, 2008

    4:09 p.m.

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    me2 writes:

    The quickest way to watch an enemy screw themselves into the ground, is to give them what they want. The fundamentals have held sway in this country for 7 years, while we push back every way we know how. Now they are in-fighting. Blessed Goddess, thank you!

  • January 5, 2008

    9:52 p.m.

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    ColoradoDave writes:

    Isn't it interesting how, with one exception, all of the Rocky Mountain News editorial columnists have a short biographical paragraph.

    This paragraph tells us who the writer is; where the writer worked before coming to the Rocky and in most cases a brief CV of the writers other works.

    There is one writer who has no bio and this is a conspicuous absence. Who is Vincent Carroll? From where does he hail? Did he ever work as a reporter before coming to the Rocky?

    Why is Vincent Carroll's bio absent from the Rocky website?

    Perhaps he is a party hack? We do not know because the Rocky does not tell us.

  • January 5, 2008

    10:06 p.m.

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    ColoradoDave writes:

    One would think that the co-author of "Christianity on Trial: Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry" would embrace Mike Huckabee. You would think Mike Huckbee would be the finest candidate such a writer could imagine.

    Well unless the writer was a flaming hypocrite tool only interested in profiting from the beliefs that other people hold dear.

    Message to the Evangelical Christian Community: The Republicans don''t really believe like you any more than the Democrats do. The Republicans however are happy to let you vote for them as long as you sit quietly on the sidelines between elections.

  • January 5, 2008

    10:07 p.m.

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    Castle writes:

    I feel like a virgin at a hookers convention posting here. Seems like the Hucksters winn has really got the liberial socialist democrates panties in a bunch. Did you really think that the woman from New York would do any better then she did? The talking heads are going to have to put a real good spin on this one. Sure seems like some of the previous posters here sure are spinning.

  • January 6, 2008

    2:39 p.m.

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    jvb writes:

    America does not need anymore home-grown terrorists that will drop bombs on the Wall: http://planetatheism.com/?s=Linda+All...

  • January 7, 2008

    5:15 a.m.

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    Jim writes:

    NYT added Mr. Kristol to it's regular op-ed staff. The link is to a recent column. The column and his bio leave no doubt about his political oreintation. Hard to believe Fox News didn't pick him up. This comment is on thread. The column is all about Huckabee.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/opi...

  • January 7, 2008

    3:49 p.m.

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    rg writes:

    I'll commence prayer that Huckabee is nominated; Jesus the Christ sent Bush to Iraq; Jesus will send Huck into Iran; Jesus, the Jews' motive, is to bankrupt America. Let us pray my prayer works. Richard Grimes, deicide, http://www.geocities/r22037/think.html

    Deicide Corner: “Strong, self-determining men are notorious for their lack of reverence. . . . Prayer seems to me a cry of weakness, and an attempt to avoid, by trickery, the rules of the game as laid down. Zora Neale