I'm anti-Huckabee for the primaries. Here are a few reasons why...

[The Doctor]

To put this into perspective, this was originally written for a fellow Christian who is a Huckabee supporter. That way you can understand some of the context for the following: Enjoy!
...
I had an opportunity to write to you so I would like to
discuss some ideas about the candidate Mike Huckabee.

1. Huckabee is not a fiscal conservative. While his early years as governor
had some anti-tax highlights, the overall picture includes serious backsliding into taxation. The subsequent picture is not one of the rule of
a fiscal conservative--unless you truly support all of the spending done.
Then perhaps a weak case could be made for expansion of state gov't
services. In the meanwhile, the following information doesn't look like it
is in reference to a fiscal conservative.

http://www.taxhikemike.org/ I think that this site speaks for itself,
and backchecking is certainly not going well for Huck.

and from a December 4, 2007 article on NRO... one with a
brief summary of the taxes and fees imposed on the Arkansas populace by
Governor Huckabee, as well as an op/ed on the Fair Tax. The article is
entitled
Huck's Daft Tax Plan
by Rich Lowry (link removed. http://www.nationalreview.com/ scroll
down homepage near archive segment to view the article)

The following information is from the Cato Institute's 2006 annual report on
state governors. http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa581.pdf
"• 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.

Arkansas
Mike Huckabee, Republican Legislature: Democratic
Final-Term Grade: F
Final Overall Grade: D
Thanks to a final term grade of F, Huckabee earns an overall grade of D for
his entire governorship. Like many Republicans, his grades dropped the
longer he stayed in office. In his first few years, he fought hard for a
sweeping $70 million tax cut package that was the first broad-based tax cut
in the state in more than 20 years. He even signed a bill to cut the state’s
6 percent capital gains tax—a significant progrowth accomplishment. But nine
days after being reelected in 2002, he proposed a sales tax increase to
cover a budget deficit caused partly by large spending increases that he
proposed and approved, including an expansion in Medicare eligibility that
Huckabee made a centerpiece of his 1997 agenda. He agreed to a 3 percent
income tax “surcharge” and a 25-cent cigarette tax increase. In response to
a court order to increase spending on education, Huckabee proposed another
sales tax increase.
Huckabee wants to run for the GOP presidential nomination next year. He’s
already been hailed as a viable big-government conservative candidate by
some. That seems about right: Huckabee’s leadership has left taxpayers in
Arkansas much worse off. (end of quote from Cato)

Did I do the painting of Governor Huckabee as a "big R" or did he do it
himself? To say that he was just following the lead of the legislature at
the state level does not bode well for what he may or may not do at the
federal, IMO.


2. on health care--Taking it from a repair approach to maintenance in HC's
existing legal structure would by necessity expand the oversight and the
regulation--going into new territory without legal protection? Hardly.
Until meaningful protection is offered to doctors--tort reform, then we can
only anticipate the growth of the layers of bureaucracy about the
industry.


3. on abortion and on social "state" issues-- Roe v. Wade needs to go down
first, because it overreaches. After that is accomplished, then our U.S. states should be allowed to function on behalf of their own voters.
Granted, this carries the inherent risk of a law which "all" may not agree
with, as it may then reflect the cultural shift of people toward the support
of legalised abortion, or for the so-called state recognition of sodomites
in legal matters. But, to quote Yul Brynner..."so let it be written, so let
it be done." Our recourse as voters is to vote out the state reps if they didn't accurately reflect our voting preference.
But we don't need some national law.

4. Huckabee and the war--An indication of Huck's position on Iraq is his
refusal to get us out of Iraq. The U.N., whose mandates we were enforcing
when we invaded Iraq....
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?
dbname=107_cong_bills&docid=f:hj114enr.txt.pdf

..as I was saying, the U.N. ought to grow a set and take over the
stabilization. Yeah right. It is well-known that the U.N. is not much more than a debate club.
We need a POTUS who will work hard to remove our country from under the growing influence of the U.N., and from under its global treaties, all of which take away from our nation's sovereignty. Dr. Paul is such an advocate. He is more interested in the U.S., not the U.N.

But, does the impotence of the U.N. require the U.S. to build the
region? I should hope not. Yet, Mr. Huckabee thinks that we are honor-
bound to stay in Iraq.



How is Iraq an appropriate and responsible mission for us to continue? Will
we only stay there as long as we have in Germany, Korea, or Kosovo? Huck
has in no way indicated that our "responsibility" and "duty" to help Iraqis
should also require us to live on a wartime budget. This is just one reason
why I posit that he joins the cadre of R who don't even attempt to reduce
the size and scope of the federal gov't. Now we also build nations, and
yet...who is bankrolling the effort? China? Or is the hidden tax of inflation now acceptable to this Republican candidate?


5. Interventionism is not our job. You mentioned that if we stop our
current levels of interventionism, that we risk annihilation.
Annihilation? I'm sure you're not laughing, but it does sound far-fetched.
Could you provide some support for that idea? It looks from the following
article (Nov. 29, 2007)that our efforts in Iraq are not working out so well
for the Christians who were there:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...n3553612.shtml

How can you view this information as anything other than a judgment against
our actions there? What is described as having happened to the Iraqi
Christians is what I'd call annihilation. How long will we continue this
failed policy? Until Senator McCain utters the words, "Well done, with
honor"???


6. Libertarianism. Yes. It's about less intrusion into your choices.
Without the continuation of extreme examples of anarchy, we could have more
depth to our investigation of libertarian ideas. It boils down to having
less gov't control into your choices. This spans from home schooling to
lifestyle choices such as what supplements you might want for yourself(and yes, cannibis is still on the table). But it also necessitates the view that should reduce the influence of lobby groups, and places responsibility on individuals. This in turn requires enforcement of laws regarding crimes against others. But ultimately these ideas provide the liberty to all that they might learn the personal costs of their own decisions, and may do so in the unique and wonderful environment of a free country.

[duckman373]

Unforunately, this election is going to be about who we dislike the least. I am not wowed by any of the candidates. We may have to settle for the one most electable just to keep control of the WH.

[bootlen]

Well, it's pretty much been that way for the last 40 years.

[duckman373]

Good point

[RoBoTeq]

I kinda like Huckabee. Not one of the candidates is going to be representing all of our personal views. Likewise, not all of our personal views are any more correct then are all of the personal views of anyone else.

I try to find the candidate with the most viewpoints similar to mine with the most important ones to me at the top of the list. I rarely count the viewpoints that candidates are not in line with my thinking on because there will always be issues that all candidates don't jive with my way of thinking on.

So far, Mike Huckabee has more similar viewpoints to mine then any other candidate.

[The Doctor]

I just wondered if anyone viewed the primaries as the time to vote for your favorite candidate, and then would see the general election as time to pull the lever for the team.

In the big picture, you could do a lot worse than Mr. Huckabee.

The letter was a second generation , the first generation being a response to a local radio host suggesting that it's time for voters to gather around a Republican candidate by the name of Mike Huckabee.
I wanted to counter that idea, and in my initial response I never mentioned my candidate's name, although I did indicate "libertarian" in a bullet-point or two.