McCain Needs To Heart Huckabee As Veep

SOUTHERNER IS BATTLE-TESTED AND FUNNY...FOR A POLITICIAN

As fast as he could say, "Shazzam!" the Gomer Pyle-esque former Arkansas governor became a presidential player, again.


After winning the Iowa caucus last month, he went from Hucka-who? to “I heart Huckabee” before acting like a downright huckleberry.

The roller coaster campaign of Mike Huckabee was saved by the South and, maybe, Jesus himself.

 While he didn't sufficiently slow the John McCain Straight Talk (soon-to-be-less-candid-GOP-nominee) Express from streaking to the national convention in the Twin Cities, he did boost his chances for a place on the Republican ticket.


The McCain/Huckabee dynamic must be viewed as a mixed bag. The Republican came a step closer to anointing the latest heir to Ronald Reagan, but Huckabee's strong showing in Dixie again reveals an enormous fissure within the God-trumps-your-Constitution set and independent voters who enjoy McCain's willingness to reach across the aisle.

Is there another evangelical Christian in the Republican party up to the task of making conservatives feel whole other than Huckabee?

 If one existed it’s likely they would already be in the race where a bonafide red-meat-eating conservative is nowhere to be found.

Although he was successful early in Iowa, he never had the presidential purse strings or the willing donors to make much of a run, anyway, but his ability to preach to Southern values is his most valuable asset.

McCain has shown that he is unable to win in a Southern state other than South Carolina, where he has a unique history and a boatload of servicemen. Evidently, Huckabee has such sway south of the Mason-Dixon line that he easily won Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and his own state, Arkansas.


Obviously, it seems like a marriage made in heaven and they even like each other or share a common contempt for Mitt Romney.

 Such a ticket has inherent problem, though.


Many attribute McCain's earlier fall from grace, last year, to the fact he sold out his sterling reputation as a maverick politician when he courted President Bush's Christian cohorts. When he bowed at the altar of the late Jerry Falwell, he lost all of his street cred in Independentville, USA.


Now that "Mac is back", he might, again, be forced to court that same constituency or lose the general election. Without someone like Huckabee, McCain would have to cobble together an deadlocked electoral scenario without the GOP's main voting bloc, the Deep South.


McCain's version of the “Southern Strategy” forces a conundrum. Veer hard to right as he unsuccessfully did last year or softly shift to the center of left and make Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter blow steam from their ears.


Outside the political nuts and bolts, Huckabee as VP has many desirable traits. He battle-ready after honing his message on the stump for the last year. He folksy and, by the low standards of politicians, pretty funny.


What's not funny is some of beliefs. 

This is a candidate who, at times, sounds more like a West-hating cleric than an American Baptist preacher. Last week he said, 

"I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards."


He also supports rewriting the 14th amendment by denying citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants.

 Behind his quick affable persona and quick-fingered bass playing lies something as poisonous to McCain's presidential aspirations.

It's a deal with the Devil that he flirted with before, but with the White House within his reach, McCain/Huckabee '08 may be his only chance.

Huckabee's Plays Both Sides of Immigration Fence

DOES HE REALLY WANT TO BAR IMMIGRANT'S CHILDREN FROM CITIZENSHIP

You can't be sure how credible a newspaper owned by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon can be, ...BUT...it was reported in the Washington Times that Mike Huckabee would attempt to stop children of immigrants from automatically becoming U.S. citizens.

The notion is utter nonsense and can be looked at in two ways.

The story was unequivocably stated by a Huckabee loyalist, James Gilchrist, who is a founder of the Minutemen Project, which calls itself "a citizens' Neighborhood Watch on our border" and characterized as correct by the Huckabee campaign. Huckabee has denied any plans to tinker with the Constitution.

What Huckabee is doing is spreading the meme, which only conservative, evangelical fundamentalist hear as a clear-minded proposal.

He's playing hide-and-go-seek with the truth. Which is it? Does he support such an amendment or not? At this point, it doesn't matter. Liberals and independents won't vote for him and whether he would actually run a test case up to the Supreme Court if he became president is not the point.

What it does to evangelical conservatives is say this guy is tough on immigration. By using a surrogate like Gilchrist he can stir up the right wing nutjobs profusely and still seem like the swell guy some in the media have begun to portray him as.

The other more troublesome angle is the case of history repeating itself. Many in the media are recycling the old 2000 George W. Bush bromide of "which guy would you rather have a beer with: Bush or Gore?"

In hindsight, it looks like neither and if anything you would share a bottled water with Gore.

Huckabee is creating this lovable, cool persona which is incongruent with any 50-something, Southern white man toting a tattered Bible ever created.

Sure, he plays the bass guitar and utters some rehearsed zingers, but he isn't cool and didn't we learn what happens to our government when we choose personality over competence?

Beyond the smile and jokes lies an agenda hostile to our Constitution, our civil rights and our national security.

Huck Wins, But Apathetic Feeling Still Lingers

DAVID BEATS GOLIATH SOLELY WITH THE HELP OF BORN AGAINS

With his win in the Iowa Republican caucus, his candidacy becomes the latest example of how hard it is to prognosticate presidential politics a year in advance.

When Huckabee announced his candidacy a year ago, I wrote why someone with no chance whatsoever would waste their time in running. What a difference a year makes.

What's interesting though, is that this rousing victory where he was outspent by Mitt Romney by the tune of 20-to-1, isn't translating well to Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. Sen. John McCain's suddenly rise there with its proud independent streak is becoming the story.

Republicans are just not excited about this field. Normally an underfunded, but successful campaign gets a quick infusion of cash when people see it can actually win. Few have that sense with Huckabee and see his overwhelming support by Iowa born-agains was the reason he won there.

He won't win in New Hampshire and even though evangelicals reside overwhelmingly in South Carolina, there's still a great deal of servicemen who are loyal to McCain.

The bottom line is that Huckabee's win again underscores the lack of any strength and excitement in the Republican party. A Huckabee nomination might leave an opening for a third party candidate like Mike Bloomberg entering the race by Fourth of July

Huck's Playing With House Money With Leno Appearance

McCAIN IS CLOSING IN ON SURPRISING THIRD PLACE FINISH IN IOWA

As Mike Huckabee flies to Burbank to tape the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno you've got wonder is the former Arkansas governor counting his chickens before they're hatched in tomorrow's Iowa Caucus?

This is definitely a national play for the thus far successful, but still cash-strapped campaign to parlay a likely win in tomorrow's caucus to next week's New Hampshire primary and beyond. It might backfire and give Mitt Romney stronger than expected second-place finish.

It can't look good for the self-described underdog to be gallivanting to Hollywood while his opponents are still pressing the flesh in the frigid Iowa winter.

Instead of finishing off their dramatic upset in Iowa, the Huckabee campaign is inexplicably using the credit earned there for the next race. The question is whether Iowa Republicans who were not solidly in Huckabee's column and I believe his popularity in the state is a bit soft and unable to transfer to the rest of the country, will not shift to another candidate.

I believe Romney will gain some of those votes and finish three to four points off the pace. The big winner, though, may be Sen. John McCain.

The religion question is being overhyped on the conservative side of the ballot. There still isn't a true evangelical in the race, despite what Huckabee tells you and while some may be leery of Romney's Mormonism, they really see him as secular, at best. Those religious voters may scrap their beliefs and go with Sen. McCain, the champion of foreign policy and backer of the surge in Iraq.

Amazingly, a strong third-place finish in Iowa without the benefit of any organization and opinions heretical to most ethanol-loving Iowans, would be a major story tomorrow. It would affirm the belief that McCain sticks to his beliefs and possesses the intuition of policies two years down the road.

When it comes to the Iraq War, he's the anti-Obama. He's the only candidate who can say that he didn't change gears a year ago when his support for the war nearly destroyed his campaign. Now, the war ain't so bad and neither is McCain's bid for the Republican nomination.

Huckabee Defends Without A Wink And A Smile

CANDIDATE USING BUSH'S 2000 PLAYBOOK

Does Mike Huckabee think his faux ignorance is charming, somehow endearing in its innocence?

First he garnered guffaws from the press when he announced he was foregoing planned attack ads against Mitt Romney and then showed the ads that he wasn't going show, anyway. Then, he claimed without a bit of irony in his voice that it was because the press wouldn't believe such ads existed.

Yesterday, Huckabee said he was "absolutely" backing the striking Writer's Guild, but will cross the picket line, nonetheless to appear on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.

Later, he claimed erroneously, that the striking writers had made a deal with all of the late night programs. When he was corrected by reporters that only David Letterman's production company had secured a deal with the writers he said, "Oh", followed by "hmmm".

Was this another occasion where Huckabee's campaign has been sorely behind the news as when it was a day and a half behind the news that an NIE report said Iran was not actively producing nuclear weapons or is he plainly lying or spewing double talk about his support for labor.

How else could Huckabee answer a question about crossing the picket on a highly publicized strike and still appear to care about the working man? He can't truthfully and therefore he ducked the question with sound effects and quickly answered another question.

I believe Huckabee is not as unprepared as recent press accounts have made him out to be. That's not to say his candidacy is rooted in good policy, either. He feign ignorance on the Iran NIE account and the writer's strike questions because he can't answer them without rustling some feathers.

Many voters, I hope, will place their candidates attributes against the idealogy and personality of President Bush for guidance in how not to choose a president. If so, remember that Americans found a sly, smiling, personable double talker who glazed every issue over with Jesus in 2000 and the rest is history.

Another Lightweight Joins GOP Race For '08

GOV. HUCKABEE COUNTING ON HATE POLITICS OF ANOTHER ERA (2 YRS AGO)

Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee joined a group of lackluster Republicans vying for the White House in 2008. The problem is, Gov. Huckabee is portraying himself as the George W. Bush of 2000 when the real deal is vilified on the left and the right at an alarming rate.

Appearing of "Meet the Press" Sunday, Gov. Huckabee tried to muscle in on the Christian Coalition sect of the right that has been turf of Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS).

Despite the President's unpopularity, Brownback and now Huckabee are treading on a substantial sliver of the conservative right that is clearly out of style. Both are relying on the fact that this sort of ideology has brought two presidential victories, but not without a considerable amount of arm-wringing and blatant dirty tactics.

People care about values in America, but the post-9/11 reality in its infancy fostered a fear of guns, gays and God in red America. Without someone like Karl Rove masterminded the politics of grand deceit there's the question of whether a politician can move the masses with a strict conservative policy, anymore.

Huckabee detailed his background as a minister, defended a quite Draconian anti-abortion view that even bans the procedure after rape or incest. The governor also went against the current mood in the country by completely supporting the President "during a time war".

While Huckabee sidestepped many of Tim Russert's question, he was less than convincing when the jack-o-lantern-faced moderator asked him pointedly, "Do you have a problem with gay people?"

The governor responded, "No, I have a problem with changing institutions that have served us."

Meaning, yes, I have a problem with gays and lesbians getting married and to stretch it further; I don't want them kissing and hugging in front of my kids!

In the end, Gov. Huckabee's candidacy is completely based on all the same smoke and mirrors that fooled the country the last six years. Politicians like Huckabee and Brownback come from a part of the Repubicans part that breeds exclusion based on race and economic status and hate based on differences between us.

BROWNBACK THINKS ABOUT CRITICIZING COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
Sen. Sam Brownback might be what Mike Huckabee wishes, at least, at 23 months before the 2008 election, but Brownback knows when the winds of change are whistling a high pitched "no" to the President's policy on Iraq.

Whereas, Huckabee took a loyal and noble stance in supporting Bush at all costs solely because he's Daddy President, the senator from Kansas, though, not much better, said he would "consider" voting for a resolution against the troop surge in Iraq.

He's considering it. Now that's brave, senator.