At the National Women’s Republican Club in Manhattan, I had the pleasure of meeting former Arkansas Governor and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
Governor Huckabee is a genuinely warm and funny guy. His remarks are below.
“I keep forgetting that when I am not speaking in Arkansas, people stand up to applaud, rather than just exit.
I can’t stay long. I write three 400 word commentaries every day, and I can’t wait to go home and write stuff about Nancy Pelosi. She is the gift that keeps on giving. She may be solely responsible for the next Republican revolution.
Politicians think that Q & A stands for ‘Questions and Avoidance.’ Politicians don’t want to get You-Tubed into oblivion.
Running for President is not as savage as running in Arkansas. In Arkansas, politics is a full contact sport played without pads.
When I became Governor89 of 100 members of the state senate were Democrats, in addition to 31 out of 35 in the house. When I left, there were 30 Republicans in the senate and 8 in the house. There was improvement, but Democrats controlled 87% of the seats.
I was only the fourth statewide GOP officeholder in 150 years. In fact, and this is a true story, my office was shut from the inside to keep me in there.
I was minding my own business when in 1996, our governor was convicted. I never thought a Democratic Arkansas jury would convict him. I tell people that I served 10 1/2 years, and my predecessor served two years where he went.
Americans are good and decent people. They are just unaware of the underpinnings of the Obama administration.
President Obama throws twenty things against the wall at the same time,and some things will get through. He wants to restructure the heart and soul of the United States government.
He fired the CEO of General Motors, and dictated the amount of advertising by Chrysler.
When you get in bed with the government, you get whatever disease the government has.
I was vehemently and vocally opposed to TARP. It did not change the direction of the economy, but it did give Democrats license to do what they wanted. I called it the Congressional Relief Action Program. I will let you figure that one out.
Government should not take off the striped jersey of the referee and join either team. A government that is deciding wins and losses is a government in absolute control.”
Governor Huckabee’s cell phone then went off, allowing for levity.
“That is probably President Obama telling me to stop it.
I am against hate crime legislation because people should be judged based on their actions, not their thoughts.
Hate is horrible, whether it comes from the KKK or Jeneane Garofalo. She should know better.
Government will end up determining which speeches and thoughts are inappropriate.
This is why we should be concerned about the resurrection of the fairness doctrine. Government should never be allowed to arbitrate people’s thoughts.
If the Fairness Doctrine passes, I will be the first person filing a lawsuit demanding 50% of NPR’s time.
How did I run a national campaign with such a small amount of money? I had loyal volunteers make phone calls and knock on doors. They made 200,000 personal calls for Saxby Chambliss. Not robocalls mind you, but personal calls.
We were frugal. I wish the government with our tax dollars were the way we were with our campaign dollars.
We stayed at cheap hotels. Thyey rented rooms by the hour. In some hotels, I was the only person with sleeves. I told my wife over the telephone that if I don’t call home at a certain hour, call Houston 911. Otherwise, go outside and check for the chalk outline.
At a rental car counter in Denver, when I told the person I was running for president, they asked, ‘of what?’
I met more people claiming to have voted for me than actually voted for me. Some people think they recognize me. They are not sure if I ran for President or sold them a used car last year.
I looked at one voter and asked them, ‘You think I am Brad Pitt, right?’ They looked at me and asked, ‘Are you Bob Dole? I adore him, but he is 85. That hurt. My wife still finds that funny.
Who will lead the GOP is not the question. The question is ‘What will we rally around?’
Are we ‘too conservative?’ Nonsense. When we clearly state our positions, we win.
Ronald Reagan was not heralded. He was outside the circle.
We cannot just take conservative positions. We have to govern with them.
We elect people to represent us, not govern us. We govern us.
There is no separating the level and cost of government from the character of our people.
We have to be better people. We have to take care of our families.
We have to get bac to personal responsibility and moral behavior. We should not be preachy, but we should say that there are moral consequences for bad behavior. Rewards increase behavior, and consequences reduce behavior. Our economy rewards the irresponsible and punishes the productive.
Government must be local and limited. The best government is the one that is closest to the people. That is the 10th Amendment.
Anger is not always wrong. Jesus got angry. Aristotle said that ‘anger is right if it is for the right cause, at the right time, in the right way.’
SO why did the GOP mess up? In 1994, we were true reformers. We came in with guns blazing. One plank of the contract with America wasgetting rid of permanence in the form of self imposed term limits. Some did leave. Yet the stayers became more interested in the perpetuation of their office over principles. The good news for Republicans is that the same thing will now happen to the Democrats.
People are already concerned about the socialistic changes and cheating of Democrats like Timothy Geithner and ACORN.
I say ‘socialist’ with a small ‘s.’ They beli9eve in redistribution of wealth. I am not saying they are Soviet style Communists.
We have social programs and Social Security. Spending on things like streets and parks is for the common good.
Don’t underestimate the power of a well written letter to an elected official. A well written letter or a thoughtful phone call is effective. Keep it to one page. Don’t write an epistle. Also, don’t say in the letter, ‘I’ll never vote for you.’ Say, ‘I want to support you,’ and then address the concern you have. If you blast the official at the beginning of the letter, they will not bother to read it. Why should they when there is no chance you will listen to them?
I see the GOP picking up seats in 2010, as traditionally happens in midterm elections. The key issues will be how much the economy recovers, and whether or not Democrats overplay their hand.”
After his speech, I spoke to Governor Huckabee. I asked him a simple question.
“Governor, I am more frightened by Osama Bin Laden wielding a bomb than Pat Robertson holding a book. Besides ‘Love thy neighbor,’ what other dangerous issues does radical Christianity offer?”
The Governor laughed, and replied, “We have so many things, but love thy neighbor is by far the most sinister.”
I spoke to the Governor and his scheduler about being a guest on his show. They are currently reviewing my book, and I do hope this comes to fruition.
Either way, it was a genuine pleasure meeting Governor Huckabee. He brought honest and ethical government to Arkansas. Maybe he truly is superhuman.
eric
Of all the GOP candidates, Huckabee, in my opinion, had the best chance of winning in November. His soft-spoken populism, combined with a sort of WWJD undertone, plays well with the American public. Where he shoots himself in the foot is when he takes the low road. He can’t both be a WWJD Republican and a panderer to the low brow right at the same time.
Here’s some low brow remarks…
“…I can’t wait to go home and write stuff about Nancy Pelosi. She is the gift that keeps on giving. She may be solely responsible for the next Republican revolution.”
Most people don’t even know who Pelosi is, let alone her record. because of that, every time the GOP knocks her, it makes them look like hateful misogynists. The fact of the matter is that Pelosi is almost nothing like ho she is painted by the right. The GOPers make themselves look stupid by scapegoating her.
“Americans are good and decent people. They are just unaware of the underpinnings of the Obama administration.”
This is code-speak for some kind of socialist cabal the right is pretending the Obama administration is up to. It’s a lie. it’s stupid. Most Americans think it’s a lie and it’s stupid. And telling the American people that they are “unaware” is not going to win any voters over either. people don;t care for being told they are stupid suckers. The GOP is doing itself no favors with this sort of vague, code-speak rhetoric, and insulting of the American IQ.
“He fired the CEO of General Motors, and dictated the amount of advertising by Chrysler.”
The first part of the is a LIE. The second part had to do with the restructuring of Chrysler in bankruptcy BY THE COURT, and so is also a LIE. Huckabee doesn’t seem very Christian when he LIES like this.
“I am against hate crime legislation because people should be judged based on their actions, not their thoughts.”
This is another LIE. Lot’s of crimes are judged with aggravating and mitigating factors considered. “Hate Crime” is just another aggravting factor for consideration, as is racketeering, organization, sexual predation, etc. The “thought” has nothing to do with it, only the motivation for the action. All crimes are considered with “motivation.” This whole anti-hate criome thing is stupid, it’s packed full of lies, it’s hateful in and of itself, and it’s utterly ignorant of the law.
“This is why we should be concerned about the resurrection of the fairness doctrine. Government should never be allowed to arbitrate people’s thoughts.”
No one is proposing a return of the Fairness Doctrine. This is a LIE, pandering to the paranoid right.
The rest of what Huckabee said, as usual, was pretty thoughtful and smart. Of all the candidates from the GOP last year, he was my favorite. But he has to rise above the low brow speak. The GOP will continue to lose younger, more educated voters if they continue to push stupid, pandering lies.
JMJ
I liked Huckabee as a Presidential candidate when I read about his Fair Tax initiative. Then I read he was an ordained minister.
I do not hold anyones religion against them. However, I take oaths extremely seriously- and when a man oaths himself to the service of his God- I question whether they will put that before their oaths to the country if elected to lead this country.
He seems like a nice enough guy, and sounds like he was a good governor of Arkansas. Plus he’s a bassist, which is always cool. And Chuck Norris rules.
The mistake (and John McCalin made a lot of mistakes during the campaign) was to pick Palin as VP.
Mike should have been the VP candidate, OR Giulian or Romney.
At the onset, my candidate for President was Giuliani.
He clearned up the formerly uncleanable mess known as New York
City ( not Baghad on the Bab but socialism on the Hudson ).
Having visited New York City several times, I saw the results
of when over 1m people live on welfare, food stamps, charity, etc.
and the tranportation system cannot support itself.
Anyone who has been there knows the disadvantages of vertical living
(there are more than 1m apartments).
(BTW, while I am for capping bonuses…the tax on NY’s elite pay for
one-third of the city’s budget of 60billion.)
Here in sunny California, the voters spoke Tuesday, turning down more taxes
yet wanting more services. Only California has more in benefits for
it’s citizens than New York State…and both are deeply in debt
as we all know.
Yet, we really do have to ask ourselves why the Republicans lost
by millions of votes last Nov 4? They certainly had qualified candidates,
including Mike.
The minorities are under the delusion that the Democrats serve
their interests better.
Until we Republicans change this way of thinking, the Democrats will
win election after election.
While I like Mike…the argument against him was his degree of
faith. People are scared of a President with too much religion,
unless of course you are talking about England, but that’s for another
post Sharia Law and all that.
Mike will have to soften his religion in the next election.
It’s about winning and losing., it’s that simple.
The Republicans cannot depend on the stiumulus failing or
high (er) unemployment 4 or even 2 years from now.
Obama’s affiliation with Rev Wright never got off the ground.
He simply changed parishes.
Unless the Republicans get the “youth” vote and more of the majorities,
they will never succeed. The oldsters are dying off by the millions.
The vote against the 5 propositions in California really say it all.
People who feel disenfranchised want more benefits, but paid for
by others..except when the others refuse to pay for them and can
prevail at the ballot box.
Is it a quagmire, you bet? Ask the Calif gov.
Hey guys you notice that Iran fired a long range missile successfully
today. It goes 1,200 miles and can hit Israel and US bases with
impunity. At the same time, Israel got some gelt (money) for
missile defense. One nuke gets through to Tel Aviv and it’s all over,
but the Holocaust museums and movies. Back at the ranch, Obama
want to the end of the year to give Iran an opportunity to “talk”, “engage” and drink tea and eat pita with Hillary w/o pre-conditions.
Oh me oh my.
What are the underpinnings of this administration? First some definitions, underpinning: foundation, basis or support system. Administration: the management or direction of a government, business, institution or the like.
The foundation, basis or support system of the Democratic Party is George Soros, ACORN, Unions, Saul Alinsky, Green, Socialists, Anti-Semitics, Atheists, gays, Illegal Immigrants, the MEDIA in general, the Welfare Society… I know I’ve left some out and apologize for excluding any groups deserving recognition.
The management and direction of this administration is where ever the support system wants to take it.
Toma
Toma, that is the most backwards thing I’ve read in a long time. I can’t believe an adult would say such silly things. Obama received more small donations than other other candidate in history. His popular support is massive, the demographics all over the place. For all the silly nonsense you listed above, none of those people are actually IN his administration. And while I have no idea what’s wrong with being an atheist, or George Soros, or ACORN, or unions, and only the most ignorant person, or sleazy liar, would accuse people out-of-hand of being anti-semitic, it’s irrelevent – because NONE of these people are in his White House. So, either you’re lying, regurgitating Rush Limbaugh and Co, are you have not a clue in the world what you’re talking about.
JMJ
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