Rush: Huckabee Liberal, Thompson Conservative
Written by Nate on January 2nd, 2008Rush limbaugh tore into Huckabee on his show today, saying that Huckabee is a good Christian man, but is a big liberal. He pointed out that Huckabee supporters have made their decision based on personality and not policy. Rush still seems to like Thompson the best and also pointed out that no one can touch Thompson on Policy. He is still hands down the most conservative on policy. The Politico has more.
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As much as I agree with Rush on this, I doubt it will be very effective because we are dealing with a crowd that primarily supports Huckabee because he is pro-life and an evangelical. The real question is whether these individuals who are bent on engaging in identity politics control a sufficient portion of the party to win the primary. If they do, there is not a conservative party left in the United States since it has been replaced by an evangelical Christian identity party.
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Would a good Christian man spend his whole campaign telling lies and distorting his record and his own positions? Rush is wrong–Huckabee isn’t a good Christian; he’s not a good anything. Huckabee is lower than the dirt, and disturbingly similar to another Arkansas governor.
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Huckabee wins IOWA!!!
YES!!
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Sorry guys, I must’ve been on those pain killers.. Go Huck!
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I am an Iowan and I humbly submit “that Rush is Wrong” …
Rush believes that our caucus last night was driven in response to our feelings of insecurity about the economy and that we Iowans are looking to a politician to fix the problem. I could disagree more for the following two reasons:
1) Iowa has a pretty darn good economy
2) Mike Huckabee is simply not about providing government handouts to people other than those that truly cannot help themselves - the truly destitute - not the over-extended.
Economic Conditions in Iowa
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Here is what I see happening in Iowa …
** Iowa has a robust ag economy. Commodity prices on many key Iowa commodities are up in some cases almost 100% over even last year.
** Google is opening-up a major data-center in Iowa
** Our ethanol industry has provided economic growth boost to rural communities and should continue to for (at least) the near-term.
** Our insurance and finance sector is very strong - adding jobs and fueling construction (did you out of state visitors see Des Moines 4-years ago and notice any changes - yowzers!)
** Unemployment is - and has been - at a residual level. Our biggest issue is continuing to supply labor to keep up with demand.
** We are fairly well insulated from a housing crisis. We did not necessarily ‘ride the wave up’ so to speak.
Counter to this, the most significant downward pressure on economic conditions here are wage increases - on average - are not keeping-up with rising costs of living (which is traditionally a Democratic concern).
Huckabee a Populist???
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Again, Rush thinks that Iowans have stood-up for a guy who will use government handouts to solve their own problems. Well look at Mike’s response to the national mortgage crisis. Do the words - ‘you made your bed you lie in it’ sound like words of a panderer? In Mike’s own words …
“That is not the purpose of government, to prop people up from every poor decision they make. In fact, when you do that … whether it’s in the world of finance or the world of drug addiction … it creates an enabling codependency. It’s the last thing that really helps people.”
(By the way - McCain does favor government intervention on the housing crisis here as per 12/19/07 NYT article). Is Rush referring to Mr. McCain. Or is he referring to Romney who states ” but, you know, you ask yourself at a stage like this we’ve got to be doing more at the federal government level to keep this from spreading into our economy” in a Glenn Beck interview. In both of their defenses, you actually do have to wonder. However, Mr. Huckabee demonstrates principled leadership in his response to this very important national economic concern.
Take also Mike Huckabee’s stance on prevention-based healthcare. Our candidate does not want to more federal dollars into covering everyone for every health care need they may have (such as Edwards et. al.). He wants to focus on prevention. Outside of political circles he happens to be a leading advocate for Prevention-based care (and I know that Rush has stated concerns about ‘healthy-living’ agendas). Prevention education should not be costly. It’s a teaching-issue.
Rush - Mike Huckabee is simply not a Populist. He is like a Tootsie Roll - pretty much same as it’s ever been. You need to throw away labels and get down to facts.
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Kevin… Huckabee is a big government liberal who wraps his politics in the evangelical Christian faith.
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There are many things I agree with him on. There are a few things that worry me, too. But he is the only viable candidate who is taking a ballsy stand on an issue that will go a very long way towards solving many problems we have in this country with regards to slow growth, fear of government, exporting jobs. That is the Fair Tax. He’s for it because it completely untaxes the poor and lets small businesses get an honest start without fear of the government. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than the IRS and the current system? Not only no, but hell no. I like Thompson but he’s wrong about HR25. In the bill, it says it will go into effect the first day of the first year that the 16th amendment is repealed. It can be done, and must be attempted. Or else the greatest experiment in self government fades into history.
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Ryan, saying Huck is a liberal does not make it so. Kevin spelled out specific ways in which Huckabee is a very solid conservative, but you just attach a label with no backup and expect it to stick. An issue-by-issue evaluation of Huckabee, done by the independent website OnTheIssues.org, places Huck squarely in the conservative camp.
People, do your OWN research. The pundits are wrong on this candidate, and we are missing a great opportunity.
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Kevin,
Rethink your “Iowa is in great shape” statements. No, its not. It is a house of cards propped up by farm supports. As soon as America realizes we are using billions of dollars in tax money to let big farms rape the middle class Iowa’s economy will come crumbling down.