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August 07, 2005
Grown-up Republican Watch
Posted by Nick Beaudrot
In an issue that's otherwise close to worthless, New York Times Magazine has an interview with Governor Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas), a dark horse candidate in the 2008 Presidential race. Other than his use of the nonsense term "Iraqi-Afghan war", which implies that there's some alliance there that doesn't exist and furthers the implicit non-existent ties between 9/11 and Saddam, he comes across as a quick-witted, amiable guy. He accepts partisan politics as a job, but once the campaigning is over, he's willing to get back to the business of governing. Arkansas has a Dem controlled state legislature, so Huckabee is forced to deal with the opposition in a way that Bush is not.
Huckabee's so pro-life he makes Bush look like a raging moderate on the issue. And he's definitely no fan of "teh gay" [sic]. And once he has America's Express card, he might drop all his balanced budget talk. But, he's clearly feels that political Washington is imposing too many mandates on the states, and he's willing to wage war with the Norquistas in his own party. If you are one of those folks who believes that the social issues are just a shell game for that the GOP, or if spending on education and health care is far more important, Huckabee just might be a tolerable Republican President. If you think there will be fiscal Armageddon between 2008 and 2012, Huckabee would be a decent guy to have left holding the bag.
August 7, 2005 in Election 2008 | Permalink
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Comments
Huckabee is really really bad. Perhaps he'd balance a budget and be slightly reasonable on financial issues, but on everything else he's way way way off to the right. I'm alright with occasionally reminiscing about soft spots for Newt Gingrich, but Huckabee is much worse.
Posted by: Zoidberg | Aug 7, 2005 1:33:53 PM
He's the one who made a big whoopty do about his "covenant marriage", right?
Posted by: Norah | Aug 7, 2005 2:06:08 PM
No, sorry.
What else you got?
Posted by: Waveflux | Aug 7, 2005 2:34:09 PM
Yeah, he did make a big whoopty about his covenant marriage.
Huckabee has actually increased health care spending by a significant amount during his term as governor. With a Huckabee administration, there would then be bipartisan consensus that we need to spend more money on education (thanks to Bush) and health care (thanks to Huckabee).
I'm not in tune as much with what's going on in Arkansas, so perhaps he's hiding some of his nasty bits. But he seems like he's interested in governing, rather than just rewarding campaign contributers.
Posted by: Nick Beaudrot | Aug 7, 2005 3:04:17 PM
If the bar's fallen so low that Huckabee is now the standard for what makes a grownup Republican, this is a hideous portent that there are no potentially tolerable Republican presidents. Fiscal responsibility is important, but christ, not so important that we should throw out the baby and the bathwater to keep the washcloth intact.
Social issues may be a shell game for Republicans, but that doesn't mean they don't have actual consequences. The only social issue the GOP has to keep "losing" on is abortion, and that's only on the rather narrow point of keeping Roe v Wade alive; the last few years have demonstrated they can beat up on gays as much as they want, hack away at abortion rights, and suffer no real political backlash. This is a serious problem, and Democrats really need to actually start taking it seriously, instead of just denouncing video games and puffing up their god-talk as a way of offsetting right-wingers.
Posted by: Iron Lungfish | Aug 7, 2005 3:41:59 PM
Iron Lungfish: last I checked, don't ask-don't tell was still the law, the gay-bashing amendment didn't pass, Texas -- Texas! -- had an attempt to ban gay adoption and foster care fail in the state Legislature (or rather, it was stripped out of the final bill). A lot of gay-bashing is going on to make gay marriage extra-doubleplusillegal, but it's all happening at the state level. It would be nice for some Democratic politicans to stand up against this crap and talk about the moral issues of equality and tolerance.
I thoroughly agree with you that on various choice-related issues such as birth control, safe-sex education, and restricting abortion access, the GOP is doing some damage. On non-abortion "choice" issues, the state & local governments as well as non-profits can fill the gap. Restricting abortion access is another ball fo wax, and something where the GOP is doing real damage. But if you ask me, even this damage is small in comparison to the amount of damage done by the Bush Medicare bill in comparison to its Democratic alternatives.
Posted by: Nick Beaudrot | Aug 7, 2005 3:54:22 PM
You are quite correct in your analysis of Huckabee as one who will carry the party water when partisian campaigning is required, and then get back to the business of governing. Some of your commentors credit him with being farther to the right overall than he really is, however. The facts are that Mike Huckabee is criticized by many in his own party for being too moderate. He is pro-life and a strong advocate of the institution of marriage. However he is far more moderate on other issues, such as immigration and fiscal issues when it comes to spending on education and health care. He is a true compassionate conservative who has shown the willingness to to differ with Bush on Medicaid cuts, for example. He also has shown an ability to build relationships and work with members of the Democratic party. In addition Huckabee will go down in history, undisputedly, as the most effective and successful governor in Arkansas' history. He has accomplished far more in the areas of economic development, education, infrastructure, and health improvement than Bill Clinton, and is, in fact, in a far superior position to Clinton's at the time he launched his presidential run. Finally, it may be hard to believe that anyone can match Clinton's legendary charm and political savvy -- much less someone from the same tiny town in Arkansas -- but Huckabee does. Trust me on that one.
Posted by: BSR | Aug 7, 2005 10:54:12 PM
So he knows how to govern, he has a sane sense of economics, and he is an absolute social reactionary. If I weren't gay, I'd be pretty happy about that.
In seriousness, it probably wouldn't hurt us to run against this guy. Voters understand social issues, they know how to choose between the parties on them, and they know how to evaluate the rhetoric of individual candidates. If the sharpest point of contrast between our nominee and theirs is that theirs is a social radical, we'll do fine. Far more dangerous are the fiscal and economic issues. American voters don't understand them, don't know how to vote on them, don't know what they're voting for. Americans never endorsed trickle-down or privatization or any of the awful economic legislation the Rs have perpetrated; they voted for Reagan and W because they seemed friendly. Attractive Republicans who enact awful economic legislation are MUCH more dangerous than attractive Republicans who advocate awful social legislation, because there's no good way to win an argument about economics. The R candidate just smiles, and spends his corporate millions, and the press winks, and that's the end of it.
It would be refreshing to not have to play defense on economics. We've never figured out how to do it, and I doubt we'll figure it out in the next three years. Of course, if we ever did, we could defeat every Republican currently holding office. But we won't, and so it would be nice to know that if the Republican did mangage to beat us, he wouldn't bankrupt the damn country and erode the middle class.
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