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.