Huckabee Insults the Base, Again

Apparently, if you want to stop illegal immigration more than Huckabee, which isn't difficult, you're a lunatic. Here's the link.

Huckabee's Ethics Problems

Here's the link to the Politico story.

It barely scratches the surface.

Mike Huckabee Admits He's Bad on Illegal Immigration Issue

I've been telling you about this for a long time. I've pointed out that Huckabee has decided that he just can't keep up with all the lies he's been telling about his record so he decided to brag about it. That's right, folks. Mike Huckabee has been bragging about being for illegal immigration. He's now admitting that he's going to lose votes because he's proud that he ran Arkansas as a Sanctuary State. He's more interested in spending our money than he is in winning the Republican nomination. I hope that works out for him. I'd love to see him lose it because he is so blatantly pro-illegal alien.

Let's be clear about this, though. Mike Huckabee has already proven that he's not above lying to cover up his record. He's only embracing this because he knows he can't get away with lying about it.

Here's the link.

Treacherous John Murtha Forced to Admit That We Are Winning

This one is for my friends, and others, who still refuse to see our overwhelming success in Iraq.

Murtha has been aiding and abetting the enemy since we went to war and should be tried for treason. There are many others who have been rooting for our defeat, some right here in Arkansas.

Now even Murtha has been forced to amit what a fool he is, though not in so many words. We are winning in Iraq.

We will not forget that the democrat party has been demanding our surrender and defeat for the last four years. They have no right to claim any part of the credit for the success in Iraq. They have been cowardly and unpatriotic and owe our troops and the American people an apology and a stack of resignations.

Keep your eye on this, though. They will spend the next year trying to claim some credit for America's success in Iraq. They had nothing to do with it. It is entirely in spite of their sabotage. I doubt you'll see this at the ArkTimes blog. Max is neck deep in the pro-defeat camp.

Here's the link.

Chuck Facts---Arkansas Journal Style

I came across this the other day. It looks like my video has really been making the rounds. Thank you to shared voice for making this video.

Mexican Consulate in Little Rock---You Can Thank Huck for That

You won't here Huckabee bragging about this too much, but I have to give him credit, since he was the driving force behind bringing a Mexican Consulate to Little Rock.Mike Huckabee violated state law by renting a state facility to the Mexican for $1.

What's the Mexican Consulate been up to? Giving out nearly 200 IDs to illegal aliens per day.

Here's the link.

Also, here's a link to a superb video documenting Huckabee's exploits bringing the Mexican Consulate to Little Rock.

YouTube Debate: Huckabee Brags about Wanting to Give College Scholarships to Illegal Aliens

I brought you this story earlier. It looks like Huckabee's learned his lesson about lying to cover up his record. His new tack is to embrace his liberal record. Last night in the YouTube debate he said that he was proud that he wanted to spend our money to send illegal aliens to college. He then gave a very tortured explanation of how it was supposedly conservative to spend our money on illegal aliens.

The fact is that is one of the reasons Arkansas is a Sanctuary State. In his State of the State Address, which I brought you earlier, Huckabee says that we should have open doors to illegal aliens and give them opportunities.

He opposed 287(g) being enforced because he claimed that we didn't have the money to spend on law enforcement, the one legitimate use of state money.

He also lied, again, when he said that he would require the illegal alien to have been in Arkansas schools all their life and be applying for citizenship. The bill never said anything about that.

The fact is that Mike Huckabee is a big government, nanny-state, liberal "Republican". He did it again in his speech, by insinuation, but he used to be much more overt in accusing those of us, the majority of Arkansans, who oppose giving our tax dollars to illegal aliens racists, bigots, and bad-Christians.

Arkansas Legislator on Mancow Radio Show about Huckabee

State Representative Jon Woods, R-Springdale was a guest on the Mancow radio show on XM radio this morning. I was unable to hear it, but I was told that Mr. Woods talked about how Huckabee strong-armed Republican legislators to vote for his pro-illegal alien bills.

Here's a link to the show.

Response to Dick Morris---The Guy Who Brought Us Bill Clinton---Now He Supports Mike Huckabee

Dick Morris, the man who wrote an entire book about why Condi Rice would be the next president...seriously, is now going to bat for the Huckster. He wasn't above glossing over Clinton's flaws and he doesn't seem to mind doing the same for Mike Huckabee.

I will admit that I often find Dick Morris' political analysis to be instructive and sometimes spot on, but claiming that Mike Huckabee is a fiscal conservative is a joke.

I guess Dick Morris, a political strategist, not a policy analyst, knows more than the Cato Institute, which gave Huckabee a D- for his fiscal policy. Morris is also outclassed by the folks at the Club for Growth, which is a group made up of real fiscal conservatives. Club for Growth has done a remarkable amount of research into the Huckster's record. That research, much of which I've posted, hasn't been pretty for Huckabee.

Huckabee's Lies

One question, that Morris conveniently ignored, is why did Huckabee resort to lying about at least two major parts of his fiscal record if he doesn't have anything to hide?

One of Huckabee's lies was his claim that 80% of Arkansans voted for the 1999 gasoline tax. Club for Growth has thoroughly disproved that one. It's not as if they're keeping it a secret. Morris had access to that information, but he chose to ignore it.

The other lie was in response to my video of Huckabee begging the Arkansas Legislature for a tax increase, any tax increase. I busted Huckabee lying about that on Fox News two days after my video was released, claiming that it was about an Arkansas Supreme Court mandate, when that tax increase didn't happen till at least 8 months later.

Huck's Critics: The People Who Know Him

The most galling thing of all about Morris' condescending column is his assertion that the people going after Huckabee's record have never been to Arkansas and don't know him. In fact that's exactly the opposite of the truth. I have lived in Arkansas all my life. Max Brantley and John Brummett have been here for the entirety of Mike Huckabee's career in politics, so have former State Representative Randy Minton and Betsy Hagan. Quin Hillyer used to write for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and John Fund has been keeping up with Arkansas politics since before Huckabee took office.

I challenge Dick Morris to disprove anything any of us has said about Mike Huckabee. The fact is that Mike Huckabee has almost NO support in Arkansas. Even after his typo-riddled letter to Republican legislators asking for support Huckabee was still only able to garner support from about 1/3 of the sitting and recent legislators. Several of those asked to be removed from the list.

Morris just isn't telling the truth. The people who aren't from Arkansas and don't know Mike Huckabee aren't the people who are criticizing him. They're the people defending him.

Dick Morris knows that's true. He's not stupid. It's a simple and demonstrable fact that Mike Huckabee's critics, myself included, know Huckabee far better than Morris and the other people defending him.

Fiscal Conservative?

I'll let Nachama Soloveichik, Communications Director for Club for Growth, dismantle Dick Morris' pitiful claim that Huckabee is a fiscal conservative. Here's a taste:

"Morris excuses the fact that the average Arkansas tax burden rose 47% under Hucakbee’s tenure by saying that other states raised taxes more. Even if we take Morris’ word on this, that is not a particularly comforting thought. There are many liberal governors out there, and I wouldn’t want them to be the Republican nominee for President either. It’s like saying Billy hit Sally twice, so it’s okay that Jimmy hit her only once."

Here's the link to her superb response. You'll also find the link to Morris' column in her piece.

Christmas Tree Taken Down Because of ONE Complaint

Missouri State University in Springfield took the tree down after one person complained. They have since found out what the rest of us think and are putting it back up.

It always boggles my mind how some people are more worried about offending a handful of people, but don't mind offending all the rest of us.

Here's the link.

Back, By Popular Demand: YouTube Debate, Appropriately, Featured My Video of Mike Huckabee Begging the Arkansas Legislature for a Tax Increase

Here's the now-world famous video. To quote Mike Huckabee, "you have nothing but my profound thanks" for airing my video.

Here's the video Fred Thompson's campaign produced. It was posted on the New York Times The Caucus blog, which posted some of the more interesting videos and did some interesting analysis.

Bill Clinton is a Whiney Baby and, As Usual, a Liar

Bill Clinton, for no good reason, is now claiming that he always opposed the War in Iraq.

"I still resent that I was not asked, or given the opportunity, to support those soldiers."

What is he talking about? Since when does a sitting president have a responsibility to "ask" his predecessor's blessing?

Saying that shows the childish and petty Bill Clinton many of us know. More so, it shows his remarkable arrogance and condescension. Did anyone in that crowd care about that? I doubt it. But he just had to throw a tantrum. He thinks everything he says is is so clever. He acts like he's doing those people a favor by letting them hear what he has to say.

All that is just tangential to the remarkable and obvious lie that he didn't support the war or that he opposed it, of which there is much evidence in to the contrary.

In response to that, I offer the following. Also the video above thoroughly dismisses his claim.

Update: The Real Mike Huckabee---Rush Limbaugh Weighing In---Also Makes Drudge Report via BreitBart.com

Andrew DeMillo with the AP has a great article about the difference between what Mike Huckabee says now and his actual record.

This one is well worth the read. It covers a lot of bases. Anyone who wants to know the real Mike Huckabee can see instance after instance of Mike Huckabee not just distancing himself from his record, but lying about it.

Here's the link.

Update: Rush Limbaugh is talking about this article right now. He just read it on the air. This is a good development because Rush just told all of his listeners that Mike Huckabee isn't the conservative he's pretending to be.

McDaniel Running for Governor...Now He Supports 2nd Amendment

Democrats have learned their lesson. The right to keep and bear arms is not something to be trifled with, unless you're trying to sue gun manufacturers.

Of course, McDaniel is counting on us forgetting. One could say that he's trying to do penance by joining Arkansas to an amicus brief supporting the individual right to keep and bear arms to the U.S. Supreme Court. If that was the case, he would come out with it and apologize for his role in suing law abiding gun manufacturers for liability for what criminals do with their product, as if their product was defective or they were pulling the trigger.

I don't buy the penance argument. Dustin McDaniel is going to run for governor in 2014 and everything he does between now and then will be geared toward that goal.

DeMillo has the story for the AP. Here's the link.

John Lyon has it for Arkansas News. Here's the link.

NRO Interview with Club for Growth's Pat Toomey

Some more good stuff about Huck. Here's the link.

Huckabee Wanted to Give In-State Tuition AND College Scholarships to Illegal Aliens

Here's the link to the Washington Post blog called The Trail.

NEWSFLASH: Exclusive Video of Mike Huckabee Calling for Scholarships and In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens

The following is from one of my favorite readers here at the Arkansas Journal.

---

Huckabee announces his desire to give scholarships to illegal aliens in his January 11, 2005 State of the State address. Huckabee doesn't say "illegal aliens". He uses the word "status". But a newspaper account makes clear his intentions, "Illegal aliens would be eligible for state taxpayer-funded college scholarships and in-state college tuition rates under a bill that was endorsed by a committee of the Arkansas House of Representatives on Tuesday. House Bill 1525 by Rep. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, is part of Gov. Mike Huckabee’s legislative package. It easily won favor in the House Education Committee, of which Elliott is chairman." (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 2/23/2005)

Rep. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, said she had already planned to file a bill granting instate status to the children of immigrants who live in Arkansas and have applied to state universities. "It’s nice to know we will have an ally in the governor’s office." (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 1/12/05)

Another newspaper account, "Gov. Mike Huckabee, who included the bill in his legislative package, drew a contrast between Wednesday's vote in support of illegal immigrants and the state's handling of the 1957 desegregation of Little Rock's Central High School. "They took a stand that Arkansas can be proud of,"Huckabee said in describing the House. "I think if we had taken a similar one in 1957, it would have made us proud for a long, long time." " (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 2/24/2005)

---

Huckabee was insinuating that not giving taxpayer funded benefits to illegal aliens was akin to stopping the Little Rock Nine from attending Central High. Therefore, we're all racists if we don't think that we should have to give illegal aliens college scholarships, saying nothing of the U.S. citizens who would lose out on that same opportunity.

Huckabee calling those of us in Arkansas who opposed illegal immigration racists was par for the course. He went so far as to suggest that a Republican legislator wasn't a good Christian for proposing a bill to prohibit spending taxpayer money to give illegal aliens benefits, saying that he drank a different kind of "Jesus juice".

Huckabee ran Arkansas as a sanctuary state. "Do we want to change the future for these kids? Then let’s give them the opportunity. Let’s not say that our doors are open but our opportunities are closed," Huckabee said in his address.

Rep. Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith, said citizens’ children should come first in college scholarship eligibility. "What kind of message are we sending to the people south of the border, you know?" Altes said. "Are we saying, ‘Yeah, come on,’ or are we saying, ‘No. There’s still a border there.’" (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 1/12/05)

There is much more to come on Huckabee's Sanctuary State in the coming weeks. I've said before that each of these posts is another nail in Huckabee's political coffin. I've got a whole box of nails.

Here's the link to the full text of the January 11, 2005 speech.

Here's are the links to the newspaper articles: 1, 2, and 3.

Here's a link to the progress the bill made and a link the original bill.

How Now, Green Al? Global Temperatures Continue 9 Year Decline to 1983 Level

As Al Gore was being honored by President Bush at the White House, yesterday, a story from the UK Telegraph was circulating around the internet that average global temperatures have fallen steadily since 1998 to the lowest level since 1983.

As I said on Sunday, global warming kooks will find a way to demonstrate that this global cooling is actually just proof of global warming.

Here's the story.

No Tears

Fox News just had a great story about a father wrote a song to help him deal with his grief after his son was killed in Iraq. Sgt. Brandon Wallace was killed by a road side bomb while serving in Fallujah.

Rick's song, No Tears, has been an inspiration to people around the country and I highly recommend it.

Here's the link to the website, http://www.rickandlisawallace.com/

Thompson's Pro-Life Position

Fred's is far more realistic than Huck's position, which is an all or nothing position, requiring a 2/3s majority in both Houses of Congress (a minimum of 357 votes-67 in the senate, impossible, and 290 in the house, also impossible, and 3/4s of the state legislatures (37 states, also very impossible).

But, hey, Huck doesn't really think he'll accomplish that any more than passing the Fair Tax. He's just shilling for votes.

Here's the link.

Houston Goes to Ole Miss

Again, ESPN has the story. Here's the link.

Houston is reportedly being paid $1.9 million a year for five years, which begs the question why are we forgiving his $500,000 penalty for leaving and, I think, trying to pay him the rest of his contract? He resigned, right?

So, who's it gonna be to replace him? I've heard such crazy names as former Razorback great/Cowboy coach/NFL commentator Jimmie Johnson. More seriously, I've heard Mike Leach from Texas Tech, Bo Pelini from LSU, and recently Will Muschamp, Auburn's D-Co.

I've also heard talk that Gus Malzahn will be invited back to be our O-Co, again.

From ESPN: Houston Nutt is Gone

Watching press conference. Houston has announced his resignation.

Possible destinations...Georgia Tech, Nebraska, SMU, and Ole Miss.

Possible replacements...LSU Defensive Coordinator Bo Pelini, who is being eyed by Nebraska, and Texas Tech's Mike Leach. Better still...Gus Malzahn.

Here's the link to the ESPN story. Expect a press conference tonight at 6:30.

Milk Board Considering Ways to Keep State's Small Dairy Farms Afloat---Here's a Thought...Stop Subsidizing Ethanol

Rob Moritz has this story for Arkansas News discussing how the state can keep small dairy farms in business.

I have an idea. Why not stop subsidizing the people who grow their feed?

The state and federal government are driving up the price of corn and other crops used for feed, but I doubt they'll consider that they made this worse than it would otherwise would have been. Playing with dairy prices is only going to make things even worse.
Of course, they're not worried about how all of this hurts consumers like you and me. The cost of meat and dairy is more expensive for all of us because the government can't keep its hands off the free market.
Here's the link.

Bailout Subprime? Bad Idea

I came across this website from the Citizens for Economic Responsibility. It has some good resources on the importance of people and mortgage companies taking responsibility for risky borrowing and lending.

Here's the link.

Licenses for Illegal Aliens=Votes for Democrats by People Who Aren't Citizens

So what's the big deal? Well there are lots of big deals. It's a gross assault on our sovereignty, for one. For democrats, it's huge push for new voters. Federal motor voter laws make it so that people with driver's licenses can register to vote. Why not? They don't even require a driver's license to vote in Arkansas.

77% of American Oppose Licenses for Illegals

Here's the link.

Hillary for it.

Here's the link.

Huckabee was for it.

Here's the link.

Thoughts on Global Warming

I was having lunch with friends recently when the subject of the weather came up. My friend commented that it was good that we were getting some rain and mentioned the drought out East (Georgia, etc...). His wife interjected those two dreadful words that always seem to come up when something different happens with the weather---dum dum duuuummmm---GLOBAL WARMING!!!

I should have known better because earlier I had recounted a story another friend tells of how he celebrates "Earth Day" by driving his SUV into a pristine wilderness, revving his engine, and shooting down a tree with his shotgun, which I've always thought was hilarious. She didn't laugh. In fact, I would describe her as nonplussed that anyone would find that amusing. But I digress.

Jump back to the point in our discussion when she dropped the GW-bomb. Intimating that a drought, or any weather event or pattern, is caused by man-made global warming is, to me, an effete, knee-jerk response. When I asked her if she was familiar with the Dust Bowl she seemed disinterested. I attempted to explain that during the 1930s much of the Midwest was literally turned to dust by a combination of poor soil conservation and, worse, almost no rain for several years. Being a good liberal, I assumed she had read The Grapes of Wrath.

My point was, of course, that weather changes and cycles. The poor soil conservation of the Dust Bowl isn't something that the current drought in the Southeast has in common with that period. What they do have in common is a severe lack of rain. Her obvious reason for not wanting to compare the two periods is that a lack of rain in the 1930s can't easily be blamed on supposedly man-made global warming.

Driving home the other night I was considering how cold it was. The cold-snap on the eve of Thanksgiving reminded me of many in years past, but it reminded me more of the remarkable practice my friend's wife has adopted, as have so many others, of blaming every weather occurrence on GLOBAL WARMING.

After Hurricane Katrina we were told by Al Gore that we were in for more and more strong hurricanes seasons. As if on cue, the next two hurricane seasons were veritable doldrums, leading some global warming prophets to restrain the urge to make such near-term prognostications.

The vast majority of these wizened witch doctors cannot resist the urge to proclaim with stereotypical smugness that every weather fluctuation is irrefutable proof of global warming, as they whir around town in their metallic blue, hybrid status symbols with their noses pointed to the sky.

They illustrate the foolishness of their false philosophy with each trailing statement of certainty. I often find myself saying or thinking 'well, hasn't this or that weather event or pattern happened a lot in the course of history?' I suggested as much to my friend's wife, bringing up the concept of geologic time, that is, events in the scope of the Earth's age. She, of course, believes that the earth is millions or billions of years old, whereas I believe it's more like thousands of years. But either amount of time illustrates the concept, hers more so. The concept of the vastness of the Earth's age truly dwarfs our existence and the history of our short punctuations on that timeline.

Once you begin to view the totality of that timeline, considering the many disparate climatic periods, perspective and relativity begin to smack you in the face, knocking you off the pedestal of superiority to which 21st century man is accustomed. Consider this gem from Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth...we are at a 500 year high in average temperature. That profound statement of fact begs the question, what were we doing 500 years ago to cause global warming? It also reminds me of another much-neglected fact, that carbon in ice-core records always lags temperature by about 600 years, meaning that it isn't a driver of temperature, but a result of it.

Consider the following, when the temperature is high substances in aerosol form tend to maintain a place in the atmosphere more easily than when the temperature is low, which causes the air to sink. It's basic physical science, of course, but you'd never know it if you listened to Al Gore tell this convenient untruth that ice-core records prove that carbon is a driver of temperature instead of the other way around.

Let's get back to prognostications, though. If global warming caused the current drought in the East, why hadn't any of the unanimous scientific community predicted it, specifically? Why is it that they always tell us after the fact, 'oh, by the way, this is because of global warming...'? Why don't they make specific predictions, a year, a month out? Why? The same reason why meteorologists said it was going to rain today and it didn't...because weather forecasting is often as much an art as a science the further out the date of prognostication.

All that said, why should we listen to people who cannot predict the weather next month or next year when they tell us what the climate will be like 10, 20, 50, 100 years from now? Why, when they told us 30 years ago that we were headed into an ice age? The answer is we shouldn't.

Consider the solutions to global warming...higher taxes, decreased development, higher regulations, vast wealth redistribution... Sound familiar? Those are the exact same goals that liberals had long before global warming and, strangely enough, the same solutions for the coming ice age which never happened. It's not that the average liberal doesn't firmly believe that we are destroying the planet. It's that they don't see that, however odd, their solution to economic inequality is the same as their solution to global warming and every other problem in the world. It's that they don't like being presented with the dilemma of historical perspective when blaming every variation in the weather on their current pet theory.

I doubt my friend's wife will consider anything I said when reason made a glancing blow on her worldview. I was glad to change the subject, as much for my friend's sake as my own. Talking about travel plans and movies to watch offered significantly less friction, so I took that path. I learned long ago the Bible's lesson about throwing pearls before certain types of people.

Fred at a South Carolina Gun Show: "A Beautiful Day in Paradise"

Fred Thompson, who holds a commanding lead in South Carolina, visited a gun show while on the trail there, showing his roots as average joe. FYI, every Republican nominee since who knows when has won South Carolina. Here's the link to the story.

BAD NEWS!!! Australian Prime Minister John Howard Loses Reelection

Freedom and security were dealt a severe blow this week with the electoral defeat of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a faithful friend and ally of the United States. Howard was a real conservative who stood shoulder to shoulder with us against international terrorism and, also, against radical environmentalism.

His successor has vowed to abandon us in our time of need and to join the failed Kyoto Treaty. God help our cousins in Australia.

You can bet there's roaring applause in the caves of al Qaeda, today.

Here are a few links on the story: 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Jonah Goldberg on Huck and Paul---This is Scary

Jonah Goldberg comes to the sad conclusion that Ron Paul has a better basis and foundation for fiscal conservatism than Mike Huckabee. He's right.

Here's the link.

Hogs Win Battle of the Boot!!! More Reason to Fire Nutt

For some people, the Hogs beating #1 LSU redeems Houston Nutt. The truth is, it highlights the fact that he should be fired, because it illustrates the fact that the Hogs are capable of beating every team they played this season. But having lost several close to teams who were nowhere near as good as LSU was the fault of poor coaching not a lack of talent. This game proves it. We took the field yesterday with the same team that played Alabama, Kentucky, Auburn, and Tennessee. Each of those losses was the fault of poor coaching. Houston needs to take responsibility for that. I'm sure he'd love to take responsibility for yesterday's win, but he was so eager to point out all the things that made the losses someone else's fault.

It's time for the Hogs to rebuild and that starts with a new coach.

Harry King has some thoughts for Arkansas News. Here's the link.

Excuses, Excuses...Huckabee Has All Kind of Excuses

There will always be excuses for taxes and spending. Rarely are programs proposed that aren't loaded up with all kinds of reasons to support them. Usually, it's because everybody wants it or it's for the children or it's because the person who should have been leading didn't have a choice.

Basically, if you're up against a democrat legislature (Reagan), it's okay to raise taxes and spending...

Huckabee Lying About His Record---RedState Blog Has the Story

Here's the link.

Where Are They Now Files: Rod Martin

From the where-are-they-now files, here's a blast from the past about another Arkansan who is mispresenting who he really is.

Rod Martin, who has been known to describe himself as Dr. Martin (he's a lawyer), has in the past told the tall tale that democrats in Arkansas were so scared of him that they recruited another candidate to run in the Republican primary, to avoid having incumbent Congressman Vic Snyder face him. The fact, however, is that he raised nearly $100,000 and spent most of it on food, rent, and almost anything else other than actually campaigning.

Here are a couple of links to stories about the machinations of Rod Martin: 1, 2.

Huckabee---On One Hand He Says He Was Up Against Democrats and On the Other He Always Seemed to Do What They Wanted

Cutting Spending?---Too Tough.

Huckabee's said repeatedly that cutting spending was unrealistic because of a democrat majority in the legislature. Reagan had a democrat controlled congress for most of his 2 terms. He didn't cave to them. He didn't make excuses. When he had to choose between us and government he always chose us. Huckabee did the opposite.

This leads me to another problem. Huckabee keeps bragging about balancing the budget. He didn't do that because he was so great at governing. He did it because he was required to by the state constitution.

There are 2 ways to balance a budget: raise taxes and cut spending. Huckabee always chose to raise taxes to balance the budget, doing so on the backs of the Arkansas taxpayers, because the government budget was always more important to the Huckster than the budgets of average Arkansans.

Clinton Machine?---He Kept Them On in His Administration.

When talking about his many ethics charges, though, Huckabee blames it on democrats going after him, which is odd since he did what they wanted almost all the time.

"Mr. Huckabee's reluctance to surround himself with conservatives was evident as governor, when he kept many agency heads appointed by Bill Clinton. Zac Wright, a spokesman for incoming Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, was asked this year why 15 Huckabee agency heads had been retained. Most of them were "Clinton people," he replied, not "Huckabee people."

Well, Huck, which is it?

Half of the time when you're twisting your record you say it's because democrats made you do things. The other half you say you were embattled by the Clinton Machine in Arkansas (which was actually in Washington, D.C. for much of the time).

Hillary Wins Support of French Ex-First Lady

How appropriate.

The wife of former French President Jacques Chirac has announced her support for Hillary Clinton's candidacy for president.

Here's the link.

PSC Approves Coal Fired Plant---More Energy Before Winter---Now That's Some Good News

Arkansas News has the story. Here's the link.

American Soldier Adopts Disabled Iraqi Child

Here's the link.

The Real Story of Thanksgiving...The Triumph of Biblical Free Enterprise and the Failure of Socialism, Again

"For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense...that was thought injustice."

That was from the diary of William Bradford the leader of the Pilgrim colony at Plymouth. Having witnessed the failure of socialism first-hand, Bradford divided the land and gave each person their own plot. Each family was responsible only for themselves. They no longer worked for a common lot. It was thus that "This had very good success," wrote Bradford, "for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been."

Where did they learn this? They learned it from the Bible. "But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." -II Corinthians 9:6

They set up trading posts and were able to pay off their debts early having become prosperous.

After that first harvest they invited the Indians with whom they traded to a feast to give thanks to God for his great blessings and abundance.

Here's the link to Rush Limbaugh's annual recounting of the true story of Thanksgiving. John Stossel also has the story. Here's the link.

NEWSFLASH---Mike Huckabee Supported Bill to Give Driver's Licenses to Illegal Aliens

During the 2001 regular session of the Arkansas Legislature, Mike Huckabee supported giving driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

How did he do that? Here are a few excerpts from 2001 articles about the legislation and Huckabee's support of it, as expressed by a spokesman, his liaison to the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

"In other action Tuesday, the House rejected a bill that would allow the issuance of Arkansas driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The vote on House Bill 2212 by Rep. Tracy Steele, D-North Little Rock, was 46-46, with 51 votes needed to pass the bill. HB2212, which remains available for House consideration, would amend Act 1099 of 1997, which enumerates various conditions under which a driver's license can't be issued by the state Office of Driver Services. HB2212 would delete the act's provision that bans the issuing of a license to someone 'who is making an initial application for an Arkansas driver's license and who is not lawfully within the United States" or to "any person who is not lawfully within the United States.' Steele and other proponents of HB2212 said Hispanics, both legally and illegally in the United States, have been discriminated against when attempting to obtain a driver's license on the basis of their skin color or accent. Because employees of the Office of Driver Services may lack the training or expertise to determine if an applicant is an illegal immigrant, Steele said that status shouldn't be a condition of obtaining a license." (Michael Wickline, "Senate OKs Plan To Raise Teacher Pay," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/14/01)

Mike Huckabee's Human Services Liaison expressed the governor's position, supporting the measure to repeal the law denying the issuance of drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. In 2001, there was discussion of HB 2212 in the state assembly to repeal a 1997 Arkansas law prohibiting issuance of driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Proponents said the bill was necessary because legal immigrants were getting harassed when they went to get drivers licenses. Huckabee's Human Services liaison defended the bill, saying the following:

"People shouldn't be harassed based on who they are or what they look like," said [Robert] Trevino, who also is Gov. Mike Huckabee's human services liaison. "We just don't want to be treated as second class. We don't have a problem with prohibiting illegal aliens from getting driver's licenses. We have a problem with hassling those who are here legitimately." (Michael Rowett, "Bill Aims To Help Immigrants Get Driver's Licenses," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/18/01)

When reached for comment this afternoon, former Arkansas State Representative Jeremy Hutchinson said, "the proponents of this bill kept telling us that their intent wasn't to give illegals driver's licenses but when we asked them to amend the bill to state that, they always refused. Finally after killing the bill on the floor twice, they amended the bill. I asked Bob Trevino if the Governor was for this bill and he said 'of course, he was."

When asked about the bill, former Arkansas State Representative Jake Files added, "I remember Bob Trevino working all the legislators hard on the merits of this bill in committees and around the Capitol. As Trevino was a member of the Governor's staff, it was apparent that the Governor was supportive of the bill or his staff members would not have been. We(legislators who voted against it) were concerned about the ramifications of the bill and the message that it sent promoting Arkansas as a "safe haven" for illegals."

The result of that, however, would have been to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens since Huckabee supposedly didn't want to offend legal immigrants.

Robert Trevino, as Gov. Huckabee's liaison to the Department of Human Services, was Huckabee's spokesman on this issue. It was his job to express Huckabee's position to the media and within the government. He did just that. Speaking on behalf of his boss, Mike Huckabee, he advocated changing the law to allow illegal aliens to get Arkansas driver's licenses so that legal immigrants wouldn't be "hassled".

Trevino, who was also the director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) at the time, also travelled to Mexico on behalf of Gov. Huckabee to finalize terms of an agreement to open a Mexican Consulate in Little Rock.

The final version of this bill removed this crucial portion, but that doesn't erase the fact that Mike Huckabee supported a bill to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens. I couldn't find any record of Huckabee or his administration repudiating Trevino or this policy position. They just accepted the reality that they couldn't pass it.

I will set up pages soon showing copies of HB 2212 and several of its amendments to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

In the meantime, I'm dying to see how Huckabee will explain this one. Expect a period of silence while they figure out their talking points to respond to it.

Thanksgiving...The World Should be Thankful for America---Mark Steyn

My favorite Englishman, Mark Steyn, has written a superb piece about the American tradition of Thanksgiving. His most poignant suggestion is that the rest of the world should be thankful for us.

Here's the link.

Fred Says No to Amnesty

Thanksgiving: Energy Prices Reach an All-Time High---Mike Beebe's Solution? Raise Taxes on Fuel Production---Thanks a Lot

I've been talking about this for quite some time.

Mike Beebe has an obsession with raising the severance tax on natural gas. Why? Well, no particular reason. Are we experiencing a budget shortfall? No.

Are we already experiencing high energy costs? Yes.

Economists are predicting that home heating prices will be higher than ever this winter. Gasoline prices are over $3/gallon.

What does Gov. Mike Beebe want to do to help? Raise the cost of fuel!!!

Thanks, Gov. You have a Happy Thanksgiving, too.

Here are some links to related stories. 1, 2, and 3.

Video Montage: Club for Growth on Huckabee

Here's more footage recounting Huck's tax and spend record as governor.

Notice how he blinks like crazy every time Club for Growth is mentioned. A body language expert would probably say that he's not very happy to have this subject mentioned.

Here's the link.

More Guns, Less Crime---On Campus

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is crusading for the freedom of self-defense on college campuses.

Keep up the good work.

Here's a link to their website.

Here's a link to today's AP story about their fine work.

2001: Huckabee Creates "Tax Me More Fund", Then He Actually Taxed Us More...

This is a real laugher from back in the day. I recall thinking this was very clever, then getting mad because he kept raising taxes on us. Here's the link to the story.

Where Are They Now Files: Kerry Vows to Disprove Swift Boat Claims---Go Right Ahead. What Are You Waiting For?

From the Where Are They Now Files: 3 years after losing his bid for the White House John F. Kerry has decided that now is a good time to prove the Swift Vets for Truth wrong...

I'm serious.

If they weren't telling the truth, it should've been pretty easy to demonstrate.

Why didn't he think of this earlier?

Here's the link.

Brummett Nightmare: Huckabee Winning Iowa Caucus

Here's the link.

The Problem with Diplomacy, Part Deux

Earlier I asked how democrats think diplomacy without the threat of military force will work with people with whom they have nothing in common when it doesn't work with other Americans of different political persuasions.

Here's a case in point. FoxNews has a story of a muslim TV talk show about how to beat your wife...seriously.

Here's the link to the story and here's the link to the video.

Club for Growth Challenges Huckabee to a Debate...I Bet He Won't Take It

The following is a press release I received from the Club for Growth. They are challenging Mike Huckabee to a public debate about his fiscal record, one replete with never-ending taxes and spending. Huck has called into question the claims of the Club for Growth, but he hasn't been able to disprove any of them. Instead, he's been parsing the issues, claiming the mantle of fiscal conservative while excusing his career of being a fiscal liberal.

Darnit, he just couldn't help it. He had to raise all those taxes and start all those entitlement spending programs. He didn't have a choice...I mean, you know he had a democrat majority, right? (Ahem, so did Reagan...But I digress.)

Their release is below.

---

For immediate release—November 19, 2007

Club for Growth Challenges Huckabee to Public Forum
Washington – In response to Huckabee’s interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace yesterday morning, the Club for Growth challenged Mike Huckabee to engage in a public forum on economic issues.

“Rather than explain his record, Huckabee has resorted to name-calling, which strikes us as rather unbecoming of a man who aspires to become the President of the United States,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “At the Club for Growth, we take our responsibility to educate the public very seriously, and all of our presidential white papers and press releases have been exhaustively researched and documented. If Governor Huckabee feels that the Club for Growth has unfairly represented his record, despite our thorough documentation, we would be happy to debate his economic record in a public forum. After all, the American people deserve to hear honest explanations, not ad hominem attacks.”

When Chris Wallace asked about his long list of tax hikes cited by the Club for Growth, Huckabee brushed them aside, arguing that he cut taxes 94 times and calling the Club for Growth “despicable.” But Huckabee refused to respond to the Club for Growth’s basic conclusion, as cited by Chris Wallace: “Huckabee’s substantial tax hikes far surpassed his modest tax cuts, with the average tax burden increasing by a whopping 47% over his tenure.”

Nor did Huckabee address the laundry list of tax hikes he supported and helped enact over his ten and a half years as governor. These include:

· Sales Tax, 1996: Huckabee campaigned on behalf of a constitutional amendment to raise the state sales tax (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 11/07/96)
· Gas and Diesel Fuel Taxes, 1999 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 04/02/99, 04/25/99)
· Sales Tax, 2000 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 09/25/02)
· Cigarette Tax, 2001 (Associated Press, 04/02/01)
· Nursing Home Bed Tax, 2001 (Associated Press, 06/25/01)
· Sales Tax, 2002: Huckabee proposed a sales tax hike, but it was rejected by his Legislature (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 11/15/02)
· Income Surcharge Tax, 2003 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 10/09/07)
· Tobacco Tax, 2003 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 10/09/07)
· Sales Tax, 2003: Rather than fight the largest tax increase in Arkansas history, Huckabee allowed the tax hike to become law without his signature (Associated Press, 02/06/04)
· Internet Taxes, 2004: Huckabee opposed a federal moratorium on taxing Internet access (Bond Buyer, 02/24/04)
· Beer Tax, 2006: Huckabee objected to letting the beer tax expire (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 11/17/06)

While Huckabee passed two modest tax cuts during his tenure, the rest of his so-called 94 tax cuts consisted of minor tweaks and cuts, such as exempting residential lawn care from the sales tax; reducing taxes on bets made at Southland Greyhound Park; and exempting Arkansas Symphony Orchestra purchases from the sales tax (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 10/09/07).

“While Huckabee deserves comedic points for his “Club for Greed” line, his attacks on the Club for Growth and economic conservatives in general raise important questions about his economic philosophy,” Mr. Toomey continued. “If Mike Huckabee disagrees with the fundamental principles of economic freedom and limited government as embodied by the Club for Growth and other economically conservative groups—i.e., lower taxes; lower spending; less government regulation; school choice; freer trade; tort reform; and market-based reform of our entitlement programs—why does he continue to call himself an ‘economic conservative,’ and what exactly does his version of ‘economic conservatism’ stand for?”

Superb Analysis of Huckabee's 80% from a Hotair.com Reader

The following is a superb piece of analysis of Huckabee's claimed 80% support for the tax hike he signed into law in 1999. Aside from the fact that he's been lying about that, claiming that 80% of us here in Arkansas voted for it, Dusty breaks down the incredibly small number of people who actually constitute that 80%.
---
Huck mislead people on his record? Nah.

Just to back up to his misleading gas tax bond vote spiel, Huck said he had the support of 80% of the people of Arkansas with that vote, because “80% of the people voted on it”.

That vote was taken a mere 2 and a half months after the April 1 signing of the fuel tax Act into law. On June 15 the referendum was taken and it was the only item being voted on. In a state of 2.67M, it garnered a total of 138,099 Arkansans participating in the vote, of which 109,680 (79%) voted for and 28,419 against.

For perspective, in the 2000 elections there were a total of 921,781 votes for president, so that Bond Issue vote represents 15% of 2000 voters and only 12% of those voting for the Bond vote.

BTW, up until the 1999 vote, one can see at the ARElections website that it had been at least back as far as 1992 that there had not been an odd year vote of any kind in Arkansas.

I don’t know the atmosphere of Arkansas politics was like during his tenure. I don’t know what the atmosphere was surrounding this Bond Issue vote. But let me tell you, I don’t like the smell of this type of government where quick votes are no big thing, doing them in the summer is okie dokie and voting participation levels equivalent to the probable number of government employees and less than 10% of registered voters is makes the governor think he’s got support for his policies and touts it as “80% of the people voted for it”.

If Huck is Pres I’ll be expecting lots of these quickie deals and votes much like that of the never quite dead POS Bill, and you should, too. I for one, don’t want to sleep with one eye open for four years.

Dusty on November 14, 2007 at 10:59 PM---HotAir.com

Great Interviews About the Huckster

There are 2 great interviews on the link about Huckabee's lies and liberalism.
Here's the link.

National Review Reviews the Huckster---Gets It Right

Here's the link.

"Conservative" Huckabee May Get Endorsement of Government Employees Union in New Hampshire

Of course, Huck will get the endorsement of a government employees union. He was they're biggest supporter in Arkansas.

Huckabee already has the endorsement of the Arkansas Department of Redundancy Department Union. Jimbo Hoffa, the local 409 president, couldn't be reached for comment, because he was attending a meeting to discuss future meetings.

As I've been pointed out before, Huckabee claims that 80% of "Arkansans" voted for a tax increase, when, in reality, he had already signed the tax into law. That being said, though, the actual 80% was of people who voted. The total number of people who voted was near to 14% of the total number of registered voters, making his 80% actually closer to 12% of registered voters and less than 4% of Arkansas citizens.

That number pretty well takes into account government workers in Arkansas, who voted in droves for the tax increase, as they always do.

Huckabee always chose government workers over the taxpayers of Arkansas. When there was a budget shortfall in state government, Huckabee chose to give the taxpayers of Arkansas a budget shortfall to solve it.

Here's the link to the story about Huckabee possibly getting the endorsement. John Edwards may have it stripped in order to give it to Huck.

UPDATE: Huck's Army Riding to Battle on Soviet Tanks---Ditch Soviet Tank After I Point it Out

New Huck's ArmyTank (left)a Sherman? Old Huck's Army Tank (right) a Soviet T-34

I'm glad to see the folks over at Huck's Army have decided to get some new tanks to go into battle. It was unseemly that they chose Joe Stalin's Main Battle Tank over good ole American machinery.

Here's the link to my original post.

Fred Corrects Huckabee's Lies

Here's the link.

Murtha Draws Army Veteran as Challenger

Here's the link.

Treaty Violates American Sovereignty

This is some information about the Lost the Sea Treaty (LOST Treaty) that I received in an email. This is really bad and we need to stop it.

---

Right now the Senate is trying to pass through a bill that would ratify the LOST treaty into our constitution. What does the LOST treaty do? Here are just a few things it would mean for our country.

1. The U.N. would control 70% of the world's surface.
2. The U.N. would be free to levy fees and impose taxes on us for using the seas.
3. Disputes related to sea issues would be settled by a U.N. appointed court.
4. Give the U.N. power to pass a global tax.
5. The U.S. would not be able to stop ships in the sea related to terrorist threats.

Please take the time to watch this clip and take action. E-mail or call you members of Congress. Send this to everyone you know. We can no longer sit back and take for granted that Congress is doing its job and protecting our country. It's like the world has been turned upside down. Please send this out to everyone on your e-mail list so people are aware of what is happening.

Here's the White House opinion phone number. Tell them to stop this awful violation of American sovereignty. (202) 456-1111

Here's the link to Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe's speech about it.

Here's a link to Oliver North's coverage of it for Fox.

Here's a link to Phyllis Schafly's in depth report on it.

Here's a link to video of Mrs. Schlafly speaking about it.

Arkansas Journal Hits Big Time---Meet the Press with Tim Russert and Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace Feature Video of Huck Begging for Tax Increase

By popular demand, here's the now-world famous video of Mike Huckabee begging the Arkansas Legislature for a tax increase, ANY tax increase.

This morning, the video was featured prominently on Meet the Press, with Tim Russert, and Fox News Sunday, with Chris Wallace.

Wallace had Huck as a guest and played a portion of it, asking him to explain himself. Huckabee had his story straight this time, admitting that it was not based on any supreme court mandate as he had lied about earlier this week.

Huckabee did his usual song and dance about taxes and other issues, parsing that it was somehow conservative to raise taxes. He also danced around his long list of ethical violations. Wallace didn't ask him about the 10s of thousands of dollars in gifts Huckabee has received from Jennings Osborne over the years, facts that are indisputable and that Osborne even brags about. More on that later.

UPDATE: Here's a flashback to a post on HotAir.com about Huckabee lying about my video.

Huckabee and the Fair Tax---Why Didn't He Do Anything About it as Governor?

This is a question that a friend suggested, recently.

When you look at his record you have to wonder why anybody takes him seriously.

I personally have some major problems with some of the ramifications of the Fair Tax, but, by and large, it's a serious attempt to reform the current, oppressive tax system, something which is the opposite of what Huckabee did as governor.

VIDEO: Huck on SCHIP

Huckabee tries to avoid it, but finally admits he wouldn't have vetoed the democrat SCHIP program.

Here's the link.

Fred Endorsed by National Right to Life---Sanders' Thoughts

Here's the link to his column.

Nah, nah, nah nah---hey, hey, hey---GOODBYE

The Hogs take to the field in a few minutes, with the pall of Houston Nutt's imminent departure hanging over War Memorial Stadium like a black storm cloud. The mood is electric, though. Fans are rejoicing as they snarf down hot dogs and BBQ. They seem to see the silver lining more clearly than the dark cloud.

The crowd is trickling into the stadium, now, leaving Hog-red, drunken revellers on the golf course to toast to the future of the Hogs, a future without Houston Dale Nutt.

Max has a pretty thorough discussion of the wherefores and whyfores of the whole affair. Here's the link.

VIDEO: Fred Thompson---Consistent Conservative in Dead Heat With Huck and Rudy in Iowa

Republican Iowa Caucus
Iowa: Romney 29% Huckabee 16% Giuliani 15%
Friday, November 16, 2007

Mitt Romney has extended his lead in the Iowa Republican Presidential Caucus for 2008 and three candidates are virtually tied for second place.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the race shows Romney with support from 29% of Likely Caucus Participants. Trailing the frontrunner by thirteen percentage points is Mike Huckabee who enjoys support from 16%. In a virtual tie for second with Huckabee are Rudy Giuliani at 15% and Fred Thompson at 14%. Further back are John McCain (6%), Ron Paul (4%), Tom Tancredo (4%), and Duncan Hunter (2%). Nine percent (9%) are undecided (see crosstabs).

Brummett on Brantley on Huckabee---The Circle is Complete...Well, Anyway, It's Worth Reading

Here's the link.

Democrat Congress a Do Nothing Disaster and SCHIP Ploy

He's got a point. How can we blame them? They've been so busy running over 100 investigations that went nowhere.

Here are the links: 1, 2, 3, and 4.

A Good Name???

Seriously, after all his lies, the top post on his blog, while all this was going on, was called "A Good Name".

Here's the link.

This one's even better. You'd think that someone was trying to play a joke. The first word that comes up after this video's title of "What We Need" is "Honesty"...

Seriously.

This couldn't be any funnier. If the Huckster's people are smart, they will get real quiet and hope this all goes away.

This could very easily be the final nail in Huckabee's campaign coffin. I've got news for them. I've got a whole box of nails. It's only going to get worse. Stay tuned.

Here's the link.

Around the Web: Who's Talking about My Huckabee Video and It's Aftermath?

The Atlantic Monthly blog by Marc Ambinder.

The American Spectator, which is a big deal to me, having been a dedicated reader for years.

The New York Times.

The Swamp blog at the Baltimore Sun.

The Concord Monitor in Concord, NH.

NewHampshireUnderground.com.

MemeOrandum.com.

ClubforGrowth.org.

TaxHikeMike.org, which is a favorite of mine.

TheLibertyPapers.org, which is a superb blog.

HotAir.com, who were gracious enough to link me twice: 1, 2. Thank you.

And many, many more...

Christian Candidate Mike Huckabee Caught Lying, Again---Batesline.com's In-Depth Analysis of Huck's '99 Tax Hike Lie

Huckabee was caught in another lie, recently, claiming that he didn't sign the gasoline tax in 1999. He's been claiming that the 80% of the people of Arkansas voted for it, when, in reality, we were voting on a bond issue that would complement the tax increase that Huckabee had already signed.

Batesline.com, a Tulsa, OK blog by a very thorough blogger named Michael Bates has the most thorough analysis of the actual legislation Huckabee signed. Here's the link.

Polar Ice Caps Shrinking---Global Warming?---Not According to NASA

NASA has just released a comprehensive study demonstrating that the polar ice caps aren't shrinking because of global warming and aren't part of a long term trend.

Fox has the story on the link.

Byron York on Huckabee

Huckabee isn't happy about the attention he's been getting lately, especially from the Arkansas Journal. So much so, that he lied about the video I posted of him begging for a tax hike. It's going to get worse, Mike.

Byron York has some interesting analysis on the Huckster.

Here's the link.

Huckabee Caught Lying---Carl Cameron on Fox News Has the Story

Huck's YouTube Moment Has Arrived---He Predicted It Wouldn't Happen---He Was Wrong

In another embarrassment for the Huckster, I have the transcript of him telling Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday that there wouldn't be any videos of him contradicting himself popping up on YoutTube.

"Nobody's going to find some YouTube moments of me saying something radically different than what I'm saying today."

Well, as you can see above, he's wrong. Below I have the link to him saying that to Chris Wallace. Enjoy.

Here's the link.

Thanks, Spunky.

Huckabee Lied about Video on Fox News this Morning---2003 Spending (Tax) Increase Was NOT Mandated by Supreme Court Decision---Was For General Revenue

EXCLUSIVE: Letter from Arkansas House Minority Leader Disproves Huckabee's Lie of Fox News

UPDATE: Huckabee's Campaign has just sent out a press release.

In his press release Huckabee points out that I'm anonymous. It's true that I am anonymous, but I'll tell you why. I'm scared to death of how Huckabee has treated friends of mine who crossed him or simply didn't do what he wanted. Huckabee doesn't forgive and forget. He gets mad and gets even.

He also claims that my video was taken out of context. It isn't. Read my entire blog. Feel free. He said he wanted to go on the record. Well, I put him on the record. He begged for a tax increase, any tax increase, and he got it. Today he lied about it on national television and tried to brush it aside by simply saying, "oh, yeah, I guess it wasn't about a Supreme Court mandate."

He lied for a reason. He knew what he was saying was wrong. He had plenty of time to think about this. My video has been out there for 2 days. He lied because he knew that what I've been saying is true.

Mike Huckabee IS a pro-life liberal.

I'd like to see how many of his supporters have the guts to do the right thing and leave his campaign. They have been fed a lie and wanted to believe it all. Mike Huckabee puts on a heck of a show. I know. I've been on the ground, in the trenches of Republican politics in Arkansas from the beginning. He's had me mesmerized on more than one occasion. But I've seen him get angry. I've seen him call tax and spending increases conservative.

But the reality is that Mike Huckabee is a liar. I have proven that. Club for Growth has proven that, when they demonstrated that he has been lying about not signing the gasoline tax into law in 1999. He said 80% of us in Arkansas voted for it. We didn't. He had already signed it into law. Here's the link to that.

His evangelicals supporters aren't going to support a known liar. I don't think the average American will put up with it either.

Here's the link to his press release. I noticed that he didn't post it on his blog. I guess he doesn't want to tell his supporters.

Here's the link to the video from FoxNews.com.

Here's the link to my original video of Huckabee begging for a tax increase.

Here's a link to a story from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette from 2003, which chronicles what his speech begging for a tax increase was actually about. It is reprinted by the Arkansas Times blog.

Below you will find a letter from House Minority Leader Johnny Key, Republican-Mountain Home, Arkansas, clearly demonstrating that Huckabee wasn't speaking in my video about a supreme court mandate.

FACT: The video of Huckabee begging for a tax increase is from May 5, 2003.

FACT: The special session to deal with the Arkansas Supreme Court mandate was held in December of 2003.

Mike Huckabee was asked about my video this morning on Fox News. When asked, he lied, claiming that the context of my video was a Supreme Court mandate. As you can see, if you read below, which I wrote yesterday, This is not the case. His campaign has been sending this lie out to operatives and supporters, though, because the truth is devastating.

Unfortunately, for Mike Huckabee, lying about it will be more devastating.

CORRECTION: The following is a letter from Republican Minority Leader Johnny Key that a reader forwarded to me in regard to claims that the context of the video of Huckabee demanding a tax increase was a Supreme Court mandate regarding the Lakeview Decision.

As you will see when you read this letter, I made a mistake. Huckabee defenders have been pushing this falsehood all over the internet since I released the video of Huckabee begging for any tax increase. My memory was faulty and I should have checked my facts before responding to their false claims.

It was not about a mandate. The tax increase was for general revenue. Despite efforts made by Republican legislators, Huckabee gleefully joined with the majority (Democrats) in raising taxes.

I apologize for my error.

The great irony, of which Rep. Key's letter reminds me, is that while Huckabee was giving this speech, he was also snubbing President Bush who was in Little Rock at that very moment giving a speech calling for tax cuts to spur the economy.

Thank you, Rep. Key, for so graciously correcting me. I have added emphasis to a few of his points, portions in brackets are my comments, and portions in parentheses belong to Rep. Key. Otherwise, this is the letter as I received it.

I'd like to point out that Rep. Key does not make any statements criticizing Governor Huckabee. He simply offers a very even-handed review of the circumstances surrounding Huckabee's now-infamous speech begging for a tax increase.

Here is his letter.
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Lamar [the reader who forwarded this to me],

Thank you for sending me this link. I remember it well, as I was in the chamber when the speech was made.

First let me state that it is not my intent to either disparage or defend Gov. Huckabee regarding this speech. I have said publicly and privately that I am not getting involved in the presidential primary at this time.

I am concerned that correct information is not being distributed in the blogosphere, so I wanted to give you some historical perspective in order to correct some of the comments that have been posted to arkjournal. You may forward this to the arkjournal folks if you wish, but I do request that it be kept in context. I am also forwarding it to Karen Ray and Dennis Milligan with the state GOP and Dr. Bill Smith with the ARRA.

This speech had nothing to do with the Lakeview case or education spending. The $100 million target was for general revenue. This speech occurred a few weeks after a group of Republicans and conservative Democrats (current Speaker Petrus among them) refused to extend the regular session over disputes on taxes, thus shutting down the session without a budget plan. A 2/3 vote was required to extend the session, which would have given House leadership time to round up the votes necessary to pass a tax increase. We maintained about 36-37 votes against extending, despite tremendous pressure and arm-twisting on the Democrats in our group.

When the special session started, House and Senate leadership had everything lined up to fly through, and they didn't have the burden of procedural votes to overcome. We ended up with a hodge-podge of tax increases that included the ridiculous income tax surcharge (HB1039). You can check the bill at the following link.

http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/2003s1/scripts/ablr/hvote/rcsnumvote.asp?rcsnum=4

Working with [then-] Minority Leader Marvin Parks, House Republicans offered an alternative plan that involved cutting spending and using so called one-time funds (General Improvement Fund) to balance the budget. We predicted (accurately) that the economy was turning around and that as a result state tax revenue would begin increasing, thus eliminating the need for tax increases. We were told by House and Senate leaders that we were being 'irresponsible' to use one-time money to fund ongoing budget needs, and our plan was not even given a fair hearing.

That is also when the raids on the Property Tax Relief Trust Fund started to supplement the general revenue budget. This was money that by law was being set aside from excess sales tax revenue to provide future tax relief. We could never keep the Ds from dipping into that money until the 2007 session. With Republicans chairing key committees like House Revenue and Tax Committee and Joint Budget Committee, we were finally able to use it for its intended purpose.

The education taxes and spending came later in a special session that began in 2003 and extended into 2004.

Ironically, the same day this speech was given, President Bush was a few blocks away giving a policy speech on the need for tax cuts and how they would boost the economy. He was right.

State Representative Johnny Key,
House Minority Leader

Huck (not) On the Cover of the Rolling Stone (at least he's inside it)

I'm pleased to see that Matt Taibbi's story about Huckabee has hit Rolling Stone Magazine. I corresponded with Mr. Taibbi for the story and I'm glad he was able to work in the line I gave him about one of Huck's kids joking that "there's not a Huckabee alive that can eat at Taco Bell for seven dollars."

Be warned, this language in this article is R-rated.

And Mr. Taibbi apparently doesn't think much of evangelicals. But it's worth reading. He covers, at length, Huckabee's habit of being so good at receiving gifts while governor. It also accurately describes Huckabee as akin to Blue Dog Democrats, which is a very good comparison for Arkansas's own RINO in chief.

Here's the link.

Huck's Army Riding to Battle on Soviet Tanks

An observant reader noticed something funny about the logo for HucksArmy.com, a meeting place for Huckabee supporters. The tank in their logo isn't an American tank. It's a Soviet T-34. I'm sure they'll want to fix that error. I have included a picture of a T-34 for you to compare.

It's kind of appropriate since Huckabee is a liberal and the Soviets were the ultimate liberals.

Over 120,000 Viewers---#2 Most Viewed of All Videos Today---# 1 Most Viewed News & Politics Video on YouTube

With a combined viewship of over 120,861 people, I'm proud to announce that my video of Mike Huckabee begging the Arkansas Legislature for a tax increase won 8 awards on YouTube, yesterday.

#2 - Most Viewed (Today)

#1 - Most Viewed (Today) - News & Politics

#28 - Most Viewed (This Week) - News & Politics

#20 - Top Rated (Today)

#3 - Top Rated (Today) - News & Politics

#35 - Top Rated (This Week) - News & Politics

#28 - Top Favorites (Today)

#2 - Top Favorites (Today) - News & Politics

#73 - Top Favorites (This Week) - News & Politics

Here are the links to the 2 different pages playing my video:

Mine, which had over 4,000 viewers, and the other, linked to by DrudgeReport.com, which had over 67,000 viewers.

Thank you, DrudgeReport.com . I visit every day for the best, most interesting news. I really appreciate the link.

If Hillary Can't Handle "Boys" Going After Her, How Does She Expect to Handle Terrorists?

"Those boys have been getting tough on her lately." So said Bill Clinton, recently, commenting on how unfairly he thinks she's been treated. This highlights the use of the Clinton campaign tactic of avoiding criticism by hiding Hillary behind being a woman. If anyone criticizes her, they're bullying a girl.

How can we expect her to protect us from terrorists if she hides behind her skirt every time someone criticizes her?

Here's the link to the AP story by Bruce Smith.

Huckabee Imitates John Edwards

Hollywood Writers' Strike Hits Home---24 Season 7 Postponed

This is where I draw the line. I didn't think this writers' strike in Hollywood would bother me until I read that it's going to keep Jack Bauer off the air longer!!! It's bad enough that I had to wait till January, but this is unacceptable.

Here's a link to the story.

UPDATE: EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Huckabee---Whatever Tax You Pass, "You Will Have Nothing But My Profound Thanks"

May 5, 2003-Governor Mike Huckabee addressed the Arkansas General Assembly, pleading with them to pass a tax, any tax. He ticked off a list of various taxes that he would find acceptable, a tax on tobacco, a surcharge on the income tax, a sales tax... "I will very happily sign that," he proclaimed.

Jump forward to the present day, Mike Huckabee running for the Republican presidential nomination has signed a no-tax pledge and jumped on the Fair Tax bandwagon.

You'd never know that as governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee's solution to every government spending "need" was higher taxes. He never suggested using funds we had from the tobacco settlement. He never suggested cutting wasteful spending. To him, most of the time, there was no such thing as wasteful spending. In fact, there wasn't enough spending. He pushed hard to make sure that the state would keep giving taxpayer funded benefits to illegal aliens and even advocated giving illegal aliens college scholarships. The list is goes on and on.

All of this is a far cry from the image of the Mr. Conservative that candidate Huckabee is trying to create. "I want to get it on the record," he said then. Well, he got his wish. I bet he wishes it wasn't on the record, now.

UPDATE: I have been receiving some comments claiming that Huckabee did cut spending and/or that he couldn't cut it any more.

Here's a little tidbit of info you should consider. For FY03 (2003) Arkansas state budget, expenditures were $12,943,812,838. That's nearly $13 BILLION, with a B! Huckabee was only trying to raise $100,000,000 for his spending need, meaning that he only had to cut .77 % of the state budget to meet that need.

I've also seen that Huckabee supporters are claiming that Arkansas wanted him to increase taxes. That's simply not true. It highlights the fact that he LIED about the '99 tax increase that he's claiming that 80% of the people of Arkansas voted for. We didn' t vote on a tax. We voted on a BOND ISSUE. Huckabee signed the tax into law himself, which he has repeatedly lied about.

This video is exclusively available as a service from the Arkansas Journal, Arkansas's #1 Conservative Blog.

Back By Popular Demand---Huckabee Caught Lying

I posted this on the day of its release, November 8. Here it is again.

For all of you Huckabee kool aid drinkers out there. Mike Huckabee has been lying about the '99 gasoline tax.

More Bad News for Huckabee---National Right to Life to Endorse Fred Thompson

Politico has the story.

Here's the link.

California Fires...Thanks Environmentalists

The irony of the fires ravaging California isn't that they were supposedly caused by global warming, which supposedly caused the drought, or that the fires will supposedly cause more global warming by belching more carbon into the atmosphere. No, the irony is that the fires were caused by the same thing that causes all massive fires out West---environmentalists.

How, you might ask?

Environmentalists destroy more forests than any logging company or developer could ever dream, leading to the biggest carbon generating events other than volcanoes on earth. They do this by prevent proper forest management. To save trees they turn forests into tender boxes by not allowing dead trees to be removed or managed thinning to occur.

This is one more truth you won't read at the Arkansas Times blog.

Oh, and Harry Reid has specifically blamed the fires on global warming. Here's the link.

Illegal Immigration: THE Biggest Domestic Political Issue in Decades and the Biggest Political Vulnerability for Democrats

I received this column from Politico from a friend recently. I have to say it's one of the most incisive pieces I've seen on the issue.

Like most issues, democrats are in a conundrum over illegal immigration. On one side they have their kooky base and on the other side the average American. When it comes to this issue, though, as this column explains, more people are more upset about this than just about any issue in my lifetime.
It's ironic, really. The democrats and media spent so much time hoisting themselves by their own petards trying to make the War on Terror into another Vietnam, while ignoring this issue and even pushing it in the wrong direction. Illegal immigration has become what the democrats wanted Iraq to be, with so much concerted effort, entirely spontaneously from the grassroots of America.

Read this column. It's a well-reasoned piece illustrating precisely what I've been saying about the issue, that it's the best issue Republicans have had in decades. It's time to act. Here's the link.

As I Was Saying: Beebe on Illegal Aliens

I said this last week in response to David Sanders' recent column. Governor Beebe couldn't wait to prove me right. He isn't going to do anything about illegal aliens, because, apparently, the state can't afford it. It can, however, afford to keep paying for benefits for them???

Here's the link to the Arkansas News Bureau article by John Lyon.

Sanders Nails It---Huckabee Doesn't Have Hardly Any Support in Arkansas

David Sanders' column today nails Huckabee for rushing to get his list of "supporters" out to do damage control for all the recent news reporting his actual record and his near total lack of support among Arkansas Republicans.

It was embarrassing enough that until 1 week ago he only had 3 supporters out of the over 30 current Republican legislators. And bragging about raising that number to only a little over 1/3 isn't smart either, especially considering that Fred Thompson's list of Tennessee legislators has 100% of them, but having to remove names from that list is downright humiliating.

Here's the link.

See the Thompson list below.

Veterans Day

Thank you.

The Mike Huckabee Story

Nothing like a little propaganda to balance out the facts. Here are 4 videos of Huckabee propaganda that are still very interesting to watch.

In one of the videos Huckabee says he ran for office because he thought politicians didn't know what it was like to live in the real world, to stand in line at the grocery store, to clip coupons to make ends meet.

I wonder if that's what he was thinking about when he received over $275,000 in gifts on year as governor. Or when he and his family were using the Governor's Mansion budget to buy chalupas from Taco Bell...

In video 4, his daughter cracked me up when she said that he's more interested in what he can do for other people than what they can do for him.

Here are the links: Part 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Where Have All the Hurricanes Gone?

I thought global warming was supposed to usher in the worst hurricane seasons in history...

What happened?

The truth is that global warming sheisters are going to say that whatever happens in the weather is caused by global warming. If global warming causes the worst hurricane seasons in history, it also prevents the worst hurricane seasons in history. I'm sure it's all just the calm before the storm, right? I mean, you saw The Day After Tomorrow, didn't you?

Here's the link to the study showing that we're having one of the slowest hurricane seasons on record.

Happy 232nd Birthday!

November 10, 1775, the Marine Corps was founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia. 232 glorious years later, the Corps represents the finest of America's fighting men.

Thank you and God bless you.

Here, you can follow the link to see General James T. Conway, current Commandant of the Marine Corps, give this year's Birthday Address.

Here, you can follow the link to read General John A. Lejeune, legendary Commandant of the Marine Corps, give the first Birthday Address.

VIDEO: Huck Claims 100 Legislators Who Would Defend Him...Right...Who Are They?

Here's a link to video of Huckabee bobbing and weaving around questions of his actions as governor. In one part he claims a handful of legislators is upset with him, but a hundred would defend him... These guys sure are quiet.

From a Reader: Common Sense on Illegal Aliens

Why doesn't the government get it when we do? They're out of touch. The column linked says it well. Here's the link.

Janet Huckabee on the Campaign Trail...Insults Own Son?

A reader sent me this and I wanted to throw it out to see what y'all thought. I've edited it because it was one big paragraph when I got it.

---

I thought you might be interested in this story about Janet Huckabee.

I wasn't aware that Janet wasn't already on the campaign trail, but it appears that she's starting this week. I guess she's gonna act as a surrogate for Mike, like other candidate's wives.

Her remarks yesterday to a Republican women's group in Washington caught my attention when she appeared to insult her son, John Mark. I have met John Mark many times and know a lot of people who know him well. He's a really nice guy. Unfortunately, I've heard a handful of stories of his parents treating him a little brusquely.

Here is what she said,

"You tune in a radio and every now and then you'll hit a frequency and think, 'Man, I wish I could get that' and you don't quite get it, but every now and then you get it? Well, John Mark is kind of like that."

I can't fathom why she would say anything like that in public, which is why I wanted to tell you about it. John Mark may not be Einstein, but who is? I've always found him to be a very capable person.

I know they must love him, but I keep going back to this, I really can't believe that she would say something like that in public. It wouldn't be good if reporters got some of the stories I've heard about their past treatment of him. He deserves better and whatever they want to say should be kept in the family. He's too nice a guy for that. He's smart enough to know that she just said he wasn't very smart IN PUBLIC, which hurts I'm sure.

I can't possibly believe that statement was a planned remark, because that wouldn't ever have passed a real speechwriter or editor, unless they were using the same guy who misspelled and typoed and butchered Huckabee's recent correspondence with Arkansas legislators and their list of supporters. Oh, I forgot-the Huckabee's don't need speechwriters.

I don't know if you're interested in this or not. I just couldn't believe it when I read it. If my mother ever said something like that about me or one of my siblings in public, it would tear me up.

---

Here's the link to the Arkansas News story by Aaron Sadler.

Coal Not Economical???

Coal is one of the cheapest sources of energy there is, but leave it to liberals to redefine economical.

Here's the link to the Arkansas News Bureau story.

Huckananny

I've long said that Mike Huckabee is a tax and spend liberal. His nanny state policies are nothing a real conservative would want anything to do with.

Here's a link to video of the Huckster saying that he'd expand his violation of property rights nationwide, if elected president. For those of you who aren't familiar with Huck's nanny state policies, one of the last things he did to push his "conservative" agenda before leaving office was to push a ban on smoking in private businesses in the state.

Democrats Love Raising Taxes

This one's gonna be a doozy.

Here's the link.

Back By Popular Demand: G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero?

I received this last night from a reader named Daniel Schroeder in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was so compelling that I had to publish it. He has given me permission to use his name since I don't want to take the credit and I think he deserves credit for this superb effort. I'm not sure how far this will go, but I can see people getting as upset about it as I am and Mr. Schroeder appears to be. At least we can let our voices be heard.

I've edited it a little for brevity, repetition, and formatting, adding emphasis here and there. The parts in quotes are from the article that was his source, which is cited at the end. Otherwise, it is as I received it.
---
Question: "How many able-bodied U.S. Marines does it
take to hold a hill against 2,000 armed and motivated attackers?"
Answer: 1.

The Real G.I. Joe

That Marine was 25 year old Platoon Sergeant Mitchell Paige, whose citation for his Medal of Honor reads as follows:

"When the enemy broke through the line directly in front of his position, P/Sgt. Paige, commanding a machine gun section with fearless determination, continued to direct the fire of his gunners until all his men were either killed or wounded. Alone, against the deadly hail of Japanese shells, he fought with his gun and when it was destroyed, took over another, moving from gun to gun, never ceasing his withering fire."

Paige, who later retired from his beloved Corps as a Colonel and is now deceased, was the only able-bodied Marine left in his platoon. He ran from machine gun to machine gun, firing each, leading the advancing Japanese to believe his position was still fully-defended. After that, he charged the rallying enemy soldiers with a 40 lb. , .30 caliber Browning machine gun in hand, bandoliers strung over his shoulders.

Years later, when the Hasbro Toy Co. asked Paige if he would be the model for a new toy to be called G.I. Joe, he had one stipulation---that Joe would always be a United States Marine.

The New "G.I. Joe"

In order to market a new movie based on the G.I. Joe character, Paramount Pictures has stated that they need to "eliminate Joe's connection to the U.S. military."

This, of course, means that Joe will no longer be a Marine. Based in Brussels, Belgium, the new "G.I. Joe" is to be a United Nations-type, blue helmet-wearing soldier of the world, because Hollywood finds the concept of an American military hero to be a hard sell to international movie-goers. I guess they don't care what Americans might think.

Call to Action: GO JOE!!!

We can do something about it, though. Paramount Pictures, which produced such military classics as The Sands of Iwo Jima and We Were Soldiers, is the studio making this disgusting new "G.I. Joe" movie. Hasbro Toy Co., of course, is the company which owns the G.I. Joe toy franchise and has licensed its use for this project.

We need to let light up their phones and flood their offices with letters letting them know that we won't stand for this disgrace.

G.I. Joe is a United States Marine and he bears the image of a Marine who earned the Medal of Honor fighting for our freedom, not the image of some U.N./commie puke. He's a red-blooded American and stands for something good and wholesome, regardless what some croissant-eating hippie in Europe or Hollywood thinks.

Here are the addresses and phone numbers of Brad Grey, the CEO of Paramount Pictures, and Al Verrecchia, the CEO of the Hasbro Toy Co.

Brad Grey,
CEO, Paramount Pictures
5555 Melrose Ave., Ste. 121
Hollywood, CA 90038-3197

(323) 956-5000

Al Verrecchia,
CEO, Hasbro Toy Co.
1027 Newport Avenue
Pawtucket, RI 02862-1059

(401) 431-8697

Action Steps

1. Send this to all of your friends and family.

2. Call and demand to speak to Mr. Grey and Mr. Verrecchia.

3. Write them.

Let them know that you're not going to take this insult to the honor of United States Marine Mitchell Paige, a Real American Hero, and every other Marine and member of our Armed Forces who have fought and died and are currently fighting and dying for our country, so that Hollywood liberals can make disgraceful trash like this.

Here's the link to my source article at the Las Vegas Review Journal by Vin Suprynowicz. The article has more details about the movie.

Here's the link to the IMDb page about the movie.

---

I hope you can publish this. I grew up with G.I. Joe being the Real American Hero and didn't know the story of who the real G.I. Joe was till tonight.

I came across the Review Journal article on Drudge, tonight, and got so hopping mad I had to do something about it. I've e-mailed it to some other media outlets, too. I think with email and other internet tools we can get enough people informed to stop this.

Sincerely,

Daniel W. Schroeder
Little Rock, AR

---

Originally Posted October 29, 2007

Contrast with Huck's List...Here's Fred's List...It's Pretty Much Every Current and Former Republican Elected Official from Tennessee

I've minimized the font size because this list is so huge.

November 7, 2007
Contact: -
Phone: -
For Immediate Release
Thompson Announces Tennessee Leadership Team
Distinguished Tennessee Republicans Working for Thompson Campaign
McLean, VA -Senator Fred Thompson announced his extensive Tennessee political leadership team today. Senator Howard Baker will serve as the honorary chairman of the Tennessee delegation, joined by 13 honorary co-chairs and 61 honorary state chairs, reflecting the depth of support for Senator Thompson in Tennessee. This leadership team includes two former United States Senate majority leaders, current and former members of Congress, former governors, and every Republican member of the Tennessee state legislature.
"I am grateful for the wide support I'm receiving from my home state of Tennessee," said Senator Fred Thompson. "This group of old friends, former colleagues, and distinguished Tennesseans will provide invaluable support for my bid for the presidency."
Sen. Howard H. Baker, a longtime political mentor of Sen. Thompson, brings a lifetime of distinguished public service as the honorary chairman of the Tennessee leadership team. His long career as a public servant began in 1966, when Baker became the first Republican popularly elected to the U.S. Senate from Tennessee. In addition to gaining national recognition as vice-chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973, Baker served two terms as Senate Minority Leader and concluded his Senate career in 1985 after two terms as Majority Leader.
There are 13 honorary co-chairs for the Tennessee leadership, an illustrious list of senators, governors, congressmen, and a lieutenant governor. They are Senators Lamar Alexander, Bob Corker, and Bill Frist; Congressmen Marsha Blackburn, David Davis, Jimmy Duncan, Zach Wamp, Van Hilleary, Bill Jenkins, and Ed Bryant, Governors Don Sundquist and Winfield Dunn, and Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey.
Senator Lamar Alexander , a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the third ranking Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and member of the Senate Rules Committee.
Senator Bob Corker , a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senate Armed Services Committee, and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Senator Bill Frist , the immediate past Senate Majority Leader.
Congressman Marsha Blackburn (TN-7), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Congressman David Davis (TN-1), a member of the House Small Business Committee, House Education and Labor Committee, House Homeland Security Committee, and the Republican House Policy Committee.
Congressman Jimmy Duncan (TN-2), the ranking member of the House committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Highways and Transit Subcommittee, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Congressman Zach Wamp (TN-3), the Ranking Member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee on Appropriations, as well as a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
Congressman Van Hilleary (TN-4), served in the United States Congress from 1995 to 2003.
Congressman Bill Jenkins (TN-1), served in the United States Congress from 1997 to 2007.
Congressman Ed Bryant (TN-7), served in the United States Congress from 1995 to 2003.
Governor Don Sundquist , served in the United States Congress from 1983-1995 prior to
serving as the Governor of Tennessee from 1995-2003.
Governor Winfield Dunn , served as Governor of Tennessee from 1971-1975.
Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey, the current Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee and Speaker of the Tennessee State Senate.
Additionally, Senator Thompson has the support of 61 honorary state chairs. They are a distinguished list of Tennessee state Senators and Representatives, including:
Senator Mae Beavers
Senator Diane Black
Senator Dewayne Bunch
Senator Tim Burchett
Senator Rusty Crowe
Senator Raymond Finney
Senator Jack Johnson
Senator Bill Ketron
Senator Randy McNally
Senator Mark Norris
Senator Steve Southerland
Senator Paul Stanley
Senator Jim Tracy
Senator Bo Watson
Senator Jamie Woodson
Rep. William Baird
Rep. Mike Bell
Rep. Harry Brooks
Rep. Kevin Brooks
Rep. Stacey Campfield
Rep. Glen Casada
Rep. Jim Cobb
Rep. Jim Coley
Rep. Chris Crider
Rep. Vince Dean
Rep. Bill Dunn
Rep. Tom DuBois
Rep. Jimmy Eldridge
Rep. Richard Floyd
Rep. Dale Ford
Rep. Dolores Gresham
Rep. Michael Harrison
Rep. Beth Harwell
Rep. David Hawk
Rep. Joey Hensley
Rep. Matthew Hill
Rep. Curtis Johnson
Rep. Phillip Johnson
Rep. Brian Kelsey
Rep. Ron Lollar
Rep. Jon Lundberg
Rep. Susan Lynn
Rep. Debra Maggart
Rep. Judd Matheny
Rep. Jimmy Matlock
Rep. Joe McCord
Rep. Gerald McCormick
Rep. Steve McDaniel
Rep. Steve McManus
Rep. Richard Montgomery
Rep. Jason Mumpower
Rep. Frank Niceley
Rep. Doug Overbey
Rep. Dennis Roach
Rep. Donna Rowland
Rep. Charles Sargent
Rep. Parkey Strader
Rep. Eric Swafford
Rep. Curry Todd
Rep. Eric Watson
Rep. Kent Williams

Democrats Abandoning War as Issue

Politico has the story. It makes sense, considering our boys are kicking butt, but we won't forget how fervently the democrats have sought our defeat.

Here's the link.

VIDEO: Huckabee Blames Liberal Record on "Nuances of State Government"

Here's Huck with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. Wallace plays a Club for Growth ad about Huckabee, asks some very simple questions, and gets some of the most ridiculous gobbledegook you've ever heard in response.

Huck, who's called the Club for Growth the "Club for Greed", also fell back on his "they're out to get me" response. One question is why a "conservative" would call a proven conservative group like Club for Growth that. So, is it greedy to want people to be able to keep what they earn and to want smaller government?

Here's the link.

Huckabee List Shrinks...What a Surprise

Kinda reminds me of how embarrassing it was when the ERA resolution lost all those sponsors.

The list was pitiful as it was but losing people is downright embarrassing.

I was told there were a number of upset legislators on the list, yesterday, but I didn't have time to write about it.

Max covered it pretty well, so check out his post. Here's the link.

Here's a link to the DemGaz story.

Arkansas Republican Assembly Endorses Fred Thompson

Story on the link.

No Severance Tax for Ethanol???

Nope, we subsidize ethanol. Now why would that be? Why don't we tax it? They're subsidizing it because the market doesn't want it yet. But they're not taxing (severance) it because they know it'll hurt production.

So why would they subsidize natural gas production? Because it doesn't need subsidies.

They punish the businesses that make money and subsidize the businesses that don't.

Here's the Arkansas News story.

Meanwhile, the governor is quibbling about where the money from the severance tax should go. Here's the link to the AP story.

Clinton School Speaker: Lotteries Regressive

I've said this a hundred times, but now a speaker at the Clinton School has made my point for me, pointing out that poor people buy lottery tickets, while middle and upper class kids end up receiving the benefit of the free college tuition promised.

Here's the link to the Arkansas News Bureau story by Rob Moritz.

Speaking of that, Attorney General McDaniel has approved the ballot initiative for the lottery. Here's the link from Arkansas News by Jason Wiest.

Sarkozy: "Long Live the United States of America"

French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave one of the most moving speeches I've heard in years, certainly the most inspiring speech given by a Frenchman.

You can watch it at C-SPAN.org .

I cannot begin to describe the pride I felt to be an American expressed by President Sarkozy. This is the kind of optimistic view of American greatness and exceptionalism that needs to be expressed by whomever will become the Republican nominee.

One more thing, I thought that President Bush was supposed to have destroyed our image in the world...

What's With All the Rush?

Satellite photos of the Syrian site bombed by Israel last month show that Syria has worked like gangbusters to clean up the site, leading to one question. What's with all the rush? They remind me of the cat who ate the canary. If they coughed, I bet a radioactive feather would pop out of their mouth.

Here's a link to the story.

VIDEO: Fund Talks Huckabee with Tucker Carlson

I've covered Fund's criticism of Mike Huckabee at length, but I have to say hearing him speak on the subject is even more enlightening than reading his column.

Here's the link.

Sanders' Latest Column: More Frank Assessment of Beebe

David Sanders' latest column corrects his earlier praise of Governor Beebe, who has since backpeddled on his comments about illegal aliens. The governor stated on his radio show that he was not going to use the 287 g program when he had previously said he would. The program allows local and state law enforcement to train as adjunct ICE agents to deal with illegal aliens.

As I said before, Beebe is triangulating on these issues. A year from now, or whenever, if he needs to look tough on illegals or the opposite, he has two sets statements to harken back to. He was trying to have it both ways with his statements at UCA, give lip service to the feelings of the average Arkansan, but not actually do anything about the issue.

The column is good, as usual, and I appreciate someone who is humble enough to make a correction. I guess David was just trying to give Beebe the benefit of the doubt. Just keep in mind that Beebe didn't get where he is by taking principled stands. He got here by wheeling and dealing. He's the best there is at it, in Arkansas. A leopard can't, and isn't going to, change his spots.

Also, Sanders' column covers Huckabee's fundraising, which is much improved, but still far behind front runner status. His numbers seem to be getting better, though, so the fundraising will probably be better next month. If they don't improve by next month, Huck may just be a flash in the pan. I'm interested to see if he can survive his record.

Here's the link to Sanders' column.

Bad News for Huck: Pat Robertson Endorses Rudy

Don't worry, Mike. I'm sure Robertson just drinks a different kind of Jesus Juice than you.

Robertson wields a lot of influence with evangelicals, which makes this a coup for Rudy and a bad thing for Huckabee.

Here's a link to the story.

Natural Gas Profits Drop---But Beebe Still Wants to Tax 'Em

Here's the link.

Boozman Cosponsors Illegal Alien Bill in House

Congressman John Boozman announced that he's cosponsoring legislation to enact tougher illegal immigration laws and close the border with Mexico.

This is great news. Way to go, Congressman.

Here's the link.

Huck Picks Up a Handful of Republican Legislators---Barely Breaks the 33% Mark---Party Chairman Breaks Protocol, Endorses Candidate in a Primary

After all the effort, an email, to recruit more support from current and former Republican legislators, Huckabee is up to 12 by Max's count. It's very telling that Huck was only able to pick up a little over a third of the sitting legislators. Having spoken to some who have flipped in Huck's favor, their recommendation was less than enthusiastic. Most stated to me that they just want to be team players and support their home-state boy. I would describe the attitude of several as begrudging. Max has a pretty good description on the link.

Andrew DeMillo has the story for the AP on the link.

John Lyon has it for Arkansas News on the link. His story discusses something anomalous that I wanted to touch on. Apparently, our party chairman, Dennis Milligan, has decided to endorse Huckabee. That's not the news. The news is that our party chairman endorsed a candidate in the primary. This is highly irregular and very inappropriate. Milligan claims that it doesn't represent the policy of the state party, but what is someone to think when they read that he did that. It is the job of the chairman to be unbiased and thus he should not endorse any candidate, former governor or otherwise.

Mr. Milligan should rescind his endorsement immediately.

Barack Won't Pledge Allegiance, Democrats Not Upset

The following is from an email being sent around. I checked it out and it appears to be trues.

Senator Barack Obama, Governor Bill Richardson, Senator Hillary Clinton and Ruth Harkin stand during the national anthem.Barack Hussein Obama's photo (that's his real name)......the article said he REFUSED TO NOT ONLY PUT HIS HAND ON HIS HEART DURING THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, BUT REFUSED TO SAY THE PLEDGE.....how in the heck can a man like this expect to be our next Commander-in-Chief????

I checked this out on Snopes....it's true...but, go to Snopes.com and look up....Obama and pledge.... you will see how left wing the Snopes.com website is....they make every excuse known to man for him and gloss over this incident like it's not important..it's not his fault (is that the liberal mantra or what)....but check out a conservative issue on this website and they condemn Mr. Obama as unAmerican.

Wonkette has the story. Here's the link.

William Jennings Huckabee? and Major Televangelist Predicts Huckabee's Anointing, Too

A reader sent me an email to this article which compares our former governor to another Southern populist of a century ago, William Jennings Bryan. The article is well worth the read.

Here's the link.

On a related note, Frank Lockwood, the DemGaz religion editor, has noted in his blog that televangelist Kenneth Copeland and his wife have made the maximum donations to Huckabee. Copeland is echoing statements by others that the Lord wants Huckabee to win. This is a BIG deal. Read the account on the link.

As Lockwood points out in other posts, Copeland is under investigation, along with other fat cat preachers, for his lavish ministry lifestyle. There are several posts about this on the link.

VIDEO: Fred on Huckabee's Liberal Record

Follow the link to some great comments by Fred Thompson laying into Huck's liberal record.

Here's a link to an article about the exchange between Huck and Fred.

Brummett Praises Huckabee, Sorta

The following is from Brummett's recent column about our former governor.

"Huckabee is snugly on the right on issues like guns and abortion and keeping down the gay people, but not when it comes to the role of government and the taxes to pay for it.
State government grew more during his time as governor than during Bill Clinton's. We approved massive debt for highways, invested the tobacco settlement in health and health education, raised taxes for schools to pay for court-ordered reform and started a health insurance program for kids."

Brummett mentions that Huck claims the support of every living Republican who held state-wide or federal office. Brummet points out the following, though, "he purposely didn't mention Republican state legislators, most of whom haven't any use for him."

Here's the link.

Huckabee: The Lord's Choice?

You need a subscription to the DemGaz online or a copy of yesterday's paper, but apparently a pastor in Texas is claiming that God revealed to him that Mike Huckabee will be President of the United States.

Here's an excerpt to whet your appetite:

"Huch, saying he believes he has a word from God for the Republican hopeful, quoted a Scripture passage from 1 Samuel that ends with the Lord declaring: 'Arise and anoint [David to lead the nation] for this is the one.'"

Here's the link.

Sheffield Nelson to Lead Ballot Initiative to Raise Severance Tax

There's no revenue "need". It's just money that isn't being taxed, so the government has to have it.

Here's the link to Brummett's column about it.

World War III???

So, what's so bad about Iran having nukes? I've read that question more than a few times on liberal blogs.

Aside from the remarkable naivete it illustrates, I guess these dunkoffs don't believe the terrifying statements made by the leader of Iran, all of which are readily documentable. Of course, they're more than happy to believe anything they can't document that is bad about our own president.

The thought of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with nuclear weapons is truly terrifying considering that he has said on many occasions that he intends to destroy Israel and the United States. His eschatological view of the world is based on his adherence to a highly radical strain of Shia Islam, which believes that some crazy Hidden or 12th Imam (read anti-Christ) will usher in the Apocalypse. Ahmadinejad is convinced that this will happen soon and that he can help expedite his return.

Joel Rosenberg offers some fascinating and terrifying glimpses into this looming danger. Here's a link to the post on his blog.

Great News for Benedict Nancy

Turkish troops are continuing to mount on Iraq's northern border.

Democrats in congress who backed off still have to pay the piper for their contribution to this sabotage.

Here's a link to the AP story.

Fred Still Looking Good

I came across this while surfing around, earlier. It has an interesting paragraph about how things are only going to get worse for Huckabee as conservatives get to know him. But it gives a pretty frank assessment of Fred's candidacy and concludes that he's a strong candidate, despite recent fumbles.

Here's the link.

Beebe's Divide and Conquer---Share the Loot

I've discussed this before. As I mentioned in my commentary on David Sanders' recent column, Governor Beebe isn't a moderate. He's a very calculating politician.

He chooses his positions very carefully. He's getting rave reviews from liberals in the state for proposing to raise the severance tax on natural gas and shale oil. But his risk profile is still very low because he's raising taxes on a very small group.

Now he's employing the second half of his brilliant strategy. He's Sharing the Loot. Basically it means that he's taking money away from a small group and sharing it with a much wider group. In this case it's the cities and counties. This is partially to address the claims by libs like Max that roads are being destroyed by drilling crews. But Beebe isn't proposing to put the money only in the areas affected. He wants to spread it around the whole state.

The reason he's doing this is obvious. He's just recruited two powerful allies to his cause. Now everyone can join him in looting this small group.

An important question is why we need to raise the tax at all. Recent reports have shown that revenues have gone up despite cutting the grocery tax, so what is the need for this tax increase? The need is that the government is like any racket. It gets a cut of everything.

Here's a link to the AP story.

Warren Buffet: I Should Pay More Taxes---Me: What's Stopping You?

Warren Buffet thinks it's unfair that he doesn't pay much in taxes. Of course, he's free to give the government as much money as he wants. But does he do that? Nope. He really wants the government to tax us more.

If only your boss had to pay more in taxes... What good would that do? None. It might make him lay you off, though.

For a guy who has made so much money, Buffett has a remarkable lack of understanding of how taxation effects the economy. The less the government takes away from anybody, the more there is in the free market, causing it to grow. The more the government takes from anybody, the less there is in the free market, causing it to slow or even shrink.

What Buffet is apparently unable to see is that he does more to help the economy grow in the private sector than the government could ever dream of doing. Him pulling billions of dollars from the free market (an asset) and giving it to the government (a liability) is only going to hurt his employees and the middle class people he says he's worried about. It's certainly not going to help them.

The government isn't run like Buffett runs his companies, by severely decreasing productivity. It eats money. His companies create money, by adding value and increasing productivity.

Here's the link to the article from the Guardian.

Wal-Mart Watch: More Stupidity from the Arkansas Times

Labeling it a tax "dodge" to use legal means to minimize their taxes, Max breathlessly repeats the drivel from a group called Wal-Mart Watch (WMW). WMW, for some reason, thinks that the government getting more of consumer's money is a good thing.

What Max and WMW are really mad about is that Wal-Mart would try to keep prices low. Although, I doubt they understand that.

I'd love to know if the Arkansas Times and its staff don't use legal means to reduce their tax liability. If they eschew it for Wal-Mart, then surely they eschew tax loopholes for themselves. So I challenge them to make their tax returns public, so that we can gaze at their socialist purity. They probably pay more than they owe because they know the government will do a better job with their money than they will.

Here's the link.

The Religion of Environmentalism

Barack Obama made the link between religion and environmentalism this week.

It's not surprising. For the Left environmentalism evokes the kind of fervor found at the average snake handling church.

I've long known that it, especially global warming, is the religion of the Left. Here's a link to Obama's comments.

Evangelicals Take Notice of Huckster's Record

Responding to recent national coverage of Mike Huckabee's record as governor, some cracks are beginning to show in his support from evangelicals.

I've often said that it's remarkable that people who don't know Mike are only interested in what he says on TV and not in what he did as governor for over 10 years. That's beginning to change, though.

Pastor Chuck Baldwin, writing for newswithviews.com, is drawing attention to Huckabee's duplicity, citing John Fund's article in OpinionJournal. It's worth looking at. Newswithviews is pretty respected in evangelical circles so this is a good sign that the image Huckabee has tried to create of himself as a pure-as-the-wind-driven-snow conservative is unraveling.

Here's the link.

More Holes in Algore's Movie than in the Bag of Powdered Doughnuts in His Pocket

After having 9 lies exposed by a British court, Al Gore went on the defensive, only to have 35 more lies exposed.

How stupid do these kooks think we are?

Newsbusters has the story and a link to the latest list of lies.

Schoolboard Changes---Keep an Eye on This

Something to put on your radar...

Apparently, the Arkansas School Board Association is going to propose changes to the laws the schoolboard laws in Arkansas to be taken up in the '09 legislative session.

Why does this matter?

Well, it may not. But any time somebody wants to tinker around with the way our schools operate it can be a back door for bad ideas. One way to tell if there's something wrong will be what the AEA does. The teacher's union was remarkably silent about the school consolidation legislation and it's because they like the idea of not having to deal with local yokels, like you and me, who complain too much.

I do agree with the need to remedy one part of Arkansas's school board laws and that's eliminating liability for school board members for budget shortfalls.

Here's a link to the AP story.

Huckabee at 8% in Arkansas? Poll Analysis

Mike Huckabee has been put on the defensive a lot lately by the national media who want to know why he doesn't have the support of Arkansans. That's a great question.

The recent poll released by the U of A show the Huckster at only 8% in Arkansas, tied with Rudy Giuliani, with Fred Thompson within the margin of error.

8 %??? Are you kidding me? If Mike Huckabee is such a great conservative and did so much for Arkansas, then why is it that the people who know him best are so sour on him? Why were we so eager to see him leave?

Here's the link to the poll results. Look forward to more analysis in the days to come.

Huckabee's Solution for Health Care System---Lower Medical Costs...Seriously

Here's a quote from the AP story about Huckabee's position on health care. Note this isn't a direct quote from Huckabee, but a paraphrase from the AP story.

"Huckabee, who has made his personal bout with diabetes a centerpiece of his campaign, said lowering medical costs would solve America's health care problems, not universal health care."

Right. How does the government lower medical costs? ArKids 1st? S-CHIP?

Here's a little secret most politicians don't seem to know. The cost of healthcare is as high as it is because, like education, almost nobody actually pays for it. If we had socialized tires or air travel, there would quickly be a shortage of the fanciest kinds of tires and 1st class seats and the price for both would skyrocket because of the articial increase in demand. The solution isn't more government intervention, but less. The solution is more people paying for their own care, not fewer. Competition is always a better regulator of prices than the government. Tax incentives for programs like HSAs and MSAs are the best solutions currently offered in the marketplace of ideas.

Here's the link.

Democrat Giveaway Extravaganza Continues

Recently, it was Hillary promising to give every baby $5,000. Then it was a free 401(k) for everyone.

This week, John "Daddy Warbucks" Edwards promised to give away free college for EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, that means your boss is going to fire you because he can't afford his taxes, but what do you care? You get to go to college for FREE!!!!!!!!!

Wah, wah, wah...

Oh yeah, what happened to democrats complaining about the budget being out of control???

The more important question, though, is why don't they care about creating a budget deficit in the private sector?

Here's the link.

Myths About the So-Called Jena 6

I've covered this before based on my own gathering of the facts, but I recently came across this from an assistant editor of the Jena Times, who has covered the events from the beginning. As I have said before, these events have been distorted to push the agenda of a now bankrupt Civil Rights Movement. Even the use of the term "Jena 6" is an insult to people who were victims of actual racism, as the so-called Jena 6 were perpetrators not victims of racism.

This special to the Christian Science Monitor by Craig Franklin documents just 12 of the myths created and perpetuated by the so-called Civil Rights Movement and its willing accomplices in the media.

Here's the link.

Brummett on "Immigration" and the Huckster

Here's the link to the immigration column and here's link to the Huckabee column, which is very interesting.

SCOOP: Huckabee's Plea for Help---NOW You Need Them...

MIKE HUCKABEE LETTER TO REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS!!!

I checked and this is the first place you'll see this. Mike Huckabee has decided that now is a good time to ask Republican legislators for their help. Too bad when they needed his help he wasn't there.

The truth is Mike Huckabee walked all over Republican legislators and average Republican committee members. His policy was that you're either with him or you're against him. The worst part is that the orthodoxy he demanded was for his liberal agenda. To illustrate my point, if he were still governor, he wouldn't be asking in a nice way. He would be threatening and scolding like he used to.

Phyllis Schlaffly is right. Mike Huckabee did leave this party in a shambles. Now he's bragging about how he built it? There is a reason why Huckabee only has the support of a few legislators. Read the other posts on this blog and you'll see why. And there's much more to come.

Huck complains that Betsy Hagan and Randy Minton are distorting the truth. It's remarkable that not one current legislator has "corrected" the record. The truth is that they told the truth. I think a reporter would do well to call Republican legislators and ask not only their response to this letter but their response to the supposed distortion of his record.

This desperation is the biggest joke I've seen in a long time. Huckabee's been getting heat about not having the support of Arkansas legislators. He doesn't have the support of the average Arkansas Republican, either, or the average Arkansan, for that matter.

The most remarkable number from the latest U 0f A poll is that Huck is only polling 8% in Arkansas. There's a reason for that, lots of them.

Here's the letter. Try not to laugh too much. For those of you who don't know Mike, personally, consider how odd it is that he has to ask for their support this late in the game. I'd be really surprised if he picked up more than a handful more to support him.

One last thing, Huckabee needs to fire his copy editor because this letter is full of typos and a few wrong words.

---

PLEASE READ LETTER BELOW FROM GOV. HUCKABEE

To: Arkansas Republican Legislators
From: Mike Huckabee
Date: October 31, 2007
Re: Your Support

Friends, I want to let you know that we are experience (sic) great success on every front for the campaign. The truth is that our success is surprising most everyone nationally but it is no surprise to you or me. As Republicans in Arkansas we have a long track record of taking on difficult task (sic), overcoming tremendous challenges and winning battles no one thought we could win. It is true that like any family we do not always see eye to eye on every issue but overall we have locked arms over and over again to fight for better government and to advance conservative causes in Arkansas (Note that he says "causes" plural. It is very telling that he actually doesn't see a singular conserative movement, but many "conservative causes".) . The truth is that we had great success together in cutting taxes, passing pro-life legislation, fighting for the family, improving education and highways and making government more efficient. I look back with tremendous pride on all we achieved in spite of being in the minority! Also, together we appointed Republicans to every board and commission for the first time in Arkansas history!

Some of my best memories are not just the ones at the Capitol in the battles we took on but are the days we spent together out in Arkansas. It was my privilege to give PAC monies to our candidates, write letters of support for them, host fundraisers and travel from town to town on their behalf. Whether it was a bus tour for Asa or a local dinner for a legislative candidate we worked hard together to get our team elected. I do not regret one moment of it (That's the problem). I cherish these memories of campaigning with many of you side by side.

Now I need your help. As you know our campaign is doing very well. The Iowa Caucus is just 64 days away and we are now in second place and climbing.Recent national polls place me in third place among the GOP candidates. As you can imagine this type of success has caused attacks against me and my record in Arkansas to begin. I need you to help me spread the truth about my tenor (sic-tenure?). In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal it was disappointing to read the criticisms of Randy Minton and Betsy Hagan, as I had campaigned to help elect Randy and have known and loved Betsy for such a long time (I'd love to hear from Betsy what she thought of their relationship.). They do not represent the vast majority of Republicans in our state as evidenced by those who have rallied to us since these broadsides were launched in the national press. They are certainly not the spokesperson (sic) for our party nor did they paint an accurate picture (What exactly was inaccurate about the picture, Mike?). I need you to help tell the story of all we did together to make Arkansas better and how hard I fought to help our team get elected and see our party grow (The party did grow for a while, but during the last few years it got smaller).

I am honored to have the endorsement of John Paul Hammerschmidt, Tim Hutchinson, Asa Hutchinson, John Boozman, Jay Dickey, and a long list of past and present GOP legislators. I am asking you today to help me. Please sign on today and join the "Arkansas Republican Leaders for Huckabee". We need every one of you on board. Chad Gallagher will be following up with you. You can join this team today by emailing him at mailto:atchad.gallagher@legacyincorporated.com

I will never forget all our hard work together to make Arkansas a better place and now together again we can take the next step to serve our country! Thanks in advance for your support and help.

With Gratitude,
MIKE HUCKABEE

(forwarded by)

Staci R. Cates
Director of Special Projects
Republican Party of Arkansas
501-372-7301 (O)
501-xxx-xxxx (C)
501-372-1656 (F)

---

Originally Posted: Wednesday, October 31, 2007-7:47 p.m.

Huckabee Groupies vs. the People Who Know Him

What's with all the people who don't know Huckabee defending him like they do?

There seem to be a lot of people who are more interested in what Huckabee says on TV than what he did when he was in power. They defend him like they've even met him and act like those of us who have known him for more than a decade don't have any way to know what we're talking about.

If you look at the blogs defending Huckabee on Lucas Roebuck's blog, almost none of them are by people who are from Arkansas. I know this seems like a strange complaint. The real problem is that they're so quick to discard the advice of people who have known Huckabee for a long time.

A friend recently noted that the atmosphere in Arkansas was electric when Bill Clinton was running for president. I recalled how sick it made me feel. But when you juxtapose that reality with the non-existence of excitement for Huckabee in Arkansas you have to wonder why.

The fact is there are almost no current or former Republican legislators who support Huckabee. Why would that be? Those of us in Arkansas ought to be his biggest fans, right? Maybe it's because we know something.