Mike Huckabee

I don't understand all of the criticism of Mike Huckabee among conservatives. I've been particularly annoyed with Mark Levin's criticisms. I listen to Mark regularly and typically agree with him although his tone gets annoying and somewhat irritating at times. However, his weak dismissal of Mike Huckabee downright aggravates me. I know the arguments against Huckabee, but I think they are taken out of context and I see nothing in his record or his ideas that makes me think he's not a true conservative.

What frustrates me most about Levin's criticism is how he lacks so much in specifics. He calls him names like Hucka-phony or RINO and a big-government conservative, but does not say what justifies these labels. I'll admit, he was guilty of raising taxes while he was governor, but he was a very popular governor and served for over 10 years and left office with a big surplus. He's not a no-government conservative like some people on the right think you have to be these days, but he's certain no John McCain lacky either. He supports the fair tax, which is an extremely conservative concept, and stands for social values such as the sanctity of life and the traditional family.

Huckabee understands that the key to solving our fiscal problems is to restore traditional values that made this country great. Some people think the free market made this country great, but I think the free market is just a side affect of other foundations that started this country. One of those foundations is that government should be limited because the best government is two parents who teach their children right and wrong and self-governance and self-responsibility.

I have sometimes wondered if Ronald Reagan would have been considered conservative enough based on his time as governor if the same standards were applied to him that some like to apply to Huckabee. He too raised taxes to deal with the fiscal mess left in his state by his predecessors. It was necessary for him to balance the budget just like it was for Huckabee. I'm not an expert on Reagan's time as governor, but I wouldn't doubt, with a Democratic legislature, it wasn't too unlike Huckabee's time in Arkansas.

I don't expect Levin to endorse Huckabee, but the way he tries to tear him down is ridiculous. I especially don't understand how he can rail against Huckabee and not have as much problems with Mitt Romney. I think Romney is as slimy as they come in politics and I wouldn't trust him any farther than I could throw him. He has held as many or more positions as John Kerry and anyone who is concerned about Scott Brown's or Donald Trump's conservative credentials should be worried about Romney too. People think just because he's been successful in business he would be a good President, but there are plenty of people who can succeed in business that I wouldn't trust in politics. Many of them are on the left. We often refer to them as crony capitalists. I'm not saying that Romney falls in that category, but merely pointing out that business credentials don't automatically qualify you for President. Worse yet, what was his legacy as governor? RomneyCare, which was the model for ObamaCare, which is the biggest political over-reach in our nation's history.

I can't help but wonder if Levin's dislike for Huckabee is related to Huckabee's background as a Baptist minister. I don't know a lot about Levin's faith, but I'm pretty sure he's not a Christian and wonder if he thinks people too driven by faith shouldn't be involved in politics. I also heard him go after Huckabee for knocking Romney for being a Mormon. I don't know the background of this statement, but I know that Romney's Mormonism has been concerning to me. I don't focus too much on it and I wonder how sincere he really is in his faith, but if you ever study what Mormon's believe, you might question whether you want someone who believes that to be President. Let me ask you this...would you want a Scientologist to be President? I'll admit that Scientology is probably further out there than Mormonism, but I would consider them on the same path of weirdness and both are more cult than religion.

I'm not saying Huckabee is by far the best choice for the Republican nomination, but he's definitely a frontrunner and well liked enough to beat President Obama. I also wouldn't say he doesn't have any flaws. I don't fully agree with his thoughts on the environment and I do think he's too nice to Democrats. However, I also have no doubt that he would be a much better President than who we have now and could have what it takes to make the radical changes we need to turn this country around.

Random Thoughts

Since I haven't been able to find time to right a full blog, I've decided to start trying to get on here regularly and just post my thoughts for the day.

Today, I heard that President Obama has assigned the Justice Department to investigate oil and gas companies for price gouging due to the recent increases in prices. I'm surprised he even noticed given how little coverage it has had in the press. Unfortunately, he thinks we're all idiots and will actually fall for this canard. Not that it's impossible to think that gas stations could do that, but not all of them and not when we know there are so many other reasons for the prices going up. No, President Obama, we know what you're up to. Your policies towards drilling and the destruction of the dollar through your fiscal policies are driving up the price. Sure unrest in the Middle East has been a factor, but the prices were going up before that. Just like the price of food has been going up for a while. The reason your recovery has been a fake recovery is because unemployment is still high and those of us who are still working can't do as much with our money because it's all going toward food and gas. And in case anyone is reading this, you should research how food and gas prices affect the inflation rate. Here's a hint: They don't! So if you think we don't have high inflation, think again. The stats are skewed and have been for a long time.