Friday, December 28, 2007

Social Conservatives Taking a Stand with Huckabee

The Republican establishment has looked down its nose at social conservatives far too long, tolerating us because they need our votes. But now the tables are turned. The grass roots are looking up at the establishment with the will of a Lech Walesa, demanding that fiscal issues take a back seat to moral issues for a change. It’s long past time for the moral and social issues of our times to be given more than just lip service. It’s now time for our fiscal policies to be informed by our social policies rather than sacrificing our morality to our economic standing in the world.

This is a quote from an article by Paul Edwards. I personally will always vote moral issues first. I am a fiscal conservative, too (and think Huckabee is based on his stance on the Fair Tax, cutting taxes, in Arkansas, etc.), but that will always take a back seat to a baby's right to live, protecting marriage as between a man and a woman for life, government backing abstinence education, etc. By the way, Dick Morris agrees with me that Huckabee is a fiscal conservative.

In Arkansas, the income tax when he took office was 1 percent for the poorest taxpayers and 7 percent for the richest, exactly where it stood when he left the statehouse 11 years later. But, in the interim, he doubled the standard deduction and the child care credit, repealed capital gains taxes for home sales, lowered the capital gains rate, expanded the homestead exemption and set up tax-free savings accounts for medical care and college tuition.

Most impressively, when he had to pass an income tax surcharge amid the drop in revenues after Sept. 11, 2001, he repealed it three years later when he didn’t need it any longer.

He raised the sales tax one cent in 11 years and did that only after the courts ordered him to do so. (He also got voter approval for a one-eighth-of-one-cent hike for parks and recreation.)

He wants to repeal the income tax, abolish the IRS and institute a “fair tax” based on consumption, and opposes any tax increase for Social Security.

And he can win in Iowa.

When voters who have decided not to back Rudy Giuliani because of his social positions consider the contest between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, they will have no difficulty choosing between a real social conservative and an ersatz one.

Romney, who began as a pro-lifer and switched in order to win in Massachusetts, and then flipped back again, cannot compete with a lifelong pro-lifer, Huckabee.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why don’t people get that all of this is completely irrelevant. Romney is the only one who will be capable of winning the general election. The various reasons behind this truth would fill up too many pages in blog to expound. I invite anyone doubting this to please revisit this blog in November after Huck or McCain get STEAMROLLED by the dems.

Anyone here defending Huckabee as a presidential candidate is actually defending Hillary.

When are Huckabee and McCain supporters going to finally realize what most of us can CLEARLY see: They are unelectable. Period.

Stop supporting Huckabee, your Huck/McCain primary votes are going to put Hillary and Obama in office. Seriously, just vote for Hillary now and save us time.

Anonymous said...

Follow up to my previous comment:

I said I would not expound on the MANY reason they are unelectable.

Can’t resist. Here are a few revealing ones:
Why did the Concord Monitor Newspaper attack Mitt Romney so ruthlessly? These people are as liberal Democratic as they come. What about Romney scares them enough to lash out like that? Hmmmm….It sounds like these Hillary lovers really want Huck to be the nominee in November. I wonder WHY?

Rush Limbaugh. The guy lives and breathes for the Republican party. He’s spent his career defending and promoting the GOP, through thick and thin. I wonder why he has come out so vocally AGAINST Huckabee??? Hmmm…He’s obviously protecting his beloved GOP from something….Could it be ignorant Huckabee supporters who don’t understand that Mike Huckabee will NEVER be elected by the general population outside of the Bible Belt. Rush knows it, so should Huckabee supporters.

Can you sense the frustration level?

Here's one more thought to keep you up at night (no, it’s not Huck sitting across a table from Ahmadinejad). The supreme court is ONE judge away from overturning Roe v Wade. Romney will appoint a pro-lifer, Hillary Won’t. Given that Huck/McCain can’t win, it appears that Huckabee voters are really in favor of abortion. Think about it.

Frances Clements said...

I must vote my conscience even if Hillary Clinton becomes president. In the primaries, I will vote for the person I think is the best. I think that is Mike Huckabee. In the general election, I will vote for the pro-life candidate.

Jenner,
I appreciate your enthusiasm for your candidate, but I think that all of this electability stuff is sheer speculation. For a while there people said that Fred Thompson was the "only one with conservative values that can beat Hillary", but he has done very well so far.

Matt said...

It's not all about winning. Although Huckabee CAN win, I've always considered a meaningful loss to be better than a meaningless win.