The Trail: A Daily Diary of Campaign 2008

And though it is nice that he supports it, I don't think he has the grasp of the philosophical rightness or the Americanism of ending the income tax like Ron Paul does. Imagine a unity of social and economic freedom instead of social freedom and economic slavery...

A devout social conservative on issues such as abortion, school prayer, homosexuality and evolution, Huckabee's a populist on economics, a fad-follower on the environment and an all-around do-gooder who believes that the biblical obligation to do "good works" extends to using government - and your tax dollars - to bring us closer to the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

I read this today and thought it is a side of Huckabee that should be shared also.

Disc jockey for president
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007

By John Brummett

One of the national writers putting together a profile of Mike Huckabee asked how it might be that this preacher showed such an affinity for popular culture.

The Chuck Norris alliance, the tailgate party in South Carolina with the wrestler, the pardon for Keith Richards, the playing of bass guitar in a rock cover band offering Lynyrd Skynyrd - isn't all that out of character for a man from the Southern Baptist pulpit?

Actually, Huckabee was a radio man before he was a preacher and he has remained more decidedly a media man than a pulpit man.

His superficially likable nature, which provides the essence of his oddly succeeding presidential campaign, comes via a disc jockey's shtick rather than a pastor's. I refer to the rich intonations of his professional voice, the music, the hip topicality, the impersonations, the jokes, the Mr. Glib.

It can't be those radical policies. Outlawing abortion altogether, not merely leaving it to the states, is extreme. A national sales tax to replace the income tax is a gimmick, either scandalously regressive or entirely too difficult to design so that it wouldn't be. He barely scratches the surface on foreign policy with what got described over the weekend as "cheerful know-nothingness." He denies the better points of his record in Arkansas, since they're entirely too moderate for modern Republican primary voters.

His is wholly a candidate of personality, and, as such, is more Don Imus than Billy Graham.

Yes, Imus. Huckabee can be mean and inappropriate. It usually doesn't get revealed until the second impression. He's still making his first out there on the trail.

As a midteen, Huckabee found work, including some on-air, on a Hope radio station. Then he had one of those seminal religious moments. So he figured he'd apply his talents and interests to serve Jesus through Christian broadcasting.

That led him to the seminary, after which, almost by accident, he got preaching work in Pine Bluff, then Texarkana. In both towns, he supplemented the preaching with work for which he was better-suited and that he more enjoyed. That would be a local cable television show.

He attained the presidency of the Arkansas Baptist Convention not so much by conventional preaching as by the clever politics of making himself palatable both to fundamentalists and moderates. It was from there that he moved to secular politics.

When Huckabee was lieutenant governor, needing something to do in that pointless job, he accepted an invitation to substitute for a vacationing radio talk show host. He invited me to be his guest, mainly so he and his callers could berate me. He was fully at home and adept in the radio booth.

One day as he prepared to ascend to the governorship, Huckabee had a news conference. I was struck by his intimacy with the TV cameramen. He joshed with them authoritatively about their equipment, specifically about the comparative modernity of one station's gear versus another's.

Then the producer of his cable show in Texarkana, Gary Underwood, joined the governor's staff. Huckabee and Underwood transformed the governor's conference room into an audiovisual studio. They produced a slick, self-promotional cable television program that they distributed for use by ever-pliable local access channels.

As Huckabee prepared to become governor, he said one of his dreams was to do radio play-by-play for a Razorback football game. Naturally, as the new governor, he was obliged. He described a few downs, smoothly and ably, of course.

From time to time I've written an unoriginal but incisive line, which is that Huckabee is really running for his own show on Fox or MSNBC. I'm sticking with that.

But I'll admit there are moments lately when I wonder if he'll have to go through the motions of being the Republican presidential or vice presidential nominee first.

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John Brummett is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is jbrummett@arkansasnews.com; his telephone number is (501) 374-0699.

Wow, the GOP has really come to some desperate straits.

bdshepherd: the aff. said they "intended" to apply and, as someone who's familiar with how these things work I am almost positive that their "intentions" would be filed away and would be forgotten. No penalty is given, no agency is enforced with checking whether they applied, and so forth. It was all just a show and a scam.

As for the various interesting statements about the provisions of the bill made by Huck during the debate, I'd still like to know what exactly he was refering to. Perhaps he was just confused. Or something.

I thought Mike's attempt to help Rudy on the Bible question was condescending. I do not want a preacher of the United States. I want a president. If we go by religious values alone, Jimmy Carter beats Regan hands down. Mike appears to be a nice guy, so does Jimmy Carter. Google Huckabee and ethics or Huckabee and Jesus juice.

A Baptist minister, Huckabee singled out Holt, also a Christian. Said the governor: "I drink a different kind of Jesus juice."

I am not a Huckabee basher, but he is not presidential caliber. My first choice is Newt Gingrich (possibly someones VP?),coming in second are Romney and Tancredo.

Those who want Huckabee because they drink his kind of "Jesus juice" really need to look beyond that. Do your own real homework and do not be taken in by this guy.

Huckabee won Hands down. He is the most articulate, humble, real candidate out of all of them-after all the verbal stumbles of the Bush presidency we have finally discovered someone who can communicate republican principles with wit & wisdom. McCain came out ok. Romney just got a beating..wow..definitely NOT his night. I wonder what Hugh Hewitt and all those who were so ready to give Romney the mantle of conservatism are doing after this one. HUCKABEE is a force to be contended with, and tonight he showed WHY he is on the rise in Iowa. The Underdog is poised to take a bite out of Rudy McRomney on Jan 3rd. The others were all a distant..3rd...Duncan Hunter had some ok stuff and Fred is frankly coming across as kinda like..hey man ..someone please pick me for VP so I can sport my hot wife around DC. And what was with the INQUISTION Style question the crackpot youtuber asked about the Bible(As if he has ever read it)(and all the man on man gay questions...and the rebel flag...weird..there had to be some better questions that those...but wow did the gays in the military question make Romney look like a TOTAL flip flopper...what a bad night for him. (I just found out that the gay ex military man that they gave all the air time to in the debate is on Hillary's sterring commitee..(really cheesy).hmmm interesting...bet Mitt wished he hadn't shown up.

All this Huckabee love is weird.

He is so principled! Please, purposely coluding with Tyson to fill it's plants with illegal aliens instead of raising the wages of Americans is absolutely disgusting. Wait, let me guess they are doing jobs Americans won't do? Then why is it that every business that gets raided is able to find Americans at the right price?

Oh, and as for correcting the earlier post, he was wrong as to the timing -- claiming that students had to become legal before receiving the scholarship -- but your response was, at best, just as incorrect by selectively quoting the bill to make it seem as if Gov. Huckabee's was misrepresenting the bill when he is not.

You dismissed the affidavit because you wanted to. By definition, an affidavit is a written statement made under oath. If it's false, that's called perjury. Perjury is a crime anywhere in the U.S. So yes, there is a penalty.

As for 'taking discounts from U.S. citizens,' what's that based on? Every child qualified for the merit scholarship in Arkansas receives it, by law, so if the bill were passed the only change would be that there were a few more recipients (and Arkansas is a small state, so there would truly be a small number of immigrants qualified for this and any increased cost would be negligible). As for in-state tuition, you either qualify or you don't, so one more person qualifying has absolutely no effect on anyone else qualifying.

Huck's supporters are starting to remind me of Bush's 2004 supporters, and that's not a good thing at all. Back then, I was amazed at the amount of dust being thrown up as well as what I called the "EmilyLatella effect", with deliberate misunderstandings in a pretty obvious attempt to deceive.

Anyway:

1. My last response was a comment to a misstatement by bryanthorner; I was correctly pointing out what Huck supported. In fact, I was pointing out that bryanthorner's statement about Huck was false.

2. I already discussed the bill - and the affidavit bdshepherd mentions - four days ago:

http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007268.html

I dismissed the affidavit because a) there's no penalty, and b) everyone realizes it's just a sop. Those who seek to take discounts from U.S. citizens in order to give them to illegal aliens aren't going to then turn around and try to enact severe penalties against those illegal aliens. At the most, they'd come up with... an amnesty for them.

Boy am I going to welcome the day when everyone realizes just how bad Huck really is.

Nice selective quote, Lonewacko.

The bill does in fact contain the language you quote, but the very next subsection of the bill, HR1525 states that "a student without documented status shall file an affidavit with the [school] stating that the student has an intent to legalize his or her immigration status." H.R. 1525, 85th Gen. Assem., Reg. Sess. (Ark. 2005). In case you're not familiar with reading bills or statutes, the language used makes this a prerequisite, not an option.

See, if you'd bothered to just read a little bit further all of your venom would have been unnecessary. Huckabee has never claimed that students had to become legal before being eligible, just that they had to be in the process. The text of the bill clearly requires that they swear that they are in the process.

Sorry if that shoots down this particular anti-Huck rant for you. You can still hate him for the thought behind the bill, if you like, but now you can base it on the facts.

I don't know where bryanthorner got that idea, but it's false. From the bill:

"Any tuition rate that is granted to residents of Arkansas shall be granted on the same terms to all persons, regardless of immigration status..."

And, in fact, a version of that bill that said what bryanthorner thinks it said wouldn't make any sense, except in the (most likely very rare) cases where benefits were just for citizens and not for citizens and legal immigrants.

Since Huck supporters seem to have a habit of misunderstanding his past efforts in this area, let me repeat that the bill gave benefits "regardless of immigration status".

It is so refreshing to see a person running for office who is so principled like Mike Huckabee.

His care for all individuals more than himself shows he is a absolute winner in life. He is a role model that so many people look up to.

During his 10 years as Governor of Arkansas, he never had his picture posted up on a big frame. He had the picture of ordinary citizens posted every week or so and told his staff, we need to always remember they are the boss and not him.

What a humble and caring person, this man needs to be the next President of the United States. He has the interest of you and all Americans close to his heart. No matter if you are left, right, old, young, different religions, etc he cares for you very deeply.

Please support the canidate that cares for you the most. Not only is Mike Huckabee very humbled and experienced, he is the next American Rockstar! Watch out George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, you got another courageous US President coming up that will be another shining star like you!

Ohhhh LOL!

Can anyone say "Spoiler"?

The MSM is promoting the Huckster to split off anough of the people who "Think" they are knowledgable about religion, to believe that a Collection of stories the hebrews developed under the eyes of the Egyptians to tell their Children and then elaborate on as sermons for the adults, are some actual recording of the first days!

Wake Up call for all Evangelicals-Adam and Eve-Man and Woman relationships! Cain and Able-Sibling Rivalries, Tower of Babel-Different cultures! Noah's Ark-the Family Structure, GET IT?

The Bohemiens developed something similiar in their Tarot! The "Death" card-Symbolizes Transition, Etc, Etc... They are based on the Kabbalistic System of numbers!

Want more clues-Google Yod-He-Vau-He! Search for the book, Tarot of the Bohemiens! The Book of Genesis is the same sort of thing!

Just, don't get into this with young children, they need to learn the stories, way more than discuss how a woman can get a Man to do what he knows full well he should not-Or, why Free Thought is considered a playground of the devil, Etc., Etc., ...

A Bible thumping fool who does not even understand the religion he washed out of, but still fervently forces on others, for PRESIDENT-I do not think so!

Two terms of an Evangelical head case was enough Thank-You!

Governor Huckabee showed himself to be the best candidate for the Republican nomination.

He is honest, consistent and a man of true conviction. Unlike other politicians (Romney, Clinton for instance) Huckabee does not take a poll before deciding where he stands.

LonewackoDotCom,

Mike Huckabee was not supporting scholarships for illegal aliens. You are misinformed. The requirement would have been for the students to become legal residents first before they would be eligible to receive any scholarships.

Could the WaPo stop spreading disinfo at least in this one case? The status of the parents is not at issue; the bill Huck supported was for students who were *themselves illegal aliens*. If the WaPo thinks about it, they'll see that the status(es) of the one doesn't necessarily imply the status(es) of the other)s).

Here's more on that debate question:

http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007277.html

That also contains links to the text of the versions of the bill.

If the WaPo would like to do some real reporting:

1. Did Huck lie about the provisions of the bill? What exact version was he refering to? Is the text of that version in some official document somewhere?

2. Why did CNN ask a question about passing a federal law, when there's already a federal law covering the broader case?

3. Does Huck think we live in a world of endless benefits? Or, if questioned enough, will he be forced to admit that giving discounts to illegal aliens means taking them away from U.S. citizens (as Romney pointed out). After he admits that, let us know what he would say to a U.S. citizen who wouldn't have been able to go to college if the bill he supported had become law.

Beat the Clinton Machine? What is he talking about, one thing you can say about both Clintons, love them or hate them, they are all about themselves and did not put any "machines" in place in Arkansas or anywhere else.

As for tagging along with Norris, well that is just weird. Do not recall many christian values in Chcuk Norris movies, does anyone else?