By R. Brownell
5. Defeat the drug abusing- homosexual-incestuous-polygamists!
Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher and governor of Arkansas, is known for holding deep, evangelical conservative views on social issues. Yet, in a GOP race where certain candidates are working towards criminal justice reform, and allowing the state’s their right to decide certain issues such as same sex marriage, Huckabee lumped his views of homosexuality and the drug war into a single argument during a 2010 interview:
“You don’t go ahead and accommodate every behavioral pattern that is against the ideal [speaking of same sex marriage]….that would be like saying, well, there are a lot of people who like to use drugs, so let’s go ahead and accommodate those who want who use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, so we should accommodate them.”
4. Those evil, soulless libertarians!
Unlike Republicans Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, who are both courting the libertarian vote, Huckabee has made it very clear that he is not interested in building bridges with liberty minded voters and libertarians, according to a provocative statement he made during his 2008 campaign:
“Republicans need to be Republicans. The greatest threat to classic Republicanism is not liberalism; it’s this new brand of libertarianism, which is social liberalism and economic conservatism, but it’s a heartless, callous, soulless type of economic conservatism because it says “look, we want to cut taxes and eliminate government. If it means that elderly people don’t get their Medicare drugs, so be it. If it means little kids go without education and healthcare, so be it.” Well, that might be a quote pure economic conservative message, but it’s not an American message. It doesn’t fly. People aren’t going to buy that, because that’s not the way we are as a people. That’s not historic Republicanism. Historic Republicanism does not hate government; it’s just there to be as little of it as there can be.”
3. “Common Core” or common politician?
Huckabee began to lose a large amount of support from his conservative base when he actively supported the federal government’s new “Common Core” curriculum, which caused many conservatives to say they “could not trust him”. As soon as his stance began to threaten his 2016 perspectives, Huckabee released a statement on his former Fox News program “Huckabee”, changing his position in order to score political points:
“I am steadfast in my belief that parents – parents – should ultimately decide the best venue for their children’s education, whether it’s public schools, private schools, religious schools, or home schools”
Accusations of Huckabee being a flip flopper aren’t new, since his record of being liberal-lite was center stage at one point during the 2008 Republican primaries.
2. Let’s continue the Bush/Obama foreign policy!
According to Huckabee’s own campaign website:
As President, I will lead with moral clarity in a dangerous world. Moral clarity is the foundation to our economic and military strength.
This type of interventionist ideology is what caused America to become known as the “world police”; creating conflict in areas of the world that were no threat to the United States, because of “the moral imperative” to combat even minor threats, all in order to continue establishing the United State’s imperial status on the global stage.
1. Unclear on immigration
Once again according Huckabee’s 2016 campaign site, Mike tries to establish himself as a run of the mill, strong borders Republican:
If you reward people who play outside the rules and punish people who live within the rules, pretty soon nobody is going to play by the rules. We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws.
Yet, his record is contrary to his rhetoric, during his time as governor, Huckabee behaved in a different manner in terms of his immigrant views. A recent Politico article highlighted several actions made during his time as governor of Arkansas, one of the most prominent being financial aid to immigrant students:
As governor, Huckabee supported in-state tuition rates and scholarships for students brought to the country illegally—a stance he continues to defend, even while taking a tough line against illegal immigration in general.