Is Huckabee a Liberal?

One of the folks who commented on this blog recently pointed out that Ed Rollins who managed Huckabee's campaign for president in 2008 thinks that Huckabee will run in 2012. Whether or not that is true, I'm not sure, as from what I've heard Huckabee hasn't even really launched an exploratory committee for 2o12 yet. Maybe he doesn't need an exploratory committee or maybe he's just not running yet.

But after reading that article and looking over some of the comments that are being posted there, I began to wonder how many conservatives think that Huckabee is a liberal. I've known for a long time that there are some liberals that like Mike Huckabee personally but would never vote for him. I've known some of them would vote for him long before they would vote for many other members of the GOP, but that is not what would make Mike a liberal.

If Huckabee is a liberal, than we've all got problems. From what I know of liberals, most of them have trouble with cutting deficit spending. Most of them support raise taxes on "the rich" which I have yet to hear Mike supporting. I know Mike tries to come across as the little guys conservative not favoring the large corporations some of which pay no taxes while a guy barely getting by at $50K per year is paying thousands of dollars in taxes. So while Mike Huckabee has used rhetoric in the past that may come across as not completely conservative, I've never heard him use the kind of rhetoric that Obama uses. Obama runs around holding the hands of the Wall Street types and then turns around and bashes them with his typical class warfare dribble.

Huckabee is one of the few politicans who has come out supporting the Fairtax, which, while maybe not as good as a flattax from a conservative perspective I've heard Mark Levin and Neal Boortz both advocate for it and I highly doubt they would support a liberal tax idea.

So what do you think? Is Mike Huckabee a liberal? He seems to me to be on the wrong side of the fence on all the issues that liberals support. He was the strongest candidate to finish out the top 3 in 2008 as a pro-gun, pro-life, and pro-traditional marriage conservative. I don't see how people come to the conclusion that Huckabee is a liberal because there's just no evidence to support such an accusation.

Will Huckabee Run for President in 2012?

Recent polls have both Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee within striking distance of the president. As someone who has been more of an observer of the whole political game for the time being, I find it rather interesting that a lot of pundits are predicting that Mike won't even run.

Just the other day I was listening to one guy on the radio talk about how Mike has sincere doubts about running. While this may be true, I find it rather incredulous considering how Huckabee has a pretty decent chance at winning this time. His biggest competition would be the fiscal conservatives such as club for growth who maligned him the last time around and will probably go after him as a "tax and spend liberal" as they called him last time.

Of course it's not readily apparent whether or not Mike Huckabee will run for president, but there's certain physiological issues that play very strongly into what may be going through Mike Huckabee's mind. Think about it as if you where Mike Huckabee for a minute. If you've had aspirations of being the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, the big guy in charge at a different time, let's say 2008, why would you just let those aspirations fade away.

The truth is that dreams as being president are something that a person doesn't let go of easily. So, if you're Mike Huckabee and you're looking at the current president's low approval numbers and you think you may very well have a chance to beat him, do you just sit there and do nothing? Of course not. Is Mike Huckabee running for president? The chances are very good that he is.

Don't Apologize for America

Most politicians these days seem to make a living from either lying or apologizing. They're either complaining about the other side or apologizing to their base that they have to capitulate to the other side in order to get things done. That's all well and good but one thing politicians should learn to not apologize for is the United States of America.

Contrary to what some believe, America is not the worst country in the world. We do not oppress half the world's population. In fact, the world is a better place because America has taken steps in the right direction. America has been a leader in the world for ending slavery on the blood of her own people. Can you name another country in the world that has done that? None comes to mind right? Now I know what you're thinking, "America may be great, but she's certainly not perfect." Well no one said anything about being perfect did they?

You may be thinking "well, America has made some mistakes." Yeah? So? So what? Do you think we need our leaders running around the world talking about the supposed mistakes America has made? We don't need that. We need our leaders to lead. And by lead I mean learn to view America as a great nation and a good nation because she is. What other nation in the world feeds the hungry, rescues orphans, is first on the ground in any emergency no matter where in the world? There is none.

Politicians need to get away from the constant tearing down of our great republic. They need to stand up for our country again and realize that they have a great responsibility given since they are entrusted with leading our country. Next time you hear a politician saying something like "America has made mistakes" or some other such drivel, mark their name down and remember to vote them out of office at the very next chance you get.

Keep America the Beautiful Beautiful

America has not been called "America the Beauitiful" for no reason. America has been beautiful and when we speak of beauty we're not just talking about the literal beauty of the landscapes from the purple mountains to the alabaster city. We're talking beauty of soul, beauty of courage, beauty of strength and beauty of character. But most of us would agree that lately that beauty has been fading. No, it's not completely gone yet, but the beauty that was once there has faded some. The virtues of kindness, brotherhood and integrity are being replaced with things that are not beautiful.

It's becoming harder and harder to trust other Americans and don't walk around our neighborhoods with the same sense of security and trust that we once had. Something is happening to our nation and it's not pretty. The statistics may say that crime is going down, but the indications are that those statistics must be missing the story somewhere since every day I hear on the news of another murder, another rape, or something else that makes me wonder where that came from.

The tarnishing of America is not just in the lowlands either. The mountain tops and peaks of America that once stood quite tall and handsome in their beauty have developed cracks as well. Our politicians seem to lack any sort of shame for their scandalous activities. And most church pulpits preach not the soundness of the gospel or of the truth of morality but instead a morass of of social justice and liberation theology.

But America is not beyond hope. God has blessed America in the passed and He could and will bless America again if America wants to be blessed by Him. The choice is ours but we have to take Him up on the offer. We have to seek Him. We have to pray. We have to turn from the things that are not beautiful and remember that he can give "beauty for ashes."

Who's Running for President in 2012?

Maybe you're wondering who's running for president in 2012. It's kinda hard to believe it's really that time again. That's right, it was just last year that we had an election and the Tea Party pushed hard to get some sanity back to in Washington.

But the insanity of the next election cycle is beginning already. So let's run down on the major candidates and what platform they'll probably be running on.

First of all there's the big guy himself, Barack Obama. Yep, that's right, perhaps you're groaning already but he's already announced that he's running again. But honestly what did you expect? The birthers have thus far had no success in proving conclusively that he's a huge fraud and other than that there's probably no other way to guarantee the President's political defeat in 2012. As for President Obama's platform, it's not hard to figure that out. It's going to pretty much be hope without the change since change would be the opponent. He also has laid out a pretty good platform for what he's going to run on already and that is his social socialistic utopia, "soak-the-rich" class warfare rhetoric that he does better than anyone else. Groan.

So while Barack Obama is throwing down the gauntlet, what is the opposition bringing to the table? The GOP field is looking fairly interesting, though there seems to be a few favorites emerging.

First of all, the guy with the nice hair. Mitt Romney is definitely running. Mitt is an interesting guy. He appeals to a lot of the NERs (North Eastern Republicans since he basically is one). He was the third or second runner up in 2008 (that depends who you ask). Mitt Romney carries a lot of baggage with the very liberal social policies that he adopted to win the governorship in Massachusetts. Mitt is a professional politician who will probably run on a strong conservative platform. But his real value system is highly questionable since he has a track record of saying whatever he thinks will appeal to whoever he's currently talking to.

But no one's saying you have to have good hair to run for president. One guy that's certainly not running on his hair is Donald Trump. That's right, the billionaire developer who loves to say "you're fired" wants to give Obama the pink slip. While Donald's true intentions are suspect there's little doubt that he'd be great at running things. The challenge for Donald is going to be overcoming the stigma that he's not really serious about running for president. Also, he will need to carefully craft his platform to avoid looking like a crazy rich guy that wants to take advantage of poor people. It is sad that American society has come to that, but it does certainly seem to be where we're at. If Donald Trump is serious about running for president, he will build a strong platform on cutting taxes for everyone and restoring pride and prosperity in America again.

Sarah Palin. Ok, there I said it. I'm not really sure if she's running and she is probably not sure either. While she certainly could run on her good looks, she does need to build some serious credibility on the issues. I think she probably cost John McCain the election last time since she had a few very poorly answered questions that were substantive (yes, the media does still ask tough questions sometimes, at least to Republicans and conservatives). I personally don't think she'll run.

Huckabee. Another guy who shouldn't run on his hair, I'm kind of doubting that Huckabee will run this time around. If he is, he is hiding it very well. I'm sure there's plenty of speculation about what he will ultimately decide to do, but he's doing quite well with his Fox News show. Huckabee wasn't taken very seriously last time around and his choice of the Fairtax as a major platform, while innovative may have not been the best choice. He's a very likable guy but I don't think he particularly enjoys the harsh criticism that comes from many media and liberal personalities when he's running for president.

Ron Paul. This guy has been running for president for so long that it's almost unbearable. His platform will probably be the same "shut down the government and the feds and everything else within 50 miles of DC" stuff that he's run on before. Of course he'll probably get about a half a percent of the vote again as well.

I'm sure there are a list of some others that will be running for President in 2012, and maybe I'll write another post in the future as we get a little closer to the actual race. The way I see it, anyone who runs is a better alternative to the current White House resident who, while he may be technically an American citizen, his ideas are about as anti-American as you can get. Let's hope someone get's to tell him "you're fired!"

Is Donald Trump a Serious Contender for 2012?

As a Huckabee fan, I'm not exactly sure what to think of Donald Trump's sudden appearance on the scene. I don't dislike Trump, I think he's got some great qualities and definitely has the potential to make for a serious contender. But the question that I have is "does he have what it takes?"

All the indications that are forthcoming seem to indicate that he certainly does. He's been going after Obama on some tough issues that no one else is willing to go after Obama on. Donald has also been a very effective communicator and works well with the media. He has tons of TV experience and is by no means camera shy.

Donald also represents a rather large portion of America. He represents the American dream and he understands what it takes to run a business. He knows what it means to hire people and also to fire people.

My opinion of Trump will be formed over the next couple of months. So far he seems definitely be a serious contender for the White House. Republicans seem to like him a lot and now he's even said that he'd run even if he had to form a third party ticket. Those are not words that republicans should take lightly if they have any plans to take back the White House in 2012. What do you think? Is the Donald a serious contender for the presidency in 2012? Be sure to vote in the poll over on the right.