Many Christian conservatives see Mike Huckabee as the best candidate
to deliver the GOP from an impending pro-abortion presidential
nomination of either Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney. Huckabee is doing
especially well in Iowa, particularly among evangelicals. Is Mike
Huckabee worthy of this support, however? The facts say no.
I have already attempted to warn my evangelical brethren as to the
dangers of supporting Mike Huckabee. See
[
link to www.chuckbaldwinlive.com]
However, that first column was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Here are more reasons to beware of Mike Huckabee.
Robert Novak recently wrote a column about Mike Huckabee entitled,
"The False Conservative." In the column he said, "Huckabee is
campaigning as a conservative, but serious Republicans know that he is
a high-tax, protectionist, big-government advocate of a strong hand in
the Oval Office directing the lives of Americans."
Novak also said, "There is no doubt about Huckabee's record during a
decade in Little Rock as governor. . . He increased the Arkansas tax
burden by 47 percent, boosting the levies on gasoline and cigarettes."
Novak continued saying, "Quin Hillyer, a former Arkansas journalist
writing in the conservative American Spectator, called Huckabee 'a guy
with a thin skin, a nasty vindictive streak.' Huckabee's retort was to
attack Hillyer's journalistic procedures, fitting a mean-spirited
image when he responds to conservative criticism."
Calling Huckabee a proponent of big-government is an understatement.
"If you listen closely, all the things he supports increase the size,
power and cost of government. From subsidies for energy research to
increasing money for health care and government housing, the size,
power, and cost of government will not shrink under a President Mike
Huckabee; they will increase . . . Mr. Huckabee swore an oath to
support and defend the Constitution when he became governor, yet many
of his proposals are clearly unconstitutional." (Source: David Ulrich,
Letter of the Week, World Net Daily, 10/26/07)
In addition, Dr. Jerome Corsi reports that "Financial inducements
arranged by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to establish a Mexican
consular office in Little Rock may have violated state law, according
to an Arkansas attorney."
Writing for World Net Daily, Dr. Corsi exposed the fact that Mike
Huckabee "worked with some of the state's most prominent and
politically powerful businesses to establish the [Mexican] consulate
as a magnet for drawing illegal immigrants to the state to accept
low-paying jobs."
Corsi goes on to report that "Arkansas attorney Chip Sexton provided
WND a written legal brief arguing the state government's sublease to
Mexico of office space for the consulate was illegal under Arkansas
law. Sexton contended the deal raised questions about the
appropriateness of private citizens and corporations in Arkansas
providing financial incentives for the government of Mexico to locate
a consulate office in Little Rock."
Corsi also writes that "Robert Trevino, commissioner of Arkansas
Rehabilitation Services, told WND he and Huckabee helped arrange state
and private financial support to induce Mexico to establish the
consulate as a business development 'quid pro quo.'
"Trevino signed on July 7, 2006, a 'Facilities Use Agreement' with
Mexican consular officials to rent state government office space for
$1 a year on the second floor of the Arkansas Rehabilitation Services
building at 26 Corporate Hills in Little Rock."
According to Sexton, not only did subleasing state government offices
to Mexico violate Arkansas state law under Ark. Code Ann.
22-2-114(C)(i) which provides: "After July 1, 1975, no state agency
shall enter into or renew or otherwise negotiate a lease between
itself as lessor or lessee and a nongovernmental or other government
lessor or lessee," but it was even more offensive in that "there was
nothing in the lease or other agreements that would have prevented the
Mexican consulate from providing legal assistance to illegal aliens."
In addition, Corsi also exposed the fact that Mike Huckabee worked
with Mexican President Vicente Fox to help provide cheap Mexican labor
for Tyson foods and other large Arkansas corporations. According to
Corsi, "Trevino confirmed he was state director of the League of
United Latin American Citizens, also known as LULAC, an activist group
strongly advocating for the rights of Hispanic immigrants in the U.S.,
when on Oct. 3, 2003, he accompanied Huckabee in a state airplane to
visit [President Vicente] Fox in Mexico."
There is more.
The American Spectator reported that "Fourteen times, the ethics
commission--a respected body, not a partisan witch-hunt
group--investigated claims against Huckabee. Five of those times, it
officially reprimanded him. And as only MSNBC among the big national
media has reported at an real length, there were lots of other
mini-scandals and embarrassments along the way."
Plus, writing for The Washington Times, Greg Pierce quoted Hillyer as
saying, "[Huckabee] used public money for family restaurant meals,
boat expenses, and other personal uses. He tried to claim as his own
some $70,000 of furniture donated to the governor's mansion. He
repeatedly, and obstinately, against the pleadings even from
conservative columnists and editorials, refused to divulge the names
of donors to a 'charitable' organization he set up while lieutenant
governor--an outfit whose main charitable purpose seemed to be to pay
Huckabee to make speeches. Then, as a kicker, he misreported the
income itself from the suspicious 'charity.'"
Mike Huckabee's beliefs and actions even border on the bizarre.
According to David Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union,
"GOP presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee suggested that as president he
would, for the good of the people, support a federal anti-smoking law.
You see, as governor, Huckabee supported such laws because, well, he
doesn't like smoking and doesn't think folks should indulge in so
heath-threatening an activity. If he could move on up to the
presidency, he would continue his abolitionist crusade at the national
level without giving much, if any, thought to the question of whether
the Constitution or anything else would legitimize a federal ban on
smoking."
I have yet one more word of warning for those evangelicals supporting
Huckabee because he is pro-life: Mike Huckabee will most definitely
support Rudy Giuliani should Giuliani obtain the Republican
nomination. Count on it.
I ask you, how could a committed "pro-life" conservative support a
pro-abortion, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control liberal such as Rudy
Giuliani? He couldn't.
At the end of the day, however, there is absolutely no question that
Huckabee will support Giuliani (or any other pro-abortion Republican),
because, when all is said and done, Huckabee and his fellow
big-government Republicans have no real commitment to the life issue
or to any other conservative principle.
Let's say it plainly: Mike Huckabee is just another big-government,
establishment politician who will do nothing to stem the tide of
socialism or fascism (pick your poison) emanating from Washington,
D.C., these days.
Dear Christian friend, don't be duped by Mike Huckabee.
(c) Chuck Baldwin
United States
