I’ve listed the Iowa results below, but here are my thoughts on the first caucus. Paul made a good showing and finished basically in 4th place in Iowa, with McCain and Thompson tied for 3rd, and Giuliani barely even placed with 3% of the Iowa vote.
Paul’s 10% is a great finish for many reasons. One, he was excluded from the upcoming Fox News debate because of supposed low polling numbers nationwide, but Giuliani was invited while only receiving 3% of the Iowa vote. This just confirms again that Fox is favoring the neocon GOP candidates, and that Paul has a stronger percentage of the GOP vote than the media and pollsters are reporting. Most pollsters had Paul between 3% and 6% in Iowa. CNN today failed to list Paul’s name next to his 10% section on a pie chart showing the GOP vote percentages, while listing the other candidates names. Make no mistake about this, Ron Paul’s support was vastly underreported and downplayed by the media.
The American Thinker has done some interesting writing on Huckabee, his political history as governor of Arkansas, and the policies he would implement if elected. These articles ad further support to the conclusion that Huckabee is not the candidate best suited to be our next president.
Huckabee is not a conservative. He is a populist, like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Hewey Long. He started off as a very successful radio preacher. Huckabee has years of practice doing off-the-cuff repartee with radio listeners. He is a master of the exploding sound-bite. But Huck is no Rush Limbaugh, and he’s certainly no Reagan. He could be the Rush from the Dark Side, using those awesome talents to undermine conservatism, rather than build it up.
It’s not that Huck would impose religion through government. No, his actions would truly offend you. He would impose statism in the name of religion through government.While Huck will say what you want to hear to win office, he will not hear what you want to say once there. He will make tone-deaf Bush seem like a maestro…
Huck invokes faith to justify ambitions ranging from the insidious to the idiotic. For the former, look no further than immigration, where Huck espoused the Christian principle, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” while advocating an apparent open-door policy. This, despite the fact that if any good Christian were to find himself in a country illegally, he would expect its citizens to demand he return home.
As the media continues to shill for former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, touting him as the “real conservative” candidate among Republicans, it’s important to examine his positions on the issues. What better way to put his views in perspective than to compare them with the genuinely conservative champion of the Constitution, Ron Paul—the only true Republican hope for defeating Hillary.
IRS, Taxes, Spending
Ron Paul has fought continually for and championed the move to eliminate the IRS and the income tax. When Paul was asked about the possibility of a “flat tax” he reaffirmed his desire to “make it real flat, like zero.” Paul has repeatedly identified departments fit for substantial federal budget cuts. During his ten terms in Congress, Paul never voted to increase taxes and was consequently named “The Taxpayers’ Best Friend Ever” by the National Taxpayers Union.
Huckabee supports eliminating the federal income tax and replacing it with the “Fair Tax”, a 30 percent national sales tax. During his 8 years as governor of Arkansas, state spending increased by 65%. The Arkansas Times said Huckabee’s record on “taxing, borrowing, spending and expanding the activities of government makes him the biggest taxer and spender in Arkansas history.” Huckabee joined 2 Republican governors and 6 democratic governors in receiving an “F” from The Cato Institute’s 2006 national fiscal policy review.
Illegal Immigration
In 2005 Huckabee followed his pattern of indiscriminately handing out taxpayer’s money by supporting a bill by Arkansas State Representative Joyce Elliott making illegal aliens eligible for scholarships and in-state college tuition. He also opposed a bill that would deny benefits to illegal aliens. Huckabee came under fire during his Arkansas governorship when he signed a contract with Mexico for one dollar to lease state property to Mexico— he arranged for taxpayer money to fund a Mexican consulate in Little Rock after having visited Vincente Fox in Mexico cementing the deal to establish the Mexican consulate and to exponentially increase the number of illegals entering the state. Note: the U.S. Constitution declares that “No State shall enter into an agreement with a foreign government.” This was totally illegal!
Ron Paul’s website states his position on immigration: “Physically secure our borders and coastlines, enforce visa rules, no amnesty, no welfare for illegal aliens, end birthright citizenship (which is currently an incentive to illegally immigrate). Pass true immigration reform . . . current reform proposals would allow up to 60 million more immigrants into our country, according to the Heritage Foundation. This is insanity. Legal immigrants from all countries should face the same rules and waiting periods.” Paul’s voting record on immigration shows he has repeatedly voted against amnesty for illegals, voted in favor of securing the borders and in favor of enforcing current immigration laws.
Iraq War
Huckabee would continue the unpopular US military occupation of Iraq, arguing that the troops must remain in harm’s way to preserve our honor. Huckabee’s website makes it clear that he is completely against a troop withdrawl from Iraq. During the CNBC debate in Michigan, Huckabee showed an alarming disregard for the Constitutional separation of powers, arguing that he could launch a preemptive attack on Iran, with or without Congressional approval.
Ron Paul stands with the majority of American voters who feel that US forces should begin the withdrawl now and be brought home safely from Iraq. Don’t forget that Ron Paul receives more campaign donations from active military personnel than any other presidential candidate.
Paul has said, “Both Jefferson and Washington warned us about entangling ourselves in the affairs of other nations. Today, we have troops in 130 countries. We are spread so thin that we have too few troops defending America. And now, there are new calls for a draft of our young men and women.”
“We can continue to fund and fight no-win police actions around the globe, or we can refocus on securing America and bring the troops home. No war should ever be fought without a declaration of war voted upon by the Congress, as required by the Constitution.” (i.e. the War in Iraq) —Ron Paul
**Update** Further Analysis of Mike Huckabee
The American Thinker has done some interesting writing on Huckabee, his political history as governor of Arkansas, and the policies he would implement if elected. These articles ad further support to the conclusion that Huckabee is not the candidate best suited to be our next president.
Huckabee is not a conservative. He is a populist, like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Hewey Long. He started off as a very successful radio preacher. Huckabee has years of practice doing off-the-cuff repartee with radio listeners. He is a master of the exploding sound-bite. But Huck is no Rush Limbaugh, and he’s certainly no Reagan. He could be the Rush from the Dark Side, using those awesome talents to undermine conservatism, rather than build it up.
It’s not that Huck would impose religion through government. No, his actions would truly offend you. He would impose statism in the name of religion through government.While Huck will say what you want to hear to win office, he will not hear what you want to say once there. He will make tone-deaf Bush seem like a maestro… Huck invokes faith to justify ambitions ranging from the insidious to the idiotic. For the former, look no further than immigration, where Huck espoused the Christian principle, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” while advocating an apparent open-door policy. This, despite the fact that if any good Christian were to find himself in a country illegally, he would expect its citizens to demand he return home.
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