Before the debate last night, I speculated that Mike Huckabee might play the role of McCain’s attack dog. He did not, preferring instead to bolster his appeal with social conservatives and perhaps to avoid a brushback accusation from Mitt Romney that he was, well, playing the role of McCain’s attack dog.
This morning on the increasingly newsworthy Morning Joe Huckabee let it rip. He started with this about Romney:
Here’s a man who didn’t hit political puberty in the conservative ranks until 60 years old. . . Here’s a guy who just ten years ago was saying, look, I’m an independent. I’m not for that Reagan-Bush legacy. And now he wraps himself in it. Here’s a guy who, despite what he says, his record in Massachusetts was significant increases in fees. And the numbers, you know, I’m going to the independent objective reports of those, and they were more like $700 million. He’s a recent convert to pro life. He still doesn’t have a solid stance on the second amendment. He believes that Brady and banning assault weapons, which they’re so-called, which is not a conservative position. He’s a recent convert to traditional marriage view. He at one time said he would do more for the gay community than Ted Kennedy. That’s not a conservative position. So I just don’t understand this whole thing about so many people, whether it’s Rush Limbaugh or anyone else, saying he’s the conservative in the race. He may be saying conservative things now, but he certainly wasn’t saying them until he ran for president, and his record is not one of being consistent. When you have an abortion bill in your state as part of your health package that for $50 you guarantee a government-funded abortion within your health plan to any person who’s truly pro life, that is not conservative.
Then he explained why this matters:
It’s about the credibility of the candidacy and whether or not there’s authenticity. And for me, give me a guy that I disagree with but at least I know he’s speaking from his convictions, and it’s not just a convenient political view that he’s taking because today I’m talking to a women’s group, so I’m pro woman. But tomorrow I’m talking to a men’s group, so I’m not. That’s what disturbs me, and I think it’s the kind of politics that just really turns people off.
The full performance is here. Well, I suppose he is still in the running for McCain’s VP. However, it also does explain why the “rally around Romney” phenomenon has not occured. The anti-McCain sentiment is real among staunch conservative opinion makers, but conservative voters just have not rallied to Romney enthusiastically because he really has not been a movement conservative. It is politically difficult from the perspective of disgruntled conservatives just to be against McCain; they would have to stir a groundswell of support for the alternative. That simply hasn’t happened, for many of the reasons Huckabee identified.
This transition is a Train Wreck. Unless Obama can find some Honest Talented candidates for his Cabinet ,this Administration will be as corrupt as Clinton’s and inept as Carter’s.
Suggestion. Look beyond the usual partisan Hacks of both parties.
Too bad GWB was never able to speak with the force and clarity of Cheney. He had the knack of making good things sound dodgy. Obama, I think we’ll find, will win style points for making bad things sound good.
LaHood is another person from the swamp of Chicago/Illinois politics. Amazing what gets brought along when no one seems to think it matters. Embrace the change everyone.
Geithner and LaHood are just two examples of what happens when you think you walk on water in order to help the little guy. Like LaHood you become a crook, or like Geithner you think the rules don’t apply to you. There are more Dems than GOP that fit this description, but there are many regardless of political stripe. Each year the voters are more like sheep to the slaughter.
The Geithner episode lends a new meaning to the phrase ‘nanny state’.
Palin is fit for high office and has no issues, besides knowledge of national issues. Romney is fit for high office and served with distinction (albeit at times liberally) in Massachusetts. Fred Thompson is fit for high office, etc. There are people who can serve as president, as treasury secretary, and as attorney general and not have issues, but have a genuine desire to serve the country.