Tuesday, August 21, 2007
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William Jennings Huckabee?
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
5:02 PM
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"You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."
- William Jennings Bryan
When former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee finished a surprising second-place in the Ames Iowa Straw Poll last week, a lot of people started paying attention. After all, many Republicans are under whelmed by the current crop of frontrunners. And Huckabee, who has performed marvelously in the debates, seems to be on the verge of top-tier status.
But just when Huckabee should be poised to parlay his Iowa finish into real fundraising (as well as public relations) success, the skilled Arkansas orator and former Baptist preacher from Hope has chosen to position himself in a rather un-conservative way -- as a populist.
On one hand, this seems politically sagacious. After all, he is seeking to contrast himself to multi-millionaire Mitt Romney. But it's also a dangerous maneuver, which pitts him against traditionally conservative allies, and has resulted in his often sounding more like Dick Gephardt than Ronald Reagan.
In a recent Wall Street Journal piece, for example, Huckabee attacked hedge funds, saying: “You know, a lot of the folks that are worried now are experiencing maybe a little bit of what the average American worries about every day when they go to work and they’re not sure whether any of these hedge-fund managers and their $100 million bonuses are going to sell off the jobs of the people out there in middle America to China, and they’re going to lose their paychecks and pensions."
This is dangerous talk, inasmuch as traditional conservatives generally view private equity funds, partnerships, and hedge funds favorably. Most conservatives believe that in attacking these entities, Democrats are seeking to change the rules in the middle of the game -- and punish folks merely for making a lot of money. So it's surprising to hear a Republican candidate attacking entrepreneurs for being successful (and implying that their success is somehow hurting regular Americans).
In another interview, Huckabee called the fiscally conservative Club for Growth, the “Club for Greed.” Not good.
In recent decades, class warfare has failed for Democrats, including Gephardt, Gore, and (so far) Edwards, but can Huckabee’s recent rhetoric resonate with disaffected Republican voters? I doubt it. Ronald Reagan (who grew up admiring Franklin Roosevelt) certainly had a populist appeal, but it was never about class warfare. And that's the fundamental problem I have with Huckabee's message. While I applauded him for his social positions, Huckabee is as wrong about populism as he is right about social issues.
One wonders if he realizes he is really tapping into an old political movement that is most closely associated with three-time presidential loser, William Jennings Bryan.
... Bryan, like Huckabee, was a skilled orator who used religious imagery. A prohibitionist and anti-Darwinist (interestingly, Huckabee gave the most cogent response to the "Evolution question" during the CNN GOP debate), Bryan called on Americans to fight trusts and big banks.
Come to think of it, when it comes to his political philosophy, Mike Huckabee may owe more to Bryan than Reagan. And that’s not a good place to be, considering the American people elected Ronald Reagan twice – and rejected William Jenings Bryan three times.
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but Bryan and his counterpart Clarence Darrow both managed to do inestimable damage to the Republic before they died. |
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...are people that don't like hearing the unvarnished truth. There's nothing more honest in this world than a potential customer taking a good long look at what you have to sell, and saying "I'll pass."
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Just because he had a couple of comical rehearsed lines does not mean he had "marvelous" performances.
He is annoying to listen to for me. He's a bit condescending and needs to turn off the preacher side of him.
Truly a lackluster candidate. I doubt he can parlay Iowa into much more, although he beats Fred in my book. |
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More like William "Tyson Foods" Huckabee. |
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Do you have any empirical evidence that the change from a handful of hedge funds to the 8000 of today is positive and necessary contribution to healthy growth of GDP?
Matt you didn't bother checking to see if securitization is a good thing. You just took the word of Stephen Moore and Pat Toomey electioneering.
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I was beginning to warm up to him, but reading these quotes against capitalism has me back on hold. I'm waiting to see something from one of the candidates so that I can enthusiastically support him. I hate always having to "hold my nose" and vote for the (R) because it is lesser of two evils. Once, in a primary, I voted for a Democrat, but when I went to the district convention and saw the railroad job that was done there, I shook the Dumocrat dust off my shoes and never looked back. I believe that was the year that Jimmy "peanut brain" Carter was running and favored George Wallace, inspite of all the bad press he got from the lying media. |
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Have you noticed you always make grammatical errors in every post? No one cares, so stop correcting them - PLEASE!
Geroge Bush has never been all about money. Never. |
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IF you want to know whether is a "populist" I would just look at his record as a Governor for 10 years. As far as we know, he has been a conservative governor who supports free market principles.
I think he is trying to do away with the impression that somehow republicans are not empathetic to the average american's concerns. I agree that he should tone down the rhetoric and balance it more.
WHen he was on hardball with chris matthews, he followed that union guy Steve who cried at the AFL CIO debates. He really empathized and showed concern for the guy, and he didn't say "yea the government should pay for his healthcare". Instead he talked about ways to provide healthcare through the free market.
Look into his record more than just nit picking quotes here and there.
justinok.blogspot.com |
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Mike Huckabee is making a mistake going after Hedge Funds and the Club for Growth.
The Club for Growth (which I am an active member) supports great conservative ideas i.e. lower taxes, less spending, free trade etc. Those are core conservative ideals.
As for Hedge Funds, they represent the heart beat of capitalism. You get paid for your performance. Yes most hedge funds charge a 2% fee, however, that 2% covers expenses and salaries. Most hedge fund managers and partners do not get paid unless they make money. Hedge Fund manager also have to consistently worry about withdraws. One bad year can put a hedge fund out of business.
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Huckabee is a big government conservative in the mold or even worse of GW Bush.
http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/print.aspx?ArticleID=7ecd2abc-c7b0-4016-8683-adf10e6265ac
furthermore, we don't need republicans to start downtalking those people who run our economy and create the jobs. If republicans turn on them, then we are really in trouble.
Huckabee cannot be elected. Think of what type of future he supports. Not a Raegan small government tyupe that is for sure.
this guy can't win. yes he is a smooth talker and a social conservative, but he cannot be trusted to run the government.
no more big government conservatives thank you!! |
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This is a spectacular strategy. If he's the nominee, positioning himself as a social conservative will get the evangelicals, and the populist position will get him the blue-collar Democrats who aren't exactly keen on sex-ed for kindergarteners. A mild touch of populism vis-a-vis markets that suffer from market failures is more than appropriate, and makes him a real winner. |
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an accurate picture of his tenure as Governor of Arkansas.
#1 - Huckabee DID cut taxes... he cut taxes and fees almost 100 times, helping to save taxpayers nearly $400 MILLION.
#2 - Huckabee left a SURPLUS of nearly $850 MILLION which he tried to get sent BACK to the people.
#3 - He is for the FAIR TAX. I know some want to criticize due to lack of knowledge (Hugh Hewitt comes to mind in saying the mortgage deduction would go away) but they fail to tell people when you get your paycheck you would get 100%, not 70-80% you get now. And YOU would control your taxes, not the Government, because you would be taxed on consumption. THAT CAN'T BE ANYMORE FREE MARKET! Hugh also says you can't get rid of the IRS because someone would have to adminstrate the Consumption Tax. States already have a sales tax, the burden would not be that much more for them to collect the tax. PLUS it get's rid of the "hidden economy" of non-tax payers. Drug Dealers, Pimps, Protsitutes, Pan Handlers DO NOT PAY TAXES, but they DO CONSUME THINGS. The revenue it would create would be staggering. All of the off-shore money tax shelters would come back to the USA.
#4 - Ronald Reagan talked about, in his weekly radio addresses, that it is wrong for America to have an American Dream of ownership only of a house, that it should extend to the free market. He has proven that ownership should extend to the company you work for.
It's funny how his message resonated MORE with voters in Iowa than the attack message of the Club for Growth. GO MIKE GO! |
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What do you make of the recent buzz about GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee?
1. Much ado about nothing;
2. A result of the lack of conservative candidates;
3. A promising boost to a potentially successful campaign; or
4. The beginning of Huckabee's rise to the White House
VOTE HERE:
http://memo18.blogspot.com/ |
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to be a "Big Business Globalist!"(GWB).....Perhaps, the Globalist are horrified of a "Compasionate Capitalist?".....There are millions of true conservatives that still recognize the huge gap that has emerged with more billionares in America than street lights, while many factories moved offshore. There were 13 billionares when Reagan took office and 99 when he left office. It has mushroomed sence then. There is nothing patriotic about relocating Americans jobs to China, or filling their jobs with illegal alliens either! There is still a lot to learn about Huckabee, but I already know that the "TOP TIER THREE" are part of the problem based on their BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS!.......The "GLOBALIST" went after Paul, and now they fear Huck........I fear the GLOBALISTS! |
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Hmmm, sounds like working-class "values conservatives" who have gone along with the Republican party in recent decades---despite being royally shafted by conservative economic policies---may finally have a candidate who meets their needs. Maybe Huckabee read Thomas Frank's excellent book "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and drew the logical conclusion about a large bloc of voters who have fallen into a bizarre alliance with Republican plutocrats. |
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Talking about getting rid of the income tax is about as "fiscally conservative" you can get. No other candidate really supports this -- only vague talk of taxes "being too complicated" and "we should do something about that" blah blah.
But only ONE candidate has endorsed an actual plan. His name is Huckabee, and the plan is The Fair Tax.
As for the "populist" thing, Huckabee should probably back off just a tad for now, but not entirely. My uncle was in town the other day, the one I nicknamed: "Uncle Who Always Rants About Outsourcing." The name is earned -- and he gripes for good reason, since his computer programming job was outsourced to India a few years back.
He's a little ticked about it, but he's not the type to vote for Hillary - if he can help it. I sense a lot of voters like him out there, and Huckabee could connect with them. Plus, the Democrats will have a hard time painting Huckabee as some out-of-touch elitist, and their own class-warfare attacks just won't stick.
Besides that, not many average Americans know or care much about "Club for Growth" or "Hedge-Funds", all country-club Repub-speak. But telling them that you'll do away with their income-tax -- that will resonate, and force Hillary (or whoever) into defending the old way IRS.
I am confident my "Uncle Outsource" would agree. |
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it is easy to create a surplus when you tax your citizens.
romney managed to do it without raising taxes. and somehow he managed to at the same time provide health care to all without raising taxes. to top it off, he did while firing 350 government bureacrats. that is fiscal conservatism. |
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