I never thought I would say this, but Mike Huckabee is 1000% correct. I never really cared for Huckabee, I am wary of former ministers who run for public office. He does come across as a nice guy, not a fire and brimstone Evangelical. I never met a Mike Huckabee supporter but those I saw on TV seemed too religious for my taste. I did run into a Sarah Palin supporter at a Charlie Baker rally in 2010 ( I went to see Chris Christie actually) and I thought “Oh my God this women thinks Palin would make a good president, get me out of here”. I actually spoke with a couple of Will Brownsberger supporters, they were actually nice people, for some reason they spoke to me for like 15 minutes until I left and no , they didn’t know I was BMG Dan from Waltham.
So as of right now, hold the phone, I may just support Mike Huckabee over Rand Paul if I pull a Republican ballot in 2016. Huckabee said “We devalue people sometimes who are poor. We do not deem them worthy of the same level of treatment we give those who are connected to the real axis of evil in this country, the axis of power that exists between Washington and Wall Street.”
Asked to elaborate on this, Mike said “Well, there is such a collusion, Chris, between what happens in the financial world and what happens in the political world. One hand washes another and one feeds another. And who takes it in the teeth? It’s most of the working class people of America. Big banks get bailed out. Big insurance companies get bailed out. Who bails them out? Washington bails them out. Why? Because there are campaign contributions that come along with the bailout.
I hear politicians that will resent the fact that some single mom is getting some assistance to put food on the table for her three children, she is doing the best she can, busting her backside try to help them, and those same people that somehow resent that single mom are the one and saying, but it’s perfectly OK to bail out to the tune of billions big banks who are run by Ivy League people who should have known better how to recklessly mismanaged.”
Now imagine if you will, if Romney spoke like this in 2012 instead of the talking about the 47%? We know Hillary can’t talk like Huckabee, she allegedly received $400K in cold hard cash from Goldman Sachs for a couple speeches. Keep talking like this Mike, and you may win more than the evangelical vote, like mine.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/12/22/huckabee_50-50_chance_on_running_for_president_in_2016.html
jconway says
I actually like a lot of the rhetoric Huckabee employed on economic issues in his last campaign and if this is a preview of his coming campaign I can get on board with that rhetoric. Four quick criticisms though.
1) His 2008 platform was economically regressive
While this rhetoric was nice, he called for a ‘Fair Tax’ or Flat Tax of 10% with revenue raised by a national and highly regressive Goods and Services tax (GST) of around 23%. Such a tax scheme would still defund the government, choke the economy and small business, and essentially be a redistribution of wealth to the upper echelons of society at the expense of the poor. Politifact does a nice job fairly demonstrating how it’s an awful proposal.
2) He Ain’t Getting Money out of Politics
This Axis of Evil or Axis of Influence is real. And his above quotes are very heartening, particularly when a Republican bashes his party for bashing single moms on welfare and one hand washing the other culture. Bailing out ivy league bankers while single moms starve. Etc. Great words. Yet time and time again not only has he supported the Citizens United ruling but he actively works with the group itself to pursue radical anti-UN and anti-abortion campaigns.
3) Huckabee’s Liberal Problem
At the end of the day, I would argue with all his faults outlined above you are correct that rhetorically he is far more in line with the populist mainstream of American economic thought. The grassroots in both parties are far more populist than they want to admit, while the elite neoliberals at the top hold opinions that are actually far out of the American mainstream-particularly regarding bailouts, corporate welfare, and corporate taxation. But even this rhetoric alienates him from the base of the Republican party. They will reject his ‘big government conservatism’ like they did in 2008.
He is too far to the left on economics to be electable in a GOP primary and way too far to the right to be electable in a general election as a nominee. As a fan of William Jennings Bryan it’s heartening to hear attempts to revive his legacy on the right, but he will enjoy about as much electoral success as the Great Commoner.
danfromwaltham says
I believe that’s the idea behind a consumption tax. I concur with your apprehension of the idea, but don’t be so dismissive, we sort of agree the existing tax code is rigged, Huck’s idea dies eliminate much of it.
Huck is too pro-life for my liking as well, but I am not a one issue voter. If it is Huckabee VS Goldman Sachs Clinton, I will go with Mike b/c he would do more and relate better to the working class.
kbusch says
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JimC says
Huckabee is one of the worst, least trustworthy people in American politics. Here’s one example.
His show is a parade of some of the worst Obama bashing, for an hour every week. BUT —
Sorry, but I can’t listen to a word the man says or contemplate any of his ideas. It would be like listening to Ted Cruz give a lecture on Canadian history; he probably knows more of it than I do, but I’d rather get it from someone credible.
danfromwaltham says
Hillary turned $1,000 into $100,000 in cattle futures in the late 70’s. In those days, $100K was worth serious money. I would submit, Hillary’s transactions look a lot more seedy and slimy, than what Huckabee is doing with his PAC.
What you cited about Huckabee’s PAC is what I consider nothing new.
JimC says
My feelings about Hillary are on record. I have problems with her, but I’ll vote for her if I have to. If Huckabee was her opponent, I’d take out a second mortgage to make sure she won.
danfromwaltham says
And the front-runner for the Democrat Nomination and was called out in the diary posted by Manny.
If you are going to overlook egregious behavior of Hillary, don’t come out swinging against lesser impropriety of Republicans.
kbusch says
but DFW operates in a “sound bite war”. If you produce an anti-Republican sound bite, a pro-Republican sound bite is always relevant for him. That’s even Steven: you get your sound bite, so he gets his.
It’s what they do on TeeVee after all.