Comments on the thin man
Like Paul, I doubt that Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and his platform of healthy eating provide much in the way of presidential prospects. Is there someone out there who an understanding of the first principles of limited government, or who has serious ideas about the defense of the United States in the war we're in?
A few readers have written in response to Joel Mowbray's report on Governor Huckabee. David Rogers notes that the restraints on Governor Huckabee's appetite apparently have their limiits:
Regarding your post on Joel Mowbray’s touting of Arkansas Governer Huckabee as a potential Presidential candidate: You might want to know that the Arkansas Times reported today that Governor Huckabee, who is leaving office, barred from running again, and barred by state law from accepting any gifts over $100 upon leaving office, is trying to collect gifts anyway by taking advantage of a loophole in Arkansas law allowing “wedding gifts” exceeding $100 (story here).Wesley Marshall also takes note of the Huckabee wedding registry:
As an Arkansas conservative I’d have to say that I would be a little wary of getting on the Huckabee bandwagon. As a libertarian/conservative some of the problems I think he’s going to have are:Comment on this post as well as Joel Mowbray's report on Governor Huckabee here.1. Huckabee is a “nanny-state” Republican. I think it’s great that he’s lost a lot of weight, and is mindful of his health, but he also supported the state-wide ban on smoking, and making schools responsible for watching the weight of their students. This nanny-state mentality may explain at least partly why the general media seems to like him.
2. [Marshall refers to the story of Wayne Dumond.] Huckabee pushed for DuMond’s parole. Once out on parole Dumond went on to murder a woman in Kansas City.
3. He seems to be running into ethical problems right now with making a wedding registry for himself and his wife of 30-plus years so that he can accept gifts that would otherwise violate state law. Just as a matter of common sense, how can you justify setting up a registry to accept wedding gifts over 30 years after your wedding? Heck, if that’s legitimate I guess folks can start asking for wedding presents every year after they’re married.
I want a strong conservative candidate to win in 2008, and I’m not sure who this person is yet, but convinced that Huckabee is not the guy to accomplish this. Instead he seems to be someone the media is giving a pass to so that they can take him down hard later in the political cycle. I don’t want us to suffer in 2008 because we do a poor job vetting our candidate before we put him on the ticket.
Personally, I think what Huckabee may actually be angling for is the #2 slot on the 2008 ticket. If McCain or Giuliani gets the #1 slot, I could see either of them looking to pick Huckabee as their VP in the hopes of shoring up support amongst Christian conservatives. There’s nothing wrong with the goal, but I really don’t think Huckabee is going to be more of a plus than a minus.
