The problem with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee isn't his funny name, which brings to mind a character in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon. (What kind of a name is Mitt, anyway?)It's not the fact that he strums a guitar or that, other than governing Arkansas for a decade, his principal claim to fame is losing 110-lbs.
What scares me about Huckabee is that he's a practitioner of the gruesome art of political compassion. He could even be one of those compassionate conservatives we've heard so much about - except he's not a conservative.
Huckabee's stock is rising. Friday's Rasmussen Poll has him among the top tier candidates for the GOP nomination. With 12%, the former governor is behind Giuliani, Thompson and McCain (at 14%) but ahead of Deep-Pockets Mitt (with 11%).
Understandably, Huckabee wowed them at the recent Values Voter Washington Briefing, sponsored by Family Research Council. For those who voted at the conference (instead of voting online), Huckabee won with 51%.
Superficially, Huckabee looks like the ideal candidate for social conservatives - pro-life, anti-gay marriage and a Baptist minister to boot. A friend of mine who's an evangelical and a Beltway pundit says a lot of it comes down to tribal politics. The religious right, which is dominated by evangelicals, looks at Huckabee and sees one of its own. It is mistaken.
Abortion and marriage are make-or-break issues for me. But, uncompassionate conservative that I am, I also care about taxes and spending, secure borders, the economy, crime and the Constitution.
I'm not alone. Conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly says Huckabee "destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party in shambles," Schlafly charges, "Yet some of the same evangelicals who sold us on George W. Bush as a 'compassionate conservative' are now trying to sell us on Huckabee." Call the Better Business Bureau.
Richard Viguerie, as principled and tough-minded as anyone on the right, observes, "But while Gov. Huckabee stands strong on some issues like abortion that are important to social conservatives, a careful examination of his record as governor reveals that he is just another wishy-washy Republican who enthusiastically promotes big government" - which is why Time Magazine thought Huckabee was one of the nation's five best governors. Time doesn't hand out awards for cutting taxes and reducing spending...
Read the rest of Don Feder's column over here.
