Christian Conservative Speaks with Huckabee June 6, 2007
Posted by christianconservative in Education, Evolution, Huckabee, Iraq, Politics, Presidential campaign, Religion, Republican, Thompson, debate, social issues.trackback
Christian Conservative had the opportunity and privilege of sitting in on a bloggers only conference call with Gov. Huckabee this morning. Huckabee said he was feeling a bit tired (and certainly sounded tired), and with his late flight out of NH last night, this is understandably so.
Huckabee first complemented bloggers by saying that the “blogging community gives us an opportunity to touch a whole lot of people in this country.”
He then turned to his disappointment by the lack of questions on education asked in the debates. In the media conference call (which we also sat in on), Huckabee furthered this idea and said that the questions kept focusing on Iraq, which nine of the candidates have similar ideas about, but no questions about taxes, and no questions about education. He mentioned (and we agree), that it is absurd to ask about the truth of evolution because this is not an issue being discussed by American families around the dinner table. They want to know what will happen when their child “breaks an arm at the playground” not whether or not the President agrees with six day creationism. As far as Christian Conservative is concerned, we find the evolution question interesting, but agree with Huckabee that the issue is unimportant in these debates.
Huckabee also commented on the No Child Left Behind Act and gave his support for the act, saying that “education is the primary responsibility of states” but that “there has been a lot of misunderstanding about NCLB.” In Huckabee’s words, NCLB still allows for a “real sense of control at the state level.” And he also ended by adding how important it is that “we focus on what kids are learning, not just what teachers are teaching.”
We asked the governor about the question posed to the candidates in the June 5th debate which referenced the Nov. 2006 election, when the democrats took back the House and the Senate. Each of the candidates were asked why this happened and what they hoped to do to regain these voters, but none of them mentioned the most influential issue last november, IRAQ! Instead they talked about taxes and spending, and other minor factors and each of them missed the key factor in this topic (on purpose perhaps??).
I asked the governor why no one discussed this, if he thought Iraq did play a major role, and how he would go about regaining those voters’ confidence.
In Huckabee’s eyes, “Iraq was the obvious problem,” and he wanted to comment on some of the not so obvious problems. For instance, the discontent came from “a sense of irresponsible spending by Congress” or the “bungling of Katrina and the way that embarrassed this country.” Huckabee further mentioned that there was just an “overriding sense that there was arrogance and detachment.. you’re not listening to us.”
And finally, some memorable Huckabee quotes about Fred Thompson possibly entering the race:
“once he is in, there will be less of the almost aura than there is until he does get in, and that’s typically the case for most people”
“it doesn’t change our strategy”
“he’s a very formidable candidate, but it doesn’t mean the race is over if Fred walks in the door”
Very unique opportunity you had. I too wish a little more time went into economy and education (among others) in these debates.
Governor Huckabee Bloggers Conference Call **UPDATED**
This morning I had the opportunity to participate in a bloggers conference call with Presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. He took about 6 questions in the 30 minutes we had with him, and I was fortunate enough to have the …
O.K……. I grew up in Alabama. I moved with my wife to Arkansas 3years ago. Please do not believe anything the Huckster says.
Take a look at the report published by The Club for Growth on the Rev. Huck. http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2007/01/a_report_on_mike_huckabees_fis.php
I’ll just call it like I see it…. he is mistaken when he says he lowered taxes in Arkansas 94 times…. I think it may be really fuzzy math.
My taxes are higher here than they ever were in Alabama. He raised taxes to the tune of a net gain of 37%. Arkansas has one of the lower median incomes in the nation. Throughout the 1990’s when most of the country(including Alabama) was having the greatest expansion in history, Arkansas actually shrank economically. We are drowning in taxes here. If the Huckster really believes in a fair tax…. he is at best a recent convert.
Arkansas is ranked 49th or 48th in education. If you take out the 3rd District (Northwest Arkansas), Arkansas is dead last in economics and education.
My car insurance nearly doubled when we moved here. That’s because they have some of the worst roads in the country and are #1 in highway fatalities in the U.S..
After 10 years of Huck as Governor the Republican Party in Arkansas is decimated.
If he can’t do more in a state with only 2.7million people how can he do anything for 300 million?
Do you think he has a real chance of even being in the top three candidates in this primary.
Teddy Republican… you might want to check out some sources that don’t have political agendas themselves. The Club for Growth is a for profit entity, first of all, headed up by a former republican congressman. For being a right-wing group, they certainly get sued by a lot of Republican would-be leaders. http://www.rightwingwatch.org/groups/club_for_growth/
They CFG also doesn’t like any candidates so far, it seems, at least not on the republican side (excepting Brownback).
Secondly, are you complaining that Huckabee spends too much, then simultaneously saying that not enough money is being put into Arkansas programs? That doesn’t make much sense to me.
The link you posted makes me laugh — the source they directly quote is a member of the organization. That’s like me saying this and thinking it’s legitimate:
“Huckabee is first and foremost sincere,” said Redherringpress, a conservative Weblog writer. “His record has been a sparkling one. I like Mike, and I heart Huck.”
…
Teddy,
As for the car insurance problem, I don’t believe that has much to do with the roads (unless we are talking about winding rural roads). I’m pretty sure it has more to do with economics than asphalt and concrete.
The Highways and Interstates? Something had to be done. When he took office, they were atrocious. Towards the end of his last term, they were finally better…and the magnitude of that transformation was enormous. Also, this was voted on by the citizens of the state. He did not do that on his own.
On Club for Growth, I agree with redherring.
As for taxes, read this article from the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031400177.html . It seems to present both sides of the issue. I’d be interested to hear what you have to say about it.
Education? I don’t know where you get those stats. I’m not saying you are wrong…and I’ll dig through the data, just give me a source. I’m not going to spoon feed you data, stats and info. Here are some links, http://mikehuckabeepresident2008.blogspot.com/2005/07/huckabee-delivers-eye-popping.html and http://mikehuckabeepresident2008.blogspot.com/2005/08/more-eye-popping-education-results-for.html .
Here is another stat that was reported in 2006…”Arkansas’ graduation rate has leaped to 74%, besting the national average of 70%. This puts Arkansas at number 25 in the national rankings.” http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0406/320589.html
Buried within the numbers is an even more exciting result for Arkansans. The state now ranks #2 in the nation for the graduation rate among black students.
I understand that site is partial to Mike, but follow the links to the various newspapers and media outlets.
The Republican Party of Arkansas? lol…are you serious? When were they not decimated? And the nationwide backlash against Clinton from 1996 – 2000 doesn’t count…it was unique.
Have you been reading Brantley? The Arkansas Leader? Using “huckster” and “rev. huck” are dead giveaways. If so, they definitely have agendas…but, then again…don’t we all?
I think most of the problems you have with Arkansas have more to do with demographics than the last governor.
I heard him speak at a baptist church in Memphis and was impressed. Thompson impresses me just as much and also comes out of a Christian background. I think either of those two would be great.