There’s been some play in the blogosphere over this article about Mike Huckabee. In it, John Fund essentially says that Huckabee is not all that conservative:

Nor am I alone. Betsy Hagan, Arkansas director of the conservative Eagle Forum and a key backer of his early runs for office, was once "his No. 1 fan." She was bitterly disappointed with his record. "He was pro-life and pro-gun, but otherwise a liberal," she says. "Just like Bill Clinton he will charm you, but don't be surprised if he takes a completely different turn in office."

Of course you could probably find just about any politician with disillusioned former backers that now criticize the person they once backed. Unfortunately Fund doesn’t take the time to fully delve into Huckabee’s candidacy, relying more on accusations of inconsistent conservatism by critics. This is fairly typical of media types.

I say that it is unfortunate that Fund doesn’t spend more time analyzing Huckabee’s candidacy because there are legitimate concerns that run deeper than the name calling that the media relishes. Fund lists a few of these:

Many Huckabee supporters have told me their man should be judged by what he's saying on the campaign trail today. Fair enough. Mr. Huckabee was the only GOP candidate to refuse to endorse President Bush's veto of the Democrats' bill to vastly expand the Schip health-care program. Only he and John McCain have endorsed the discredited cap-and-trade system to limit global-warming emissions that has proved a fiasco in Europe.

Certainly all these things should cause conservatives to pause at endorsing Mike Huckabee. The thing that strikes me most is how willing Huckabee is to deviate from principles of conservative economics. He apparently has few qualms about raising taxes and spending. Either one of these is dangerous enough for our economy and our freedoms. Both of them together spell immense trouble for our nation. It’s one of the biggest reasons we oppose Democrats, because of their tax and spend habits. Huckabee seems not to be much of an improvement in that area.

In many ways Huckabee is the bizarro-Giuliani: fiscally moderate to liberal, moderate on foreign policy, and staunchly conservative on social issues. In the same way that Giuliani’s stool fails for lack of a third leg, Huckabee’s stool also falls over for lack of a conservative fiscal leg. But don’t take my word for it, look at the immense amount of studying that the Club for Growth has put out on Huckabee. This, just out yesterday, is the latest article put out by Pat Toomey, President of CoG, on Huckabee:

During Huckabee’s tenure as governor, the average Arkansan’s tax burden increased 47 percent, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. A dyed-in-blue tax hiker, Huckabee supported raising sales taxes, gas taxes, grocery taxes, even nursing home bed taxes. He virulently opposed a congressional moratorium on taxing Internet access, and sat on the sidelines while his Democratic legislature pushed the largest tax hike in Arkansas history into law. What’s more, on his watch, and frequently at his behest, state spending increased by 50 percent, more than double the rate of inflation, and the number of state government workers rose by 20 percent.

All the more reason to support Mitt Romney, the only complete candidate in the field.

Labels: mike huckabee