Mike Huckabee Comments on Obama's Pastor

When asked about Obama's pastor, Mike Huckabee exhibits surprising and refreshing civility. Mike Huckabee said that "we've got to cut some slack". Of course, this view will be unpopular amongst many. Sadly, I was not of the same opinion with Huckabee either. But when I considered it, I realized the truth of Mike's statements. Mike Huckabee is very careful to do unto others as he would have them do unto him. Here is the video:


Mike Huckabee Cuts Some Slack on Morning Joe (3/19/08)



James Fallows refreshed. His post on The Antlantic is titled "God Bless Mike Huckabee". James Fallows commented,

Two people have now elevated themselves thanks to Rev. Wright and his tirades.

One, of course, is Barack Obama.

The other is Mike Huckabee, who (as I see via Andrew Sullivan and others) dared speak as a human being rather than as an on-message apparatchik in his comments about Obama and Wright. More specifically, he spoke as a "hate the sin, love the sinner" Christian, as a preacher who has delivered extemporized sermons of his own, and as a white product of the segregated South who did not blind himself to how that world would look if he were black. Consider and be in awe of this:

And one other thing I think we've gotta remember. As easy as it is for those of us who are white, to look back and say "That's a terrible statement!"...I grew up in a very segregated south. And I think that you have to cut some slack -- and I'm gonna be probably the only Conservative in America who's gonna say something like this, but I'm just tellin' you -- we've gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told "you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus..."

And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

Actual honest and empathetic discussion about race...! We've come to expect that presidential campaigns will be the equivalent of World War I trench slaughter, in which there is a "winner" at the Somme but really everyone loses and it's a matter of who is farthest from being bled dry at the end. But the idea of actual discourse about real issues -- it would be nice to think that it could happen.

It was a moment like this that first drew John McCain to my attention as a politician, nearly 30 years ago.

In the bleak years just after the Vietnam war, when the tensions that would later resurface in bitter fights about John Kerry's wartime record -- and Bill Clinton's, George W. Bush's, Dick Cheney's, Dan Quayle's -- were at their rawest and most visceral, McCain played a surprising political role. He was the most inclusive and least embittered of hawks, when dealing with doves who had opposed the war in which he had paid such a price. Later he led efforts toward reconciliation between Vietnam and the United States. And when the Swiftboaters of 2004 began running their slimy ads against John Kerry, McCain was there to "deplore" the "dishonest and dishonorable" attacks, something roughly equivalent to what Mike Huckabee has just done.

John McCain probably didn't vote for John Kerry that year; Mike Huckabee is probably not going to vote for Obama this year; I am probably not going to vote for McCain. But stands like theirs, and Obama's, are glimmers of hope.

Read the article on The Atlantic: http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/god_bless_mike_huckabee.php

Huckabee, Mike Huckabee, Governor Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee & the Army's Future

You will remember that the establishment was slow to warm to Reagan. A former skeptic, the conservative blogger Adam Graham shares why Huckabee was and is the Reagan of this generation. Here is the introduction to the post entitled "Huck's Army Will March Again":

If you would have told me in January that I would make more than 300 calls to complete strangers in 3 states on behalf of Mike Huckabee, donate money to his campaign, and write some of my best work to defend his campaign's continuing existence, I would have told you you were crazy. In fact, I put out some zingers on the Governor when I, like many bloggers was feeling quite charitable towards Fred Thompson. I told my readers that the nomination of Mike Huckabee would mean the GOP had left key principles of fiscal conservatism and would have “lost their brain.” I wrote parodies involving the Governor's gifts received while Governor. I calculated that his playing nice with Senator McCain was an attempt to claim the VP spot. I thought I had Huckabee all figured out. I was wrong.

Read the entire post here.

The founders of Huck's Army wrote an inspiring column on Sunday. After bringing back to remembrance some of the reasons why we liked Mike so, they conclude:

In recent days we've been asked repeatedly what all this means. With Huckabee leaving the race after McCain clinched the nomination on Tuesday, was it worth it? Will Huck's Army be anything more than a curious footnote in the virtual pages of Wikipedia?

We believe the answer is yes, and we're determined that it will be. The Internet may have made it possible, but Huck's Army was more than just the Internet. Huckabee inspired a movement. His message and ideas captured hearts and minds alike. And we're still here.

Members of Huck's Army can articulate issues, principles and a positive conservatism. We're a new generation of conservatives who recognize that a consistent conservative philosophy can speak to demographics and issues where Republicans traditionally have failed.

Huckabee was opposed by the Republican establishment and ultimately fell short, but his ability to connect with the people cannot be denied. It reminds us of another candidate who failed in his first presidential bid -- 12 years before we were even born -- but who spent the next four years building a coalition that led to victory in 1980 and 1984: Ronald Reagan.Huck's Army may well be the start of a similar coalition for the next Great Communicator.

Huckabee's supporters are not disillusioned; we're resolved. We will work to make the Republican Party strong because we work to make it right. Some of our members will one day hold office, but all of us will stay engaged.

Call us young idealists, but it was worth it -- and it's not over.

Read the entire article here.

Mike Huckabee, Huckabee, Governor Mike Huckabee

David Stokes: "Thank You, Mike Huckabee"

David Stokes wrote a wonderful article on Townhall.com. The article begins:

In August of 1976, Republicans met in Kansas City’s Kemper Arena to nominate Gerald R. Ford for a presidential term in his own right, after a long and hard-fought battle with Ronald Reagan. It had been a close race, bearing some similarity to what is transpiring in the camp of the Democrats this year; at least in the sense of being a horse race careening toward the wire.

Reagan was in the crowd when President Ford gave his acceptance speech. It was a better than average performance for Ford, who was not known for his eloquence or for being a particularly animated speaker. That evening he was clearly upbeat and savoring his victory and the moment.

Following the address and during the usual post-speech floor demonstration, Mr. Ford went back to the podium and invited Mr. Reagan to the platform. Reagan, at first, didn’t seem to understand, and had a look on his face that would become familiar to Americans a few years later when, as President, he would step off Marine One and walk toward the White House; the thumping of helicopter blades giving him cover for not hearing questions shouted by reporters.

But he eventually made his way from his seat in the distance to center stage.
The Great Communicator most commonly read his thoroughly prepared speeches (and was occasionally mocked for this, being called “the ACTING President”), but Mr. Reagan could, in fact, speak eloquently on cue in an impromptu situation. That night in Kansas City is a case in point.

I remember watching this on television and found myself thinking what I suspect millions of others were also wondering: “And, we didn’t nominate this guy, why?”

I felt a little like that last Tuesday night as I listened to Mike Huckabee’s remarks to his supporters telling them that he was dropping out of the race. His generous and eloquent phrases were upbeat and encouraging, and his obvious gift for communication came through loud and clear. He thanked his supporters, as was appropriate. Equally appropriate, in my opinion, is an acknowledgement of gratitude to Mr. Huckabee for a job well done.

Read the entire article here...

Mike Huckabee, Huckabee, Governor Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee's Historic Campaign:

As Huckabee's campaign ends, the reviews are coming in. For more coverage, see I Heart Huckabee.


TIME magazine article begins:

"He didn't even really care," Huckabee told me about his grade school opponent, as we drove through Des Moines in January of 2007. "He didn't even want to be on the student council. His friends put him up to it at the last minute to be funny. And I was really serious about it. He wasn't. And I thought, golly, what a deal he's got."

People tell themselves stories to survive, and politicians probably more than most. They weave mythologies to keep them going in the face of ridiculous conditions: sleepless weeks of unending town hall meetings, airplane flights, conference calls and attacks on their character, not to mention the microscopic glare of the carnivorous press always predicting their coming demise. For Huckabee, the tale that keeps him going has its roots before puberty, in that student council election. He still sees himself as he was then, the outsider with the skill and determination to out-hustle the world's popular kids.

And, golly, what a job he has done. His concession to John McCain Tuesday night capped off a remarkable year-long odyssey that took the nation and Iowa by storm, defied the expectations of his critics and, ultimately, help set the stage for McCain's nomination. "We started this effort with very little recognition and virtually no resources," Huckabee deadpanned from a hotel ballroom in Irving, Texas, as he took his final bow. "We ended with slightly more recognition and very few resources."

From the beginning of his presidential run, Huckabee was counted out. The list of particulars went on without end: He lacked the money, the connections, the Washington advisors and the endorsements. He was too openly religious. He had a funny last name and crooked teeth, and the fiscal conservatives didn't trust him. His books offered oddly quaint instructions, like "report litter" and "don't swear." He had once supported the release from prison of a rapist, Wayne DuMond, who went on to commit murder. His campaign staff could, for a time, be counted on one hand, then two. He was never expected to be a serious factor.

Read the entire article here...

Byron York at National Review Online wrote:

...That was the key to Huckabee’s win in Iowa. Romney was paying people left and right; he had a huge paid staff in the state. Huckabee was receiving the help of volunteers who made their own campaign materials for him and made sure they were distributed; who worked phone banks; who flocked to the caucuses. In the end, the battle in Iowa, which many observers thought would be about organization, was really about intensity, and Huckabee had it.

But he couldn’t transfer it to the other early states, and a long losing streak followed. Big primaries — New Hampshire, Michigan, South Carolina, Florida — came and went without Huckabee victories. Later, there were wins in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Kansas. But never, after the Iowa glow faded, did Huckabee seriously challenge for the Republican nomination.There were a lot of reasons.

Certainly Huckabee managed to irritate two legs of the Republican three-legged stool, alienating economic and national-security conservatives while relying disproportionately on the support of social conservatives. But in some ways, the answer was much simpler than that.This just wasn’t Huckabee’s year, at least not in the Republican primaries. As governor, he was deeply concerned with issues like health care and education, and not so concerned with Iraq and national security. When I interviewed him in Iowa, just before the straw poll, he seemed frustrated by the Republican emphasis on the war. Like the other candidates, he supported President Bush’s troop surge, but he wasn’t sure there was much more to talk about.

He was seldom asked about Iraq at his campaign appearances, Huckabee told me, and he couldn’t figure out why it dominated debates. “Among the Republican candidates, there’s really very little separation about Iraq, with the exception of Ron Paul,” he said. “And yet, we still go back through it over and over and over again, and I just never quite understood why we continued to plow the same ground when there were so many topics we never touched. Do you realize that in four debates we never had a single question on education? Not one. And two on health care, that I can recall.”

On those rare occasions when the topics came up in debate, Huckabee did very well. But as time went on, the GOP race became more and more about who would be the best commander-in-chief, and John McCain had that one wrapped up. There was no way Huckabee could compete, whatever his political gifts.

But who knows what will happen next time around? If there is a contested GOP race in 2012, Huckabee will almost certainly be there. He’ll be a stronger candidate if he spends the next few years studying up and filling the gaps in his knowledge. But the bottom line is that he’s a dazzlingly talented politician in a party that is not exactly full of dazzlingly talented politicians. You’ll see him again.

Read the entire article here...

The Christian Post concludes:

Whatever lies in the political future of Huckabee, he is now considered by many within and outside the Christian community as the new face of the evangelical movement – a nicer and more open-minded Christian who reflects the new evangelical center.

Read the entire article here...

Huckabee's Future Still Bright is the title of an AP story.

But, whatever the future is, Huckabee is taking this moment to transition and relax. In a letter to supporters, Mike Huckabee wrote:

It seems as if winter is chasing me wherever I go! It's snowing hard in Little Rock today--in March, for heaven's sake! After spending the past few months mostly in Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and other "snow states," I thought we'd seen the last of winter. But NO--it snowed in Texas and now in Little Rock. I would head to South Florida, but would hate to cause a snowstorm in Miami.

I want to thank all of you for the incredible encouragement that you've been giving to Janet and me these past few days. We read the blogs daily and get such a lift from the thoughtful and gracious things people are sayinig. It really does overwhelm us with gratitude.

While many of our staff have left to find jobs and to head to wherever home is for a while, a few are still in the office trying to pack things up and go through the process of closing the doors. This will take a while--we weren't planning on this, but rather had planned on not closing until January of 2009.

We will keep the website active, although it may be updated on a more limited basis instead of hourly--we will communicate with you what's next. We are trying to formulate the plans for transitioning into an effort to work to help the cause in this year's elections and then to continue having an impact on policy and issues beyond.

One thing I'm convinced of--you have worked too hard and made too many sacrifices for us to just "quit." That's not an option for any of us. The reason we all worked so hard is to make a better future for coming generations--as I often said, this isn't about just the next election, but the next generation. That battle is far from over.

I've spent the past couple of days trying to find the bottom of my desk, make calls, and re-connect with our "boys" (the 3 dogs--Jet, Sonic, and Toby) who haven't seen much of us the past few months. We are trying to find some time to get away for a few days, but not sure when or where just yet. There's still a lot of things to get done right now.

One of my immediate concerns is for our incredible staff. Pray for them that they will all find good jobs soon. Many gave up very good careers to come to work for us at a fraction of their salaries. They have worked 20 hour days for months without rest or vacation. One of my priorities is to make sure they land on their feet. We have some amazing people with truly remarkable gifts.

I will keep in touch through the website and hope to be able to announce in the near future some plans that will hopefully keep us all connected for what the future might still hold. I do not for one moment believe that our mission has been accomplished--just started. I hope you feel the same. We may be delayed, but not
deterred!

I appreciate you all more than I have the capacity to communicate. Have a great weekend. Janet and I will be in our own church for the first time in a long time and that will be great.

Now, it's time to get back to sorting through months of things that have been stacking up and watching the snow make me think I'm back in Iowa! God bless you all!

With deep love for all.

[Mike Huckabee]

Mike Huckabee Concedes (video)

Mike Huckabee conceded the presidential race to McCain on Tuesday February 4, 2008.

Watch Mike Huckabee's concession speech. Huckabee again shares from his heart. I'm so thankful to have witnessed his campaign. May God Bless him!

Video of Mike Huckabee's Concession Speech

Check out the website of Mike Huckabee for comments. www.mikehuckabee.com

NOTE: Huckabee begins with a story on a baseball player named George Brett.

Mike Huckabee Electrifies Thousands in Plano, Texas

Dedicated Supporters Cheer Former Governor Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee Speaks in Plano, Texas

Someone forgot to tell Texas the election was over. And they forgot to tell Huckabee too. If Mike Huckabee wins Texas, Huckabee's in the game.

Mike Huckabee has consistently outperformed expectations. Watch this video from a Mike Huckabee supporter detailing Huckabee's '08 story:

Mike Huckabee Video: Cinderella Man 2.0