Mike Huckabee is a former governor from Arkansas and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.
AbortionMike Huckabee has been consistently anti-abortion. However, he hasn't been consistent when it comes to whether it is an issue for the states or the federal government.
In
an interview with John Hawkins of Right Wing News in April 2006, Huckabee was asked if Roe v Wade shown be overturned. He responded:
It would please me because I think Roe v. Wade is based on a real stretch of Constitutional application -- that somehow there is a greater privacy issue in the abortion concern -- than there is a human life issue -- and that the federal government should be making that decision as opposed to states making that decision.
So, I've never felt that it was a legitimate manner in which to address this and, first of all, it should be left to the states, the 10th Amendment, but secondly, to somehow believe that the taking of an innocent, unborn human life is about privacy and not about that unborn life is ludicrous. In a November 23, 2007
article in The Examiner, Huckabee says the exact opposite. From the article:
The former Baptist pastor says it is not enough to overturn Roe v. Wade, a move that would leave individual states to decide whether to keep abortion legal. Huckabee also wants the U.S. Constitution amended to outlaw the procedure nationally. "If abortion is a political issue, and that's all it is, then fine, have 50 versions," Huckabee told The Examiner in an interview. "But if we have determined, as many of us have, that it's a moral issue, then you can't have 50 different versions of what's right and what's wrong." Huckabee likened abortion to suffrage and slavery, issues of such moral consequence that they had to be decided nationally. He said allowing individual states to decide abortion would diminish its importance to the level of speeding laws.Huckabee has promoted himself as the genuine candidate. He has also been inconsistent in other areas.
ImmigrationHuckabee was originally very bold on the issue. He stated his consternation over the immigration debate sometimes bordering on racism. While governor of Arkansas, Huckabee allowed deserving children of undocumented immigrants to receive college scholarships. He also criticized the federal government for a raid on undocumented workers that did not take into account the care of their children. He recently defended those two positions saying, "We are a better country than to punish children for what their parents did."
Recently, Huckabee totally changed his tune. He laid out a plan where undocumented immigrants would have to register with Immigration and voluntarily leave the country within 120 days, otherwise they would be deported and barred from returning to the U.S. for ten years. It is a short-sighted proposal that does not account for the impact the departure of undocumented immigrants will have on their communities and gives no incentive for the immigrants to register.
Foreign PolicyIn some foreign policy areas, Huckabee has refreshing compassion for a Republican. He favors an exhaustive diplomatic effort with Iran, leaving the possibility of war as a last resort. He has criticized Bush for the president's "go it alone" attitude and "arrogant bunker mentality" when it comes to dealing with the rest of the world. Huckabee also criticized Bush for not listening to his generals with regards to the number of troops required to stabilize Iraq in the wake of the U.S. invasion.
However, in other foreign policy areas, Huckabee is either ill-informed or irrationally bellicose. He was unaware of the National Intelligence Estimate that asserted Iran had ceased their nuclear program in 2003. He advocates leaving troops in Iraq as long as General Petraeus deems it necessary. With regards to Pakistan, his gaffs in the wake of the Benazir Bhutto assassination are well documented. He has also called for violating international law by attacking al Qaeda within the borders of Pakistan, regardless of whter or not permission for such an invasion is granted.
Here are some irrelevant (and possibly inaccurate) fun facts:
- Before losing a lot of weight, he used to wrestle in the WWF under the name Yokozuna
- He made 1,033 pardons as Gov., all to convicted gay bashers
- Would use waterboarding techniques against AIDS patients
- Bin Laden's mother was gonna have an abortion until Huckabee talked her out of it
- Believes women should submit to their husbands, but assures he's not a sexist
