Can Romney and Huckabee Supporters Call a Truce?
An article posted on Real Clear Politics by “The Huckabee Alliance” hit home. http://tinyurl.com/5vhr5r I too have been used as a “pawn” during the elections. Partly due to genetics (hot-headed Irish mixed with bull-headed German) and partly due to my upbringing. I was taught to stand up and fight for what I believe in, defend people I care about, and the best defense is a good offense. I took several of the candidate match quizzes and matched best with Gov. Huckabee on every one I took. (Except for the one on foxnews.com that didn’t have Gov. Huckabee’s true stands on some of the issues) When Gov. Romney started his kneecap campaigning against MY candidate and the majority of the media joined him; the fight was on. I am still boycotting FOXNEWS and the “conservative” talk show hosts for their biased reporting and opinions; and because they’ve since begun a joint effort of promoting Gov. Romney as Sen. McCain’s VP.
Gov. Huckabee has enough good qualities; I shouldn’t have to point out the qualities I find lacking in other candidates for the VP position. If Sen. McCain doesn’t choose a consistent moral values conservative as his VP; I can’t vote GOP with a clear conscience. Will I do something as stupid as Ms, Coulter and support a liberal Democrat? NO WAY! With the revival of the “civil war” in the Democrat Party and the “anyone but McCain” discontented Republicans, there should be lots of help with starting a massive write-in campaign; if we didn’t organize soon enough to have “none of the above” placed on the ballots.
From now on, I will do my best to avoid kneecapping the opposition. If Gov. Romney’s supporters and Gov. Huckabee’s supporters can call a “truce” on the kneecapping; we can all post reasons why we think our candidate is best choice for Sen. McCain’s VP rather than why the other candidate is bad. This will be hard to do if both sides aren’t willing. I know my Irish temper will get in the way if Gov. Huckabee or we supporters are continued to be bashed and used as “pawns.”
Watch for my reasons for believing Gov. Huckabee is the best choice for Sen. McCain’s VP on my blog in the near future.
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[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAn article posted on Real Clear Politics posted by “The Huckabee Alliance” hit home. http://tinyurl.com/5vhr5r I too have been used as a “pawn” during the elections. Partly due to genetics (hot-headed Irish mixed with bull-headed … [...]
I think that the truce makes a lot of sense, and in the interest of fairness (I’m a Romney supporter), I’d like to start with Huckabee’s strong points:
In my view, Gov. Huckabee is a down-to-earth, personable politician who truly belives in and fights for the common man. He is a man of faith and hope and has given his adult life to serving fellow Christians as a pastor in the Baptist Church and the people of Arkansas. Finally, while Governor of Arkansas, he kept spending growth to a minimum, which is no small task for any government leader.
Rather than contrast the two, I’d rather just list Gov. Romney’s strong points so that others can consider them, also. He is a polished speaker, a dedicated leader, and has a hugely successful track record of turning failing ventures around. In my estimation, the US Government is a failing venture (has been since the invention of Social Security), which is one of the main reasons that I support Gov. Romney. Further, Romney has dedicated his adult life to serving fellow Christians as a Bishop of the LDS Church, as well as many other roles. Finally, most Americans work in the private sector and believe in the American Dream (hard work equals success), both of which traits are embodied by Governor Romney. I calculated that his net worth is approximately 25,000 times what mine is, but admire a man who took the five talents given to him and has earned five more talents many times over.
If anyone would like to add any positive thoughts regarding either great man, please comment!
Both Romney and Huckabee are devoted to their wives and children. That may not sound like much on the surface but it really does run deep. Both married high school sweethearts and both live their vows “in sickness and in health”. Our government is rife with politicians who have hurt their wives and families with deplorable behavior. (While everyone makes mistakes, some behavior cannot be classified as a mistake - some behavior is destructive to others and selfish and that is what I refer to.) Both Romney and Huckabee are models of behavior that can be looked up to in this area.
GrannyT,
I am afraid you are right and I have surely been guilty.
Granny - well said. It’s not that easy though. Romney is a rational person. He dropped out when he saw no path to victory and almost immediately got behind McCain. Even though McCain pulled some pretty cheap tricks and harsh digs on Mitt. He always has nice things to say about the other candidates and openly admits his flaws. Professional, presidential but almost too plastic.
Huck held on and held on and held on. Way too emotionally attached to the attention and draw of the campaign. He never resisted taking a shot at MR. In many cases, Huck’s have been more personal.
I don’t think you understand how unpresidential this is. It’s so easy to see this as a jealousy of MRs money and possibly looks. THis is THE “christian” candidate”. Is he quick to forgive. Does he envy not. When THE christian candidate acts this immature it ruins his entire appeal.
What I mean is that for all sides of the Thompson-Huck-Romney crowd to pull together it starts at the top. I was a Thompson turned Romney supporter - like many. Everyone seems to be on the same page here and ready to play chummy but Huck.
[...] among ourselves. It seemed especially bad between the supporters of Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. GrannyT has an excellent post about that on her blog. They were not the only ones who went at each other. [...]
In case you missed it the above comment has a link to another blog site Just click on “Good for you, John McCain-My Take” to read Larry’s blog.
As for Mike staying in the race too long: McCain knew Mike had the right to stay in until someone reached 1191 pledged delegates that were bound to the candidate. McCain did the same thing in 2000 and waited until just before the convention to get behind Bush. I’ve read Mike’s books. It’s not the attention he is so interested in. It is the message. He really wants to help people in our country to take more personal responsibility and the government less. The federal government should take even less responsibility than the states. Parents should have more responsibility for raising their children than the feds or states. Our current tax system penalizes productivity and needs to be demolished. The Fair Tax would help bring jobs back home and promote working harder to improve personal lifestyle and wealth. ALL human life is important, from conception until natural death. Traditional marriages are best for the whole family. Education helps people be able to find decent jobs and stay off welfare and out of prison. Educating kids cost less than supporting them for ever by incarceration or welfare. He has so much more that he wants to promote and he has the communication skills to get the message out.
All of the top tier candidates made mistakes during the election cycle. They are human. If any of us were perfect; Jesus wouldn’t have needed to sacrifice Himself for us. I liked Mike’s answer about Jesus being too smart to run for politics.
Brian,
I don’t think you’re analysis of Huckabee’s and Romney’s situations is totally fair:
Romney had already spent $40+ MILLION of his own money on the campaign. Huckabee was running on the paltry amount he had raised.
Romney knew that he couldn’t make up the huge deficit on McCain while Huckabee remained in the race, and it appeared that Huckabee would have no intention of getting out of the race after a surprisingly successful Super Tuesday. (Romney’s Super Tuesday was very disappointing compared with what he needed to accomplish).
Romney made the first move to get out of the race, which gave Huckabee the incentive to try to force the race to a brokered convention.
It seems that we all are complaining about McCain as the nominee, yet some want to criticize Huckabee for fighting until the fat lady had actually begun to sing. I don’t think that’s right.
I also don’t think the implied criticism of “THE Christian leader” is fair. First, calling yourself A “Christian Leader” is not the same as “THEE Christian Leader,” as you suggest.
Secondly, yes, Huckabee was a pastor, but he was also governor of Arkansas for 10 1/2 years, much longer than anyone else who ran for President this year. Huckabee did push the Christian angle, but I think the media ran away with the minster concept, rarely mentioning how long he was a governor.
But the “Christian Leader” term relates to Huckabee’s social conservatism, and the fact that he can connect with everyday Americans, so I don’t think it’s so despicable.