Ron Paul Gets Huckslapped
I originally mentioned some time ago that Mike Huckabee, former Governor of the state I'll always call "home", "had my vote". Along, then, came Fred Thompson, and I admit I got swept up in the hype, sorta left my buddy Huck by the wayside, and spent a lot of my energy rooting for Fred. Now that my enthusiasm for Fred Thompson has... let's just say "mellowed", I find myself more and more attracted to Mike Huckabee. From straw polls (a surprise, strong second in Iowa!) to political magazines (on the cover of last week's National Review!) to debates (see above, and this post), Huckabee continues to make waves.
Now I know he's almost-but-not-quite the anti-Fred: he's somewhat of a big spender, and somewhat of a nanny-stater, and definitely not the hard-core states'-rights advocate like Fred. The "somewhats", there, are HUGE qualifiers -- name one democrat to whom he can hold a candle. And can any Republican actually be worse than Bush in that regard? He's strong on national defense (witness above), and among all the remaining, snowball's-chance-in-hell candidates (sorry, Brownback, Hunter, and Tancredo), he's the only true-blue, always-has-been social conservative.
Now watch the video above. The man is a remarkable speaker, with all the charm one could ask for. Having grown up around Baptist preachers (the pastor of the church of my youth, Dr. Rex Horne, is now the President of Huck's Alma Mater, Ouchita Baptist University, for example), let me tell you, this man has not lost an ounce of that in his political speaking. Heck, he almost made me want to vote for McCain before he made me want to vote for him! And them comes the coup-de-grace for poor Ron Paul -- or as I believe I have coined it, "The Huckslap".
So now, I have to confess, I am torn: big-government strong social conservative of impeccable moral fiber, or small-government, crypto-libertarian awesome-guy whose positions may have wavered and whose social life may be closer to Clinton's than my own. If Huckabee surges before the PA primary, he might just get my vote now.
Labels: Fred Dalton Thompson, politics
posted by Benjamin at 7:29 AM
2 Comments:
...or small-government, crypto-libertarian awesome-guy whose positions may have wavered and whose social life may be closer to Clinton's than my own.
Don't be silly, Spon...I'm not old enough to run.
I didn't actually like his response either to the question or to Paul. He seems to concede quite a bit to those who say we should never have gone in. He's almost repeating the old Viet Nam arguments of the losing side - saving face, peace with honor, rather than forcefully attacking the premises of the question. Specifically, he could have said we that the reasons for our war in Iraq were good from the start and that nothing has changed in that regard. Furthermore, he could say that Bush never said our war against terrorists would be short and easy. And despite set backs, we can, must, and will win in Iraq. He ignores the point that if we pull out of Iraq, we are conceding ground that could be held to the enemy. Etc. And on top of not presenting a good face on the argument for the war in Iraq, he lets Paul get away with too many bizarre assertions and does not really take them on. United we stand, rah, rah, rah, rather than saying "Paul, or Ron, or whatever the hell your name is, you seem to subscribe to some fringe left-wing conspiracy theory about a neo-con cabal hijacking our country. We as a nation were attacked 6 years ago. We as a country neutralized the remote training grounds of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Our best intelligence at the time, as well as that of other nations, indicated that Iraq was a threat and should be our next front in the war on Islamic terrorism because they were developing, and in fact had used, advanced weapons of mass destruction. We as a country went in to Iraq totally united. The backing of the people was overwhelming and the assent of Congress was secure." Etc.
I haven't heard much Huck, but this did not impress me. So, you hint that your enthusiasm for Fred has mellowed, but I haven't seen any posts on your political evolution on this. You should do a piece on any change of heart you might be experiencing. I'm not too sure about Fred myself, mainly because I'm not sure he has it together enough to win. But I think he could handle Ru Paul better than Huckster did.
Post a Comment
<< Home