Huckabee is out, for now

Mike Huckabee is not running for President (VV). Now we have to make sure a Republican nominee won’t pick Huck for VP.

One down, one to go.

Say what, Mike?

Clearly tired of the “rubber chicken circuit,” Mike Huckabee goes for his usual culinary change-of-pace – his own foot (Politico):

Mike Huckabee seemed to suggest that Barack Obama grew up in Kenya . . . “One thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American,” Huckabee said in response. “If you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather,” Huckabee added.

Obama grew up where?

Cross-posted to VV and RWL

There he goes again

It had been quite some time since Mike Huckabee had insulted, crossed, and otherwise annoyed limited-government conservatives. As one of the very few high-profile Republicans to openly oppose TARP, he had a tremendous opportunity to rebuild bridges.

Today, at King’s College (NYC), Huckabee not only refused to rebuild those bridges, but he set fire to a few more (Brian Stewart – NRO: The Corner):

Huckabee flatly denied being a “pro-life liberal,” an accusation often made in certain quarters on the right. Not a trace of defensiveness could be detected on this point. To the contrary, the governor gave an all-out defense of his tax hikes while governor of Arkansas on the grounds that they were the only responsible course of action to repair state roads. He snorted with derision at “libertarians” who fail to recognize that “we don’t have a health care crisis in this country, but a health crisis.” He spoke with passion and knowledge on the need for preventative care to bring down exorbitant costs. And then, without the least amount of prompting, he mustered a vigorous defense of Mrs. Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity. This was the “art of governing,” he argued, rather than the cheap “science of campaigning.”

Where to begin!

For starters, the tax-hikes-for-roads nonsense is a common feature here in Virginia, at least until Speaker Bill Howell and his fellow Republicans in the House of Delegates finally got over their HB3202-induced tax-fever. The rest was just Huckabee’s typical drivel. In fact, his last line about the “art of governing” – citing a First Lady campaign – would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragically ignorant.

He then digs himself even deeper with this:

Invited to plea for cuts in defense spending, he delicately declined, but noted that combat operations in Afghanistan were futile and therefore constituted government “waste.”

Let that sink in for just a minute: fighting the Taliban is now government waste to Mike Huckabee.

Stewart called Huckabee “The Face of Conservative Populism.” That Huckabee can still manage to get “conservative” attached to himself is all the more reason I call myself a right-wing liberal.

Also cross-posted to Virginia Virtucon

Karen Handel for Governor of Georgia

Why?  Simple, Mike Huckabee endorsed her primary opponent.

Cross-posted to VV and RWL

More evidence the Huckster will try again in 2012

Gabriel Malor over at Ace of Spades sees more evidence why Huck will run for the GOP presidential nomination - and why he must not win.

Among the other tidbits . . .

Fourth, if you thought he was riding the populist shtick before the Great Recession, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Making appearances in this article: a child, “choking with asthma” that Huck says demonstrates why government must provide healthcare.

Yup, that’s Huckabee for you.

Chug, chug, chug, chug, whirrrrrr . . . we’re back!

The head of Mike Huckabee’s political action committee (HuckPAC) has informed the world that his boss “should still be included on the list of possible Republican presidential candidates” (Des Moines Register).  Later he “sent a statement from Huckabee saying no decision about his political future will be made until after the mid-term elections.”

In other words, the Huckster wants to be back in the 2012 conversation.

If that’s what he wants, that’s OK.  However, if he’s back, well, then so are we.

The next Vice President of the United States . . .

. . . is not Mike Huckabee.

Our work here is done.

Until the next election cycle . . .