One down, one to go.

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

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

Cross-posted to VV and RWL

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.

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.

Our work here is done.

Until the next election cycle . . .

More from that Huckabee Interview   [Ramesh Ponnuru]

The former governor and presidential candidate also says:

The greatest threat to classic Republicanism is not liberalism; it’s this new brand of libertarianism, which is social liberalism and economic conservatism, but it’s a heartless, callous, soulless type of economic conservatism because it says “look, we want to cut taxes and eliminate government. If it means that elderly people don’t get their Medicare drugs, so be it. If it means little kids go without education and healthcare, so be it.” Well, that might be a quote pure economic conservative message, but it’s not an American message. It doesn’t fly. People aren’t going to buy that, because that’s not the way we are as a people. That’s not historic Republicanism. Historic Republicanism does not hate government; it’s just there to be as little of it as there can be. But they also recognize that government has to be paid for.

He goes on for a while in this vein . . .

For us locals, the Huckster is just an Arkansan Emmett Hanger, but I’m curious to see what John McCain thinks of his rival bashing the best decision he ever made (his opposition to Medicare Part D).

If McCain notices this, we can rest assured that Huckabee will never become McCain’s running mate.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

AP:

Republican Mike Huckabee responded to an offstage noise during his speech to the National Rifle Association by suggesting it was Barack Obama diving to the floor because someone had aimed a gun at him.

Hearing a loud noise and interrupting his speech, Huckabee said: “That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He’s getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he—he dove for the floor.”

There were only a few murmurs in the crowd after the remark.

Ace of Spades put it well, “it’s bad enough to probably keep him off the ticket. Fortunately.”  Indeed.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

Some supporters of Gov. Mike Huckabee’s failed presidential bid are taking out ads threatening Sen. John McCain not to pick Gov. Mitt Romney as his running mate. The Government is Not God PAC insists, “Governor Romney['s] recent ‘conversion’ to conservative and pro-life principles is not credible.” And, yes, they have a point: Gov. Romney’s recognition of the sanctity of life is recent and convenient.

Actually, the problems with Mitt Romney as a running mate run deeper than that.  I may be one of the very few who still remembers what Mitt actually said about timetables, but he said it all the same.  I, like the GiNG PAC, would be very unhappy with Mitt Romney as the Vice Presidential nominee.

However, Romney is far from the only person on my Do-Not-Make-Vice-President list, and since the Huckabee folks raised the question . . .

Leslie herself makes the point so well that I’ll just excerpt her final two paragraphs:

But Gov. Huckabee is far more liberal. And while many are justifiably suspicious of Gov. Romney’s fledgling pro-life conviction, Gov. Huckabee has stubbornly rationalized his liberal record. Blurring the roles of the state and of the Christian, he undermines the civil government’s function of enforcing justice. The tax-and-spend Governor slurs the pro-freedom Club for Growth as the “Club for Greed”. He touts tax-paid tuition breaks for the children of illegal aliens, insisting, “You don’t punish a child because a parent committed a crime or committed a sin.” He supports parole and pardons for violent felons, citing “the concept of Christian forgeiveness”. If he isn’t trying to remake civil government into God, he’s at least trying to make it a Christian nanny. And he shows no evidence that he’s intellectual enough ever to grasp the tremendous harm that this misuse of the state causes.

A Vice President Huckabee would be disastrous for the Republican Party and for the United States of America.

Indeed, it would.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal