Huckabee Conference Call
November 26, 2007 by Michael van der Galiën
When I had the opportunity earlier today to ask Governor - and presidential candidate - Mike Huckabee what he thought of John Podhoretz’s column in which the latter criticizes him, the former Governor of Arkansas responded forcefully. Podhoretz wrote that Huckabee has no “path to the nomination” and that while may be “conservative on social issues” he “seems [to be] more in the populist traditions of the Democratic Party” on economic and political matters than with the small-government tradition(s) of the GOP. Huckabee didn’t agree with the columnist’s assessment, defended his record and struck back.
He started off by expressing his gratitude to bloggers that support him (and others who give him the attention he deserves), explaining that if it wasn’t for the blogosphere, he wouldn’t be surging in the polls. “You are the wind beneath my wings,” he said.
The first blogger who was allowed to ask a question - Kerry from One Mom - asked the Governor about his view on home-schooling, standards for schools, and what he did with it in Arkansas. She sounded critical in this regard - she later left a comment here saying she wasn’t critical, just curious. Huckabee defended his record by explaining that his opponents then, and the ones who were Governor before him, were incredibly harsh on home-schoolers. In short, he tried to limit the damage for home-schoolers / improve their situation as much as possible, but that wasn’t easy. For Kerry’s summary of the blogger’s conference call click here. She later wrote a follow-up post on Huckabee and home-schooling. Well worth the time to read it.
The second person asked him about the fair tax. Huckabee explained that many taxes are ’secret’ or ‘invisible’ taxes. He wants to make those taxes visible. He believes that the fair tax does just that. Besides that, of course, it would lower the burden on most people. “You wouldn’t be penalized” for being productive, he said. He also encouraged the questioner to visit the fairtax.org website.
Another person asked him what he thought about the idea to amend the US Constitution with some ‘parental rights’ amendment. The Governor said - in a very honest way - that he didn’t know that there was such a plan. He told her that he would get back it after he studied it.
Quite refreshing: most people would probably pretend that they know what the questioner is talking about and then proceed to give an empty answer. Instead of doing that, Huckabee said that he didn’t know what she was talking about, asked her to explain, and promised to get back at it.
Furthermore, the Governor explained that Michigan isn’t a center in his campaign. He focuses on Iowa and South Carolina (and New Hampshire). He doesn’t have the money to campaign hard in Michigan as well. The grassroots are the ones who have to do it there. He also seems to believe that Romney will win Michigan.
And then came my moment of fame. I - yes, me - was allowed to ask this presidential candidate a question: I asked him about Podhoretz column, in which he writes that Huckabee doesn’t have “plausible path to the nomination” and that “while he is conservative on social issues, on economic and political matters he seems more in the populist traditions of the Democratic party.”
He said that he’s in line with the Republican voters: a strong economy, and they want an active government. He sees that as “old-fashioned Americanism for which I offer no apology.” He also said that he’s not in the pocket of Wall Street nor of K-Street and that he’s “proud of it.”
Furthermore, he lashed out at Former Senator Thompson for releasing six press releases yesterday - the Governor recalled - all attacking him, Huckabee. According to the former Governor of Arkansas, one of the reasons that Thompson is attacking him is the fact that he’s not an inside-the-Beltway type. Money / corporate lobbyists / the establishment don’t have any influence on him, and the inside-the-Beltway types know it, he reasoned.
Huckabee’s view: he believes what the Republican heartland believes. A government can’t sit by and let people lose their job, etc. No, it’s not just about defense and security, a strong economy is also incredibly important and something that’s on the mind of voters.
I was quite happy with his reaction: it was powerful and… he seemed annoyed by Podhoretz’s words and the constant attacks on his person. He’s one of the most reasonable and calm candidates out there, but he’s not quite ready and willing to let other candidates and their supporters slap him around.
It’s a pity we don’t have a video of his reaction; it was quite forceful. I felt like Chris Wallace must have felt when Fred Thompson responded with fire and criticism to his questions yesterday (with the difference, of course, that I didn’t agree with Podhoretz’s words, nor defended them, but simply repeated them and asked him for a reaction).
On several occasions Huckabee criticized Romney. Once saying that, for all Romney’s criticism of Huckabee, he at least never had illegals working on his lawn.
Heh.
Lastly, he also dealt with the subject of illegal immigration. He admitted that he held back on the rhetoric - thus far - in this regard, but that he believes that quite some Republicans take the wrong approach to this problem. It’s, Governor Huckabee explained, silly to get angry with people who want to come to the United States - legally or illegally - in search of a better life. In fact, he said, it’s a testimony to the greatness of America that they’re so desperate to go there. The anger, then, shouldn’t be directed towards illegal immigrants but towards the government who makes it incredibly difficult for people to migrate to the US legally, while it makes it very easy to illegally enter the country.
All in all, an interesting conference call, with a feisty candidate.
UPDATE: Oh Baby That’s What I Like attended the conference as well, and adds some thoughts of his own. Head on over to this blog and read the post.
Note to other campaigns: of course we wouldn’t think about being biased just because we’re invited to participate in blogger conference calls but… we do appreciate it when we receive an invitation.
I’m interested to know Huckabee’s stance on torture, detainees, and abuse; given his stances on various other social issues. Most of the other candidates I’m aware of have weighed in, but I have yet to hear from Huckabee on that one.
Ben: that’s a good point. Something I’ll ask him about next time / opportunity.
[...] Read more at The Van Der Galiën Gazette. [...]
Michael - I asked the first question at today’s call. I wasn’t critical of the Governor at all (sorry if it sounded that way). This issue has been dogging those of us who homeschool and support Mike Huckabee. Through some digging through old newspaper archives from Arkansas and through my conversation with Mike today, I was finally able to put all the pieces together and get the real story out about Mike and homeschooling. It is my fervent belief that Gov. Huckabee is our best candidate on many issues, including allowing us the freedom to choose what way to educate our own children.
It is a long story that other candidates’ supporters have been using against Gov. Huckabee, which is why I desperately wanted ALL the facts (including another word from the governor) before I put my article about this on my blog. It’s up now if you want to understand everything that was behind my question today.
I was glad to see you on the call today. I’ve referenced your blog in my conference call summary post (just before the homeschool post).
Kerry
Hopefully it won’t be your only moment of fame!
Is The Gazette going to endorse any specific candidates? You seem to like both Clinton and Huckabee. Or isn’t that the policy around here?
Kerry: I’m sorry for forgetting your name. Thanks for leaving a comment (and for the link). I’ve updated the post with a link to your post on it.
Also: I saw you forgot what my question was: shame on you
j/k
Tom: I believe that bloggers who prefer one candidate over another should be honest about it and share their preference with the readers. Marc Moore - you know, the co-blogger… - recently published a postendorsing Mike Huckabee. The other bloggers will, I think, let you know who they support once they’ve made up their mind. At least, I’ve asked them to do so if they’re willing to go on the record.
As for me: I’m not American. I can’t endorse anyone as such. I did publish a post saying that if I were American I would consider voting for Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney (I chose one candidate from both parties), but I think very highly of Huckabee - and to a lesser degree McCain as well (and I’m willing to give Thompson a bit time to fight back / present himself as someone who really wants to win).
The Republican field would be more difficult for me, simply because I agree on more issues with these people. Barack Obama; I think highly of him, but he lacks experience (and I don’t like his views on foreign policy), so I wouldn’t endorse him.
Hi Michael - thanks for the link and update. I may have missed your question, but at least I spelled your name correctly! ;o)
It really was good to have you on the call this morning. Hope you join us again.
Didn’t I write your name correct? Kerry right? And… you write my name correctly, but can you pronounce it?
The host had a problem with that “www….. wandurkaljun” 
And thank you, it was indeed great and I hope that we’ll meet next time again.
Interesting to see who will endorse whom. I suspect that many, like you, will have a hard time deciding.
Hmm….Marc and I always seem to disagree…so I guess the question then is which candidate is the opposite of Huckabee?
Gravel?
This is the biggest reason why Huckabee won’t get my vote. A government that decides to meddle with the economy in such an intimate fashion will eventually ruin it. I’m surprised that Huckabee can’t look around the world and see that.
Then again, I suppose the message of “There, there. We’ll take care of you” gets the votes these days.
That’s one of the main reasons that I didn’t write “at this moment I would endorse Huckabee” either Jimmie. I think I favor a smaller government than he does. That doesn’t mean he’s not conservative (as Robert Novak argues), but just that: I favor a smaller government.
Also something, I’d like to ask Republican candidates about this as well: they all act these days as if globalization is horrible, hurting the economy, Americans are losing jobs, etc. but… globalization has meant a net plus for just about every country, including the US.
Yes, some people will lose their job, but other jobs will be created to fill that gap, and then some. That’s how it works. If you stop that process, you stop the process of innovation and progress. A horrible path to choose indeed.
I’d like to ask all of them about that.
Having said that: as I said, I would like to ask all of them about that. It seems to me that most if not all the candidates use that issue at least to a degree… With Romney I like it that he basically says ‘we shouldn’t be afraid of globalization, it’s an opportunity, lets exploit it’ but other than that…
It’s about time that Westerners finally admit that globalization is a net plus. Not just Americans, Europeans as well. Stop nagging and adapt.
If you do, your country will become even more prosperous than it already is.
I’d say - and this is only my opinion - that Huckabee can’t credibly wear the conservative mantle because, of all the things for which conservatives stand, smaller government is at the very top of the list. I have contended since 2000 that George Bush was no conservative. Indeed, on matters not involving national defense, he is nearly the perfect moderate politician.
The globalization argument is starting to get under my skin, too. It’s as if we Americans are actually afraid of competition. It may be that we can’t compete nearly as well as we once could (due in large part to the reason that Huckabee’s big government stance is popular) but we can surely compete well enough to prosper just as we have been for the past decade under NAFTA. I long for a candidate to get a little boldness on the issue and point out that globalization is really a chance for us to prosper in a much larger market than we ever have before.
I know some people are looking for someone in party to vote for. My question is this. Why cant we vote for someone who stands for what we believe instead of voting for someone who stands for the party? I am sick of the party politics and want someone who will stand away from that and do what is right or at least what they promised.
[...] Mike Huckabee: He started off by expressing his gratitude to bloggers that support him (and others who give him the attention he deserves), explaining that if it wasn’t for the blogosphere, he wouldn’t be surging in the polls. “You are the wind beneath my wings,” he said. [...]
Previously, Huckabee has deferred to John McCain on torture. McCain’s position is that torture is wrong and the US shouldn’t engage in it.
Huckabee on homeschooling and education is general is a one reason I have reservations about a Huckabee presidency.
I understand what he was up against when the 1999 homeschool bill was introduced, but he could have vetoed the bill or let it go unsigned without his signature he did neither.
Further, his Smart Schools initiative that he passed just a year earlier in 1998 was a net negative for homeschoolers.
Quoting from Mike Huckabee, “It was a priority for me to develop more accessible and effective preschool programs and to make dramatic changes in both access and affordability in higher education. We developed a seamless curriculum from pre-K through college so that there was coordination and continuity throughout the educational process. ”
Please take special note of the words “seamless curriculum from Pre K through college.
This is more commonly known as P - 16 education reform. This is NOT a good thing for homeschoolers or conservatives in genral.
The P-16 is a FEDERAL push for portable credentialing and standards for all 50 states. That means that what a child learns in California would be taught to a child in Arkansas. This is efficient but also completely removes local and parental control from the eduation equation. Implementing national standards through the adoption of P-16 standards ensures that homeschooling will become obsolete and undesirable. In order to get the required “credential” children will be forced into compliance with the P-16 “seamless” architecture. Outsiders need not apply. Needless to say, homeschoolers are “outsiders” when it comes to the educational establishment. The only way they would be brought into the system if by complying with the requirements of the state, but that’s exactly why most homeschoolers do so. Because state compliance interferes with their ability to direct the education of their children.
Huckabee wants to have it both ways, he says that he is for federally mandated testing but that he also supports a parents right to homeschool. This is nice political speak in that it makes him sound strong on education and on parental rights to homeschool. But the reality is that federal mandates in testing are the death blow to homeschooling. He says that it is up to the states to decide how they are tested, but in the economic reality is that the states will choose the testing route that most inexpensively meets federal guidelines. They don’t want to be in the testing business, so state compliance to federal standards will lead to a universal test across state lines. This is effect a de facto national test which is exactly the opposite of freedom in education.
Governor Huckabee’s support for “continuity in the educational process” is nothing short of a accepting the federalization and control of education through college. Make no mistake about it there are those who would like to see the NCLB standards implemented through the college years. This amounts to a federalization of higher education through mandates and monetary incentives from the federal government. Huckabee’s endorsement of P-16 demonstrates that he doesn’t oppose such ideas.
That should be a HUGE red flag for homeschoolers and conservatives who value our freedom to educate.
Further, as Governor, Huckabee introduced INTERNATIONAL standards in education into Arkansas.
Under his leadership he allowed the UN/IBO diploma to enter the Arkansas educational system. This introduced INTERNATIONAL standards in Arkansas. The impact of this cannot be understated.
World Magazine had an article on IBO earlier this year,
“The IBO goal is the formation of students “who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.” Not just that other people can be right, but that people with differences can “also” be right. At the heart of the IB approach is a view that no actual culture holds truth.
The keystone course for the International Baccalaureate diploma is “Theory of Knowledge.” Not “theories,” but “theory.” While it is fine for high-school students to study epistemology, this is a course in postmodernist epistemology. This theory employs a “hermeneutic of suspicion” that undermines the very possibility of accepting any kind of objective truth.
It does take a certain kind of braininess to convince oneself that it is true that there is no truth, and it is no wonder that major universities—the patrons of postmodernist theory—are impressed with all of the young relativists clutching their IB diplomas.
But this philosophy does not produce a good education; rather, it produces a mindset in which good education is impossible. — Gene Edward Veith” (World Magazine January 13, 2007, Vol. 22, No. 1)
Allowing the International Baccalaureate to begin operating in US schools is a trend that many states are moving toward as a “replacement to AP courses.” Huckabee has not addressed this encroaching global education standard. He is without excuse. Huckabee was head of the ECS from 2004-2006. The international diploma is well known and his involvment as Governor in issues related to education would make it hard to believe that he didn’t know what the IB diploma was all about. The IBO passed in Arkansas in 2005. A definite negative for local/parental control in education.
Overall, Huckabee’s educational record is not conservative at all. He allowed homeschooling to take a step backward and the United Nations/IBO to take a step forward in his state. Not a “net gain” for me.
I’d encourage anyone who cares about education and the freedom to teach our children unhindered by the state to consider exactly how these reforms are moving our country away from local control and toward “global citizenship.”
Global education and citizenship through international standards has no room for independent minded homeschoolers, especially those who believe that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.
That’s also the position of nearly every single American above the legal voting age. It’s kind of like saying that McCain’s position is that oxygen is good for human and we should continue to involve it in respiration.