HUCKABEE'S SLEW OF ETHICS COMPLAINTS RAISE DOUBTS ABOUT INTEGRITY | |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 300575 United States 11/26/2007 05:51 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | A Tale of Two Candidates By Quin Hillyer Published 10/24/2007 12:08:28 AM With Sen. Sam Brownback now out of the presidential race, only two candidates in the Republican presidential field -- California's longtime U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- can lay claim both to a high degree of purity on the hot-button issues for social conservatives and to a personal life that seems in keeping with those traditional values. But only one, Huckabee, seems to be gaining major traction... even though the record in Arkansas suggests that he might be the wrong one to rally around. Ask lots of folks in Arkansas, including Republicans, and a fair number will probably tell you that Huck is for Huck is for Huck. National media folks like David Brooks, dealing in surface appearances only, rave about what a nice guy Huckabee is, and a moral exemplar to boot. If they only did a little homework, they would discover a guy with a thin skin, a nasty vindictive streak, and a long history of imbroglios about questionable ethics. Once, Gov. Huckabee even had the gall to file suit against the state ethics commission. He lost. Fourteen times, the ethics commission -- a respected body, not a partisan witch-hunt group -- investigated claims against Huckabee. Five of those times, it officially reprimanded him. And, as only MSNBC among the big national media has reported at any real length, there were lots of other mini-scandals and embarrassments along the way. He used public money for family restaurant meals, boat expenses, and other personal uses. He tried to claim as his own some $70,000 of furniture donated to the governor's mansion. He repeatedly, and obstinately, against the pleadings even from conservative columnists and editorials, refused to divulge the names of donors to a "charitable" organization he set up while lieutenant governor -- an outfit whose main charitable purpose seemed to be to pay Huckabee to make speeches. Then, as a kicker, he misreported the income itself from the suspicious "charity." Huckabee has been criticized, reasonably so, for misusing the state airplane for personal reasons. And he and his wife, Janet, actually set up a "wedding gift registry" (they had already been married for years) to which people could donate as the Huckabees left the governorship, in order to furnish their new $525,000 home. According to the Arkansas News Bureau (Feb. 1, 2003), "Huckabee's personal lawyer, Kevin Crass of Little Rock, has said Huckabee believes there should be no limit on gifts short of a bribe." After all, said Janet Huckabee, public officials like her husband should be automatically trusted: "Until you absolutely positively know that the man has outright lied to you, it should be enough that the man's word is that everything was done appropriately, legally, to the best of his knowledge to the letter of the law." Of course, her reasoning refutes itself: If one is precluded from even questioning "the man's word," how can one possibly find out in the first place whether the official "has outright lied to you"? It must be said that a fair-minded journalist ought to tread lightly in scrutinizing a candidate's spouse; but in Janet Huckabee's case, she is a politician in her own right, having run unsuccessfully for Arkansas Secretary of State. Voters overwhelmingly rejected her, perhaps because they remembered her propensity for other outrageous statements -- such as the time when she defended secrecy about the donors to her husband's "charity" by saying that a donor's name "wouldn't be enough. [Then] you'd want to know who he was married to, and then his wife would be German descent, and you'd have Mike, you'd have him responsible for 600,000 killings of Jews." Huh? Of course, nobody accused Huckabee of genocide. But his skin is so thin that when various underlings in his administration, even for bureaus as small as the state film office, crossed ethical lines (some of them, admittedly, rather minor), the governor consistently and angrily attacked the media for reporting the transgressions rather than demanding that the transgressors make things right. Finally, Gov. Huckabee had a propensity to be almost as prodigal with pardons as was his famous predecessor by the name of Clinton. Indeed, Hillary Clinton's campaign team is probably licking their chops at the prospect of Huck as the nominee, because one of his pardons, in particular, was so outlandish as to make Willie Horton's case in Massachusetts seem almost child's play by comparison. After Huckabee helped secure the release of already-well-known rapist Wayne Dumond, the released convict sexually assaulted and murdered a woman in Missouri. All of which leads one to ask two questions: First, how can voters whose primary concerns are moral look beyond so many of a candidate's problems with ethics? And, second, if Republicans in general have concluded, as most of them have, that repeated scandals among Washington GOPers played a huge role in Republican defeats in 2006, how could they possibly nominate somebody who seems to have such big ethical blind spots? Give this to Huckabee: The man gives a good speech. But so does Duncan Hunter, with the biggest difference being that Hunter's speeches appeal more to the intellect than the heartstrings -- and that Hunter can boast 25 years of leadership for conservative causes, including on taxing and spending issues where Huckabee is notoriously un-conservative. For that matter, if the question is public ethics, all the other major Republican candidates have rather solid records. With so little scandalous material to look into, why hasn't the usually scandal-ravenous national media delved into the record of the one GOP candidate whose ethics have been repeatedly questioned in his home state? Has even the cynical big media been fooled by a Huckster? [link to www.spectator.org] |
PACNWguy
User ID: 60206 United States 11/26/2007 05:58 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Yep now that Mike is in a tie for winning Iowa,,,everyone is after him. That means he is a huge threat to Mitt and Rudy. If hardly no one attacks your record, you arent interesting or you are not enough of a threat to even write about. Thats why you dont hear much of anything negative about Ron Paul from the MSM political correspondents. He isnt a threat to anyone. No one has taken him to task on anything. They just let him talk and they smile at him like he is a moron and they dont want to laugh. OBAMA - THE FASTEST FAILED PRESIDENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY "I inherated and I am Great!" |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 332009 United States 11/26/2007 06:27 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | They arent attacking Huckabees record nincompoop... they are airing out his lies and corruption. Huck says taxes are good. WTF kind of Conservative is that? ITS CALLED NEOCON. Warmonger DEMON Beware of the wolves in sheep's clothing They being the media you sight CANT attack Dr Pauls record as you know. IT IS ALMOST PERFECT! He does exactly what his voters SAY! Whats to attack about that? Nothin Nice try PacNfudge... lol |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 330782 United States 11/26/2007 07:07 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Yep now that Mike is in a tie for winning Iowa,,,everyone is after him. That means he is a huge threat to Mitt and Rudy. Quoting: PACNWguyIf hardly no one attacks your record, you arent interesting or you are not enough of a threat to even write about. Thats why you dont hear much of anything negative about Ron Paul from the MSM political correspondents. He isnt a threat to anyone. No one has taken him to task on anything. They just let him talk and they smile at him like he is a moron and they dont want to laugh. Much the same tactic was used on Lyndon LaRouche as is being used on Ron Paul. For all that, in order for Americans to get a more honest look at all the skeltons in all of the closets, now would be a good time for the "poll spammers" to start really raking up polling points for both Hunter and Gravel. |
PACNWguy
User ID: 60206 United States 11/26/2007 07:15 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | They being the media you sight CANT attack Dr Pauls record as you know. IT IS ALMOST PERFECT! He does exactly what his voters SAY! Whats to attack about that? Nothin Quoting: Anonymous Coward 332009If he did exactly what his voters say...then why hasnt he ever gotten a bill passed in his 20 year career when he has sponsored more bills than anyone else in Congress? If you had voted NO on every bill that Ron Paul voted No on, would you be as good a candidate for president as he is? What makes him a better candidate than you? Has he done anything other than vote no? Why does that make him a leader? Who has he led in his life? Where did he lead them and to what end? Is voting NO on bills make you a leader? A 3rd grader with a rubber stamp can do that. OBAMA - THE FASTEST FAILED PRESIDENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY "I inherated and I am Great!" |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 332088 United States 11/26/2007 09:07 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | They being the media you sight CANT attack Dr Pauls record as you know. IT IS ALMOST PERFECT! He does exactly what his voters SAY! Whats to attack about that? Nothin Quoting: PACNWguyIf he did exactly what his voters say...then why hasnt he ever gotten a bill passed in his 20 year career when he has sponsored more bills than anyone else in Congress? If you had voted NO on every bill that Ron Paul voted No on, would you be as good a candidate for president as he is? What makes him a better candidate than you? Has he done anything other than vote no? Why does that make him a leader? Who has he led in his life? Where did he lead them and to what end? Is voting NO on bills make you a leader? A 3rd grader with a rubber stamp can do that. Your boy Huckabee turns out to have serious ethical issues and all you can do is bad mouth Ron Paul? You are a serious fucking loser. |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 294274 United States 11/28/2007 04:27 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | They being the media you sight CANT attack Dr Pauls record as you know. IT IS ALMOST PERFECT! He does exactly what his voters SAY! Whats to attack about that? Nothin Quoting: PACNWguyIf he did exactly what his voters say...then why hasnt he ever gotten a bill passed in his 20 year career when he has sponsored more bills than anyone else in Congress? If you had voted NO on every bill that Ron Paul voted No on, would you be as good a candidate for president as he is? What makes him a better candidate than you? Has he done anything other than vote no? Why does that make him a leader? Who has he led in his life? Where did he lead them and to what end? Is voting NO on bills make you a leader? A 3rd grader with a rubber stamp can do that. Leadership...I saw the video of Huckabee literally saying that however the Arkansas State legislature wanted to raise taxes was fine with him, he didn't care. How is that leadership? A real leader with principals would have stood up and defended his conservative principals. Oh, but I forgot, he doesn't have any principals. Just because Ron Paul can't get 534 liars and thieves to do the right thing doesn't mean he doesn't have leadership qualities. |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 323089 United States 11/28/2007 05:13 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Yep now that Mike is in a tie for winning Iowa,,,everyone is after him. That means he is a huge threat to Mitt and Rudy. Quoting: PACNWguyIf hardly no one attacks your record, you arent interesting or you are not enough of a threat to even write about. Thats why you dont hear much of anything negative about Ron Paul from the MSM political correspondents. He isnt a threat to anyone. No one has taken him to task on anything. They just let him talk and they smile at him like he is a moron and they dont want to laugh. Thanks for injected Ron Paul into athread about Mike Huckabee, hypocrite. |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 298061 United States 11/29/2007 04:58 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Fourteen times, the ethics commission -- a respected body, not a partisan witch-hunt group -- investigated claims against Huckabee. Five of those times, it officially reprimanded him. And, as only MSNBC among the big national media has reported at any real length, there were lots of other mini-scandals and embarrassments along the way. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 300575He used public money for family restaurant meals, boat expenses, and other personal uses. He tried to claim as his own some $70,000 of furniture donated to the governor's mansion. He repeatedly, and obstinately, against the pleadings even from conservative columnists and editorials, refused to divulge the names of donors to a "charitable" organization he set up while lieutenant governor -- an outfit whose main charitable purpose seemed to be to pay Huckabee to make speeches. Then, as a kicker, he misreported the income itself from the suspicious "charity." Huckabee has been criticized, reasonably so, for misusing the state airplane for personal reasons. And he and his wife, Janet, actually set up a "wedding gift registry" (they had already been married for years) to which people could donate as the Huckabees left the governorship, in order to furnish their new $525,000 home. |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 333416 United Kingdom 11/29/2007 08:57 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Huckster's just more of the same. NWO trash. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 329255Indeed he is. He is NO conservative. He's REALLY a LIBERAL. In the Arkansas legislature, he supported giving drivers licenses to illegals. [link to www.freerepublic.com] He also supported giving college aid to children of illegal aliens. This, in a poor state like Arkansas. TOTAL NWO. That's why he's been getting the air time. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 333264 United States 11/29/2007 09:03 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Huckster's just more of the same. NWO trash. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 333416Indeed he is. He is NO conservative. He's REALLY a LIBERAL. In the Arkansas legislature, he supported giving drivers licenses to illegals. [link to www.freerepublic.com] He also supported giving college aid to children of illegal aliens. This, in a poor state like Arkansas. TOTAL NWO. That's why he's been getting the air time. Also, over 40% higher overall taxes and corporate welfare for Walmart Corp. |