Hillary vs. Huckabee? Editorial by Central Arkansas Newspaper
Editorial, The Leader: Cabot, AR - Fantasizing about a race for president against Sen. Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee said on ABC's . . . that he would be the Republicans’ best candidate because his record contrasted the most sharply with hers. Half of his equation could be right. Our former governor might be the GOP’s best candidate against Sen. Clinton . . . but his strength would be that he is closest to, not farthest from, Sen. Clinton on the issues and their records. Better than the others, he might carve into the middle ground of independent voters who would otherwise tilt toward the Democrat.
. . . It would be hard to separate the former Arkansas governor and the former Arkansas first lady on . . . issues, based on their Arkansas records. It was on education and health care that as Arkansas first lady she made a lasting imprint. She was the author of the higher school standards that were approved in 1983 over her husband’s imprimatur, and she worked to expand children’s health-care initiatives, founding the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. Huckabee claims education and children’s health care as his best innovations.
So what is the contrast? You will remember that ArKids First, the great expansion of government-paid health insurance for children, was Arkansas Advocates’ suggestion to the newly sworn in Gov. Huckabee in 1996. He eagerly embraced it and calls it even today his proudest achievement. Sen. Clinton’s husband, as president, brought it about on the national level a few months afterward. We presume that Huckabee, alone among the GOP presidential candidates, favors expanding the national children’s health initiative, which Sen. Clinton and all the Democratic members of the congressional delegation favor. As governor, Huckabee sought and won a federal waiver for a plan to have the federal government - that’s you - subsidize health insurance for poor adult workers. Other Republicans, including President Bush, are opposing that remedy as creeping socialism.
Education affords the best comparison. Huckabee likes to lump the Clintons together as a unit, which is fair. So how do they stack up? Hillary’s tough school standards in 1983 forced some gradual school consolidation as school districts failed to measure up to the standards over five years. Huckabee demanded wholesale and immediate school consolidation and abolished more than 50 of them in one swoop. He wanted more than 100 other school districts consolidated but the legislature balked. Does he dare boast about that?
Taxes? Huckabee raised them considerably more in 10 years than Clinton did in 12. . . . Debt? The Clinton regime produced a small increase in general state indebtedness, to fund water projects and college construction. Huckabee accounted for bigger increase in general state debt — the kind that taxpayers are obliged to service — than all previous Arkansas governors combined.
. . . In the unlikely scenario that Huckabee and Clinton do square off in the 2008 general election, their records will be compared minutely, but Huckabee will not get to characterize or mischaracterize them with impunity. The records will be there for all to see and voters will want to see them. We think the governor’s moderate-to-liberal record would not hurt him, but he does not want Republican voters in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire to get wind of it now. [Read More] The Arkansas Leader serves Lonoak, White & North Pulaski Counties of Arkansas.
Tags: Arkansas, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate
. . . It would be hard to separate the former Arkansas governor and the former Arkansas first lady on . . . issues, based on their Arkansas records. It was on education and health care that as Arkansas first lady she made a lasting imprint. She was the author of the higher school standards that were approved in 1983 over her husband’s imprimatur, and she worked to expand children’s health-care initiatives, founding the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. Huckabee claims education and children’s health care as his best innovations.
So what is the contrast? You will remember that ArKids First, the great expansion of government-paid health insurance for children, was Arkansas Advocates’ suggestion to the newly sworn in Gov. Huckabee in 1996. He eagerly embraced it and calls it even today his proudest achievement. Sen. Clinton’s husband, as president, brought it about on the national level a few months afterward. We presume that Huckabee, alone among the GOP presidential candidates, favors expanding the national children’s health initiative, which Sen. Clinton and all the Democratic members of the congressional delegation favor. As governor, Huckabee sought and won a federal waiver for a plan to have the federal government - that’s you - subsidize health insurance for poor adult workers. Other Republicans, including President Bush, are opposing that remedy as creeping socialism.
Education affords the best comparison. Huckabee likes to lump the Clintons together as a unit, which is fair. So how do they stack up? Hillary’s tough school standards in 1983 forced some gradual school consolidation as school districts failed to measure up to the standards over five years. Huckabee demanded wholesale and immediate school consolidation and abolished more than 50 of them in one swoop. He wanted more than 100 other school districts consolidated but the legislature balked. Does he dare boast about that?
Taxes? Huckabee raised them considerably more in 10 years than Clinton did in 12. . . . Debt? The Clinton regime produced a small increase in general state indebtedness, to fund water projects and college construction. Huckabee accounted for bigger increase in general state debt — the kind that taxpayers are obliged to service — than all previous Arkansas governors combined.
. . . In the unlikely scenario that Huckabee and Clinton do square off in the 2008 general election, their records will be compared minutely, but Huckabee will not get to characterize or mischaracterize them with impunity. The records will be there for all to see and voters will want to see them. We think the governor’s moderate-to-liberal record would not hurt him, but he does not want Republican voters in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire to get wind of it now. [Read More] The Arkansas Leader serves Lonoak, White & North Pulaski Counties of Arkansas.
Tags: Arkansas, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate
Posted by Bill Smith at 5:06 PM - Post Link
4 Comments:
Add Government Control to that list:
Mike Huckabee likes government control and power as well as Hillary does. As an example of Huckabee's idea of government control vs local control, he actually called for superintendents to be appointed by the State Department of Education, saying in his educational plan, " A superintendent, who will have the authority to hire and fire principals and central office staff, will administer each district. The authority to hire and fire the superintendent will rest with the director of the state Department of Education." [whom Huckabee appoints]. See this link http://www.wpaag.org/Huckabee's%20Ed.%20Plan%20-2%20Parts.htm Also see this link with numerous examples of how Huckabee and his appointed Director of Arkansas Department of Education did a better job than Hillary in government takeover of the schools in Arkansas. http://www.wpaag.org/Simon%20Appointment%20Cause%20for%20Concern.htm
The Leader's editorial reminds me of one of Arkansas's best known liberal writer John Brummett's article, February 1, 2000 in which he says : "As it happens, Huckabee governs about as Clinton governed, and Boozman [Huckabee's appointee] directs the state Health Department about as Dr. Joycelyn Elders directed it, save the brutal and over-the-top rhetoric...The state's leading liberal Democratic journal (the only one), the weekly Arkansas Times at Little Rock, has in recent issues put Boozman on the cover and suggested it might have been wrong about him and put Huckabee on the cover as 'Arkansan of the Year' and extolled his Clintonesque moderation... His moderation is evident in that his most touted program is a form of liberal-lite. It is the expanded and modified Medicaid for kids in families of the working poor that he calls ARKids First. In another article Brummett had this to say " Mike Huckabee, despite his rhetoric and religious conservatism, has been more of a moderate progressive, like modern Democrats, at least in a broad historical context encompassing race and immigration and spending."
Advertised on handouts to use in schools to recruit people to sign up for Arkansas Kids First [Huckabee's expensive liberal pet project] the following quote is found: "We are looking for organizations to partner with us in an outreach effort to contact families and children....When children are enrolled in ARKids First, their coverage includes the following: (How many of you have insurance this good, even with your exorbitant priced plans?) Name of pamphlet "About ARKids First" obtained from school counselor who said they were given instructions to find as many children as possible for the program.
Physician Office Visit
Immunizations
Inpatient Hospital
Dental Care
Home Health
Chiropractor
Laboratory and X-ray
Durable Medical Equipment
Prescription Drugs
Outpatient Hospital
Vision Care
Outpatient Mental and Behavioral Health
Speech Therapy
Podiatry
Medical Supplies
Nurse Midwife and Nurse Practitioner"
As for Hillary, the Daily News reports: Hillary Clinton: I'm not a lesbian Who cares - maybe Bill?
They asked the wrong question, of course, which should have been, "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the communist party usa?" Then they should have asked whether Socialism is a personal goal for her.
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