From Hope to Betrayal: Huckabee can talk all he wants but his record is what it is

The following was a guest article published by the Northwest Arkansas Times, Jan 18, 2008. Senator Jim Holt sent us the article by email and asked that we share it. Former Sen. Holt from Springdale served in the Arkansas Senate and was a consistent voice for conservative family values. He ran for Lt. Governor in 2006. Sen. Holt is also a member of the Arkansas Republican Assembly.

by Senator Jim Holt: If I told you that Mike Huckabee has raised more taxes, grown more government, supported more bureaucratic control of our schools, pardoned more criminals, helped bring in more illegal immigrants, and been more duplicitous in 10 years than Bill Clinton was in 12, would you feel betrayed. He can talk all he wants, but his record is who he is.

If Mike Huckabee does not practice what he preaches, does he betray himself, the denomination of GOP conservatism, and us? But evangelicals seem to love him. Home-schoolers flock to work for him. One foolishly said, “He’s a Baptist minister; you don’t need to ask what he stands for." ”Or is it OK because he’s entertaining?" Shouldn’t we analyze his record to see if it matches his rhetoric? We seem to want the sizzle rather than the steak. But some lose consciousness when a politician states, “Hey, I’m a Christian, too.”

Let’s look at Huckabee’s so-called ‘Reagan-Republican, Christian record’ — because facts are stubborn little things. Is Huckabee pro-home-school, as home-schoolers claim? The media has reported the reason Huckabee does so well, with so little money, is because home-schoolers empower him. Surely not. I’m a home-schooler, and I know Huckabee actually signed Act 1117 in 1999. This law made Arkansas the first state in the nation to strengthen homeschool laws, empowering the state over the parents. After all, children DO belong to the state. Don’t they? Huckabee claims that it was a welcomed compromise. Not true. He could’ve vetoed it. But he caved to institutional pressure.

Did Huckabee favor illegal immigrants over our soldiers? In 2005, Huckabee said my bill, which would have protected citizens’ welfare benefits and voting privileges from being given to illegal immigrants, was, “un-American and... unchristian.” He even stated that, “I drink a different kind of Jesus juice.” Don’t some say that’s using God’s name in vain? Can you see your pastor saying that?

Simultaneously, Huckabee supported a bill that offered illegal immigrants college scholarships and in-state tuition. (No, that’s not a typo.) My wife and I met with Huckabee. I questioned him if it was even constitutional to give scholarships. If he wanted to grant scholarships, they should go to veterans (I am a veteran) or members of our National Guard who were returning from Iraq. Huckabee fell silent. He was stunned. I then asked him what I’ve said countless times: If a citizen and an illegal are both in college, on scholarship, and a draft is initiated because of war, who gets drafted? Our children! The illegals stay in class on your dime. Our children may have to give their lives for our country. An illegal never has that responsibility.

I left his office knowing I would take him to the mat on this. Huckabee continued to push hard the entire session for that bill. He never offered our troops what he tried to give to illegals. In my mind, he betrayed our country and our soldiers. And now he wants to be our commander in chief? No thanks. When a person manipulates things for his own pride, does he betray his own conscience and lose his reasoning? Huckabee continues to say to this day, “We shouldn’t punish the children for the crimes of their parents.” Where does this guy get his logic ? One-Liners Are Us?

So, if you don’t give me something, you’re punishing me? Can you say, “Nanny state mentality,” boys and girls? Even if a parent gets a $200 speeding ticket, the children suffer. That money could be used for college or food. The prisons are full of parents whose children are paying the price. What about members of our military that lost their lives overseas? Shouldn’t their children receive a chance at a scholarship before an illegal alien?

Huckabee’s supposed to be a preacher, but what he’s speaking isn’t the truth. What does he do with Exodus 20:5: “... visiting the iniquity of the fathers, upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations?” Or Daniel 6:24, where all the men who falsely accused Daniel had all their families — yes, including their children — thrown into the lion’s den?

And now we’re supposed to believe Huckabee when he tells us he will be tough on illegals? Who is he kidding? He can’t even be tough on rapists. There is a Republican in this state who once stated on the radio that she was raped. She went on to say that Mike Huckabee was the best governor we’ve ever had. What? If Bill Clinton had let her rapist go, as Huckabee advocated Wayne Dumond’s release, she would be screaming foul. Once paroled, Dumond went to Missouri and raped again. He also murdered the girl.

When we betray our principles, do we really betray ourselves? Republicans, home-schoolers and evangelicals better start policing their own, or they may never win another election. If you have great principles, then stick to them no matter what. The electorate is much more forgiving if you do. And besides, you will sleep better at night.

When our words don’t match our actions, do we betray our integrity? Samuel Adams, one of our Founding Fathers, said it this way: “He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.” At least there is one area where Huckabee is consistent. He is expecting people to pardon his betrayals as freely as he does criminals.

See also: "Huckabee’s Republican Paradox" by Patrick Briney, President of Arkansas Republican Assembly, Nov 2, 2007 (Great detailed and documented article)

---

Tags: Arkansas, Jim Holt, Mike Huckabee, the record To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!