Gary Bauer Reponds to Mike Huckabee's Attacks

by Gary Bauer, Human Events: Ronald Reagan used to quip that the 11th Commandment is: Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican. While there are times for Republicans to call one another out for un-Republican behavior, such arguments are best kept inside the family and should not be aired openly to unsympathetic media. It is therefore unfortunate that, at a time when the GOP needs to close ranks and seek unity, Governor Mike Huckabee has aimed his fire at his fellow Republicans. In the just-released Do the Right Thing, which he has been promoting on news shows and in major newspapers, Governor Huckabee takes shots at several prominent Republicans, including his one-time rivals for the GOP presidential nomination Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.

He also takes a couple shots at me, claiming I told him that the issues I have worked on most of my professional life -- the sanctity of human life, the preservation of marriage and family and religious freedom -- were no longer a focus of mine and that my focus has shifted to foreign policy matters. Gov. Huckabee writes of being puzzled about why I didn’t endorse his presidential candidacy, stating, “Gary Bauer reportedly wasn’t impressed at all and set forth from that day onward to find an ever-changing reason to deny me his support.”

Huckabee is wrong on a couple of counts. First, my passion and work on behalf of values issues have in no way diminished. Second, I have believed since 9-11 that the West’s battle against Islamofascism is a crucial component in the fight for our civilization. Thus it is a values issue. That Huckabee fails to understand all this gets to the heart of why I did not support him.

Huckabee said that during a private meeting we had, “it was like playing whack-a-mole at the arcade -- whatever issue I addressed, another one surfaced as the ‘problem’ that made my candidacy unacceptable.”In fact, talking with Huckabee was like playing whack-a-mole, because he had a number of issues that posed problems. It wasn’t just that he didn’t get it on foreign policy. His record on taxes and spending, illegal immigration, his apparent backing of Al Gore's carbon cap and trade scheme, support for voting rights for Washington, D.C., and cozying up to unions like the NEA all worried me. Huckabee can call it whack-a-mole. But for me there were just too many items where he wasn’t sufficiently conservative coupled with a lack of attention and experience on foreign affairs.

. . . Mike Huckabee has a bright future in public life (which is why I wanted him to run for Senate, where he would have added a needed voice of reason on values issues). After he is finished attacking all those who he thinks denied him the GOP nomination, I look forward to working with him to reform the GOP and revitalize the conservative movement. . . . [Full Story: Mike Huckabee and Me]

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