Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Mike Huckabee says the Obama administration's Middle East policy is leading to an "abandoning" of Israel. watch his comments below and trancription afterwards.
Huckabee: I'm especially grieved at what's happening with the policy toward Israel. We are abandoning the only real ally and friend we have in the Middle East, and we're doing it in order to court really a thug, rogue, terrorist government like the Palestinians who are led by a person who helped clear the finances for the Munich bombing.
This is completely inexplicable to me. And I'm very concerned that that's going to create a further destabilization of a very delicate Middle East.
What does Mike Huckabee like about President Obama? And what does he dislike about his policies?
Watch his answer below. Huckabee stopped by our D.C. studios this morning.
HUCKABEE: I think that he has at least modeled an exemplary role as a husband and as a father. And I do appreciate that. I think that sometimes conservatives try to say that everything the man does is wrong, we can't find anything right about him. That's unfair, it's unfortunate, and I think it frankly is the reason that politics gets so polarizing.
I certainly can appreciate that he has a good relationship, in fact a wonderful relationship, with his wife and with his daughters. He spends time with them. He gives us a good role model as a husband and father. As somebody who believes the family unit is critical to our nation's future, I genuinely appreciate that and think he ought to be applauded for it.
The things that are disappointing are on the policy side. I really hoped that he was serious when he said there would be transparency, that there was going to be this sense of putting the bills on the Internet for five days for people to read them before he signed them. That we weren't going to deficit-spend, we weren't going to raise taxes on the middle class, that we weren't going to put undue burdens on small businesses.
Unfortunately, we're doing all of that. And then from a standpoint of national security, I'm especially grieved at what's happening with the policy toward Israel.
We are abandoning the only real ally and friend we have in the Middle East, and we're doing it in order to court really a thug, rogue, terrorist government like the Palestinians who are led by a person who helped clear the finances for the Munich bombing.
This is completely inexplicable to me. And I'm very concerned that that's going to create a further destabilization of a very delicate Middle East.
Mike Huckabee isn't saying whether he'll run for President in 2012 but he has a message for his supporters. Watch part of my oen on one interview with him below and the transcription follows.
BRODY: What is your message to them in terms of what you may do in the future?
HUCKABEE: Well, it's not so much about what I'm going to do. What I would tell them to do is use your energy for the 2010 races.
Go help Mark O'Rubio in Florida become the next United States senator down there: a true conservative, pro-life, wonderful person who could to me be the leader of our party out there in the future.
Look at a race that's in your community, whether it's for school board or city council or state representative or Congress or the United States Senate. Get behind a candidate who's a strong, pro-life candidate in those arenas and get that person elected.
We'll worry about 2012 after 2010. But let's keep the focus on the next foot in front of us, not three feet in front of us.
Mike Huckabee tells The Brody File that this "big tent" philosophy within the GOP has its limits. Huckabee spoke with me this morning in our D.C. studios. Watch his comments below and get the transcription after that.
BRODY:There's been a lot of talk about how the GOP's now at a crossroads. This big tent philosophy and can a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage type GOP candidate welcome within the Republican Party? What's the answer to that?
HUCKABEE: It's okay for the tent to be big, but the tent shouldn't have holes in the ceiling. And what the party bosses -- those 11 people who picked Dede Scozzafava did was put somebody in place who was more liberal than 80 percent of Congress. And that didn't make any sense.
She really wasn't philosophically even close to being a Republican. This was an ACORN-backed, union-backed, pro-same sex marriage, pro-abortion person who just didn't look like even a semblance of the Republican Party.
It was, I think, not so much a defeat for the Republican Party. It was an affirmation that the conservative movement is really the only home for Republicans.
And that doesn't mean they have to be in lockstep on every issue. But they have to have at least one or two things that give them some connection with the Republicans. Dede did not.
Democrats beware. That's the message from 2008 Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee who told The Brody File the Democratic Party better be careful what they push or they'll be out of power pretty quickly.
Watch below. Transcription follows the video.
HUCKABEE: I think the big story was the break of Independents two-to-one against the incumbent, against the Democrat.
And if that doesn't send a message to the Democrats in Congress who are now looking to push cap and trade and the health care bill -- if they're not seeing that, a lot of them need to take a good look around this December and see the Capitol Christmas lights, because it's going to be the last Christmas they spend as a congressman in Washington, D.C.
Mike Huckabee tells The Brody File that President Obama bears some responsibility for the Election losses in New Jersey and Virginia.
I spoke with the 2008 Republican presidential contender this morning in our D.C. bureau. Watch his answer below. Comments follow.
BRODY: Do you believe these wins by the GOP in New Jersey and Virginia were a referendum on the President? How do you view this exactly?
HUCKABEE: Well, they certainly were a referendum on the policies of the Democrats in Washington. Now, the President has some responsibility. He went to New Jersey five times for Corzine and campaigned for Deeds.So he wrapped himself with his own political capital.
But it's not just about Obama. It's about the larger issue of what's happening in Washington with overspending, government control, intrusion into people's personal choices: it was a huge blowback because of the margin in Virginia and the very fact of the victory in New Jersey.
Mike Huckabee appeared on The 700 Club this morning. He has a new book out called, "A Simple Christmas".
Watch his interview below.
No surprise here but White Evangelical voters supported Bob McDonnell big time in Virginia. The group, "Faith and Freedom Coalition" played an important role in getting out the Evangelical vote.
It turns out White Evangelicals made up 34% of the vote in Virginia and they went 83%-17% for McDonnell.
To give you some perspective, John McCain won 73% of the Evangelical vote in 2008 and George W. Bush won 78% in 2004.
This is a somber day for gay activists.
On Tuesday, the voters of Maine rejected same-sex marriage at the ballot box.
Get out your scorecard. That makes 31 states now where voters have said 'no way" to gay marriage in their state. Gay Activists are 0-31. I calculate that percentage as .000. Someone double check the math.
Look, the homosexual community will not give this fight up. if you think they will then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.
But that 0-31 figure is a cold hard reality.
While the gay community will liken this battle to a civil rights push (aren't African-Americans insulted by that?) have they ever thought about the fact that maybe the majority of Americans simply want marriage to be between a man and a woman? Shudder at the thought of that!!! You know this idea that if you believe in a traditional view of marriage then you are a bigot or homophobic or not "hip and with it" is really utterly preposterous.
Doug Hoffman may have lost but conservatives across the country won. Hoffman's candidacy along with the moderate GOP candidate dropping out of the race showed that real conservatives can make a difference. BUT...there is a lot of work to do.
First of all, conservatives complain all the time about RINO's (Republicans in Name Only) like Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, etc. They don't want to see the Republican Party cater to these folks and just win elections for the sake of winning an election with an "R" next to their name. But if you really want to purge GOP moderates from the party, you better do a better job of selling this brand of conservatism to the electorate.
Let's face facts: there may be plenty of conservative voters out there who listen and agree with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Laura Ingram but unless they show up at the polls as a huge voting block then so what? The brainy people behind any GOTV (Get Out The Vote) operation, whether through official GOP channels or through the conservative grassroots must figure out a way to actually get traditional conservatives to show up and vote in droves because here's the harsh reality. If you're going to lose potential moderate "big tent" type Republican votes, you better make up that gap and more. Otherwise minority status will be cemented. Conservative leaders can beat their chest about the Hoffman appeal and philosophically say they won but who cares if your not winning elections to change the public policy you complain about.
There's one other crucial factor. If conservative candidates are going to win, you have to have the correct type of candidate. For example, Ronald Reagan was a die-hard conservative but he didn't come across as a fire-breathing angry guy. He had a natural and sensible appeal that went beyond his conservative policies. You can't expect to run a Tom Tancredo type candidate and expect a conservative to win district after district. It may work in select districts but it is not a national strategy.
Even though Republicans had big wins in New Jersey and Virginia, that doesn't necessarily translate into a referendum on President Obama. However, it actually has deeper significance. With the 2010 midterm elections about to suddenly creep up on all of us quickly, the Democratic Party is going to have to somehow figure a way to keep Independent voters from pulling the lever for Republicans. On Tuesday night, to put it simply it was a jail break. Independents went 58% to 33% for Christie over Corzine. In Virginia it was even a bigger beat down. McDonnell won Independents 65% to 34%. Democratic officials can spin and put out all the press releases they want citing how these races were local in nature but the message from Tuesday is that Independents seem to be leaning toward the GOP. That's bad news for the Democrats and could lead to a 2010 that feels a whole lot worse than Tuesday.
Look, there's no doubt that Christie and McDonnell ran great campaigns. There is a lesson in that. Republicans just can't put up any old candidate and expect to swing Independents their way. But if they put up conservative candidates who focus in on the problems of too much government and fiscal spending that winning combo is going to be powerful. The Obama White House believed they had a strong mandate for change when they took over in January and while that may be true, sometimes pushing too much of a big government agenda (bailout, GM takeover, Stimulus, healthcare reform, etc) and doing it pretty quickly can lead Independent voters to get a little wary and anxious over the ultimate end point. I'm not saying that Independents in New Jersey and Virginia were directly casting their votes based on this but what I am saying is that fiscal discipline and a big government agenda are a potentially toxic mix when you are dealing with Independent voters.
Also, Republicans should take note of McDonnell's strategy in Virginia. He courted Hispanics. He was not afraid to engage on the immigration issue and let's remember Hispanics are very family oriented which should be a natural play for Republicans. For that matter, Republicans need to figure out a way to truly appeal to African-Americans. They won't get a majority of the vote but they could sure do better than they are doing now.
In New Jersey, the Republican won even though Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans in the state. That's a hard pill for President Obama and this White House to swallow considering the President invested a good amount of time in the race. While Corzine's loss shouldn't be seen as a direct referendum on President Obama, it should be duly noted that the Presidents coattails aren't huge like they were a year ago.