Yesterday Mike Huckabee was interviewed by Katie Couric and he talked about a broad range of topics.  Everything from economic and foreign policy, the bailouts and TARP, his view of President Obama, his support of traditional marriage, how to bring the GOP back, to the rising stars in the party and his thoughts on 2012.

Sure beats some other Republican interviews by Katie Couric.  The full interview is here.

Huckabee’s Fox News show last week was once again number one and his opening comments were right on target about how Political Correctness Killed Americans in Fort Hood.

Let the universities provide the ideological playground for academics to put forth the high-minded plans of people management to give us all a “feel-good” for being so tolerant, but our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines deserve to be surrounded by the best of their peers, not misfits who are protected because of their religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity or their cereal preference for that matter.

Mike Huckaee’s a coward.

Here’s a follow up post to the previous post on The Manhattan Project. Love seeing Mike Huckabee wearing a LIFE band.

I think way too early to put this declaration up there on par with Luther’s 95 Theses (as Huckabee states). But then again, Luther had no thought whatsoever that his stance would be so important. And, the Barmen Declaration was signed in 1934 and at that time many pastors didn’t sign on because things weren’t bad enough yet. I’ve always been an early adopter.

From the rock stars who gave us “Mark Sanford (D),” “Mark Foley (D),” and an analysis of Olympic Games that haven’t even happened yet, we got quite an inside look at the 2012 GOP primary on Monday. Yes, Fox News is at it again. We’ve always known that they struggle with basic facts, but now they can’t even handle simple math.

The tragic thing about this graph is that we understand what they were trying to do, but it just didn’t work. Seriously, is it really possible that 70 percent of 193 percent of Republicans are backing Sarah Palin? Does that make sense?

The lesson: not every bit of information can be squeezed onto a pie graph.

Although his time was limited, I did not feel hurried as Governor Huckabee encouraged me as a Tea Party supporter.

He arrived on time in Jackson, Mississippi and is ready to head to Monroe, Louisiana.

“Simple Christmas”, Twelve Stories That Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit signed by Mike Huckabee today at Sam’s Club.  He encouraged those of us with MS TeaParty shirts to “Keep up the good work”. 

The lines were long but filled with friendly folks

Members of Penguin Group Publishers were excellent in helping the signing to go quickly and smoothly!

Sam's Club employees did a great job of welcoming us... Employees and friendly customers made this a pleasant experience..

The "signing" was rapid and designed to accommodate. Governor Huckabee only had an hour because he was due in Monroe, Louisiana, at 3pm today.

Palin's favorable numbers among Iowa Republicans are strong, says a new poll — though one in four members of her party there have doubts.

(CNN) — Sarah Palin’s book tour brings her to Iowa in two weeks. If the former Alaska governor and last year’s GOP vice presidential nominee decides to return to Iowa down to road to explore a race for the White House, a new survey suggests that Republicans in the state like her — but have some doubts.

According to a Des Moines Register Iowa poll, 68 percent of Hawkeye Republicans view Palin favorably. That’s a statistically insignificant 2 points behind those who have a positive view of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa caucuses, which traditionally kick off the presidential primary season.

Among other potential 2012 candidates: The survey indicates that two out of three view former House Speaker Newt Gingrich favorably and 58 percent have a positive view of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

“With those kinds of numbers, if she were to become a candidate, while it’s not a sure thing, she would be starting out in a very good position,” veteran Iowa GOP strategist David Roederer told the Des Moines Register. Roederer ran McCain’s 2008 Iowa campaign.

But according to the poll, nearly one in four Iowa Republicans view Palin unfavorably. That’s double the 12 percent who view Huckabee in an unfavorable way.

Among all Iowans, the survey indicates that 55 percent hold an unfavorable opinion, with 37 percent seeing her in a positive light.

Palin’s tour for her new book, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” brings her to Iowa on December 6. Palin’s scheduled to sign copies of her book at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Des Moines Register Iowa poll was conducted November 8-11, with 800 registered voters in Iowa questioned by telephone. The survey’s sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for the overall sample.

–CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

Globebloggers Johnny Kaje and Anson Burlingame have had a dispute over the issue of “faith is crap,” culminating in Anson blogging about it and Kaje writing a humorous piece about her trip to Springfield to the Skepticon II event.

All of which has made me think about one of the most bizarre beliefs in the fundamentalist world.  There are some weird and disturbing interpretations of the Bible, and then there is the doctrine of the Rapture.

For those of you out of tune with modern fundamentalism and evangelicalism, here is the Rapture in one sentence:  At some point in the future—usually in “our lifetime“—Jesus is going to return to the Earth to “gather” his born-again followers, who will be “taken up” into the air to be with him, leaving everyone else to fend for themselves in the dark days ahead, which Christians call the Tribulation.

Now, as bizarre as this seems, apparently more than 40% of all Americans believe in some version of it.  I don’t mean they believe in Jesus’ return in general (most Christians so believe), but in the specific idea of the Rapture, the one in which a car on I-44, full of people, could have its driver raptured into heavenly bliss while its other, less saintly passengers, would end up smashed against an oncoming big rig, the driver of which was also the recipient of a ticket to ride. 

So, what does this have to do with politics?  Well, I have suggested that some Republican candidates, like Mike Huckabee for instance, sometimes appear to be unable to make a distinction between American foreign policy and Israeli foreign policy, as when the Huckster visited Israel recently and criticized Obama’s position on Jewish settlements in occupied territory.

Since Huckabee is a born-again Christian who believes in the Bible as the Word of God, his biblical views obviously have some impact on his political views and thus on his political decisions, particularly involving the Middle East.  And so do the biblical views of millions upon millions of other Americans.

As Sam Harris put it:

It really is not an exaggeration to say that some significant percentage of the American electorate, which if they turned on their television today and saw that a mushroom cloud had replaced Jerusalem, they would see a silver lining in that cloud.  In so far as people like that elect our presidents and congressmen and in so far as they get elected as presidents and congressmen, that’s a terribly dangerous state of affairs.

Dangerous, indeed. 

Just to remind you of how dangerous, here is a clip of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson—just two days after 9/11—discussing their religious view of America—again, one with which many Americans concur:

Now, that is why these bizarre beliefs must be challenged and ridiculed. 

Faith in a “higher being” is one thing, but specific beliefs that lead to the kind of reasoning employed by wildly popular evangelists like the late Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson is another.

UPDATE: 

Fox 31 TV in Denver posted a story on yet another right-wing Christian, this time a car dealer just outside of Denver, in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, who posted this billboard:  

A reporter for Fox 31 interviewed the car dealer:

“Since Fort Hood, I’ve had it,” owner Phil West* told FOX 31 News Friday. “You can’t suggest things. You can’t profile. You gotta call a spade a spade.”

“Everything I have read about Mr. Obama points right to the fact that he is a Muslim. And that is the agenda of what Muslim is all about. It’s about anti-American, it’s about anti-Christianity,” West said.

As I said, there are political implications of bizarre religious beliefs.  In fact, I’m surprised John Putnam, local birther, born-again Christian, and Captain of the Jasper County Morality Police, hasn’t erected such a sign on I-44.

*I believe the gentleman’s name is Phil Wolf.

Sarah Palin vs. Pit Bull

At last the American right and left have one issue they unequivocally agree on: You don’t actually have to read Sarah Palin’s book to have an opinion about it. Last Sunday Liz Cheney praised “Going Rogue” as “well-written” on Fox News even though, by her own account, she had sampled only “parts” of it. On Tuesday, Ana Marie Cox, a correspondent for Air America, belittled the book in The Washington Post while confessing that she couldn’t claim to have “completely” read it.

“Going Rogue” will hardly be the first best seller embraced by millions for talismanic rather than literary ends. And I am not recommending that others follow my example and slog through its 400-plus pages, especially since its supposed revelations have been picked through 24/7 for a week. But sometimes I wonder if anyone has read all of what Palin would call the “dang” thing. Some of the book’s most illuminating tics have been mentioned barely — if at all — by either its fans or foes. Palin is far and away the most important brand in American politics after Barack Obama, and attention must be paid. Those who wishfully think her 15 minutes are up are deluding themselves.

The book’s biggest surprise is Palin’s wide-eyed infatuation with show-business celebrities. You get nearly as much face time with Tina Fey and the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in “Going Rogue” as you do with John McCain. We learn how happy Palin was to receive calls from Bono and Warren Beatty “to share ideas and insights.” We wade through star-struck lists of campaign cameos by Robert Duvall, Jon Voight (who “blew us away”), Naomi Judd, Gary Sinise and Kelsey Grammer, among many others. Then there are the acknowledgments at the book’s end, where Palin reveals that her intimacy with media stars is such that she can air-kiss them on a first-name basis, from Greta to Laura to Rush.

Equally revealing is the one boldfaced name conspicuously left unmentioned in the book: Levi Johnston, the father of Palin’s grandchild. Though Palin and McCain milked him for photo ops at the , he is persona non grata now that he’s taking off his campaign wardrobe. Is Johnston’s fledgling porn career the problem, or is it his public threats to strip bare Palin family secrets as well? “She knows what I got on her” is how he put it. In Palin’s interview with Oprah last week, it was questioning about Johnston, not Katie Couric, that made her nervous.

The book’s most frequently dropped names, predictably enough, are the Lord and Ronald Reagan (though not necessarily in that order). Easily the most startling passage in “Going Rogue,” running more than two pages, collates extended excerpts from a prayerful letter Palin wrote to mark the birth of Trig, her child with Down syndrome. This missive’s understandable goal was to reassert Palin’s faith and trust in God. But Palin did not write her letter to God; she wrote the letter from God, assuming His role and voice herself and signing it “Trig’s Creator, Your Heavenly Father.” If I may say so — Oy!

Even by the standard of politicians, this is a woman with an outsized ego. Combine that with her performance skills and an insatiable hunger for the limelight, and you can see why she will not stay in Wasilla now that she’s seen 30 Rock. The question journalists repeatedly asked last week — What are Palin’s plans for 2012? — is a red herring. Palin has no obligation to answer it. She is the pit bull in the china shop of American politics, and she can do what she wants, on her own timeline, all the while raking in the big bucks she couldn’t as a sitting governor. No one, least of all her own political party, can control her.

The fact-checking siege of “Going Rogue” — by the media, Democrats and aggrieved McCain campaign operatives alike — is another fruitless sideshow. Palin’s political appeal has never had anything to do with facts — or coherent policy positions. The more she is attacked for not being in possession of pointy-headed erudition, the more powerful she becomes as an avatar of the anti-elite cause. As Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, has correctly observed, “She represents less a philosophical strain on the right than an affect and a demographic.”

That demographic is white and non-urban: Just look at the stops and the faces on her carefully calibrated book tour. The affect is emotional — the angry air of grievance that emerged first at her campaign rallies in 2008, with their shrieked threats to Obama, and that has since resurfaced in the Hitler-fixated “tea party” movement (which she endorses in her book). It’s a politics of victimization and sloganeering with no policy solutions required beyond the conservative mantra of No Taxes. Its standard-bearer can make stuff up with impunity: “Thanks, but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere”; Obama’s “palling around with terrorists”; health care “death panels.”

After the Palin-McCain ticket lost, conservative pundits admonished her to start studying the issues. If “Going Rogue” and its promotional interviews are any indication, she has ignored their entreaties during her months at liberty. Last week, Greta Van Susteren chastised Oprah for not asking Palin “one policy question,” but when Barbara Walters did ask some, Palin either recycled Dick Cheney verbatim (Obama is “dithering”) or ran aground. Her argument for why “Jewish settlements” should be expanded on the West Bank was that “more and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead.” It was unclear what she was talking about — unless it was the “rapture” theology that requires the mass return of Jews to settle the Holy Land as a precondition for the return of Christ.

The discredited neocon hacks who have latched on to Palin as a potential ticket back into power have their work cut out for them. But it’s better for Palin’s purposes to remain as blank a slate as possible anyway. Some of her most ardent supporters realize that she’ll drive still more independent voters away if she fills in too many details. And so Matthew Continetti, the author of the just-published “Persecution of Sarah Palin” and her most persistent cheerleader after William Kristol, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that her role model for 2012 should be Bob McDonnell, the new Republican governor-elect of Virginia, who won on “a bipartisan, center-right approach.”

What Continetti means is that Palin could still somehow fudge her history as McDonnell did; his campaign kept his career-long history as a political acolyte and financial beneficiary of Pat Robertson on the down-low. Even the far right has figured out that homophobia is a turnoff to swing voters, which is why Palin goes out of her way in “Going Rogue” to remind us she has her very own lesbian friend. (What’s left unsaid is that the book’s credited ghost writer, Lynn Vincent, labeled homosexuality as “deviance” in her own writings for World, the evangelical magazine.)

But no matter how much Palin tries to pass for “center-right,” she’s unlikely to fool that vast pool of voters left, right and center who have already written her off as unqualified for the White House. The G.O.P. establishment knows this, and is frightened. The demographic that Palin attracts is in decline; there’s no way the math of her fan base adds up to an Electoral College victory.

Yet among Republicans she still ties Mitt Romney in the latest USA Today/Gallup survey, with 65 percent giving her serious presidential consideration, just behind the 71 for her evangelical rival, Mike Huckabee. The crowds lining up in the cold for her book tour are likely to be the most motivated to line up at the polls in G.O.P. primaries. They don’t speak the same language as Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Michael Steele, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner or, for that matter, McCain. They are more likely to heed Palin salesmen like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh than baffled Bush administration grandees like Peter Wehner, who last week called Palin “a cultural figure much more than a political one” on the Web site of the establishment conservative organ Commentary.

Culture is politics. Palin is at the red-hot center of age-old American resentments that have boiled up both from the ascent of our first black president and from the intractability of the Great Recession for those Americans who haven’t benefited from bailouts. As Palin thrives on the ire of the left, so she does from the disdain of Republican leaders who, with a condescension rivaling the sexism they decry in liberals, belittle her as a lightweight or instruct her to eat think-tank spinach.

The only person who can derail Palin is Palin herself. Should she not self-destruct, she will doom G.O.P. hopes of a 2012 comeback. But the rest of the country cannot rest easy. The rage out there is larger than Palin and defies partisan labeling. Her ever-present booster Continetti, writing in The Weekly Standard, suggested that she recast the century-old populist outrage of William Jennings Bryan by adopting the message “You shall not crucify mankind upon the cross of Goldman Sachs.” If Obama can’t tamp down that rage across the political map, Palin will at the very least pave the way for a demagogue with less baggage to pick up her torch.

Frank Rich
The New York Times

A couple of new polls are out that reflect Sarah Palin’s book bounce but Governor Huckabee remains the consistent frontrunner.  In the Fox News poll Huckabee is once again the GOP candidate with the highest favorables across the board.  As GOP 12 states, “Maybe he’s not the front-runner on paper, but he’s the front-runner with people.”  There was also a new Public Policy Polling released today in which for the eighth month in a row Huckabee fares best against a possible match-up with President Obama.

In book news, Huckabee’s A Simple Christmas is now up to #3 on the Wall Street Journal’s Best Seller list.

UPDATE:  A Simple Christmas is also #3 on the New York Times Best Seller List.

Also, Huckabee spoke to the Hudson Union Society earlier this month and said this:

When he [Barack Obama] was at Dover the other day, and went there to pay respect for soldiers, I heard a lot of people on the Right say “Aw, that’s just a cheap photo-op.” No, I think it was the Commander-in-Chief of our military paying respect to a dead soldier, and I’m grateful that he did that, and I was proud of him for doing that. And I think we all — as Americans — should give him credit for doing that.

He continued:

When he and Michele hosted the tricker-treaters on Halloween, quit finding something wrong with that. Say “Good, I’m glad that he and the First Lady are treating children to an experience at the White House.” And I just find it deplorable that some people on my end of the aisle want to find everything wrong and nothing right about the man as a man.

The underlying point, Huckabee concluded, was that knee-jerk criticism to the president was counter-productive to civil debate. “I hated it when people did that to George Bush,” he said. “They couldn’t even laugh at the man’s jokes they found something wrong with everything and if we do that to Barack Obama, then shame on us, shame on us. No wonder our country is so divided when that happens.”

I agree 100% with this statement.  It seems that conservatives have a short-term memory on how the left treated Pres. Bush and how much it outraged them.  The “you did it to us first” mentality is best left to first graders.

Discussion has begun on the 2012 primary calendar.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Representatives from some of the top 2008 GOP presidential campaigns gathered in Washington, D.C. Thursday to urge the Republican National Committee to lock in a 2012 primary calendar as early as possible to avoid the confusion that dogged the early stages of last year’s nomination contest. One campaign manager took his recommendations a step further and suggested ending the traditional first-in-the-nation statuses of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

An RNC panel headed by party chairman Michael Steele invited the campaigns to share their views as it considers numerous possible changes to the process the party will use to nominate a candidate to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012.

Mike DuHaime, the 2008 campaign manager for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, told the panel that the three early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina should continue to hold contests early in the process, but not necessarily as the first three contests.

“I believe there needs to be greater decision-making authority given to states beyond the early states,” said DuHaime, referring to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. “If you win two out of three states, those have been our nominees. With that, 47 other states don’t have the same say.”

“I think that is ultimately not in the best interests of the party,” he added.

DuHaime went on to say that the early phase of the nomination calendar should be more geographically and ethnically diverse and that doing so could make the party more competitive in general elections.
DuHaime’s candidate did not campaign heavily in the early states and instead focused his time and energy on later contests.

Former Huckabee presidential campaign manager Chip Saltsman, whose candidate won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, defended the role of the traditional early states.

“I think it’s very important and crucial to have Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina early on in the process,” he said.

Saltsman said that he has seen during his experiences in Iowa from previous campaigns “just how seriously folks in those states take the process. Not that the other 47 states don’t. It’s an opportunity for any candidate, no matter how rich, no matter how poor, no matter how new, and no matter who’s been running for eight years.”

“This is making our candidates better candidates,” Saltsman added.

The campaigns all agreed that regardless of what the calendar eventually looks like, it will be important to lock in the schedule early so that candidates can plan and strategize accordingly. In 2008, both the Republican and Democratic primary calendars were thrown into disarray when Michigan and Florida moved their contests earlier in the process to challenge the early positioning of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

“This is something that I don’t know if there’s a perfect solution, but there needs to be a solution,” said Saltsman. “Set the rules. Set them fair. Let [the presidential campaigns] know what they are. And set them in a way that don’t change.”

Beth Myers, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s 2008 campaign manager, echoed a similar sentiment.

“I am of the belief that a campaign can plan for any calendar, but that certainty is what matters,” she said in a written statement submitted to the panel. “In other words, my primary recommendation would be that the calendar is set as early as possible so that it is known by all campaigns.”

Myers did not address the politically sensitive issue of whether Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina should remain as the first contests, but she did suggest a later start for the primary season, which began on January 3 in 2008, the earliest start of any presidential primary season in history.

“The one complaint we heard more than any other was that it started too close to the holidays,” she said. “I would urge you to mandate a start in late February or early March.”

Saltzman suggested late January as a starting point.

The RNC invited all the 2008 GOP presidential campaigns to provide feedback for Thursday’s forum. The Huckabee, Giuliani and Duncan Hunter campaigns sent representatives to testify in person. The Romney, Ron Paul and Fred Thompson campaigns submitted written statements. The remainder of the 2008 GOP field, including the campaign of Sen. John McCain, did not respond to the invitation.

The RNC is expected to finalize its rules governing the nomination process at its summer meeting next year.

Mike Huckabee, former Presidential Candidate and recent Fox News host made a speech earlier this month.  As usual, the so-called “liberal press” neglected to mention some key parts of what Huckabee said to the critics of President Obama.  He specifically mentioned two [then] recent accounts by critics in the GOP regarding Obama’s Dover, Delaware stop to pay is respect to soldiers who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. 

Huffington Post wrote:

Huckabee said he found it “deplorable” and “shameful” that his fellow Republicans were attacking the president for even the most trivial or well-intentioned matters.

Appearing before the Hudson Union Society to discuss his forthcoming book, “A Simple Christmas”, Huckabee took umbrage with the criticism levied by some conservatives over Obama’s visit to Dover Air Force base to see the coffins of returning soldiers.

When he [Barack Obama] was at Dover the other day, and went there to pay respect for soldiers, I heard a lot of people on the Right say “Aw, that’s just a cheap photo-op.” No, I think it was the Commander-in-Chief of our military paying respect to a dead soldier, and I’m grateful that he did that, and I was proud of him for doing that. And I think we all — as Americans — should give him credit for doing that.

He continued:

When he and Michele hosted the tricker-treaters on Halloween, quit finding something wrong with that. Say “Good, I’m glad that he and the First Lady are treating children to an experience at the White House.” And I just find it deplorable that some people on my end of the aisle want to find everything wrong and nothing right about the man as a man.

Emphasis are mine.

Now, if only the far right GOPers just took Huckabee’s statement as food for thought, perhaps, we’d all be on a better footing in trying to do what’s right for America, not just for one party of the other.  Way to go Mr. Huckabee.

When talking about New York politics, the name of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani often pops up. He ran for President until the Florida primary after which he knew that he didn’t stand a chance (and money which was the main reason why he hadn’t campaigned in Iowa and New Hampshire) against John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. However, despite the fact that he hasn’t held political office for the last eight years, he is still considered a possible candidate for President in 2012, for Governor in 2010, and now for U.S. Senate in 2010. What political position should he run for though is the question to which there have been tons of speculations.

The Quinnipiac University Poll did their last survey on New York State a month ago. As you can see, Mr. Giuliani is leading to Rick Lazio in the GOP primary (74%-9% with 14% being unsure), Governor David Paterson in the general election (54%-32% – who isn’t… ah, yes – Rick Lazio – 38%-38%) but the latter doesn’t matter much because he will most likely face New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (who is leading in the primary to Mr. Paterson 61%-19% with 17% being unsure). To Mr. Cuomo, the former Mayor is losing (50%-40% with 8% being unsure).

In a race for the U.S. Senate, there are still no results. The last time New York voters were asked about Senator Kirsten Gilibrand’s approval rating was three months ago. Senator Gillibrand was favored by 33% of the registered voters who took the survey, 19% disapproved of her job, and almost half of them (48%) were unsure. In other words, voters in the state generally don’t recognize her name so far, and I doubt that anything has changed for the last three months, all the more that her approval rating and name recognition had been somewhat the same, according to the Institute’s past results.

So what should Rudy Giuliani run for

This is the question of the day. Everything so far tells me that he is going to run for the U.S. Senate. Here are other arguments that supports this hypothesis:

• Rudy Giuliani has had a certain affinity toward this position so far. He already ran for the U.S. Senate in 2000 but was diagnosed with prostate cancer and withdrew.
• His name is still often mentioned for a potential run for the GOP nomination for the general election for President in 2012. If he is elected to the U.S. Senate, it will give him a boost for attacking the White House, making him politically active in the form of voting for legislations, and his leadership skills in pushing for certain legislations, and against other, will also have a positive impact on his name recognition in addition.
• He already held an executive position (Mayor), and provided that he is elected Governor – it may not make much of a difference in the way people know him. As a Senator, he will have more potential of showing people that he knows how to get things done regardless of what kind of power he has.
• As a Senator, he will be able to talk about not just issues in New York State but also nationwide and international ones. This is a weak argument though because Governors can do it too. However, unlike Governors, Senators can vote on such issues, are more often seeked by the mainstream media for commentary on them, and also participate on Committee hearings. The latter gives Senators more of an insider position than that of a Governor.

It appears that the best option for Rudy Giuliani so far is to run for the U.S. Senate. What do you think?

Right now Governor Mike Huckabee is on a 64 city and 22 state book tour for A Simple Christmas and so far it has reached #18 on the New York Times Best Seller list.  His best seller from last year Do the Right Thing has come out in paperback during the release of the new book.  What I didn’t realize, however, is that a new chapter was added to Do the Right Thing that deals with the 2008 election.  (It was published even before the Republican Convention.)

Adam Graham at race42012 gave a summary of what this new chapter is about.  Huckabee uses this chapter to praise the pick of Sarah Palin as Vice President, to hammer on those who supported TARP and the stimulus and to make a point how some of those people were the very ones who criticized him for not being a fiscal conservative, and to make a statement of what he would have done if Joe Lieberman was the VP pick:

Huckabee planned to not appear at the Republican Convention “quietly” and to focus his attention exclusively on House, Governor, and Senate candidates.

At one of the book signings Huckabee admitted that he was already working on his eighth book which will be a policy book due out the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011.  Hmmmm………..

As we approach the mid-term elections in 2010, it seems all of the focus is on the inevitable: the Democrats will lose seats in the House and Senate. The erosion of a president’s approval rating is also part of the political cycle. We Americans like diversity in our government. When one party controls both houses of congress and the White House, we get a little nervous.

Although the Republican Party is leaderless, the hardcore Conservative Movement has many leaders (*see the partial list below) and is pushing hard to cleanse the party of moderates. This is a HUGE mistake. Moderates attract independent voters. Without them, you’re left with the extremists in your party. By the time we get to the next Presidential Election, the number of people who call themselves independents will probably grow to about 40% of the voting population – not a good sign for the hard right or the hard left.

There’s been much discussion about who will be the Republican Nominee in 2012. Naturally, people go back to the names they know: Palin, Huckabee, Romney, etc. But there is a Republican you may not have heard about.

He’s fiscally conservative, voting “nay” on virtually every appropriations bill that comes up, including T.A.R.P. Obviously, he is already holding an elected office in congress. He is Pro-Life and pro-guns, including advocating for conceal carry laws. He seems to be moderate on climate and energy issues. He’s also seems to be down-the-middle on education issues, but does think “No Child Left Behind” is a good model for improving our schools. He’s very pro-military, possibly bordering on neo-conservatism.

According to Real Clear Politics, he’s considered a “dark horse” for a presidential bid in 2012, but I disagree. He knows how to raise money. (He’s sitting on $5.5M for his re-election bid next year.) He’s younger than most of the potential candidates, camera-ready, and could easily appeal to conservative independents.

Could he beat Obama in 2012? I doubt it – unless our President completely falls apart in his first term – an extremely unlikely scenario. But he could use the exposure in 2012 to make a very strong bid for the White House in 2016. Typically, second terms for Presidents are not as strong as first terms. Because of this, vice-presidents running for their boss’s position are not usually successful, historically speaking. Considering Biden will be 74 years old on November 20, 2016, there is a very good chance he won’t run for President. This would certainly create a scenario that could give a well-known, seemingly moderate Republican, a 50-50 shot at winning the White House. If Obama’s second term goes well, a Republican’s chance of winning decreases substantially against a formidable Democratic candidate.

The Republican I speak of is John Thune of South Dakota. 

Among the other “dark horses” mentioned in the Real Clear Politics article are Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn.

There was one other “dark horse” mentioned: Dick Cheney.

Sincerely,

www.MichaelKontras.com

* Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Mike Huckabee, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, among others.

Sarah Palin soundly defeated Joe Biden in their vice-presidential debate last year — and she’s been heading relentlessly downhill ever since:

The good news: With her current fan base Sarah can do no wrong.  The more she screws up, the more the media will attack her, which will only serve to strengthen the support of the angry teabaggers and assorted wingnuts now riding the Palin Express.

The bad news: Few additional conservatives will want to hop on board.  Why should they?  Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are fully capable of mouthing the same right-wing platitudes as Sarah, but without all the cringe-worthy gaffes.

And if Palin somehow rises to the top of a Republican field overpopulated with wingnuts, the GOP corporatocracy will cut her off at the knees.  There’s too much old-school K-Street money-making on their post-Obama agenda for them to risk handing the Republican car keys to a guaranteed loser.

With a new book recently released, former Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is spending a lot of time in the American Midwest, including several of the key primary states. Speaking in several towns in Iowa, which kicks off the primary season with its caucuses, Palin is rumored to be thinking of a run in 2012. She is not the only candidate spending time in this particular region of the country, though – former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty have both paid visits to the area.

This early period of presidential campaigning is often called the “surfacing stage,” which means that potential candidates are simply testing the waters with the electorate. Candidates try to position themselves as serious contenders, court the party base, and paint their vision of America’s future – all while the media is keeping a distance until the later parts of the campaign. Many candidates decide against running after the surfacing stage, proving that it is extremely important in helping them make up their mind about their political future.

Sometimes certain candidates, like Republican Mike Huckabee, are kept in the news during this period because key public figures push for them during media appearances. Staying in the spotlight, according to this philosophy, enhances name recognition and keeps supporters excited. For an example of this, see actor Chuck Norris’s comments below:

Discussion Questions:

1.  How long do you think the surfacing stage in a presidential campaign should last?

2.  What are the risks of starting the surfacing stage too early? What are the risks of starting too late?

3.  Aside from visiting key states from the primary, what else do potential presidential candidates do to stay in the public spotlight before announcing the beginning of their next campaign?

Okay folks, with all the talk about Sarah Palin lately in the news with the release of her new book “Going Rogue”, I simply must talk about this.  While this woman is extremely good looking, she lacks something in the political arena.  That something is EXPERIENCE.  It’s pretty clear to me now that she was placed on the McCain ticket simply for her gender and not for her qualifications.  Although she is an intelligent woman and very articulate, it’s clear that she was told what to do and what to say on the campaign trail.

It was perfectly obvious to me during the elections last year that Palin was added to the McCain ticket for her gender alone.  Didn’t you find it odd that the McCain camp wanted to wait until after Obama announced his VP pick before announcing their own?  They were wanting to see if Obama would pick up Hillary Clinton.  In which case, they probably would’ve chosen Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney as their VP pick.  They instead chose Sarah Palin once they heard that Joe Biden had been chosen.  They wanted the female vote.  Their hope was to sway the women who wanted Hillary to win in the primaries.  It was actually a smart move, because there were a lot of women out there that felt dissed by the Obama camp when he chose Joe Biden over Hillary Clinton for Vice President.  It almost worked.

Fortunately for us, the American people stuck to their guns and voted the right man into office.

Now, about this book.  I haven’t actually read it and I don’t intend to.  I’ve heard the preliminary reviews and it seems like it’s a book that gives an inside look into the life of an inexperienced individual on a sweeping campaign to the White House.  The election was clearly larger than anything she had ever been a part of and I saw her struggle with that, as many of you did.

I don’t think Sarah Palin is a bad person.  I think she’s a little quirky and a little misguided, but I think she has a good heart.  I also think that she’s totally harmless.  Oprah Winfrey asked her in an interview if she would run for President in 2012.  I personally don’t see her actually winning an election again.  I think that people love her for her beauty and her simple, everywoman nature, but I don’t think they like her for her politics.  She has slipped out of the political scene and into the celebrity box.

More to come, folks.

Blakjak

TOPICS: Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden

Full results (pdf)

“Oh, that God the gift would give us
To see ourselves as others see us”… Robert Burns

Mike Huckabee is on a 60 city tour to promote his new book, “  A Simple Christmas.”  Friday, November 13, 2009, Governor Huckabee was at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Charlotte, NC to sign copies of his book. I shook hands with Mr. Huckabee and shared a few brief comments with him about this blog.

To Governor Mike Huckabee from the Citizen Wells blog, concerned Americans across the nation.

Mr. Huckabee, you do seem to be a very nice man, there is a consenus of agreement on that, but you have offended many concerned Americans with your uninformed opinion on Obama’s eligibility issues and your stance on illegal aliens and other issues. Upholding the US Constitution and rule of law is the highest priority of the good people reading this blog as well as millions of other Americans. These are hard working, sincere Americans that do not fit neetly into compartments of birthers and right wing conservatives. This blog, like the tea party movement, represents Americans of all political parties, economic strata and religious persuasions. Your Pelosi like insults of those questioning Obama and his natural born citizen status were not taken lightly. I suggest you do some homework and listen. Even Lou Dobbs of CNN, the Communist News Network, acknowledged that the suspicious COLB presented by the Obama camp was just a piece of paper that referred to another piece of paper.

Last year Fox was the only network presenting any realistic coverage of issues surrounding Barack Obama. Sean Hannity and then Glenn Beck asked probing questions that the MSM ignored or glossed over. However, I critized Fox then for not covering controversial issues surrounding Obama. Some of those issues have now been addressed and still Fox has been hands off on the eligibility issue. Bill O’Reilly has bragged about grilling Obama in an interview last year, and perhaps, compared to the MSM, he did. However, many well informed Americans, including myself, believe O’Reilly gave Obama a free ride.

So Governor Huckabee, it is somewhat understandable why you were ill informed regarding Obama’s eligibility. However, ultimately, you should not have insulted well informed, concerned Americans who rightfully believe that Obama is not a natural born citizen. It is not too late. Below are comments from the good Americans of this blog. Some retired military, some with legal educations, but all genuinely care about this country.

Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 3:08pm   Pixel Patriot

“Huckabee might be a nice man but he is still a hypocrite. You can’t condone ILLEGAL immigration and open borders during a time of war while there are laws on the books going unfunded and unenforced. I would have more respect for him if he advocated compassionately deporting the ILLEGAL immigrants ASAP and hitting the employers with hefty fines while simultaneously changing the immigration laws so that more are allowed to enter every year but from the back of the line. If the families don’t want to be separated, the families go too until they get back in. No more anchor babies. Also, the radical Islamic jihadists are the first to go and it is just fine if the door hits them in the butt on the way out!

Oh, don’t forget that Huckabee is on record saying Obama is a citizen and born in Hawaii. Huckabee is either complicit in covering for Obama’s crimes via silence or too incomprehensibly negligent to be a candidate for the office of the POTUS and not have a legal research team to definitively determine his opponents’ eligibility when in question as obvious as it was. Remember, the BC is not the issue; it is the dual nationalities which Obama publicly admitted to before the election.”

Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 3:30pm   Maddie

“Great points, Pixel Patriot. Although there are
plusses with Huckabee, I did hear him go down
the complacent trail of citizen and Hawaii. I’m not hitching my wagon to anyone who does that.
Ba-bye Huck.”

Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 3:45pm   citizenwells

“Huckabee was not my candidate in 2008 and I do not know if I could ever
vote for him.
However, he is intelligent and articulate and is not going away.
He appears to have opened his eyes on the Obama Camp and
he may be trainable.
Does he have the scruples he appears to have?
We will find out.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 4:06pm   c.n.d.e. ville II

“At the moment, my litmus test for the salvageableness of any office holder is the eligibility issue. If Huckabee today starts asking questions about o’s background and eligibility for office, I MIGHT move him from my “I want you our of our government immediately” list to my “okay, maybe not immediately, but you had REALLY better mean this” list.

Realistically, since, at the moment, no potential candidates seem to pass my test, I may have to revise my standards. Sigh. lol Story of my life.

I dunno, if we keep settling for the lesser of evils, will we ever get the good (with warts and all, of course)?”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 4:53pm   Don

“Huckabee isn’t my first choice. I would vote for him as the lesser of two evils, like I did McCain.

I did NOT like his stance on illegal aliens.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 5:06pm   Maddie
“ARMY DAV—That’s exactly when I took him off the list—we are not right wing loonies.

Mr. Huckabee has now joined the ostriches
with their heads stuck in the sand—
hear no evil, see no evil little “cozy clan!””

Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 5:08pm   Magna Carta

“I do not trust Huckabee.There was a rape case or something in his home state and he let the guy out or something that really got some people worked up…THEY DID NOT WANT HIM TO ADVANCE.
Then,he did the Wal-Mart thing with illegals..pushing for DREAM ACT…etc…
Snake-oil salesman in my book.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 5:10pm   Linda from NY

“Huckabee is a likable guy; soft-spoken and not apt to “go off the deep end,” but not POTUS material IMHO.

If he is complicit in the eligibility issue as many of you have said, then I cannot trust him to lead.

The “lesser of two evils” vote never appealed to me…that expression just irks me.

I am looking for the man/woman who is a proponent of the “greater good.”

They have to be more than willing to “talk the talk;” they will have to demonstrate to me they can “walk the walk.”

We need to vote in those who are willing to “fight” for the Constitution to be upheld, and the Declaration of Independence to be respected.
I am certain that will be easy to determine from what we already know.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 5:13pm   Buraq ‘08

“I’m not interested in Mike Huckabee in any way, shape, or form.

Firstly, he is much too soft spoken. He sounds like a therapist. A person either has leadership qualities, or he doesn’t. Mike doesn’t.

Secondly, he is a typical republican.

Thirdly, he looks like Gomer Pyle.

Fourthly, I support Sarah Palin.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 6:27pm   Buraq ‘08

“@ Citizenwells:

Heh, sorry. Sometimes I can get carried away.

Since the 2008 elections. I find that my patience is very thin for certain republicans. What really bugs me the most is that the GOP seems incapable of producing conservative leaders. I am very bothered by what seems to be the GOP’s intention to run the exact same failed candidates from 2008 as if they have learned nothing at all.

If they try to nominate McCain, Romney, or Huckabee again, I think my head may explode.

From my standpoint, Sarah Palin was the only bright spot from 2008.

Ideally, what I would like to see in a candidate is a true conservative fighter, and I really mean a fighter. Mike just comes across as too passive to me. Perhaps I am wrong.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 6:47pm   ARMY D.A.V.

“Romney vs Huckabee or RINO vs RINO”

Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 7:00pm   Prairie

“My take on Huckabee. When the country is being taken over by marxists, his show has not tackled one controversial topic outside of abortion. He is the really nice boy in school- that no girl would date. He doesn’t have what it takes to lead.”
Submitted on 2009/11/13 at 8:04pm   live oak

“Never Huckabee!!!”

Submitted on 2009/11/14 at 4:04am   usapatriots-shout.blogspot.com

“Huckabee is likable but disingenous to me. What specifically turned me against him was his denial about Obama’s ineligibility to be president.

The man or woman who would be our next president will do so if He/she runs on the platform of restoring America to the republic under the Constitution, promising to challenge Obama’s sealed documents, tightening the borders, repealing the health care plan –if Senate passes it and redefining America as a Christian/Judeo country. In my observations I think Palin has the guts to do this. It also may well depend upon who runs with her and if she stays with the Republicans or creates a third party.”

Submitted on 2009/11/14 at 8:46am   Portuguese Revolutionary War Hero – Peter Francisco

“COUNT me as a NOOOOOOOOOOO.
We will Not settle for an appeaser and softy. We will not settle for a coneiver and one that conspired with McAmensty during teh election to SCREW Romeny and teh Republicans therefore getting us STUCK with a RINO who hushed, handcuffed and sabotaged his VP candidate and his own candidacy by sticking up MORE for BO than Palin. After the disaster of an INSURGENCY PRESIDENCY we need a STRONG CANDIDATE that we all can support and unite behind someone fromthe Reagan Wing of the Repuke Party otherwise lets start a new party.
Palin and DeMint or Bachmann are my Top Choices and we shoudl start organizing for them strating NOW.
Forget the DISRUPTERS which is what The Huckster is right along with his running mate McCain.

We need someone with Strong Conservative Principles that clearly has the character and the guts to Stand Firm, communicate clearly and take decisive actions. Someone that we will follow without doubts or REGRETS.

Palin, DeMint, Bachmann NO BODY ELSE right now. Even Romney is too weak as a Conservative even though I like him economically, but he has disappeared and that isn’t good.
Romney should run for Kennedy’s Senate seat and maybe in 2020 run for President”

Mike Huckabee, are you going to be a Statesman or a Politician?

 
We want our representatives to be nice and exercise protocol to the extent that it protects the American public.

 
John McCain was polite last year but he did not look after the interests of the public. We fault him for that.

 
Governor Huckabee, are you listening?

 
Governor Huckabee, will you do the right thing?

Look out 2012, here comes Sarah Palin

SHE’S BA-ACK – and with a vengeance. Sarah Palin’s new memoir, ‘Going Rogue: An American Life‘, hits stores Tuesday. (Should have been called ‘Mavericky: How I Thought the Election Was All About Me and Helped Kill Whatever Chance John McCain Had of Winning It’).

The Baracuda has returned. She never really left, of course. Since failing in her bid with McCain for the White House, and resigning as governor of Alaska in the summer, Palin has served as a vocal conservative counterpoint to the American left, staying in the thick of things by sharing her views – mainly through her Facebook page – on the issues of the day. (She helped perpetuate that whole death panel thing, for example.)

Dobbs for president? He certainly looks the part.

With her book hitting stores this week, you’d have to think Palin is taking a first major step toward a 2012 presidential bid. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Palin could get the nod from the Republicans for the nomination. After all, the party is currently bereft of any notable new contenders. (Though perhaps Lou Dobbs could be one now – he certainly looks presidential.)

UPDATE (Nov. 25): Lou Dobbs weighs Senate run, as a steppingstone

Palin, when she’s not raging against the “liberal media,” has a certain folksy charm and conservative views, all of which is appealing to them there down-home ‘real Americans.’  And it turns out she’s not as clueless as she seemed in her disastrous interviews with Katie Couric during last year’s election.

Why wouldn’t the Republicans go with Palin? President Obama is up against it these days, with two wars, a battered economy, health care reform and climate change. So far, though, he’s had few victories to speak of and has left many supporters wondering what happened.

Crazy though it may seem, is it possible disenchanted independent voters (those who decide elections) would give up on Obama and opt for Sarah Barracuda?

For now at least, there are few signs of that being a possibility. A recent Gallup survey found that 63 per cent of voters would not seriously consider Palin for the White House in 2012. And while she may be popular among Republicans, only 28 per cent of independents – those who make or break elections – think she is qualified to be president.

I can't see the difference, can you?

Still, politics and certainly elections are driven by personality, and Palin has plenty of chutzpah (I have to admit, though, I find it hard sometimes to decipher whether who I’m seeing on television is actually Sarah Palin or Tina Fey… more often than not it’s Fey.)

Plus, for what it’s worth, she’s apparently sexy enough to inspire a new porn series: “Who’s Nailin’ Palin?” (with both “Obama” and “Joe the Plumber” making appearances as co-stars).

Let’s see Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney beat that. On second thought, let’s not.

ryan@roadtostarrdom.com

Related: AP says Palin’s book goes rogue on some facts

>> Palin calls Newsweek cover ’sexist’ and ‘degrading‘

I spent about two hours in a crowded book store last night for a chance to meet Mike Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential hopeful is touring 60 cities in three weeks to promote his new book, “A Simple Christmas.” He was at Quail Ridge Books and Music in Raleigh on Thursday night.

I am an enthusiastic Huckabee supporter. In fact, I changed my party affiliation from Democrat to unaffiliated so I could vote for him in the Republican primary. With that said, I was excited to have a chance to shake his hand and say hello.

It was great to be in a room full of other Huckabee supporters. I must mention that I was the only black person there. But, I wasn’t worried about that; I was on a mission.

Mr. Huckabee’s bus was an hour late. I’m sure the weather didn’t help. It was cold, rainy and windy. The weather made me want to stay home, but I decided I couldn’t miss this opportunity.

The wait wasn’t bad at all. The time seemed to fly by pretty quickly, plus there was a little girl who was quite entertaining. I read a little bit of “A Simple Christmas,” and having my iPhone didn’t hurt either.

Pretty soon, the bus pulled up and the wait was over.

The signing line went pretty quickly, and before I knew it, it was my turn. There was a lot I wanted to say, but I just said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Yeah, I totally froze! But hopefully I’ll get a chance to meet Mr. Huckabee again, and hopefully we’ll see his name on the ballot in 2012.

Governor Huckabee’s recent visit to Iowa to promote his new book A Simple Christmas:  Twelve Stories That Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit demonstrated that Iowans still like Mike.  He was met with great crowds at all of his three stops (which is similar to the enthusiastic response he is getting in other states as well) and at his last event of the evening he shared why he’s in the state and why he will be back in Iowa again.

A lot has changed since Huckabee first stepped foot in Iowa.   He began as a blip in the polls and now he is considered the front runner for the Republican nomination in 2012.  He has recently had a clean sweep in the polls; Rasmussen, CNN, PPP, and most recently Gallup have all proved him to be the number one choice for 2012.

The question that remains is will he leave his number one weekend cable show on Fox which dominates the ratings across the board and his in demand radio show that is up to 450 affiliates to pursue the nomination?  We sure hope so.

On his visit to South Korea, President Obama was presented with an honorary taekwondo belt.

News

• The Senate will take a first vote on health care on Saturday.
• Oprah’s ending her talk show in 2011.

Politics

• Mike Huckabee shows his civility and class–I like Mike, even if I don’t always agree with him.

Sports

• Thierry Henry says that a replay would be fair.