Huckabee Sides With ACLU on Gitmo Closing and Waterboarding
Posted on December 4, 2007
Bryan Preston has a must read on Huckabee. Via Washington Post
After the Iowa poll showed that Republican voters like him but found him much less “presidential†and “electable†than Romney, Huckabee sought to build his foreign policy credentials, meeting with a group of retired generals who are in Des Moines to urge the 2008 candidates to commit to opposing torture. After the meeting, Huckabee joined Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in declaring his opposition to the interrogation procedure known as “waterboarding,†and said he would support closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a contrast with the other leading Republicans.
MIKE HUCKABEE: I’ve been to Guantanamo, I was there, I guess it’s been about a year and a half ago. I think the problem with Guantanamo is not in that its facilities are inadequate. It’s the symbol that it represents. It’s clearly become a symbol to the rest of the world as a place that has become problematic for us as a nation. I was quite frankly impressed with the quality of the facilities and even the attention to care that was given to the detainees, but that aside, it doesn’t alter that Guantanamo to the rest of the world is a symbol that is not in our best interests to continue pursuing.
Thought I have been critically observing Huckabee as his popularity rose, and found him lacking in many conservative areas, I was seriously considering giving him the benefit of the doubt on much of it. I was thinking that if it came to it I could pull the lever for him. Considering my own opinions on the war on terror and how it should be fought being the number one issue in my considerations, I will find that more difficult to do now.
Ok, so now we know he wants to put the detainees at Leavenworth. If SCOTUS doesn’t grant them habeus corpus, that move is likely to as the nearest federal judge will have the ACLU camped out in his inbox. What then? And what happens when the Gitmo critics just move on to start criticizing us for holding the detainees at Leavenworth? The end result of Huckabee’s stance will be to grant the detainees full rights in US civilian courts, either that or freeing them, since he won’t take the stand that our detaining them at Gitmo is both lawful and humane and has established the precedent that he’ll retreat in the face of unfair and unreasonable criticism of the US.
Sorry, Governor, no sale here.
With any luck, this will be the end of Huck’s presidential chances.
Guantanamo is not a “symbol.” It’s a facility (and a relatively nice one, as far as detention centers go) where we keep people who have pledged to do us harm. If we close the facility and let these people go, some will keep their promises.
He’s soft on immigration, soft on taxes, and apparently soft on our national security. How in the world is this guy rising in the polls?
Oh, and Gitmo has come to symoblize what’s gone wrong with the war on terror? Puhlease. If anything its come to symbolize that we treat those who should be shot better then how we treat our own criminals.
My main objection to Huckabee — the reason why he’s my fifth choice out of five — is that I lack confidence in his ability to fight terrorism. It’s not just that he lacks experience in this realm, though that’s certainly the case. The real problem is that he’s too moralistic (which is not the same thing as moral). My first clue came when he said during an early debate that we need to remain in Iraq because “we broke it.” Not because we need to defeat al Qaeda; not because we need to limit Iranian influence or avoid a devastating defeat at the hands of terrorists; but because we injured this formerly peaceful state. Huckabee’s exaltation of moralism (in this case dubious) over policy calculation was difficult to miss.
Now we learn (but are surprised) that Huckabee opposes waterboarding and would close the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Huckabee reached this conclusion after meeting with a group of retired generals (the usual suspects, I assume) who are lobbying candidates to oppose Bush administration interrogation and detention policies.
Huckabee is a smooth talker and charismatic. But I’d like to know why the Republican base is getting so enthusiastic over an unrepentant pro-amnesty guy and a dude who wants to shut down Guantanamo and outlaw waterboarding. And raise taxes, of course.
True enough, Giuliani, Romney, and McCain might split the party were they to gain the nomination. But wouldn’t Huckabee do so as well and perhaps much worse? I really can’t support a guy who takes the liberal position on several of my top issues.
The backlash begins! I agree. After combining all the liberal positions Huckabee is standing on…he won’t be getting much support from me either.
Fred Thompson is head and shoulders above Mike Huckabee when it comes to having a record of votes on fiscal policy that consistently prove his conservative beliefs. He has also fleshed out his positions on a number of issues with a tax plan and social security white paper that have been praised by conservatives across the country. Get past the charm, the unctuousness, and the corn pone manner and what you have in Huckabee is a big government conservative who looks suspiciously like George Bush did in 1999.
We don’t need another George Bush. We don’t need Mike Huckabee. What we need is someone who will fight for conservative principles in government and wear out a veto pen in nixing excessive spending and any increase in taxes proposed by a Democratic Congress.
Is that man Fred Thompson? I just don’t know about Fred. But I’m sure that if the GOP goes ahead and annoints Huckabee, the conservative movement in America will be set back as our once proud heritage of fiscal responsibility and support for smaller government will be trashed by another wolf in conservative raiment.
Doesn’t sound like he will very tough on the terrorists now does it? At one time I thought Huck might be my man but in the last couple of weeks he has really shown his weaknesses. I am still holding onto Fred Thompson and I would like to learn more about Duncan Hunter. They may be the last chance of finding a conservative in this field of what appears to be RINO’s (Republican In Name Only)
Last chance? Haven’t they been they been the best chance all along?
» Filed Under ACLU, Border Control/Homeland Security, News, Politics As Usual, War On Terror
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12 Responses to “Huckabee Sides With ACLU on Gitmo Closing and Waterboarding”
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As a Bible believing member of the Hebrew faith, I am thrilled to see this Godly man
involved in the race. Go Huck, go!!! I pray you retain your sweet spirit, Maybe you can
help bring America back to God.
Sad state of affairs, huh? A few hundred million people in this country and we can’t even get a few decent conservatives in contention for the nomination. The law of large numbers says this shouldn’t happen. Yet each election, we’re asked to compromise more and more of our principles.
When do you suppose people will realize that this is a systemic problem?
Follow the money
I’m sure you recognize many of those companies. I’m sure you also notice the overlap between candidates. Those companies don’t care who wins because they’ve already preselected the slate of candidates. Pick whichever one you want; they own them all.
You can pass all the campaign finance laws you want, but you can’t change it without reducing the scope of government. It’s elementary economics. There’s tremendous value in owning politicians, so you can be certain they’ll find a way to do it.
P.S. If you didn’t already notice, there was one guy on that list that hasn’t taken special interest money. There’s one guy that actually represents normal Americans. You can tell because his average donation size is $105 versus $1500+ for all the others.
So, tell us Jay. What is the ACLU’s position on Gitmo? To say that Huck agrees with their position is a stretch, and since the ACLU’s position wasn’t outlined in the Post story, would you tell us how supporting the closing of Gitmo is any different than Pres Bush’s own statement that he would love to close it down, if he could find somewhere to put the detainees.
Unfortunately, this is the kind of misrepresentation and negative campaigning from the thompson camp that does fred no favor at all.
Check the following link to see how a real conservative handles the critics of Gitmo:
Gitmo Menu
Mitt Romney is the most conservative candidate look at him issue by issue and he has the conservative vote. Huckabee’s move in the polls came way to fast for me to believe that it was a Huckabee platform. It is an Evangelical platform that has risen him to the top. He is a conservative on life, but liberal on almost every other issue. You are going to have to question the Evangelical base to find your answer to why Huckabee. His charisma sold him at the Value Voters Summit and his jokes pull him out of the tough questions. I laughed for a while but now I can see the pattern. He is pretty confident that he can talk himself out of a box.
Mitt’s Mormonism is an asset, but try and tell that to an Evangelical. Huckabee is riding high because of Mitt’s religious choice.
Mormonism is an asset?
Mormonism holds that authentic Christianity vanished a century after Jesus and was restored only through Joseph Smith, considered a prophet in the Mormon faith.
The highest ranking elected Mormon, Harry Reid had this to say about Evangelical Christians on a trip to Utah last October…
With assets like that, who needs liabilities?
“Mitt Romney is the most conservative candidate look at him issue by issue and he has the conservative vote.”
Flip-flopping Mitt, the most conservative? Oh boy, looks like someone has been sipping Slick Willard’s snake oil again!
I don’t see anymore connection to the ACLU than “closing gitmo”. If the ACLU had the power they would release these terrorists and compensate them. Huckabee isn’t saying anything like that. He would move them to some other location. While I might not close gitmo I wouldn’t push Huckabee into the ACLU’s camp.
Just as the title says…I stand by it. I’m surprised that some regular supporters here are saying I’m smearing him. Yes, he differs from the ACLU in that he would move them somewhere else, and no he isn’t in their “camp”. At least not on most issues. However, on closing Gitmo, and stopping waterboarding he does agree with them. Do you think there would be as much pressure from the public opinion for this PC position if the ACLU had not pushed this kind of thinking?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJDUcztn8fc
Watch that and see one candidate that has stood against he ACLU on Gitmo.
I have to respectfully disagree with Mr. Huckabees “conservative credentials” - his record is a very weak one, and he carries a huge amount of baggage that an opposing Democrat candidate could use to successfully nuke any chance Huckabee might have in a national election. Ask any Christian that’s 50+ in age if they voted for Jimmy Carter and why they did - I’m one of them and I certainly regret it (the Carter presidency was a disaster); I see an incredible resemblance in both Carter and Huckabee. The only candidates that I feel are “conservative enough” to garner my vote are Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter, and I feel that Fred Thompson is the best of the two.
http://Fred08.Com http://Fredipedia.US
I can’t believe what I am hearing from Huckabee supporters. Cute Christmas cards are supposed to prevent the coming recession?
SCARY THOUGHT FOR THE DAY #26:
Huckabee and Guiliani have nothing for the economy compared with Romney’s business and economic acumen. Will you still be complaining about Romney’s faith when they lay you off and foreclose your home? Get real, and don’t get me started about Huckabee as a foreign policy disaster. Huckabee and Ahmadinejad sitting across at a table???? That’s classic, what a nightmare.
Take all of the t-shirts mocking Bush you see at the mall and insert Huckabee’s face. That’s what college kids may be wearing until 2012. Bush haters are going to FEAST on Huckabee, what a goober…there’s a good image for the Republican stigma. Are you kidding me??
Why don’t we all vote for an inferior candidate merely because he’s not LDS. Evangelicals are going to ruin this nation.