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Stories tagged with “Mike Huckabee”

LGBT

Mike Huckabee: Keeping Gays Out Of Boy Scouts Will Protect Boys From Abuse

By Zack Ford on Jul 19, 2012 at 10:15 am

Though the Boy Scouts of America has not yet explained what conclusions led it to reaffirm that discriminating against gay scouts and leaders was “absolutely the best policy” for its organization, plenty of conservatives have made clear which fallacious anti-gay myth they believe motivated the decision. On his radio show yesterday, Mike Huckabee spelled out in no uncertain terms that he believes the policy is “right” because it protects boys from abuse. He welcomed a call from a listener who had been abused by his scout leader, and Huckabee agreed that part of the definition of “homosexual” is molesting children:

CALLER: I believe homosexuals try to target groups like that, to get a leadership area in, and if there hadn’t have been a homosexual in my troop, I wouldn’t have been traumatized for about three years. [...]

HUCKABEE: I think if anybody wants to argue about this case, they need to hear your story. That’s very powerful. I thank you for having the candor to share it with us, and again, you make us all understand why the Boy Scouts made a decision that I at least think was the right one.

Listen to it:

Comments like Huckabee’s (and the Liberty Counsel’s) are egregiously offensive and harmful. Drawing a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia is the same weak argument John Briggs was making 40 years ago in an attempt to ban gay teachers in California. It’s unfounded slander against the entire gay community.

Pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which individuals have a primary or exclusive sexual interest in children. It in no way defines or relates to an individual’s sexual orientation — it refers only to age and level of sexual development. That gay men are attracted to men makes them no more likely to abuse children than straight men because they are attracted to women. As psychologists have stated for years, “There is no inherent connection between an adult’s sexual orientation and her or his propensity for endangering others.”
Read more

Alyssa

Mike Huckabee Takes on Rush Limbaugh, Giving Radio Stations a New Choice in Conservative Hosts

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Mar 20, 2012 at 10:07 am

Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke have provided an embarrassment and a revenue sink for his employer, Clear Channel, which has had to contend with increasing numbers of advertisers who have pulled out of advertising on Limbaugh’s show. And as Limbaugh has continued to magnify his own woes, first with an anemic apology about his word choice, and then with an incoherent Twitter campaign against his critics, the signs are clear that Limbaugh’s position as an icon of the right might no longer be secure. In Limbaugh’s self-inflicted wounds lie the opportunity for a conservative rival to emerge—and for a rival network to Clear Channel to scoop up an enormous amount of money.

That rival talker is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and the rival network is Cumulus Media. “The Mike Huckabee Show” launches on April 9, and Cumulus is eager to sign up radio stations to carry it. The opportunity for them is two-fold: if stations decide to drop Limbaugh, there’s an obvious opening for them to carry Huckabee’s show instead. But even if they don’t, most of the local station contracts with Limbaugh are exclusive: another station in the same market can’t carry him. In the past, that meant the station had snagged itself a prize. In the future, it might look more like they’re saddled with a cigar-smoking albatross.

Cumulus Media’s seized that opportunity, telling stations that don’t have Limbaugh now and that might choose not to reup their contracts to carry him in the future, that in Huckabee, they’ve got a better alternative. The company’s distributed a list of 31 advertisers who have asked that their spots not be affiliated with any Limbaugh-related programming. And they’re pitching Huckabee’s show by telling stations it’ll offer “more conversation, less confrontation.”

In a few weeks, we’ll start to see if that strategy works. And even if it does, Huckabee’s tone may be different from Limbaugh’s, but that doesn’t mean his positions—with a few exceptions like childhood obesity and arts education—will vary much from the man he has a chance to dethrone. But as radio stations reassess their budgets, they might want to reconsider whether Limbaugh’s once-vaunted brand will continue to be worth it to them at the end of the next contract they sign. More than 140 advertisers have already made that assessment and decided to move on.

Security

Gingrich Supporter Rep. Trent Franks Sides With Huckabee On Foreign Aid

By Scott Keyes and Travis Waldron on Jan 18, 2012 at 4:12 pm

COLUMBIA, South Carolina — One of Newt Gingrich’s most prominent supporters in Congress, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), took sides in the Huckabee-led debate over foreign aid, and it wasn’t with the former House speaker.

Mike Huckabee spoke at a South Carolina luncheon yesterday and slammed Republicans’ calls to eliminate foreign aid, calling such a prospect “outrightly foolish” and “un-Christian.” Gingrich, who supports zeroing out foreign aid, spoke immediately following Huckabee, but did not address the former Arkansas governor’s criticisms.

Following the event, ThinkProgress spoke with Franks, who had listened to both speeches. The Arizona congressman said Huckabee’s message was “magnificent” and “right on.” When ThinkProgress noted that Gingrich was one of the Republicans who Huckabee targeted for wanting to eliminate foreign aid, Franks was reluctant to criticize his candidate of choice, saying simply, “I’m going to leave that right there”:

FRANKS: Scott, Mr. Huckabee articulates subjects like that in a way all of us wish we could. I thought he was magnificent. I’m considered one of the most conservative members of Congress and I don’t think I could have articulated my own perspective any better than that. He’s right on. I just think he’s right.

KEYES: Do you think that the Republican Party has kind of lost its way on the issue of foreign aid?

FRANKS: I think that they have to make the distinction between places where our engagement can further the cause of freedom and places where it furthers the cause of surrender. There is a difference, there is a distinction. [...]

KEYES: I was just curious to get your reaction because Speaker Gingrich is one of the folks who have called for zeroing out foreign aid which Huckabee was very critical of.

FRANKS: I’m going to leave that right there.

Listen to it:

Foreign aid accounts for less than 1 percent of the federal budget, yet Republicans have regularly demagogued the issue when discussing how to eliminate the budget deficit. Gingrich is one of the worst offenders, declaring in a recent South Carolina debate that all current recipients of American aid “ought to start off at zero and say, explain to me why I should give you a penny.”

Security

Huckabee Slams GOP On Foreign Aid, Says Zeroing Out Would Be ‘Outrightly Foolish’ And ‘Un-Christian’

By Scott Keyes and Travis Waldron on Jan 17, 2012 at 6:01 pm

COLUMBIA, South Carolina — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) ripped the Republican Party during a South Carolina speech today, saying he doesn’t want to be associated with a party that would zero-out foreign aid and calling such a move “un-Christian.”

Speaking at a U.S. Global Leadership Coalition luncheon in Columbia, Huckabee told the largely-Republican crowd that their party had lost its way on the issue of foreign aid. In debate after debate, Republican presidential candidates have competed to determine which of them could be the most critical of American foreign aid funding. When the candidates gathered in South Carolina last fall, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Mitt Romney all proposed zeroing out foreign aid funding. “You ought to start off at zero and say, explain to me why I should give you a penny,” Gingrich said.

Huckabee, who was tasked with introducing Gingrich at the event, addressed the Republican Party’s dismissal of foreign aid, calling the notion “outrightly foolish” and “extraordinarily disagreeable.” The former Arkansas governor, also an ordained Baptist preacher, went on to say that not taking action to help those living in poverty around the world “would be un-Christian.”

HUCKABEE: I resent the idea that the conservative viewpoint somehow is at odds with the idea of strategic investment in countries around the globe. I not only disagree with it, I find it extraordinarily disagreeable. [...] To be honest with you, you go to a lot of political rallies, you can get an applause that will raise the roof if you just say, “we’re going to get rid of all foreign aid. We’re going to cut it all.” But it’s shortsighted if not outrightly foolish.

The simple reality is that every time America is making its presence known in any government across the world, it will be far more effective when it delivers bread than when it delivers bombs. And the next thing I think we ought to do, if we really are the Christians we claim to be, is to want to make sure that we do not turn our backs on the suffering we see. [...] As as a Christian believer myself, it would be impossible for me to have read the gospels of Jesus, to look upon a scene like that and not be moved to the point of action, and to just simply be moved to the point of compassion that did not result in doing something, would be un-Christian.

Watch the highlights from Huckabee’s remarks:

Gingrich spoke at the event immediately following Huckabee, but did not address the former Arkansas governor’s comments or his opposition to foreign aid. Gingrich instead claimed that preparing for an electromagnetic pulse attack — what scientists and nuclear experts dismiss as “far-fetched” — was a good use of American resources.

Economy

McCain In 2008: Romney Presided Over Bain As It ‘Laid Off Thousands Of Workers’

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jan 12, 2012 at 4:10 pm

Before Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was trying to help Mitt Romney win the White House, the senator spoke out against Romney’s former company, Bain Capital, for engaging in the type of behavior that is now drawing the ire of the other GOP presidential hopefuls. McCain has endorsed Romney this year, and is defending him against attacks on Bain’s “vulture capitalism” from Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry. But as BuzzFeed points out, even McCain saw the problems with Bain four years ago when he ran against Romney.

In Florida, McCain shot at Romney: “As head of his investment company he presided over the acquisition of companies that laid off thousands of workers.” In a debate, McCain charged, “He managed companies and he bought and he sold and sometimes people lost their jobs.” McCain’s campaign manager added, “He learned politics and economics from being a venture capitalist, where you go and buy companies, you strip away the jobs, and you resell them,”

But today, McCain suggested attacks on Romney’s jobs record at Bain are akin to “communism.”

Meanwhile, former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is also defending Romney on Bain, even though he once quipped that Romney looks “looks like the guy who fired you.”

NEWS FLASH

Huckabee Chides Republicans For Being ‘More Interested’ In Defeating Obama ‘Than They Are In Rebuilding America’ | As the GOP candidates stump around the Hawkeye State before tonight’s Iowa caucus, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), who won the caucus in 2008, called out many in his party for prioritizing political victory over the country’s well-being. In a radio interview, Huckabee expressed his frustration with the current field and said, “If I walked in the booth today I’m not sure who I’d pull the lever for.” He explained that he decided not to get in the race this time because, “It appears to me, and it still does to a large degree, that many of the Republicans are more interested in just defeating Barack Obama than they are in rebuilding America.” Huckabee said he wanted to see more of an emphasis on how to get Americans back to work and noted, “defeating somebody without a plan to really resolve problems, to me, is a worthless endeavor.”

By Marie Diamond on Jan 3, 2012 at 4:25 pm

Politics

Huckabee: Super PACs Are ‘One Of The Worst Things That Ever Happened In American Politics’

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jan 3, 2012 at 12:30 pm

At least $16 million has been spent on political ads in Iowa ahead of today’s GOP caucuses. Much of this comes from new Super PACs — the post-Citizens United political groups that can raise unlimited amounts of money — which have played an unprecedented role in the race this year. Outside expenditure groups spent just $1.5 million in the state in the 2004 cycle, and $3.4 million in 2008. This year, that amount has been around $6 million, with much more spending expected in upcoming states’ primaries.

The flood of money into politics after the Supreme Court’s Citizens decision has worried progressives, who are concerned about their candidates being drowned by corporations’ deep pockets. But today, conservative former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee — who won the Iowa GOP Caucus in 2008 — condemned the rise of Super PACs.

Speaking on Fox News, Huckabee objected to the way that Super PACs allow campaigns to stay out of the fray while unidentifiable “snipers from the trees” (the PACs) run negative attack ads against opponents. Calling the outside money groups “one of the worst things that ever happened in American politics,” Huckabee said they have “killed civility.” He called for great transparency, saying anyone who gives money to fund attack ads should have to put their name on them:

HUCKABEE: And I think one of the worst things that ever happened in American politics is the rise of the independent expenditure groups that really don’t have accountability. You don’t know where this money is coming from. You don’t know where the accountability is coming from, and the candidates have no coordination. [...]

I wish that every person who gives any money [to fund an ad] that mentions any candidate by name would have to put their name on it and be held responsible and accountable for it. And its killing any sense of civility in politics because the cheap shots that can be made from the trees by snipers that you never can identify. It’s just the worst part of this process.

Watch it:

Justice

Huckabee Stars In Film Endorsing Gingrich’s Authoritarian Court Defiance Plan

By Ian Millhiser on Dec 16, 2011 at 9:50 am

In October, GOP presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich announced that, if elected president, he would openly defy Supreme Court decisions he disagrees with. Now, former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) has teamed up with the Constitution-destroying group Citizens United to narrate a film promoting this lawless tactic as a means to impose anti-choice “personhood” laws upon the entire nation:

Citizens United, the conservative advocacy group whose 2008 anti-Hillary Clinton film led to the 2010 Supreme Court decision permitting unlimited corporate spending in political campaigns on First Amendment grounds, is now promoting fetal personhood laws through a new film narrated by Mike Huckabee. . . .

The [film] also promotes the strategy of pursuing federal legislation that would enshrine civil rights for fetuses on the grounds that their equal protection rights are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This argument, recently endorsed by Newt Gingrich, was injected into the campaign by Princeton professor and conservative Catholic activist Robert George during a candidate forum in South Carolina in September. By arguing that fetuses are people, and therefore entitled to the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment, they hope to bypass the more onerous process of amending the Constitution with a long-sought human life amendment.

Gingrich, Huckabee and others can argue that the Fourteenth Amendment says whatever they want, but nothing they say will change the fact that Congress simply does not have the power to defy a Supreme Court decision interpreting the Constitution — and the Supreme Court is crystal clear that abortion and contraception bans are illegal.

Nevertheless, the fact that a former governor and top contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008 is participating in this film is disturbing because it shows that two deeply radical ideas are now being mainstreamed within the Republican Party. The first is Gingrich’s deeply authoritarian belief that the Supreme Court can simply be ignored, the other is the personhood proposal itself — which threatens many forms of birth control along with all forms of abortion.

NEWS FLASH

Huckabee Endorses Anti-Gay Extremist For Senate | Today, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee endorsed the rabidly anti-gay Gary Glenn for U.S. Senate. Glenn is head of the Michigan chapter of the American Family Association, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified as an anti-gay hate group. As Brian Tashman at Right Wing Watch documents, Glenn has an extensive record of homophobia, including leading the campaign to ban same-sex marriage in Michigan, fighting the passage of the federal hate crimes bill, and calling for the criminalization of homosexuality. Huckabee has previously called Glenn a “very special friend,” adding, “if we had leaders like Gary Glenn across America, our work wouldn’t be so hard.”

Politics

Huckabee Jokes About Suppressing Vote Of Labor Supporters: ‘Let The Air Out Of Their Tires’

By Tanya Somanader on Oct 17, 2011 at 6:15 pm

This November, Ohioans will vote on Issue 2 to decide whether Gov. John Kasich’s (R-OH) anti-workers’ rights law Senate Bill 5 should remain on the books. After a few serious stumbles, the conservative group Building a Better Ohio brought in the big guns — also known as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — to gin up voter support for the deeply unpopular law.

Speaking to a crowd of 350 in Mason, OH, Mason Buzz reports that Huckabee jokingly offered an eyebrow-raising way to help ensure victory on Issue 2: suppress the vote. Encouraging supporters to call friends and ask if they’re voting for Issue 2, he joked, “If they say no, well, you just make sure that they don’t go vote. Let the air out of their tires on election day. Tell them the election has been moved to a different date,” he said. “That’s up to you how you creatively get the job done:

Listen here:

Huckabee is clearly joking, but given Building A Better Ohio’s track record of deceit , who knows. (HT: Politico’s Ben Smith)

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