Huckabee is a fool.

UPDATE: From Riehl World View: Pardons for Cash? Sounds familiar.......

And from Opinion Journal via Freeman Hunt, an Arkansas blogger:

Betsy Hagan, Arkansas director of the conservative Eagle Forum and a key backer of his early runs for office, was once "his No. 1 fan." She was bitterly disappointed with his record. "He was pro-life and pro-gun, but otherwise a liberal," she says. "Just like Bill Clinton he will charm you, but don't be surprised if he takes a completely different turn in office."

Phyllis Schlafly, president of the national Eagle Forum, is even more blunt. "He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party a shambles," she says. "Yet some of the same evangelicals who sold us on George W. Bush as a 'compassionate conservative' are now trying to sell us on Mike Huckabee.

Paul Pressler, a former Texas judge who led the conservative Southern Baptist revolt, told me, "I know of no conservative he appointed while he headed the Arkansas Baptist Convention."

I've said it before: Huckabee is a GOP Jimmy Carter. He may be religious, but he does not seem to have the courage of his convictions. He wants to be "nice" and "liked" by all the right people.

Huckabee sees WH 'Bunker Mentality'
By LIBBY QUAID

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Mike Huckabee, who has joked about his lack of foreign policy experience, is criticizing the Bush administration's efforts, denouncing a go-it-alone "arrogant bunker mentality" and questioning decisions on Iraq.
"American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out," Huckabee said. "The Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad. My administration will recognize that the United States' main fight today does not pit us against the world but pits the world against the terrorists."

Is it an arrogant bunker mentality when the US seems to be the main target of AL Quaida? Is it an arrogant bunker mentality when the US is sometimes the ONLY country that stands up for principle? Is it an arrogant bunker mentality that has US troop assisting Muslim countries during disasters?
Go-it-alone? WTF? He sounds like Hillary Clinton! We seem to be alone because our military outclasses all of our allies. But they are still there! Go-it-alone is always about Iraq. Well, Canada and Britain are finding out just how alone we are in the world. Other than the above two, NATO is NOT pulling its weight in Afghanistan. Change OUR tone and reach out? Last I looked, Germany and France have elected PRO American leaders. North Korea is giving up its nukes. Libya did that years ago. If the NIE is to be believed, (yeah, right) our invasion of Iraq halted the Iranian nuke program.
And that quote! "Pits the world against the terrorists!" If the world is not against the terrorists now, why would they join in later, with him as President? How is that different than "if you're not with us, you're for terrorism" since WE are most definitely against terrorism. However, he will need to convince countries that have a vested interest in supporting terrorism against the US to join with us. Last I looked, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and China like the status quo.
He's stating that our present course is the US against the world. Way to go is providing propaganda to the enemy, Mr. MoveOn......

On Iran, for example, he makes a case for diplomacy by saying, "Before we put boots on the ground elsewhere, we had better have wingtips there first."

He adds that the U.S. can exploit the Iranian government's hunger for regional clout, saying, "We cannot live with al-Qaida, but we might be able to live with a contained Iran."

And just how is his "wing tip shoes" going to stop Iran from being a nuclear armed belligerent state? What can he offer or threaten that does not include military threats? Is this the same "vigorous diplomacy" offered by Clinton? Someone should ask Huckabee how his ideas differ.

Last week, Huckabee missed a report the White House released saying Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program; one day later, the candidate said he was unaware of the report and had been campaigning too hard to read the newspaper or be briefed. The Foreign Affairs article seems to have been written before the report was released, citing "urgent concerns about Iran's development of nuclear weapons."

If Huckabee has not been briefed, how can he offer an informed opinion on Iran? Is he just mouthing platitudes, hoping to appear different from the supposed war-mongers in office?

In his article, Huckabee also thumped Bush for failing to pursue al-Qaida in Pakistan, noting recent terrorism plans, since thwarted, that were planned there: "Whereas our failure to tackle Iran seems to be leading inexorably to our attacking it, our failure to tackle al-Qaida in Pakistan seems to be leading inexorably to its attacking us again."

So, this SOUNDS like it makes sense, but, now he sounds like OBAMA! Doesn't he have an original idea at all? Is he advocating an attack on an, admittedly weak, allied country? He appears to want to send troops into Pakistan. What is HIS strategy for attacking Al Queda? Does he want to use Special Forces or an Armored Division? And since he does not seem to be well briefed, how does he know if we are NOT sending special forces into Pakistan, seeing as how that would be a very discreet activity.
And what does he mean by that quip on Iran? If his logic is played out, he's saying that our failure to attack Iran and letting them build up is leading to an inexorable attack by us to stop them.

Mike Huckabee want to be President. His recent rise in the polls seem to have gone to his head., for which I'm really glad. The increased exposure has shown us his flaws. And they are serious. For those of us that remember, he most reminds me of Jimmy Carter. Do we need another Jimmy?