Huckabee: Conservatives confuse DC, real world

Conservatives are confused?!?!

This is rather funny coming from someone who has no problem raising taxes and trying to foist off the fascist nanny state onto others...

Previous endorsement decisions, he said, were based on conservative principles that they wanted the candidates to adhere to."

Pats decision to back Guiliani, in no uncertain terms, is abandoning principle. Pat and his following are nothing more than any other special interest group. It's all about the power, and not the devine kind.

Huckabee is right on the money saying that God's work includes poverty, the environment, and hunger, as well as the hot-button issues of abortion and homosexuals.

There is much to be said for this man: among them: he seems to be real, and not just a politician.

Huckabuck, the conservatives have always been confused and confusing. That is why there is so much consternation within their ranks. Their beliefs in taking away as much as they can from middle and low income people, along with putting abortion police on every street corner, appointing judges in the mold of Jesus, curing homosexuals, worshiping Ronald Reagan, invading infidels in foreign countries, are driving us all into a ball of confusion.

Mike Huckabee is an adroit public speaker. He communicates his message in life-like, cogent terms, with compelling examples like the story he told (at the Ames Straw Poll) of what his then-11-yo daughter entered into the "Comments" section of a Visitors Book after visiting the Yad Vashem holocaust museum: “Why didn't somebody do something?” Very effective.

Huckabee is all about calling his listeners to "do something," to awaken them to their own empowerment, and summon them to action in order that "Main Street," and not "Wall Street," will prevail in guarding the values and beliefs upon which the Republic was founded.

Huckabee puts his listeners at ease, and reassures them, articulating clear concepts in a natural, easy style (no doubt something well-cultivated as a pastor). He’s not as “mechanically-scripted” as Romney, nor angry or demanding, like a Ron Paul, and his large brown eyes, peering through a humble demeanor, draw a striking contrast to a unconvincing, tired-looking Thompson. One can easily imagine sitting comfortably with Mike over a cup of coffee at the Main Street Cafe.

Most importantly, perhaps, Huckabee convinces many that he is ONE with the FairTax grassroots movement. While many - like Romney, and others, who are invested in the current income tax system - seek to demagog the well-researched FairTax plan, its acceptance in the professional / academic community continues to grow. Renown economist Laurence Kotlikoff believes that failure to enact the FairTax - choosing instead to try to "flatten" what he deems to be a non-flattenable income tax system - will eventuate into an irrevocable economic meltdown because of the hidden aspects of the current system that make political accountability impossible.

Romney's recent WEAK response to FairTax questioning on “This Week with Geo. Stephanopoulos” drew a sharper contrast between Huckabee and all other presidential front-runners who will not embrace it. Huckabee understands that what's wrong with the income tax can't be fixed with "a tap of the hammer, nor a twist of the screwdriver." That his opponents cling to the destructive Tax Code, the IRS, preserving political power of granting tax favors at continued cost to - and misery of - American families, invigorates his campaign's raison d'etre.

Of the FairTax, Huckabee asserts that it's...

• SIMPLE, easy to understand
• EFFICIENT, inexpensive to comply with and doesn't cause less-than-optimal business decisions for tax minimization purposes
• FAIR, FLAT, and FAMILY FRIENDLY, loophole-free, and everyone pays their share
• LOW TAX RATE is achieved by broad base with no exclusions
• PREDICTABLE, doesn't change, so financial planning is possible
• UNINTRUSIVE, doesn't intrude into our personal affairs or limit our liberty
• VISIBLE, not hidden from the public in tax-inflated prices or otherwise
• PRODUCTIVE, rewards - rather than penalizes - work and productivity

A detailed benefits analysis of the plan (from The FairTax Book) explains Huckabee's ardent advocacy:

For individuals:
• No more tax on income - make as much as you wish
• You receive your full paycheck - no more deductions
• You pay the tax when you buy "at retail" - not "used"
• No more double taxation (e.g. like on current Capital Gains)
• Reduction of "pre-FairTaxed" retail prices by 20%-30%
• Adding back 29.9% FairTax maintains current price levels
• FairTax would constitute 23% portion of new prices
• Every household receives a monthly check, or "pre-bate"
• "Prebate" is "advance tax payback" for monthly consumption to poverty level
• FairTax's "prebate" ensures progressivity, poverty protection
• Finally, citizens are knowledgeable of what their tax IS
• Elimination of "parasitic" Income Tax industry
• NO MORE IRS. NO MORE FILING OF TAX RETURNS by individuals
• Those possessing illicit forms of income will ALSO pay the FairTax
• Households have more disposable income to purchase goods
• Savings is bolstered with reduction of interest rates

For businesses:
• Corporate income and payroll taxes revoked under FairTax
• Business compensated for collecting tax at "cash register"
• No more tax-related lawyers, lobbyists on company payrolls
• No more embedded (hidden) income/payroll taxes in prices
• Reduced costs. Competition - not tax policy - drives prices
• Off-shore "tax haven" headquarters can now return to U.S
• No more "favors" from politicians at expense of taxpayers
• Resources go to R&D and study of competition - not taxes
• Marketplace distortions eliminated for fair competition
• US exports increase their share of foreign markets

For the country:
• 7% - 13% economic growth projected in the first year of the FairTax
• Jobs return to the U.S.
• Foreign corporations "set up shop" in the U.S.
• Tax system trends are corrected to "enlarge the pie"
• Larger economic "pie," means thinner tax rate "slices"
• Initial 23% portion of price is pressured downward as "pie" increases
• No more "closed door" tax deals by politicians and business
• FairTax sets new global standard. Other countries will follow

Passionately supporting FairTax, Huckabee understands that, if elected President, Congress will have to present the bill for his signature. His call to action goes beyond his candidacy: Main Street will have to demand that their legislators deliver the bill.

(Permission is granted to reproduce, in whole or part. - Ian)

Huckabee a voice of reason.
Vote for Sen.Huckabee!!!

There is much to be said for this man: among them: he seems to be real, and not just a politician.

Posted by: Oscar | November 8, 2007 8:05 AM

Huckabee: Conservatives confuse DC, real world.

Evolution is a hoax and the world is flat. What a freak. Another nutty GOP loser. Religion the opiate of the masses.

Huckabee a voice of reason.
Vote for Sen.Huckabee!!!

Posted by: Paul Jaeger | November 8, 2007 9:13 AM

Thanks for the support, Jaeg. Seems like that Arkansas doofus has been taking all the spotlight from me.

I voted Republican in every election from 1959 until 2004. In 2006 I voted a straight Democratic ticket, reflecting my disdain for the present administration and its arrogance and incompetence. Until I discovered Mike Huckabee, I had little hope or faith that anyone could get us out of the mess we are in now. I am confident that he represents the best of America, and he is my candidate! He can win without money if we just spread the word to our family, friends, and neighbors that there is an honest, real person running for president.

Jim

He relates to people, uses common sense, and shows an apparently true caring for the American population (pressing the need to improve hunger, environment, etc.) He holds to his beliefs strongly but doesn't force them upon other people the way the other candidates do. He takes fewer shots at his opponents (unlike Giuliani, who takes a shot on someone 3 times a day), and when he does it, it is in a joking manner. You may not agree with some (or many) of his positions, but at least he won't give you headaches listening to him speak, and he does a good job of explaining WHY he believes what he does. He believes in America, and he deserves some credit for that.

Finally, a real person running in politics.

I'm a democrat and would not vote for him, but I admit that he's sincere, articulate, and a decent guy. I'm baffled why he's not getting more support.

I'm tired of working for the government for 6 months and paying the so-called servants of the people big bucks. They can't even submit themselves to the same social security system that is forced on us. I want the fair tax and will vote for Huckabee. Besides, He honors the God who made this world.

Ian,

Your Fair Tax theory is absolutely fantastical. Nice try, but people are waking up to the fact that Fair Tax and Flat Tax mean more of the same voodoo economics: shifting the tax burden from those most capable of paying to those least capable of paying.

Consumption tax? Wouldn't someone earning very little money spend more of their income on goods and services than someone making, say, $5,000,000 per year? In other words, rich-guy-money-in-the-bank gets a huge tax cut while joe-shmo from Idaho has to foot the bill.

Good luck with that.

I would like to know though, how did you get all that nifty bold and italics and hyperlinks in there? Truly an appealing-looking post. You may fool some of the people some of the time.

DaVe, I agree with your statement about the consumption tax, which conservative Republicans want to dangle before androids who cannot think. Imagine a sales (consumption)tax where low and middle income people are spending most of their income on necessities and maybe an occasional ice cream cone.

Virtually all of their income is going into retail purchases and will be taxed under this nonsensical proposal. Going along with this I imagine will be a tax on internet purchases, as well as all personal services. People will be inclined to spend less and you might see the development of a massive black market, the likes of which this country has never known.

Yep, Huckabuck is the man. The man for the androids, who believe the day of the abortion cops is at hand, yada yada yada. And Alex said "he relates to people". So did Jim Jones, and all those religious fanatics, and boob tube preachy people.

Nice guy but still a wing nut and a loser. I won't trust anyone who doesn't believe in evolution.

Androids for Huckabee!!!

Careful, Logic Prisoner...you don't need to "believe" in evolution. Just study the evidence and make a decision about the conclusion. The only thing you can do with "creationism" is believe in it, since there's no evidence other than a book that's been edited, translated and changed over the past 2000 years.

It is clear that many of those who attack the Fair Tax have never studied it beyond knowing that it is a consumption tax. Be Fair! Read it before making youself look undeducated in the points you use in denouncing it!
Jim

For you's, Dave and GW, believers who love their shackles:

FairTax, better NOW and LATER

There is no reasonable equity of distribution under the current INCOME tax system. What's more, the income tax code has become a tinkerer's paradise for 53% of the lobbyists who game it in Washington DC. It's a lucrative business, and the U.S. TAXPAYER pays for ALL of it in higher prices (a hidden tax which is incomprehensible to the average working person).

Prices after FairTax would look similar to current prices - NOT 30% higher - as opponents contend; competition would see to it. The FairTax rate on new items would be 29.9% (on the new, reduced cost of items because business isn't taxed under FairTax - thus lowering retail prices by 20% to 30%), or 23% of the "tax inclusive" price tag - this is the way INCOME TAX is figured (parts of the total dollar).

The effective tax rate percentages, that different income groups would pay under a FairTax consumption tax, are calculated by crediting the monthly "prebate" (rebate of tax on necessities) against all likely monthly spending of citizen families (1 member, and greater based on figures established by the Dept. of HHS - a single person receiving ~$200/mo. A family of four receiving ~$500, in addition to family earners receiving their WHOLE paycheck). Prof.'s Kotlikoff and Rapson (10/06) have concluded,

"...the FairTax imposes much lower average taxes on working-age households than does the current system. The FairTax broadens the tax base from what is now primarily a system of labor income taxation to a system that taxes, albeit indirectly, both labor income and existing wealth. By including existing wealth in the effective tax base, much of which is owned by rich and middle-class elderly households, the FairTax is able to tax labor income at a lower effective rate and, thereby, lower the average lifetime tax rates facing working-age Americans.

"Consider, as an example, a single household age 30 earning $50,000. The household’s average tax rate under the current system is 21.1 percent. It’s 13.5 percent under the FairTax. Since the FairTax would preserve the purchasing power of Social Security benefits and also provide a tax rebate, older low-income workers who will live primarily or exclusively on Social Security would be better off. As an example, the average remaining lifetime tax rate for an age 60 married couple with $20,000 of earnings falls from its current value of 7.2 percent to -11.0 percent under the FairTax. As another example, compare the current 24.0 percent remaining lifetime average tax rate of a married age 45 couple with $100,000 in earnings to the 14.7 percent rate that arises under the FairTax."

Further,

"...once one moves to generations postdating the baby boomers there are positive welfare gains for all income groups in each cohort. Under a 23 percent FairTax policy, the poorest members of the generation born in 1990 enjoy a 13.5 percent welfare gain. Their middle-class and rich contemporaries experience 5 and 2 percent welfare gains, respectively. The welfare gains are largest for future generations. Take the cohort born in 2030. The poorest members of this cohort enjoy a huge 26 percent improvement in their well-being. For middle class members of this birth group, there's a 12 percent welfare gain. And for the richest members of the group, the gain is 5 percent."

It's well past time to scrap the tax code and pay for government the way that America's working men and women are paid - when something is sold!

(Permission is granted to reproduce in whole or part. - Ian)

Mike Huckabee is not your stereotypical politician. He's a decent guy who likes to joke around just like anybody else. He doesn't take himself too seriously (unlike Romney/Rudy/Fred/Hillary/Obama). He's down-to-earth and he enjoys life...and he's not mad at anybody. There's too much division in this country...people are VERY tired of politicians playing win-or-lose games with our lives. The party bickering needs to end and we need to unite behind somebody who is an AMERICAN FIRST and a republican/democrat second. Nothing is being done in DC except fighting and I'm tired of it. Please observe this man's manner...even when he is viciously attacked, he pretty much "turns the other cheek" and makes his attacker look like a fool. His humble personality (and his Gomer Pyle face) completely DISARMS his enemies. I think we need a man like this!

Yeah I said he relates to people. And so did John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and a lot of other great Americans. I admit just relating to people does not make you a worthy candidate, but it certainly doesn't make you unworthy.

But good attempt at a point, GW.

Huckabee is a really nice guy. Maybe the nicest guy on the block.
That said.... America needs more than a personable nice guy as President in Washington. You know, I like my neighbor. He is a really down to earth nice guy too, but I would not let him operate on me. He is not a surgeon. He can hear me complain about my pain, but he doesn't have the skills or knowledge to help me. I appreciate that he has compassion for me though.

Huckabee makes a much better pastor than he would a President for the United States of America. We need someone who has the discipline to tackle the difficult. Someone with vision to see how to bring change and someone with enough experience behind them to bring real, productive and lasting change.

I think Huckabee would want to do what is best, he is a nice guy, but if he likes the Fair Tax (for example)...whoa...I fear the effects of that kind of change, not the best idea in the book. It is hard to not vote for the nice guy, but after he listens to you...does he have the skills to bring the change.

I don't recall Huckabee ever being a Senator. Did I miss something in his resume'???

I don't recall Huckabee ever being a Senator. Did I miss something in his resume'???

maya cupa,maya cupa
I meant Gov. Huckabee.

NO NO NO...Being personable is a part of being persuasive. Nasty, vicious people command no respect from anybody and only incite "payment in kind" retaliation from their foes...thus the fighting goes on and on. Mike Huckabee (with his persuasive powers) can use the "bully pulpit" of the presidency to speak directly to the public, rallying American citizens around ONE UNIFIED CAUSE. America is SO disjointed now with all of the special interest groups. Remember the AMNESTY BILL that congress tried to ramrod thru? The power of a united people made calls and wrote letters and basically "overwhelmed" a congress that was dead-set on passing AMNESTY. That's the kind of united power I'm talking about...Huckabee would NOT waste his time talking to congress...he would go directly to the people and let them apply the pressure to congress. But, the people will not respond to a leader they see as divisive/polarizing...But a president who will sit down and talk to the American public like a next door neighbor, will command respect and admiration from the American people and CONGRESS WILL have no choice but to LISTEN.

Hey Up-Chuck-a-bee,

You should be proud not to get Pat 'they got what they deserved' Robertson's endorsement.

Why would you even want the support of a clerical fascist?

http://www.betterimmigration.com/can...beePres08.html

http://www.betterimmigration.com/can...ez08_gop2.html

No thanks

Honorable Sir:
If you are running for President of the USA, you should get a scientific briefing on the UFO situation from the Mutual UFO Network, Inc. Many of our pilots, scientists, business people and the world population as a whole have experienced a UFO sighting. It is serious to them, not something to joke about.

Many of our pilots, scientists, business people and the world population as a whole have experienced a UFO sighting. It is serious to them, not something to joke about.

Posted by: John Schuessler | November 9, 2007 2:06 PM

John you have to realize this guy still thinks the world is flat!!!