Friday, December 21, 2007

You Can Take the Politician Out of Arkansas, But...

The similarities are emerging more clearly each day as more and more columns are written about them. Those politicians from Arkansas are operating more alike than not as the public scrutiny focuses in to their campaigns.

The politicians in question? The Clintons and Mike Huckabee. Both politically schooled in the ways of living off the taxpayers during reigns in the state of Arkansas. They are cut from the same cloth.

Hillary's campaign has now launched two web sites with the sole purpose of attacking Obama. The first is TheHillaryIKnow.com which features her friends talking about how much they like her. The newest one is Votingpresent.com and Votingpresent.org which focus in on Obama's votes of 'present' rather than yes or no. This focus primarily is on his past record in Illinois. Both are petty and small.

It is the true Hillary and her inability to move past her wicked witch of the west personality.

Now, don't think the others aren't doing it, too. They are but she's suppose to be doing things differently. She's a woman. Women will do things so much better than men, we are told. She's all about change. She's all about sweeping out the trash. I think she's riding that broom instead of sweeping with it.

Obama's campaign has a site called HillaryAttacks.BarackObama.com, which displays Clinton's criticisms on Obama. And, Edwards supporters put up a site called PlantsforHillary chronicling Clinton's love of taking questions from plants in the audiences at appearances. That site, however, was taken down after a day.

I'm looking for a grown up right about now.

Huckabee and the Clintons are all a shade too slick for intense scrutiny to produce favorable results. Huckabee is actually a bit more skilled about covering his tracks in office than the Clintons. After serving as Governor of Arkansas for 11 years, he ordered the hard drives crashed on every computer to deny any access at all to his papers. Plus the churches where he was pastor will not release any sermons that have been delivered by the 'Pastor' Huckabee. What in the world is so bad in either instance that Huckabee has to destroy it or demand sworn secrecy?

Both Clintons and Huckabee are subject to numerous ethic violation investigations. Huckabee, like the Clintons, used Governor Mansion operating monies (taxpayer money) to pay for personal expenses. In the case of Huckabee, it was items like a doghouse, clothes, take-out meals and boat expenses. Boat expenses? Hillary used mansion monies to pay for Chelsea's full-time nanny. Hey, Hillary was a busy woman. She didn't have time to raise her own daughter. She says it takes a village. Or at the very least, a full-time nanny.

Both Huckabees and Clintons, both married 20 plus years at this point, signed up for wedding registry style gift lists and eagerly accepted 'gifts' from friends as they left the mansion. The Clintons were famously caught being particularly greedy as they left the White House and had to buy a house for the first time ever. Hey, it was easier living in government housing all those years. After the White House, they had a couple of mansions of their own to buy - one in D.C. and one in N.Y., not to mention the apartment in Manhattan for when Bill shows up at his office in Harlem. He's just a man of the people, you know. Especially the black people.

Mike Huckabee plays the bass guitar and Bill Clinton plays the sax. Both love to raise taxes. Both are endorsed by the National Education Association, as is Hillary. A Republican endorsed by the NEA? May be a first. And, what 'conservative' Republican would want that endorsement?

It is all well and good to tout Huckabee as a politician who has not flip flopped on issues. The problem comes in when you realize that some change in his ways would be a good thing. Going into public service to enrich yourself is a very Democrat thing to do. Only recently have the Republicans gotten in on the act. That's not progress. And, just because you are the true pro-life Christian in the race doesn't make it less slimy.

The Dems are releasing direct attacks on most of the leading Republican candidates, according to OpinionJournal.com "Since the beginning of 2007, the Democratic National Committee has released 102 direct attacks on Mitt Romney. Rudy Giuliani has warranted 78; John McCain 68; Fred Thompson 21. Mike Huckabee? Four. The most recent of these landed back in March. GOP voters may not have examined Mr. Huckabee's record, but the left has -- and they love what they see."

The latest days on the campaign trail show how thin skinned and nasty tempered Huckabee is, just as those who served with him in Arkansas say off record. You know, like the Clintons. He has come out blasting Romney as a liar and phony for days on end. Not very Pastor- like of him. But, he placed a cross image behind his head in his Christmas greeting for good measure and then claimed innocence of such a deliberate placement when questioned. Peggy Noonan said in her latest column : "I love the cross. The sight of it, the fact of it, saves me, literally and figuratively. But there is a kind of democratic politesse in America, and it has served us well, in which we are happy to profess our faith but don't really hit people over the head with its symbols in an explicitly political setting, such as a campaign commercial, which is what Mr. Huckabee's ad was."

"I wound up thinking this: That guy is using the cross so I'll like him. That doesn't tell me what he thinks of Jesus, but it does tell me what he thinks of me. He thinks I'm dim. He thinks I will associate my savior with his candidacy. Bleh."

Both Huckabee and the Clintons are all about victimhood. As Noonan continues, "He plays the victim well. Others want to "trip him up," but he'll "get my message out there." His foes are "Wall Street-Washington" insiders, elitists. On the "Today" show he said his critics are the type who never liked evangelical Christians. When one of them runs, these establishment types say "Oh my gosh, now they're serious, they don't want to show up and vote, they actually would want to be part of the discussion and really talk about issues that include hunger and poverty and things." "This is a form of populist manipulation. Evangelical Christians have been strong in the Republican Party since the 1970's."

Huckabee = Clintons with a bit of Edwards thrown in.

What's in the water in Arkansas anyway?

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