Monday, July 16, 2007

Huckabee nails it

Huckabee's got a new campaign site up. His Q2 fundraising numbers were weak, despite the fact that many regarded him as the winner of the first set of debates. He always seems extremely comfortable in his own skin and fast on his feet, and gives me hope that he'd have the ear and the communication skills to effectively handle the media and stay a step ahead of the political opposition.

But since we've been on the topic of Iraq today, I thought I'd share his bullet points on the War on Terror, which are about as close to my thoughts as I've seen from a candidate. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing for the governor, but here are the bullets that I thought were especially worthwhile:

...The top priority of the President as Commander in Chief is first and foremost protecting our own citizens.

With a focus on renewed diplomacy and inclusion, we can accomplish the goals of our nation without having to go it alone...

...As President, I will fight this war hard, but I will also fight it smart, using all our political, economic, diplomatic, and intelligence weapons as well as our military might.

The terrorists train in small, scattered groups. We can accomplish a great deal with swift, surgical air strikes and commando raids by our elite units...

...We don't have a dog in the fight between Sunnis and Shiites - our enemy is Islamic extremism in all its guises.

The long-term solution is to empower moderates in the region by attacking the underlying conditions that breed terror.

Part of winning the war on terror is achieving energy independence.

I believe in the Powell Doctrine of using overwhelming force to accomplish a mission.

I have the executive and crisis management experience, the judgment and the temperament to be an effective commander in chief.

I will expand the army and increase the defense budget.

3 comments:

SheaHeyKid said...

Huckabee certainly presents a solid case, not unlike what I think Mitt agrees with. I think if you take Mitt's $ plus Huckabee's conservative appeal, perhaps you have a winning Prez + VP combo. It's disheartening that recent polls show that "none of the above" still attracts more votes (25%) for Repub nominee among Repubs than any of the candidates (Rudy hanging on to slim lead at #1 w/21%). This is the exact opposite of the Dems, who have 3 or 4 candidates who really energize the base. That probably explains why they've blown away Repubs with fundraising to date.

Fredo said...

Dems are cleaning up, indeed. But I'm not sure the fault necessarily lies with the Republican candidates themselves. It seems like the GOP is suffering from a lack of unifying principles.

Immigration splits the caucus into pro-business libertarians and law-and-order and social conservatives. Iraq increasingly splits the caucus between foreign policy neocons, balance-of-power realists, and staunch non-interventionists. Trade policy increasingly splits the caucus between those who oppose virtually any trade restrictions and those who think free & fair trade are not mutually exclusive topics. Social policy splits the caucus between faith & family Republicans and libertarians.

The unifying principles of the GOP majority of the past 40 years (since Nixon in '68 began the GOP on winning 7 of 10 Presidential campaigns) have been crime reduction, tax reduction, spending reduction, and national security. On the first two, the GOP is probably a victim of its own success, making such great inroads that the problems don't seem as menacing as they once did. On the third and fourth, the GOP has, at least partially, lost its credibility.

Fredo said...

And it should be noted that the GOP losing its franchise as the national security party is hard to comprehend, giving the accomplishments of Nixon, Reagan and Bush 41, and the poor track record of Carter and Clinton.

All of that is being forgotten under the weight of current circumstances.

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Always sniffing for the truth

Always sniffing for the truth

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