The MSM turns on Huckabee
Update: Statement from the Huckabee camp.
***
Just when he thought the media lovefest would never end–what with the deeply troubling open-borders and soft-on-crime charges of his critics failing to stick–GOP front-runner Mike Huckabee gets a Saturday surprise from the Associated Press, which dug up an old questionnaire probing his views on AIDS funding and homosexuality:
Mike Huckabee once advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding in the search for a cure and said homosexuality could “pose a dangerous public health risk.”
As a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in 1992, Huckabee answered 229 questions submitted to him by The Associated Press. Besides a quarantine, Huckabee suggested that Hollywood celebrities fund AIDS research from their own pockets, rather than federal health agencies.
“If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague,” Huckabee wrote.
“It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.”
He also suggests that crusading celebrities pitch in more money instead of the federal government. He has since changed his mind and now supports increased public AIDS funding:
When asked about AIDS research in 1992, Huckabee complained that AIDS research received an unfair share of federal dollars when compared to cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
“In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified,” Huckabee wrote. “An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor (,) Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research.”
…When Huckabee wrote his answers in 1992, it was common knowledge that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact. In late 1991, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were 195,718 AIDS patients in the country and that 126,159 people had died from the syndrome. The nation had an increased awareness of AIDS at the time because pro basketball star Magic Johnson had recently disclosed he carried the virus responsible for it. Johnson retired but returned to the NBA briefly during the 1994-95 season.
Since becoming a presidential candidate this year, Huckabee has supported increased federal funding for AIDS research through the National Institutes of Health. “My administration will be the first to have an overarching strategy for dealing with HIV and AIDS here in the United States, with a partnership between the public and private sectors that will provide necessary financing and a realistic path toward our goals,” Huckabee said in a statement posted on his campaign Web site last month.
Also in the wide-ranging AP questionnaire in 1992, Huckabee said, “I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.”
It would be helpful for the AP to release the full survey and the full questions, which it probably won’t do. Jonathan Adler rightly notes:
This was not the early 1980s, when the threat posed by the HIV virus was poorly understood. Rather it was 1992, long after it was understood that AIDS could not be transmitted through casual contact. So either Huckabee was woefully ignorant about the nature of AIDS, or he supported a quarantine despite the lack of a threat of communicability. Neither interpretation speaks well of him.
We know how the story will play among the punditocracy in Washington. How will it play in Iowa?
***
Are these notable flip-flops the product of naked pandering to the base, as seemed to be the case in adopting Krikorian’s immigration plan after having described opposition to Bush’s amnesty bill as “nativist” in 2006, or is Huck just a soft mark for ideologues trying to bend him to their side? Whatever the answer is, it’s extremely worrisome.
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Categories: 2008 campaign, Mike Huckabee
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It had to happen. It happens when a candidate gets vetted in a tough national campaign for the first time.
you mean he has now flip flopped (or changed his mind) on this issue? hmmmmmmm..
well, i am curious why the immigration issue has not stuck on Huck the Schmuck in Iowa. it makes me wonder if the sample populations used in some of these polls aren’t a little skewed. in other words, that this whole huck phenom is just that skewed.
immigration being the big issue for GOPers that it is, you would think that immigration stance of Huck would stick to him like it did to that other RINO McCain. we will see what voters decide.
let’s hope they wake up to this liar Huck before it is too late. he has been caught in his lies regarding the murderer, lies regarding taxes and spinning on the immigration issue.
then he thumps his bible and says, but i am a minister. geeezz.. Christians in Iowa look at this man’s fruit, he can say anything he wants, but fact is he isn’t quite truthful.
QUESTION TO ASK HUCK: If the Clinton’s crony acting as Governor of Arkansas had not commuted and allowed for the parole of that murderer would you have? (He would have.) Like to see what he would say now. There is documentation stating he was glad this guy was paroled.
The Lame Stream Media Hearts Whomever Garners Them Ratings.
Looks like Mike has a little disconnect to deal with. Let me get this straight – he paints himself “compassionate” in a discussion about illegal immigrants (CNN/YouTube debate) but thinks (in 1992 at least) that people who have AIDS should be shunned. What about the innocent victims of AIDS – those who have had tainted blood transfusions, or been infected by a straying partner, etc. etc.
The more I learn about him, the more I have an uneasy feeling about him. He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
MM, I don’t believe in the long run that Huckabee would have been a mainstream media darling, so it’s just as well that they get out the nails for his coffin right now. I think, as Rush Limbaugh does, the MSM only temporarily fell in love with Huckabee because they’re sure that he’s the easiest among the Repubs for Hillary to beat; and following his nomination, the MSM would immediately start trashing him as a red-neck hick, bible-thumping, country bumpkin Southern right-wing extremist bigotted Baptist preacher-man. And they’d damned sure well destroy him for the general election.
So, now maybe we can get on to finding the best Repub nominee – and maybe we can’t. Whatever the case, the MSM is going to do everything it possibly can to manipulate both the primaries and the general election in favor of the Clinton lady.
Ain’t life grand?
I’m not a Huck fan, but I think it’s curious that the AIDS “issue” cuts against him.
For one thing, while I can’t bring myself to support sequestering people with AIDS into some sort of modern day leper colony, his overall stance seems to be to question the government’s response to the disease – that is, treating it like a civil rights issue rather than a public health issue. I know that comments like that are sure to enrage left wing gay activists, but are they really that far out of the mainstream?
Am I really to believe that Huckabee is loosing support amongst conservatives because of his (too conservative of a) stance on a gay-rights issue?
And isn’t it strange that something like this hits *now*, after such a strong (fake) ramp up in public opinion?
No, in my opinion, the Huckster is a big government Rockafeller Republician and I cannot support him now. (A presidential election would be different, of course.) But but the one or two issues where I tend to agree with him are NOT what is costing him my support.
No more than McCain’s support for the Iraq war did.
I think we should “isolate” preachers like The Huckster from the general public.
What a hero…
Nothing is ever surprising to me. He has other issues I don’t agree with, like the waterboarding and his giving scholarships to illegals. The christian right are so wrong, it is pathetic that so many follow them like sheep, even if it leads to destruction.
We obviously need to come together and stick with a candidate that we can live with and represents most of what we want. It appears no one satisfies that in the front runners. But some are much more digestable than others.
And this surprises anyone? Typical MSM, because he is, after all, a Republican. This was expected.
Would that the same media long knives come out and reveal just some of the truth about dear comrade Hillary.
I know it is non-pc to complain about the research monies spent on AIDs. I have no problem with huge funding for AIDS prevention and research, Christ in urine art/Virgin Mary covered in feces, cloning of fetal tissue, global warming measure, NPR, PBS etc. as LONG AS it is not federal tax dollar supported.
Doesn’t matter what two consenting adults do in private together, but why do we have to be constantly hectored about someone else’s sexual preferences. If some gay dude in SF gets a thrill about having risky unprotected anal sex with hundreds of partners, why should society foot the bills? Same with stupid things like not wearing a helmet or seatbelt. Someone else pays for ignorant habits that go awry.
Don’t know about you others, but I would not vote for any preacher, rabbi, priest, etc. for Prez. Met far too many who were totally glib, self-righteous, hypocritical, holier-than-thou iceholes. Kucinich, Paul, Huckabee are scary on protecting us from terrorism.
Doesn’t matter otherwise about gender, race or religion. Oh, not thrilled with anyone coming from that pompous, blowhard US Senate either. I thought Chrissie (I squat to pee) Matthews was going to seek Senate seat? He’d fit rightin. I have wondered just what speeches he wrote for Jimmuh Carter.
May Huckabee rest in peace.
One wonders if the BSM is really thinking this through. Given Huckabee’s current high poll standing, wouldn’t it have made sense to drop the gay bomb after he had won a few primaries and appeared all but unstoppable, or await the outcome of the Republican convention, assuming he had been nominated? As we know, this is the one thing Left/Liberals are obsessively on the look out for. I mean, they even nail Iran’s ruler, Mad Dr. A., on the business — though absolutely nothing else.
Anyone nominated by the democrats would have made short work of Mr. Huckabee, so why this premature-articulation (forgive me)? I must be missing something here. Usually the BSM is a lot smarter strategically than this.
He should have just said, ‘there are no gays in America and we have no AIDS’. That’s all Mahmoud had to do and the press is still loving on him.
Huckabee Tries To “Out Tancredo Tancredo” On Illegal Immigration. If you think he means it ,he is not the same guy that was Gov.
I’ve gotten the impression lately that the MSM have been largely going gaga over Huckabee exactly because they know he’ll make some of the best fodder once the general election comes up. It surprises me, but also pleases me, that something like this is coming out now, rather than after it is hypothetically down to Huckabee and Clinton.
I think the MSM knows that most of the other candidates will be hard to go after, especially when they’re running against someone like Clinton, and they want Huckabee to be the one.
No mullahs from Arkansas allowed in the White House. Why?
Separation of church and state. I’ll be damned if I want a flip flopping backwoods evangelical from Hope Ark. as my next president.
Why does such a great nation have such a mediocre choice of presidential candidates.
Huckabee is who he was. His character is cast in stone.
My hybrid candidate is McCain, Romney, and Americas mayor.
It’s becoming clear to me that Evangelical Christians are the “nutroots” of the Republican party. At least that’s the impression I get from the comments here, and from the leaders of the party. Who knew?
“Isolate the Huckster”
“Huck the Schmuck”
And that’s just from a dozen comments here.
Listen, folks, there are a lot of very intelligent people who support Mike, not because he’s a Baptist minister, but because we agree with enough of his positions to think he’s the best candidate. And treating us like crazy uncles that should just do as we’re told while insulting us at the same time isn’t going to win our votes.
I’m not dismissing the criticisms of Huckabee. A lot of them are legit, and I question my support every day. But the more people like me feel like the only thing we’re good for is our votes, and worse, that even our own party thinks the country needs to be protected from us, the more we’ll look for a party that does reflect our views and values.
#17- His Huckanomics alone is enough for me to rule him out. Check out what the Politico’s Mike Allen has to say about the dude.
Everything else being equal I would have no problem choosing a devout Christian over the clowns running for Prez on the secular left, but as much as I loathe Hillary, I think the country might fare better with her than Mikey. Not that I’d ever consider voting for her Inevitableness. I know smart people around me who think the lovely and talented Breck Girl would make a great leader. How come he can’t even win his own home state? I suppose populists could get most of the potential now /criminal/illegal alien/dead men/union vote, but doesn’t mean he’d be good for the country.
Amen Radio.
I may not like all of Huck’s positions (and I do not) but RUDY? Come on! Rudy is a liberal plain and simple. I would sooner hope JOE LEIBERMANN would run on a Rebub ticket.
Oh, and the first person to never change their mind on an issue please, step up and throw the first stone. 25 years ago? I can’t remeber where I stood on every issue but I bet some of them have changed. I was more liberal then. I grew up and I am one of the “far right Christian” whack jobs now.
So now he’s a mullah?
Mikey?
I swear I’m reading comments on Kos, not from people who I’m supposed to be on the same side with.
Other conservativesRus here. I’m “opposite” #8. I don’t think I’ve ever been called a sheep except hopefully only to the one true shepherd. My wife and parents would tell you I don’t follow anybody blindly. As far as Huckabee goes – I’ve not been a fan of his for his immigration stands (sits?), his liberal spending ways, and his general view that government is an agent to do good. That’s not what I see as a scriptural model for government.
The media giveth and the media taketh away.
fred08.com ~ draftfredthompson.com
#20 your pal Mickey is hopelessly naive on foreign policy- worse than the Carter Presidency. He reminds me of J. Francoise Kerry. Huckabee says we should treat foreign states as we would like to be treated. I don’t give a rat’s asp about the Euroweenies’ opinion of America and any American leader who wants to sit around the campfire and sing Kumbaya with the UN thieving, child rapist lackeys and various dictatorships is a cretinous fool.
At least Putin’s minions at the KGB did manage to put fear in their enemies at one point. Our own CIA and State Department are less than competent and oft times support our enemies as a matter of political expediency because they are self-loathing liberal scum.
I think he had it right the first time, WRT funding. Isolation of people with an STD is a little bizarre, though.
Let’s face it. Every candidate of either party with a decent shot at the nomination has baggage and is certainly unable to please everybody all the time, even with respect to this small community of commenters. The longer this interminable campaign drags on, the more closets are bound to be opened, revealing the skeletons inside. Thanks to the primary system, there are no more smoke filled rooms where party honchos come up with a candidate. Which way is better? George Bernard Shaw said that democracy favors selection by the incompetent many over appointment by the corrupt few.
You’re regurgitating liberal talking points. Please show me “separation of church and state” in the Constitution. If you find it, let me know.
Please tell me how you arrived at the conclusion that Huckabee is a “backwoods evangelical?” Also, describe for me someone who is “backwoods,” and then tell me why that’s inherently bad. I was born and raised in a rural, wooded area – does that make me “backwoods,” too? I’d like to know.
If Huckabee “is who he was” based on a 15-year old position, then McCain is a national hero, Giulani is a cheating husband, and Romney is a pro-abortionist. That’s who you want in the White House?
Conservative R Us (#8), do you have any response?
Granted, Huck’s last-minute change on immigration is not convincing, but neithere is anyone else’s who is seeking the nomination. Except for Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo, all of them have been for open borders somewhat recently.
With every passing day I see more and more hit pieces against Huckabee on this blog and at hotair.com. I’m beginning to wonder if both sites are being paid by one of the campaigns. I’ll be the first to admit that Huckabee has some baggage but he was never given a fair consideration at either site.
Huckabee is not perfect.
At the state level, he did support some tax hikes, but I believe him when he signed the no tax pledge.
He did support allowing children of illegal immigrants to compete for scholarships, but he couldn’t really do much as governor to secure the border and was mandated by federal law to educate children of illegals. Given his situation, I think he tried to make the best of it. Many conservatives take too much of a hard line in this area.
He let it be known that he doubted the guilt of a convicted rapist and killer. He was released and went on to kill again. It was obviously the worst outcome imaginable and I feel nothing but sorrow for the families (and I have actually met the widower of one), but I believe he did what he felt was right at the time.
And in this case he advocated the quarantine of those infected with HIV. The country was very different 15 years ago and HIV was still very scary to a lot of people. Did he know that HIV was not spread through air or touch? Maybe. But what if HIV had mutated to an airborne strain? What if it had become the global pandemic the world has feared? We’d be crucifying everyone who didn’t take the proper steps to protect the general population because “they should have known.”
Huckabee certainly isn’t perfect, but he has one thing that no other candidate has: character. I’ll take character over empty promises any day. It looks like most of America agrees with me.
In 1992, Magic Johnson was HIV+ and playing for the Lakers.
if it came down to the two former governor’s of Arkansas, I think I would have to go with Huck..
More like, it happens when a candidate says something this controversial. The media was right to report this information. If Obama or Hillary had said this, they’d have done the same thing. It’s pretty incendiary, and that’s what news is all about.
So far as I can tell Huckabee is exactly the kind of Republican I don’t want.
He’s conservative on domestic issues where I’m liberal, and liberal where I’m conservative – he’s a Bible-thumper who doesn’t mind spending the taxpayers’ dollars. But worst of all, he’s as weak as or weaker than any of the Democrats on foreign policy – and that’s patently unforgiveable.
I started out not knowing much about Huckabee, even though I drove past his house in Arkansas when visiting my mother’s sister last holiday season.
He seemed like a decent candidate in the first few debates. Now that I’ve heard more detail about both his past record as Governor and what he plans for the future, I can’t support him. The nanny-state economics are a big concern, but mainly it’s the emptiness of his national security policy positions that are the deal breaker. What is he going to do, hit Bin Laden with a few witty one-liners and pray for the best?
I’ve been leaning toward Fred Thompson for awhile now, and in the last week he’s pulling me onto the FredHead team.
When you compare foreign policy, national security, economic security and government reform initiatives that Thompson has been advocating in some detail to Huckabee having no idea about that NIE report the other day, the contrast is quite alarming.
I basically agree with this reader whose e-mail wound up on The Corner at NRO:
I like what Fred has been saying on most things. He’s very good on immigration, and he gives Guliani a good match on maintaining the offensive in our little war for national survival. He articulates clearly what America has always been about, and where we should be headed. He looks and sounds like a Commander in Chief, rather than a panderer in chief.
I also am hoping that his connection with Newt will be an ongoing thing, maybe into the Administration. Newt’s ideas are in line with Thompson’s government reform agenda. They would make a great team:)
Notice I refrained from insulting Huck, or those here who might be supporting him. This is about ideas for our country, not insulting a few million Republicans with a few keystrokes.
I think the Huckaboom might be going bust very soon. We shall see.
Now that I’ve praised Fred! a little, am I going to be next on Iowahawk’s carvingboard?
I still can’t get over this line:
Hahaha….. still gets me chuckling!
Well said, Brian72, but I’ll be less diplomatic…so long, Schmuckabee.
This obviously pro-Tancredo site gives Fred pretty good marks immigration-wise, but look at Schmuck’s grades-not so good.
But Brian…Newt needs to STFU, IMHO. He’s gone native. Might be ok as Fred’s Education Secretary (the last one prior to that Department’s abolishment), but other than that…nah!
Thank you for that, Brian. But there’s never been any doubt in my mind that people can come up with legitimate arguements why Mike Huckabee isn’t the best candidate. My problem is a growing sense from columnists and commenters that they see Mike and his supporters as being unworthy of simple respect, and even as objects of fear and scorn. Sometimes one doesn’t even have to read between the lines.
That’s from Bob Novak.
Add that to all the gratuitous insults, which are far too often cracks about his religious background, and I don’t think it’s pretty obvious why I, and many like me, are questioning just where we really do fit in the Republican party.
Ok, time to fire my proofreader. Obviously that last sentence should read “and I think it’s pretty obvious…”
This morning I was viewing how NumberUSA rates most of the Republican candidates and the Hucksteer gets an overall “Bad” rating on past history with Illegal Immigration issues along with John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. Fred Thompson came in with a “Fair” rating. I was very disturbed to see a “Good” rating for Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, which kind of invalidated the rating system in my opinion. Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo came in with an “Excellent” rating, but would you expect anything less for these gentlemen.
Hopefully his recent flip-flop on accommodating illegal invaders and the sweet deal he gave to the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock will finally start to see the light of day more in the press than this hit piece on his HIV stance.
The vitriol that is clearly coming out among GOP faithful this season is more than I think I can stand. If the GOP decides it’s best to run from God…you can be sure, I and others like me will see that it is best to run from the GOP.
Rick Moran, your statements are downright irreverent and…sickening.
Atheist schmucks are in the process of dividing the GOP asunder…one has to suspect that it is part of a strategy.
GOP atheists and Far-Left wackos…a perfect team!
Gee, Hunky. Can I help it if you and the Huckster want to live in the 12th century?
Anyone who wanted to isolate AIDS patients in 1992 was either a shameless panderer to the ignorant or an ignoramus himself.
And you’re right, all of us atheists got together and plotted the overthrow of the religious right.
And if we can keep a straight face, we’ll get around to it sometime next week.
Rick, have you read the comments on Hot Air and here? You tell me how we’re supposed to feel.
Living in the 12th Century? I mean, come on.
You’re missing the point. It’s not about whether Mike Huckabee is the best candidate. It’s about respect. To be more specific, it’s about the increasingly clear position of the Republican party that Mike Huckabee has to be stopped BECAUSE he’s a Baptist minister, and the incorrect assumption that he’s getting support only because of that fact.
Rick, hard at work here in the mail room on a cold and snowy Sunday, but wanted to send props your way for a spot on and pretty damn hilarious comment at #41. Nicely done.
Thoughtful Ricky.