Some Background on Governor Huckabee

Mike Huckabee seems to have a real shot at the Republican nomination and, while he is an excellent communicator and debater, I believe there are many things Americans may not yet know about his background, record, views, and experience...things which might cast a different light on this "positive, charming" Southern politician.

He is an ordained Evangelical preacher.

He was a former understudy of Texas televangelist James Robison.

Huckabee has credited divine intervention with some of his political success.

He believes in biblical inerrancy, which says that the Bible is totally without error and completely accurate, including the historical and scientific parts.

He believes our 4.5 billion-year-old Earth is only 6000 years old.

He said that humans did not evolve from “primates” (apparently forgetting that human beings are primates).

He proudly stated that if he becomes president, science will take a back seat to religion. “Science changes with every generation and God doesn’t. So I’ll stick with God if the two are in conflict,” he said.

As governor of Arkansas he rejected the teaching of evolution in schools, resulting in that state receiving an F for its science standards from an independent nationwide survey.

In 2001 Huckabee urged student districts to allow students to pray and proclaimed October as "Student Religious Liberty Month.”

He opposes the separation of church our founding fathers established. He said, “When people say we ought to separate politics from religion, I say to separate the two is absolutely impossible.”

He believes that Armageddon is right around the corner, and that all non-Christians are eternally damned.

In 2002, Huckabee ran for Governor and his wife Janet ran for Arkansas Secretary of State. The New York Times reported this set off an "avalanche of criticism." Mike Huckabee won his race with 53 percent of the vote, while his wife Janet lost her race by 62% to 38%.

Shortly before announcing his candidacy for the President of the United States, Huckabee ordered that the drives of 83 computers and 4 servers be destroyed during his transition phase in leaving office. Documents, e-mails and memos stored on hard drives formed the basis of embarrassing stories about Huckabee, including the allegations regarding personal use of the Governor's Mansion funds. (He does kind of remind me of Nixon, though he's much more charming.)

In 1992, when it was clear that HIV/AIDS was not spread by casual contact, Huckabee advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general population.

He said that a “holocaust of abortions” has artificially created a demand for Mexican labor in the U.S.

As governor of Arkansas he increased state spending 65.3 percent (1996–2004) and supported five tax increases (increasing taxes more than $500 million). He used a taxpayer fund for personal expenses like dog food, pantyhose, and Taco Bell meals, and used inaugural funds to pay for his wife’s clothes.

In November 2006, both Huckabee and his wife drew criticism for creating wedding registries in the amount of over $6000 at both the Target and Dillard's web sites, in conjunction with a housewarming party to celebrate a new house they had purchased in Little Rock.

Arkansas-based Wal-Mart is his biggest campaign donor.

Huckabee supports the ongoing War in Iraq and the troop surge.

He said, “One thing I salute about the president is No Child Left Behind, and no matter what you've heard about it let me tell you it's the best thing that ever happened in education.”

As governor of Arkansas he blocked Medicaid from funding an abortion for a mentally retarded teenager raped by her stepfather (his actions violated federal law which requires states to pay for abortions in cases of rape).

His son was fired as a counselor at a Boy Scout camp for allegedly hanging a stray dog and Huckabee was criticized for covering up the incident. "Without question, [Huckabee] was making a conscious attempt to keep the state police from investigating his son," says I. C. Smith, the former FBI chief in Little Rock,

As governor he was criticized for his handling of the case of Wayne DuMond, a convicted rapist who was released during Huckabee's governorship and who subsequently sexually assaulted and murdered a woman in Missouri.

In December 2007, he used the death of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto as an opportunity to lecture on his illegal immigration policy proclaiming that Pakistan has more illegal immigrants to the United States than any country but Mexico ( INS data indicates that Pakistan is nowhere near the top of the list). Many were puzzled at the connection between the death of the late prime minister and Huckabee’s immigration policy.

In 2006 he pardoned Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards from a reckless driving conviction that happened in Arkansas in 1975.

On December 26, 2007 the conservative organization Judicial Watch announced that Mike Huckabee was named to its list of Washington’s "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2007. They state that Huckabee, as governor, was the subject of "14 ethics complaints and a volley of questions about his integrity, ranging from his management of campaign cash to his use of a nonprofit organization to subsidize his income to his destruction of state computer files on his way out of the governor’s office." Judicial Watch further accused Huckabee of attempting to block the state ethics commission's investigations of the allegations.

He has lost 100 pounds. He compared his weight loss to the experience of a concentration camp, for which the National Jewish Democratic Council chastised Huckabee.

These are all things that ought to be taken into consideration when deciding whether to support this man as our next president. Since he's turned his focus on South Carolina now, after a third place finish in New Hampshire, I hope the citizens of that state will take a long, hard look at him before they cast their ballot his way.