Why is nobody afraid of HUCKABEE?

I keep hearing, if Huckabee is nominated then we're SURE to win?


Really? I could see that if Rudy got the nod, or even Romney... but HUCKABEE? Both Huckabee and John McCain scare the CRAP out of me when it comes to the republican nominees.


I worry that Huckabee would beat any of our guys because, while the vast majority of America would NOT want him as president... he would be THE BIGGEST RALLY for Evangelicals. These Evangelicals would all vote, each and every one of them... because they would believe it was their RELIGIOUS DUTY TO GOD to do so. They would be afraid of hell if they did not do it. That's a lot of motivation. So, even though evangelicals do not make up the majority of the population, the rest of the population would be lazy (as always) say how they support Clinton/Obama/Edwards and then just stay home. BAM we have another RW president that nobody wants. I just don't see any nominee getting enough people out to counter the evangelical vote. I think they will be more motivated than EVER to come out because this time the nominee would be an ACTUAL SOUTHERN BAPTIST PREACHER. I think we should all PRAY Huckabee doesn't get the nod.

I mean here are the chances:

Romney: He's a moron, he wont have Evangelicals behind him, and he can NOT run a campaign properly (as evidence in the primaries). He's not going to win!

Rudy: He would lose, not even the republican's like him. He goes back and forth on social issues faster than you can say 9-11!

Fred: Would probably fall asleep and miss the first debate. I highly doubt he'd win, actually I know he wouldn't.

Ron Paul: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah (catch breath) hahahahahahahahahahha

Duncan Hunter: Who?

McCain: Scary, has ALMOST as good a chance of winning as Huckabee but is old as dirt.

Huckabee: TERRIFYING! This is the guy that makes me shudder. How can you not see this? We are going to have to pull out ALL of the stops to keep his very strong, super crazy, slightly disturbed base from coming out. I'm not knocking Huckabee as a person, or Christians in general (I am Christian) but I want the White House run like a business!

he's a blithering idiot

Blithering idiots in politics scare me. Especially the "religious" ones...

We can't use the blithering idiot excuse on this one :(

cuz Bush is as dumb, uninformed, and blithering a human being as we could POSSIBLE find without some form of severe mental retardation (and I apologize for offending the mentally retarded by comparing them to Bush.)

And the non-fundy Republicans would vote for him, which would mean Huckabee wouldn't win.

which means he might qin.

People snickered and laughed at Reagan and he won.

Don't discredit someone who comes in with that kind of committed support.

He will probably also draw a lot of votes from lower middle-class and middle-class people who are struggling financially and are believers.

But he has a LOT of baggage...and the Rep powers that be don't want him.
I think we'll be fine in the long run.

but they are not the majority of the party. No, it's unlikely that dems and independents would stay home. The evidence all points to a large turnout no matter who the candidates are, with the possible exception of Clinton. The fiscal conservatives/social moderates in the repuke party will neither vote for Huckabee nor fund him. These people are usually reliable voters for repukes. Few repukes on the Upper East Side, in Saddle River, NJ, Bedford, NY or Greenwich CT will vote for him. They are more likely to vote for the dem candidate.

In addition, The money part of the Repuke party will start going after Huckabee in the primaries. They hate him as much as we do. Can they stop him? Maybe. Maybe not. If Huckabee does make it through, there's a pile of dirt on him, sky high. We can torpedo him via framing to make sure his support doesn't extend much beyond his base.

Obama can cream Huckabee. He'll have far, far more money and an enthusiastic electorate. Clinton can beat him, I believe, by walloping on him, and contrasting her foreign policy creds with his.

Huckabee has made glaring errors that aren't as noticable in a primary as they will be in general, and you do know about his Willie Horton, right.

No, he's not a terrifying candidate.

He scares the shit outta me, he was my Gov for 10 years. :eyes:

If Huckabee gets the nomination he CAN win.

He has that likeable downhome air about him, kind of like Bush but with him it appears to be genuine. The people who bought Bush's cowboy schtick will go for Huck's preacherman persona bigtime. Add to that his populist economic policies and they could have a winner. Heck, I find myself liking him although I'd never vote for the guy.

I do think though that the GOP will try to kill him off--the big business wing of the party can't stand him. The problem is that Huck commands the loyalties of a pretty big slice of the party. Thompson will try to draw off some fundies but I don't think they're budging. The non-fundie Republicans and those fundies who value their stock portfolios over their immortal souls, will split their votes between Romney, Giuliani & McCain with Thompson (who's probably a faux fundie of the Bush sort)also picking up some votes from this group.

The Democratic nominee will have to be someone who is both strong on the issues AND capable of turning on the charm in order to beat this guy.

It is true that he is hated. Bush was too, heck he had an entire DOCUMENTARY devoted to hating him... and it made over 100 million dollars at the box office. AND HE STILL WON?

I think there is something wrong with this country sometimes, but nothing a democrat in the White House can't fix!

Do you know what it is?

and more than that, they actively oppose and hate him, and the culture gap there is enormous, and can't be bridged.

I hope so, that is a comforting thought.

Neither is Ron Paul, though, right?
I'm not following them closely.

Some interesting trends coming out of both parties, this election year.

There is no way the big-money conservatives will ever allow it. They want Mitt "Ken Doll" Romney or Rudy "Sleazebag" Giuliani, who can be trusted to shut up & do what they're told.

The Repubs have spent many years courting evangelical votes, & they rely on them to get GOP candidates elected. Now they have a real evangelical candidate who appeals to this segment of their base, & it's time to pay the piper!

Did they really not see this coming, that a Bible-thumper wouldn't come along & want to give more than lip service to evangelicals' pet causes?

Look for Huckabee to be derailed very soon.

... over their other top tier people.

1. He's consistent; the others are laughably INconsistent.

2. He's personable.

The fact that he's an extremist may not be readily apparent to much of the electorate... esp. if he's mouthing populist platitudes.

If Bloomberg runs he will probably draw more from the DEM nominee than from Huckabee.

the fiscal conservatives/social moderates. Even if he doesn't run, those people will not vote for Huckabee. And you need to do more research on Huck; he's not consistent.

He hasn't been scrutinized yet. He won't be able to stand up to it. He will unravel.

I think McCain gets the nomination and goes down in flames with his pro war message.

1. For the most part, Huckabee comes across as a likeable person

2. The fact he says incredibly idiotic things when it comes to foreign policy is of little concern to around 27% of the electorate

3. His anti-corporate message is appealing to many in the middle class who are afraid of losing everything and are Christian (even nominally so). How many times have you heard Democrats say this, "When are we gonna stop blaming 7-year old children who are living in a car for the problems with America's economy?" Huckabee did a few years ago.

4. I see a lot of Reagan in him and that shouldconcern people. If he gets the nomination he is probably assured of 35% of the vote from the start -- those people will vote.

It's gonna depend on whether or not he can craft a message to get the win in enough states. A Bloomberg run would hurt the Dems more than the republikkans in this scenario, because his core is not gonna look elsewhere under any scenario.

a few days ago by asking the one who didn't know why Huckabee would be considered a threat where she lived.

Turns out she lived in Philadelphia. In the north you don't see the people who vote overwhelmingly for Huckabee. But come out to the Shenandoah Valley or the Carolinas, or any place south and west and you will be in Huckabee country.

I'm quite frightened by him. Yes he's an idiot, but W has proven idiot's get to the white house.

I think he could readily win the general if he gets the nomination

If the Democrat Establishment has issues, so does the Republican. The Republican Establishment is scared of Huckabee, so they'll do what they can to prevent Huckabee from getting the nomination. It is the Republican Establishment who enlists Diebold and the US Supreme Court to their cause, right?

You won't see Huckabee......... you will see Clinton versus McCain (since it can't be Clinton versus Guiliani).

Mark it down, Huckabee will be politically castrated by his own party.

That's what the Repuugs want you to think. But they are smarter than that. What better way to hold on to the White House than to make it look like their nominee is anti establishment?

When it comes right down to it Huck is just as much a fascist as the rest of them. And contrary to what they would have you believe, a Huck presidency would be tantamount to a third Bush term.

How does that work? A liberal fascist with an (R) after his name?

I still think the Establishment wants McCain, as 'most electable'. But who really knows, right?

I grew up in the repuke estabishment- I'm talking about the CEOs of Time Warner and Xerox and Hewitt Packard, IBM etc. The cultural divide between the monied sector of the repuke party and Huckabee cannot be bridged. They won't support him. He's as repugnant to them as he is to us.

Huckabee seemed to be what the Repugs needed. He was very appealing in person and unimpeachable in his conservative religious creds. However, the truth is that the Repug party really only gives lip service to the religious right. That's why he hasn't got very much support. Huckabilly is ignorant on most policy issues. His fumbling around on issues like immigration and taxes would makes him look like a neophyte compared to our top three. While he has a populist lean on some issues, Huckabilly has endorsed a national sales tax that even moderate Repugs find stupid. Huckabilly also has numerous recent scandals that will play against him in the general election. Due to his lack of funds and newness on the national stage, he lacks name recognition. There'll be plenty of time to set a negative media image of him. I imagine, he will be portrayed as ignorant and corrupt based on some of the stories I've heard about him. I agree that he'd be a stronger candidate than either multiple choice Mitt or Ghouliani but he is still very beatable.

Walnuts McCain, however, is coming back strong. The media spin that the surge is working is helping him among independents. His moderate views on climate change, campaign finance reform, and fiscal matters have helped him among independents. The social conservatives find him acceptable because he has a good pro-life voting record. My brother is a Southern Baptist minister and a lock step Repug. He is supporting Walnuts because he doesn't trust Huckabilly. Walnuts will lose a few on his stance on immigration and campaign finance but he'll gain among the swing vote. He's very popular out west and can take some of the swing states out there. He's been in the media so much that it will be more difficult to bring out negatives against his image. IMHO, he's the one we have to beat.

political but sometimes political threads start up. The majority of people identifying themselves as Republican can't stand him.

Look how many idiots voted for Bush.

doesn't believe in smaller government and fiscal conservatism. He's got fatal flaws (Wayne Dumond, no foreign policy, national security or economic creds) that are exploitable in a general election. And not even the GOPers want a pastor-in-chief, despite the evangelical faction boosting him. And if he's the nominee, Bloomberg will eat his lunch by taking away all the fiscons who don't worship at the altar of the Holy Fetus. In fact, Hillary would get more fiscon/security hawk support than Huckabilly. Not worried. McCain is more worrisome, but even then, I'm not too worried.

will be McCain/Huckabee. And I don't think it will be a cakewalk for the Dems. I think they'd be formidable.

I told my husband that if I had no idea what he stood for, and no idea what his policies were about - I'd probably like the guy.

I watched him on Colbert & Letterman.. and he comes across as funny & personable. Unfortunately for most Americans- That's ENOUGH. That's how we have Bushy right now.. "Well, I just darn like the guy" as he blows us into Iraq, etc. etc. etc.

Huckabee comes across as a God-Fearing guy that people like. Only time will tell if Americans have realized that is NOT a good enough reason to vote for him.