As a former FredHead… I now believe that he was Johnny’s stalking horse. Hey, I’m getting used to being HAD by RINOs… first Jorge Bush, now Fredrico.
I miss RWR.
stenwin77 on May 15, 2008 at 3:06 PM
As much as it pains me, I second that.
RobertInAustin on May 15, 2008 at 3:56 PM
In the Fox debate when Fred! went Fred all over Huckabee he was in great form, he could have said just as much if not more about McCain, and he didn’t. That should have been my first clue.
As one person said, if you see McCain and Kennedy smiling, you are about to get #*&%@$.
RobertInAustin on May 15, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Third!
rhinoishere on May 15, 2008 at 4:02 PM
Remember how back in 2000, John McCain lost the South Carolina Republican Party primary to Evangelical Christian George W. Bush? Remember how John McCain became so infuriated that shortly thereafter he referred to evangelical Christians as “Agents of Intolerance”?
W’s victory in the SC primary helped propel him to the Republican nomination in 2000.
In 2008, McCain knew that Mike Huckabee would likely be the preferred candidate of South Carolina evangelical Christian voters, unless McCain could do something to split that vote.
Enter Fred Thompson, who called McCain his “good friend”, not his “competitor”.
I actually initially preferred Fred Thompson, because he appeared to be the most conservative candidate. But that was the whole point. That was his role… to split the “far right” conservative vote.
Fred entered the race late, left early, and had no “fire in the belly” except for when he attacked Mike Huckabee. Fred was never “in it to win it”. Fred was in to help John McCain win it. Fred accomplished his mission by taking enough votes away from Huckabee to enable John McCain to win the South Carolina primary. With “mission accomplished”, Fred quit the race three days later and then told us all to “fall in line” behind McCain.
Eleven Republican Primary contenders were invited to the Values Voter Debate. Seven showed up, and four chose not to. Those four all played important roles in helping John McCain become the Republican Party’s nominee for President. (McCain himself, Thompson, Giuliani, and Romney).
Fred Thompson was McCain’s stalking horse (against Huckabee) in SC. McCain won SC.
Rudy Giuliani was McCain’s stalking horse (against Romney) in FL. McCain won FL.
Once Romney thought he couldn’t win the nomination outright, he made a key decision… rather than keep the promise he made February 5th to fight all the way to the convention, Romney quit on February 7th and did everything in his power to try to get McCain’s last competititor, Mike Huckabee, to quit. Then, on February 14th, Romney “released” his delegates to McCain in another attempt to get Mike Huckabee to quit.
The ONLY Presidental candidate who both attended the Values Voter Debate and had a serious shot at the Republican nomination, was Mike Huckabee.
If Fred’s only task was to spare us that maniac Mike Huckabee then America owes him a deep gratitude.
Thomas,
What qualifies Mike Huckabee as a maniac in your eyes?
He’s every bit the messianic type as is Obama .. his comments about Roman Catholicism and actions on Immigration ticked me off , but I soon after dismissed these as the insignificant ravings of a Southern-fried snake shaker.
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/huckabee_angers_catholics/2007/12/23/59397.html
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070802/brownback-campaign-again-calls-huckabee-to-denounce-anti-catholic-slur.htm
Good conversation here: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/01/mike_huckabees_catholic_proble.php
Thomas,
Your first link is a smear. Guilt by association.
Huckabee’s own “comments about Roman Catholicism” (which you claim “ticked you off”) were:
And Huckabee’s campaign said:
Did you apply the same line of thinking when McCain courted Hagee’s endorsement right before the Texas primary and used him to win it?
Or, were you just happy when McCain then threw Hagee under the bus when he was no longer an asset to the McCain campaign?
Did it make any difference to you that Hagee apologized to Catholics?
Hagee should be ashamed of himself for falling for McCain’s “wolf in sheeps’ clothing” behavior. Hagee should have supported Huckabee, and his 1 poor decision could have made the difference in Texas and the entire Republican primary. McCain played Hagee and his followers for fools. And they foolishly trusted McCain.
I’ll come back to your second and third links later.
Thomas,
Your second link, like your first, is a smear. Guilt by association again.
Look at what Huckabee himself said:
Amen to that.
Thomas,
Your third link, yet again, is a smear. Any article that refers to Governor Mike Huckabee as “Huckster” is a tad biased, don’t you think?
…and you present that as evidence of Huckabee’s bias against Catholics???
I go back to what Mike Huckabee said in the second of your three links:
Now, in terms of your being “ticked off” by Huckabee’s actions on Immigration, can you tell me…
Who was the only Presidential Candidate who committed to Senator Jeff Sessions’ 15 point action plan to restore law and order to America’s broken immigration system?
Mike Huckabee.
It’s outrageous that Huckabee’s commitment, in writing, would go unappreciated by you. Huckabee pledged to build the fences on both the northern and southern borders by July 1, 2010. He should be applauded, not ridiculed.
It’s not often that I disagree with Michelle Malkin, but on this post she was totally wrong.
Here’s what Huckabee said about immigration during his CPAC speech on February 9th:
The “secure border” scam was a sop to the 15 million criminalians. Ironically it is the line held by Juan McAmnesty. Their plan is build a wall but keep the criminals here, defacto amnesty. Only Romney supported deporting every damned one of them, “get back in line.”
Hagee was inserting himself all over the place and in the end his associations with Huckabee and McCain were just a way to push his agenda but Huck’s praise of Hagee was effusive. That Hagee backed down from him idiotic comments is good, he knew he was wrong the whole time.
An irony to this whole Hagee thing is that the church the collaborated the most with the Nazis was the Protestant one. The Pope hid many Jews in the Vatican, in fact the head Rabbi of Rome lived there the whole time, coverted away from Judiaism and even adopted the baptismal name of the Pope, Eugenio, I think. Methinks the head Rabbi of Rome got the story straight.
Another irony is that Huckabee was used as a stalking horse to Romney when Romney was the only one close to beating McCain yet Huck stayed in through SC to the midway point.
The only Reagan Republican in the race was Romney. Romney had gotten more conservative over time as did Reagan.
Thomas,
I highly recommend that you obtain and read the 1964 book “A Choice Not an Echo: The inside story of how American Presidents are chosen“.
It is amazingly eye-opening. And it is as relevant to the 2008 primary as it was to the elections up to 1964.
Ronald Reagan was a Goldwater Republican. Goldwater was the first “Values Voter” candidate to win the Republican nomination, but he lost the general election to LBJ (in my opinion, in large part because the country was looking for stability in the wake of the JFK assassination). Ronald Reagan was the first “Values Voter” candidate to win the Republican nomination and the general election. He was one of the best Presidents we ever had.
Many people claim to be a “Reagan Republican”. McCain claimed he is, but he’s not. You claim Romney is, but he’s not. No candidate who voluntarily chose not to attend the Values Voter Debate can call himself a “Reagan Republican”. Some of the questions asked at that debate were asked by the author of that 1964 book…Phyllis Schlafly.
It’s clear who “Values Voters” preferred. And it’s clear that the four candidates who didn’t attend the debate conspired to make McCain the nominee. Fred Thompson was McCain’s stalking horse in SC. Rudy Giuliani was McCain’s stalking horse in FL. Mitt Romney fought hard but broke his February 5th promise (to fight all the way to the convention) less than 48 hours after he made that promise. Why? Do you really believe it was because something happened during those 48 hours to make him think that the threat of terrorism was now worse and therefore he must quit? His stated reason for quitting was that if he kept going he would be letting his campaign be a part of a surrender to terror. Sorry, but that was B.S.
West Virginia was McCain’s doing, not Huckabee’s doing. McCain’s goal was to keep the delegates away from Romney, then pressure Romney to quit in return for the VP slot. McCain was successful in getting Romney to quit, and we will find out soon who McCain picked for his VP.