It's time to "go gentle into that good night"
By Alexham Posted in 2008 | Mike Huckabee — Comments (25) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Governor Huckabee-
Alexham here. You know me. I've been a strong supporter of yours for quite some time now--long before you received the "Colbert bump" or even came close to registering as more than a blip in the national polls. I've put a great deal of time and energy into your campaign, and I would love nothing more than to see you as the GOP's presidential nominee. But that's not going to happen.
To be sure, there are other reasons besides winning to stay in a presidential race: to speak out on issues of importance (e.g., life issues), to keep the presumptive nominee from veering too far to the left, and to position oneself for another presidential run (to name just a few). And up until last night, I truly felt like you should stay in the race for all of these reasons. But the time has come to bow out gracefully.
And here's the thing: You've already won. You've established yourself as a force to be reckoned with in the GOP for the foreseeable future, a major contender in 2012 or 2016, and, more importantly, as one of the most eloquent spokesmen for a "Culture of Life" in this country. Please don't ruin that hard-earned reputation for the sake of a few more days in the media spotlight. You've always said that your campaign wasn't about you, but was instead about the promotion of transcendent values/principles in government. Well, now is the time to prove that you meant what you said by stepping aside gracefully, and allowing Senator McCain to begin the process of "putting the band back together." The stakes are simply too high to do otherwise.
« Dueling June Obama fundraising claims? — Comments (2) | Sweep — Comments (27) »
It's time to "go gentle into that good night" 25 Comments (0 topical, 25 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
My two year old son would make a better politician than crooked slick Huckster-for all of our talk about cleaning up corruption, the last thing we need to do is put the pro-life Clinton anywhere near a national office where he can resssurect himself.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
I see that you've taken this post in the spirit that it was given.
___________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: I am a member of a state-wide executive committee that is affiliated with Governor Mike Huckabee's campaign for the GOP presidential nomination
And as I said, I want no chance of him resurrecting himself (and I'm sure that's what he'd refer to it as) in politics ever again. The sooner he drops out, the sooner we stop smacking him around on RS on a daily basis.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
I think it's the perfect place for him, really. I'd like to see Arnold there as well... and I think about as much about Arnold as I do about Huckabee. You mostly have to have a pulse and vote to organize with the Republicans to be an improvement over a Democrat in the Senate.
---
Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
Huckabee's "arrogant bunker mentality" comments already have shown what he really thinks about the GWOT, and I can't imagine Huckabee not trying to bring in the pork heavily
for AR, just like the rest of the fat cats. huckabee in all liklihood, is a Ben Nelson with an R in his name-good if your a Democrat, unacceptable as an R.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
Why should Huckabee wait until 2010 to run for Senate? The deadline for filing for this years contest against Democratic Senator Pryor is April 1st.
Would he be scared to lose? Even if he somehow barely lost, he would definately be a huge favorite to win in 2010.
If Huckabee wins the senate seat this year, the GOP would actually have a chance to win back the US Senate.
Ray J. Tuleya
on pro-life issues and 2nd amendment rights.
I agree it's time to bow out. He can still be a force at the convention, holding McCain's feet to the fire on these issues.
Chuck Norris for VP! ;-)
Huck has made every point he could hope to make. Only thing he could accomplish now is trying to force McCain to put him on the ticket. And McCain's history suggests a guy who does not react well to threats and coercion.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
there could be a way to use the remaining primary time as a dog and pony show to help McCain in the general election.
Think about this: Barack and Hillary will be fighting it out to the end. Once McCain is the undisputed middleweight champion of the GOP, he won't get any more free coverage until the conventions.
"No matter how much lipstick you put on the taxation pig, it's still a pig... and it's currently snout-down in your wallet." - Michael Fisk
I love Huck and had he won VA last night I'd be calling for him to stay in. He did not. He should bow out and hope for the VP spot.
If Crist/Hagel/Graham are the VP I will vote for Obama.
I too was hoping he might pull off a victory last night to make an even bigger "statement"--but that's all it would have been good for.
At this point, he's made about as loud a statement as he can.
Hopefully McCain will keep in mind the value of social-conservative enthusiasm when he's putting a platform together, and picking a running mate.
"People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors." -Edmund Burke
What if, for example, the Giants had decided to stop trying to win the Super Bowl when they fell behind in the fourth quarter with a minute and a half left. We would have missed the best finish in the sport's history. I am on record as an opponent of McCain getting the nomination, but can't we all agree that he should not be coronated?
continued to play so long as they had a chance to win.
If there had been a minute left and the score was 30 points in the Patriot's favor, I wouldn't have blamed them for taking a knee or two. Miracles happen, but four scores in a minute?
Huckabee is in the same boat. The numbers just don't add up for him.
--------------------------------------
I'm not voting for Ron Paul because it's not expressly prescribed in the Constitution.
-- Mark Hemingway, The Corner (NRO)
A whole lot of delegates have already been won by McCain, so you can drop the bit about coronation. He beat everybody else. That's not how I would have wanted it, but ignoring reality isn't going to make it go away.
---
Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
I still don't understand...
If it vital that we know the nominee now, before all of the votes are in- we doesn't the GOP change the process.
I personally think the positive campaigning continued by Huckabee keeps the Republicans in the positive spotlight. If Huckabee waits 2 more months to drop... which seems like the longest time imaginable... then what damage has been done by only giving McCain 7 months in the spotlight before the election opposed to 9?
contests if he wants to. The calendar does not favor him over the next few weeks. I would like to see McCain do better in the south, among conservatives, evangelicals. He will need at least some of these voters in the general election. McCain does not have the animus against Huck he had against Romney, so the chances of him blowing up, etc or letting his mean streak show, as he did against Mitt, are non existent. We'll wrap it up after the primaries on March 4.
The numbers do not likely add up to an outright Huckabee victory at 1191, but he only needs to prevent Mac from getting there before Romney's delegates are in play at the convention. McCain has won several razor thin victories among an obviously uninspired Republican electorate. His victories in winner take all, traditionally Blue states do not add anything to his argument that he should be our nominee. I acknowledge that the odds are long on getting to a brokered convention, but play the process out and then let's see where the votes as well as the hearts and minds on our side are.
Its time to put the saddle away Huckabee, you fought a good battle but you cannot win.
Please do not do any more damage to the party and the chances for the GOP to retain POTUS in 2008, by making McCain spend money he shouldn't have to.
He will need every dime to fight the Dem's hundreds of millions of dollars money machine.
It's time to put the saddle away Huckabee, you fought a good battle but you cannot win. Please do not do any more damage to the party and the chances for the GOP to retain POTUS in 2008, by making McCain spend money he shouldn't have to. He will need every dime to fight the Dem's hundreds of millions of dollars money machine.
This line is getting old. Since when did competition become a bad thing? What about all the states that haven't had a say yet in the process? Tough luck? Hogwash.
Conservative candidates combined have received more votes than McCain has received in nearly every state. McCain has not even won a majority of the votes cast so far overall. If Huckabee, Romney, and Thompson had combined their votes, McCain probably would be out of the race by now.
The last time I checked, the GOP does not do coronations. McCain has won despite the GOP base. He's needed a lot of help from moderates. Competition is a good thing, a healthy thing. Let people in upcoming states have a choice.
Mike Griffith
Let Freedom Ring website
http://ourworld.cs.com/mikegriffith1/id47.htm
have received more votes than McCain...
I certainly hope you're not including Huckabee in that calculation. Fred, Mitt and arguably Rudy are conservative. Huckabee is not.
____
CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
He said he'll stop when his supporters ask him to or when someone hits 1191. He said that the rules say 1191 and he won't leave the field until someone gets there, the mathematical certainty of his not getting that number is irrelevant. At the superBowl the Giants had to clear the field of screaming fans in order to play that last second because the other team does not get to concede unless they can no longer play, and Huck can still play. Notions of jeapordizing party unity and time-constraints in fielding a new team to beat the Dems are illusionary and fleeting. The party is asunder with or without Huck, and his leaving would cause a vacuum of recognition of that fact, the socons would go back to being politically in-active and we would lose in the fall.
I had defeatest feelings last night as the results came in. It has been a long fight thusfar against major headwinds, including those blowing from RS, and I am temted to believe that this is one burden that would be a relief to lay down, but those headwinds are nothing new, nothing has really changed from many months ago, just the tactic as to why Huck can't win and I should therefor stop fighting.
I joked with my wife the other day that watching folks first "get Huckabee" is like a scene from "Field of Dreams" when the brother-in-law, after many attempts to get the lead character to sell out and sell the farm, and many times saying that he can not see the ghost like ball players on the field, after a minor emotionally charged accident looks up at the field and says "Where did those ball players come from?"
When people "get huckabee" they realize that the kool-aide they have been intraveneously drinking has been tainted with dishonesty and spin. The raw data of his record in Arkansas is taken up and is clearly fically responsible, and the spin put on it by his competition and their chronies is a lie. They realize that they have surrounded themselves with like-thinking company, and listened to only like-thinking media. The more time goes by, the more difficult it is for someone to see, because that would mean questioning a belief system and pervayers of information that they have trusted for some time. But it is enriching to watch someone step out of the fog and "get Huckabee".
I support Governor Mike Huckabee for President.
Here’s a possible scenario: if Huckabee doesn’t drop out shortly after the March 4th primaries, Romney officially quits the race and acts as a 'king maker' by handing his delegates to McCain(probably for some favor for Romney later on, like giving a speech at the convention). This would result in McCain getting more than the minimum 1191 delegates necessary for the nomination and Huckabee quitting. This way Romney can say that he helped McCain win quickly plus stick it to Huckabee(the 2 don’t like each other, even more than McCain and Romney). This would also prevent this Huckabee hope for miracles going on in April, May, June etc’
the more he looks like Ron Paul. Zero chance of winning.
On second thought please stay in Huck.
He needs to take Blanche Lincoln out and become a voice for so-cons in the Senate.