Robert Novak - The False Journalist
"Honey...I'm Home! In Jack Nicholson Style, Robert Novak Swings His Hatchet At Huckabee
by Susan Stilley
The only thing that Robert Novak's article, "The False Conservative", proves is that Novak has apparently mastered the 'copy and paste' function on his keyboard. No journalistic digging and reporting, only repetition of rants by Arkansas discontents and organizations who feel their power threatened.
Novak cites as supposed evidence that Huckabee is not a true fiscal conservative, the fact that Huckabee criticized Bush's veto of SCHIP. What he conveniently left out (either because he didn't do his homework or because he intentionally wanted to mislead) was the fact that Huckabee was very much opposed to SCHIP. Huckabee's criticism was aimed at Bush's failure to prevent the bill from coming to him in the first place. Huckabee was on target--the veto fanned the flame of public perception that 'Republicans don't care about kids.'
Further, Novak claims that serious Republicans know that Huckabee "is a high-tax protectionist advocate of big government". I consider myself a serious Republican and know no such thing. As a former resident of Arkansas during Governor Huckabee's tenure I know that he pushed through the Arkansas Legislature the first major, broad-based tax cuts in state history - a $90 million tax relief package for Arkansas families. He also doubled the standard deduction to $2,000 for single taxpayers and $4,000 for those who are married. Some taxes he eliminated entirely: the marriage penalty, bracket creep caused by inflation, income tax on poor families, and capital gains on home sales. To encourage investment, he cut capital gains for both individuals and businesses. To help people better themselves, he provided tax credits for employee training and education. In total, he cut taxes and fees nearly 100 times during his ten-and-a-half years as Governor, saving the people of Arkansas almost $380 million.
Further, when Huckabee left office in early 2007, Arkansas had nearly $850 million in state surplus, which he urged should go back to the people in the form of either a tax rebate or tax cut. Yes, this all smacks of rampant liberalism gone haywire!
But what of the much ballyhooed gasoline tax? Novak failed to mention that Governor Huckabee inherited a road and highway infrastructure that was in dangerous disrepair, thanks in part to his immediate predecessors Bill Clinton and Jim Guy Tucker (who was convicted of a felony stemming from the WhiteWater scandal). With overwhelming support of the residents of Arkansas, Governor Huckabee presided over major rebuilding of Arkansas highways that not only helped the economy but prevented disasters like the bridge collapse recently seen in Minnesota. It is a fiscally conservative position to propose that road repair is primarily the responsibility of the state (not the federal government) and taxes for such rebuilding projects should come from those who use the roads most.
The absence of such details from Novak's smear piece indicate either lazy journalism or something much worse. Maybe Novak really has done his homework, knows at least some of these facts, yet is purposely trying to skew the story. After all, he certainly seems to be scared, or appalled, by the 'inherent danger' that is Mike Huckabee. Yes, Huckabee is a dangerous man because he is one of those long anticipated and greatly feared EVANGELICALS.
Novak writes:
"The rise of evangelical Christians as the force that blasted the GOP out of minority status during the past generation always contained an inherent danger: What if these new Republican acolytes supported not merely a conventional conservative but one of their own? That has happened with Huckabee, a former Baptist minister educated at Ouachita Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary."
Yikes, a Baptist! Horror of Horrors!
Contrary to Novak's opinion, I don't believe the prospect of a Huckabee presidency "makes real conservatives shudder". What makes real conservatives shudder is the growing suspicion that many of the Republican elite are so driven by their own agenda and lust for power that they are willing to besmirch and discard one from their own party just because he is an evangelical.
The description Novak gives of how the Republican party has made use of evangelicals is reminiscent of the biblical story of King David's son, Amnon who raped his sister, Tamar. After Amnon got what he wanted from her, he "hated her with very great hatred".
And Amnon said to her, "Get up! Go!" But she said to him, "No, my brothers, for this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me." But he would not listen to her. He called the young man who served him and said, "Put this woman out of my presence and bolt the door after her." (2 Samuel 13:15-17)
Are evangelicals being told to, "Get up! Go!"? If they leave and the door is bolted behind them, to which door will they go knocking?
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