Friday, January 4, 2008

An open letter to Iowa Republicans: WTF?!

I understand that the choices on the Republican side were not great. Actually, they were downright craptacular. But really, Mike Huckabee? Can we just recap some of his flaws:
Good lord, do I need to go on? Do I need to remind you that his son (who was arrested last spring for trying to bring a gun onto an airplane) was fired from his job as a camp counselor after it was found that he had hanged a dog by its neck, slitting its throat and stoning it to death.

Yes, I know that's the son, not the father, but the nut doesn't fall far from the tree, as we used say in the teaching world. I mean, how else to explain what elder Huckabee said about the AIDS epidemic in 1992:

"If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague."

I'm sure young Ryan White, who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion would have appreciated being isolated. But White died in 1990. Huckabee's claim is that we didn't know much about AIDS in 1992. In 1992! Yes, we did, Mike. Those of us who cared. The first AIDS cases were discovered as early as 1981, and but you must have followed the lead of Ronald Reagan, who refused to utter the term "AIDS" and allowed thousands to die before the federal government finally got involved in researching the disease.

Hell yeah I'm mad. A Mike Huckabee administration? Are you kidding me? Canada, here I come.

UPDATED: Now from FactCheck.org we find that the the negative attack ad that Huckabee held a press conference to announce he would not run, actually did run.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee raised eyebrows Dec. 31 when he told reporters at a news conference that he had decided not to run an attack ad calling rival Mitt Romney "dishonest," then ran it in front of reporters and TV cameras anyway. Now it turns out that the ad actually appeared on at least three Iowa TV stations that same day.

Update, Jan. 4: According to the Campaign Media Analysis Group of TNS Media Intelligence, the ad aired three times on the day Huckabee made his announcement, and it aired seven times in the following two days. As of Jan. 2, the most recent date for which CMAG has tallied information on the ad, Huckabee's attack ad had run four times on KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, and had appeared on Davenport stations WQAD-TV, three times; KLJB-TV, twice; and WHBF-TV, once.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I find it amazing that he feels he has any of the qualifications necessary to hold "the highest office in the land".
I also find it astounding that so many people in this country only care about this country and not about our interactions and relations with the rest of the world. Much of the Iowa Republican vote seems only to focus on the "needs of this country".

(And Pakistan is west of India and east of Afghanistan.)

Sue J said...

(And Pakistan is west of India and east of Afghanistan.)

I knew that. My head was spinning as I wrote this post. I meant to say that Pakistan shares its eastern border with India, not that it's east of India.

Thanks for keeping me honest. ;-)

Anonymous said...

I know - those Republicans BOOGLE the mind....

Anonymous said...

OK! I have decided he's a 2 faced CREEP! He got so much free publicity by showing the ad to the media and saying he was not going to let it air, and despite everything it aired and he's just a CREEP!

Sue J said...

he's a 2 faced CREEP!

But wait -- he's a Baptist minister! And the religious right adore him. How can he be so blatantly dishonest and get the most votes in Iowa?

(head hitting desk)

Anonymous said...

craptacular! you almost had me, i was about to click on dictionary .com
thanks for the enlightening info. don't worry. i don't think huckabee will get the nomination anymore than obama.
i'm still wondering when is ron paul going to bail out onto another ticket?

Mauigirl said...

Great lineup of reasons not to vote for Huckabee. And add in his stupid flat tax idea that is spectacularly regressive and continues to reward rich investors over middle-class people who actually work for a living and might want to buy a new car or some other small reward for their labors.

The last thing we need is another insular, provincial, unworldly, fundamentalist idiot running the country. I agree on Canada if Huckabee wins.

I'm hoping McCain does well in New Hampshire because of the whole sorry GOP lot he's the only one that doesn't make me want to leave the country or commit suicide if he were to get elected.

Sue J said...

I agree on Canada if Huckabee wins.

Maybe we can all carpool!