Mike Huckabee presidential campaign, 2016
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 Mike Huckabee |
Former Governor of Arkansas (1996-2007) Former Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas (1993-1996) |
 Republican candidate: |
2024 • 2020 • 2016 |
- See also: Mike Huckabee
Mike Huckabee was a Republican candidate for the office of president of the United States in 2016.
Huckabee was the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007 and a 2008 presidential candidate. On January 3, 2015, Huckabee announced that he would no longer host his Fox News talk show Huckabee. He said, "As much as I have loved doing the show, I cannot bring myself to rule out another presidential run. ...Oh be clear, I'm not making that announcement right now and my timetable is still just what wait was before, later this spring, but I agree with Fox this is the right thing and now is the right time."[2][3]
Huckabee officially announced his presidential run in his hometown of Hope, Arkansas, on May 5, 2015. After describing his early life in the town, he declared, "So it seems perfectly fitting that it would be here that I announce that I am a candidate for president of the United States of America."[4] He suspended his campaign on February 1, 2016.[1]
When asked on December 22, 2013, whether he would be interested in another run for the presidency, Huckabee said, "It would be, frankly, dishonest to say no."[5] Since his 2008 bid for the presidency, Huckabee's popularity has grown due to his Fox News talk show Huckabee and the founding of the HuckPAC, which provides funding to key congressional campaigns across the country.[6] Seventeen governors have served as president.[7]
In recent candidate rankings, Crowdpac ranked Huckabee as a 6.7C (C being conservative) on a scale ranging from 10L to 10C, making him the seventh most conservative Republican presidential candidate.[8] Huckabee received a grade of a "D/64" from the Leadership Project for America PAC.[9]
On the issues
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| Quick facts about Huckabee |
|---|
| Birthday: August 24, 1955 |
| Birthplace: Hope, Arkansas |
| Alma maters: Ouachita Baptist University Baptist Theological Seminary |
| Career: Radio and television talk show host (7 years)
Governor of Arkansas (11 years) |
| Spouse: Janet Huckabee |
| Children: John Mark, David and Sarah |
| Religion: Southern Baptist |
| Public policy in the 2016 election |
|---|
| Budgets and Taxes Education Common Core Student debt Energy Clean Power Plan Fracking Environment Climate change Healthcare Medicaid and Medicare Obamacare Redistricting Voting Rights Act Voter ID |
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| Hover over the words for information about the issue and links to related articles. |
Economic and fiscal
Taxes
- On December 2, 2015, Mike Huckabee said he opposed a one-cent increase to the federal gas tax to help fund military efforts against terrorism. “Why do we need to raise taxes? You always want to raise taxes. Why don't we have the exploration of our energy, sell it, take away the marketplaces [and] we've become the supplier to Europe, Asia and Africa,” Huckabee said.[12]
- Huckabee supports a "FairTax," which would establish a national retail sales tax, in lieu of the current tax system that taxes how much income people make. [13] [14]
- Huckabee has claimed that his plan would yield six percent economic growth -- two percent more than the four percent that Jeb Bush has said his tax plan would return. “I believe we can get it to 6 or higher with a fair tax. I'm convinced. I guarantee you we will goose the economy if you bring $11 trillion of working capital back to this country," Huckabee said.[15][16]
- In a March 2015 op-ed for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Huckabee said he wanted to dismantle the Internal Revenue Service and adopt the FairTax, a national sale tax that would apply to the purchase of new goods and services.[17][18] Perry reiterated his support for simplifying the tax code in May 2015 to one "simple enough to allow many Americans to fill out their taxes on a postcard."[19]
- In an interview with The Daily Beast in September 2014, Huckabee criticized the estate tax, saying, "Some families have assets in long-held land that has to be sold to pay inheritance taxes. Why should a generation be punished for seeking to leave something for one’s family?" Huckabee similarly questioned the country's corporate tax structure. He said, "A tax is punishment. Why punish a company for making money? If there were no taxes on what we earn, imagine the trillions of capital that would flow here from around the world."[20]
- According to the Cato Institute in December 2007, during Huckabee's two terms as governor of Arkansas, he "increased state taxes by more than $500 million." The think tank also noted that while Huckabee "cut taxes 94 times," the cuts "were tiny, like exempting residential lawn care from the sales tax."[21]
- In 2007, Huckabee denied supporting a sales tax on the Internet. Instead, Huckabee explained he supported proposals to allow states to collect sales taxes on items sold over the Internet to out-of-state customers.[22]
- Huckabee opposed a congressional proposal that would ban taxes on Internet access. Arguing the ban could cause Arkansas to lose $40 million per year, Huckabee explained, "We're not trying to after new revenue and make an additional tax. We simply want to maintain the existing taxing authority that we have." Rather than making permanent the moratorium on Internet taxes, Huckabee supported a bipartisan two-year extension of the moratorium to give lawmakers time to reevaluate the definition and financial consequences of the policy.[23]
Banking policy
- When asked in October 2015 if Wall Street executives complicit in the 2008 financial crisis should have gone to jail, Mike Huckabee said, "Absolutely they should have. These were the smartest people in the room. These were the people that were supposed to be the geniuses. These were all Ivy Leaguers, and they knew darn well what they were doing — shuffling paper around and getting paid ridiculous sums of money. They didn't produce things. They didn't make or manufacture. They weren't making an iPhone. They were betting on what an iPhone might be worth in a few years, and selling it off. It was a casino. And I got in trouble for saying that very thing eight years ago. I'd like to say, 'I was right.'"[24]
- Discussing the regulation of the banking industry in October 2015, Huckabee said the Dodd-Frank Act was a "terrible idea." He continued, "Dodd-Frank didn't really affect the big banks. They're bigger now than they've ever been. We reformed nothing. They're still playing games with derivatives, still playing the games, turning Wall Street into a casino. What I would do is get rid of Dodd-Frank, which [would put] the power back in community banks. Dodd-Frank has punished the banks that never created the problem."[25]
- In October 2015, Huckabee said some regulation of the banking industry was necessary. He elaborated, "I'm not sure that the repeal of Glass-Steagall was a brilliant idea because you erased the line between traditional banks. You created a blur. And I believe a lot of what we saw happen with the crash of 2008 was because banks that once were investment banks were trying to be full-service banks. And full-service banks were trying to become investment banks. It just became one great big house of cards, and it collapsed."[25]
- Huckabee said of the steep drop in the stock market that occurred on August 24, 2015, “If there had been government policies that did not favor big business over small business big banks over community banks and favor people on Wall Street versus people on Main Street. It was a disaster and it was a disaster that could have and should have been prevented.”[26]
- In December 2013, Huckabee said there was "collusion" between politicians in Washington, D.C., and Wall Street. "One hand washes another and one feeds another. And who takes it in the teeth? It's most of the working class people of America. Big banks get bailed out. Big insurance companies get bailed out. Who bails them out? Washington bails them out. Why? Because there are campaign contributions that come along with the bailout," he said.[27]
Government regulations
- Mike Huckabee criticized the disproportionately negative impact of government regulations on small businesses in his 2008 book, Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America. Huckabee wrote, "The cost of regulatory burden is enormous but also felt unequally. As governor, I could see that small employers were generally ill-equipped to handle a visit from an inspector. Mom-and-Pop outfits didn't have lawyers and lobbyists running interference for them, so they just had to take the hit and pay the fine – only big companies could afford to take the government to court. For firms with more than 500 employees, the annual cost per employee for compliance with environmental law was $717 annually. For companies with fewer than 20 employees, the annual compliance cost was $3,228. In fact, some big companies have figured out that regulation provides them with an opportunity to 'game the system.' That is, a large corporation can hire Washington reps who will help create the rigmarole that disproportionately hurts its smaller rivals. That's one reason why big government and big business usually get along so well together."[28]
International trade
- On October 5, 2015, after the Obama administration announced the completion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, Mike Huckabee said, "Once again, American workers are getting punched in the gut by Washington because this deal is a handout to insiders, interest groups, Obama’s allies and Asia. When it comes to negotiating with foreign countries, the Obama Administration gets rolled like sushi, and this TPP deal is more of the same. I can’t understand why American workers would trust Obama on a trade deal that affects 40 percent of the world’s economy. President Obama can’t be trusted to negotiate a camper off Craigslist, let alone a trade deal with eleven other Asian countries."[29]
- After a procedural vote on trade promotion authority (TPA) failed in the Senate on May 12, 2015, Huckabee said, "Republicans in Congress need to slam on the brakes and refuse to allow President Obama to fast-track a major international trade deal that’s been crafted in secret and whose details remain cloaked in mystery. Simply put, President Obama cannot be trusted to negotiate a good deal for American workers. The last thing this Administration fast-tracked was ObamaCare, so all Americans should breath a sigh a relief ObamaTrade failed in the Senate today," according to Breitbart.[30]
- At the Iowa Agricultural Summit in March 2015, Huckabee said, "If it's not fair trade, it's not free trade." He also criticized the U.S.'s trade relationship with China, saying, "We've allowed the Chinese to manipulate the trade market, to steal intellectual property, to dump products into the United States, artificially subsidize and make it very difficult for American manufacturers to compete."[31]
- During a 2007 debate, Mike Huckabee advocated for free trade. He said, "The fact is, we don’t have fair trade. And that’s the issue we’ve got to address... Our real problem continues to be that an American company is having to pay an extraordinarily high tax on everything they produce, but the countries who are exporting to us don’t have the same border adjustability that we do. And that’s why we’re losing jobs here, and that’s what has to change."[32]
Budgets
- On December 16, 2015, Mike Huckabee criticized the fiscal 2016 budget deal reached by members of Congress. He said, “I’m disgusted. There’s no other word for it. Amidst the chaos of yesterday’s GOP debate in Las Vegas, it was Congress that was quietly gambling away our future. Washington Republicans announced a massive bipartisan budget deal that preserves ObamaCare, funds Planned Parenthood, solidifies Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, and allows the White House to accept thousands of un-vetted Syrian refugees. … Americans are sick and tired of the political theatre that passes for productivity in Washington. With billions in handouts to Hollywood and America’s enemies, this $1.1 trillion deal adds billions of dollars to our $18.5 trillion national debt and continues our country on a path to ruin. What will it take for Washington politicians to wake-up, stand-up to Obama and put Americans first?”[33]
- In January 2008, Huckabee advocated for investing in infrastructure as a "long-term" method to stimulate the economy while rebuilding and improving sewer systems, water systems, and road.[34] That same month, Huckabee deemed the construction of two additional highway lanes from Maine to Florida a better use of the $150 billion President Barack Obama would likely spend on his stimulus program.[35]
- When Huckabee left office as governor of Arkansas in January 2007, he left the state with an $844 million surplus.[36]
- When asked during a Republican presidential debate in 2007 which federal programs he would reduce in size to cut spending, Huckabee responded he would "get rid of the IRS" and "revamp" the Department of Homeland Security."[37]
Agricultural subsidies
- On December 1, 2015, Mike Huckabee “reaffirmed his support for the Renewable Fuel Standard, a federal program that requires transportation fuels to contain a minimum amount of renewable fuels,” according to The Des Moines Register. After touring the Poet Biorefining plant, Huckabee told a group of employees that “There are people in our country who would love to eliminate what you do. They don’t think it’s necessary. Some even think it’s harmful because they don’t understand the environmental benefits of biofuels.” Tying production of fuel to national security, he added, “I want America to supply energy to Europe, Africa and Asia. I want us to put the Russians, the Iranians, the Saudis out of the energy business completely.”[38] The Renewable Fuel Standard is important to Iowa, where farmers, ethanol producers and the rural economy are tied to the mandate. Iowa is the nation’s largest producer of the renewable fuel.[39]
- According to The Wall Street Journal, while attending the Iowa Agriculture Summit in March 2015, Huckabee "argued that support for ethanol is good national security policy, helping to reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports. He then quipped his support for the corn-based fuel wasn’t about pandering to Iowans because of their important role in the presidential nominating process."[40]
- In his 2008 book, Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America, Huckabee wrote, "We must continue subsidies because our farmers compete with highly subsidized farmers in Europe and Asia, and they face fixed costs (land, equipment, seed, supplies) whether or not they produce a crop. Subsidies insulate farmers from natural disasters like droughts, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes, as well as from sudden spikes in the price of fuel, feed, and fertilizer."[41]
- In 2007, Huckabee posted on his campaign website, "We need subsidies to help our farmers compete with heavily subsidized farmers in Europe and Asia and to insulate them from the effects of natural disasters."[42]
Federal assistance programs
- At the seventh Republican presidential primary debate on January 28, 2016, Mike Huckabee discussed why Americans are angry and federal assistance programs: “A lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done.”[43]
- During the sixth Republican presidential primary debate, on January 14, 2016, Huckabee discussed his position on Social Security: “Well, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth.”[44]
- In an op-ed published on CNBC’s website October 26, 2015, Huckabee defended Social Security benefits against calls to reduce them. “Some Republican presidential candidates want to abolish Medicare, slash Social Security and tell American seniors to ‘get over it’ when it comes to cutting their benefits. They want to rob seniors of their benefits and give them a worthless healthcare voucher instead. Let me be clear: raising the retirement age and slashing Medicare benefits for seniors who have been working for decades is theft!” Huckabee wrote.[45]
- Huckabee wrote an op-ed in The Des Moines Register on August 12, 2015, defending Social Security and Medicare. “Many Americans, like me, have been working since we were 14 years old, and Washington has been pick-pocketing us every day of our working lives. If you work 30, 40 or 50 years, Medicare and Social Security payroll taxes amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars that Washington has confiscated from your paycheck. You could have invested that money and generated a return, but you didn’t have a choice because Washington put a gun to your head and robbed it from your paycheck. … As president I will honor our commitment to our seniors and give them what they paid,” Huckabee said.[46]
- During Huckabee's speech announcing his candidacy for president in May 2015, he advocated for maintaining Social Security, saying, "For 50 years, the government grabs the money from our paychecks and says it'll be waiting for us when we turn 65. If Congress wants to take away someone's retirement, let them end their own congressional pensions, not your Social Security."[47]
- When asked in 2015 by Bloomberg for his opinion on Social Security insurance disability benefits, Huckabee responded, "You never want to make it so that people who are already going through a hardship are going to have a worse hardship, when they're not only fighting a disability but then they're having to fight the government. Sure, you've got to clean up any fraud, and deal with that. But to assume that anyone who is disabled is really fraudulent: I think that's an insult to a person. That's not how we should approach it. We should approach it that people are innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. You should make the government prove that a person isn't in need, rather than the person having to absolutely prove that they are."[47]
- Huckabee criticized the Obama administration for permitting states to request waivers on job and job training regulations related to welfare assistance in 2012. In addition to calling the policy change "illegal," Huckabee said, "It’s basically just a transfer of money from the taxpayer to the government, from the government to people who become beneficiaries of the government, because that way the government can own these people. It is a trap, and it is like the roach motel. Once you get in, but you never get out."[48]
- In 2005, Huckabee joined with several other members of the Republican Governors Association in a letter to then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist emphasizing the importance of "[i]ncreased waiver authority, allowable work activities, availability of partial work credit and the ability to coordinate state programs" in a welfare reform bill.[49]
- During a 2011 roundtable with reporters, Huckabee said, "It's time to consider raising the retirement age for Social Security and changing the rules of Medicare. I think there's gotta be a revamp, maybe looking at voucher programs to put more control in the hands of the individual patients."[50]
- According to a 2008 Pew Research Center profile of Huckabee, he "issued an executive order forcing Arkansas compliance with federal 'Charitable Choice' laws in order to allow faith-based organizations to compete for funds from state agencies."[51]
- During an October 2007 Republican debate, Huckabee stated his support for "personalizing" Social Security. He said, "Empower individuals to have a greater say over their money. And that’s what it is. Keep the government from robbing the trust funds, which is something that, if it was done in the private sector, would get a guy in jail... One thing, when people reach retirement age, if they really have enough retirement benefits, they don’t need Social Security for the long term, give them the option of one-time buyout, or the opportunity to purchase an annuity, with their funds, tax-free, that frees up the long-term obligation of the government."[52]
Labor and employment
- Mike Huckabee released the following statement regarding the severe market drop on August 24, 2015: “You don’t build a strong economy by empowering Washington-Wall Street elites at the expense of American workers on Main Street and sadly the chickens are now coming home to roost for the Obama administration and its failed economic policies. It’s time to build America’s economy, not China’s or Mexico’s and quit importing cheap labor and exporting jobs overseas, driving the wages of American workers lower than the Dead Sea! As president, I’ll implement the FairTax to let workers keep their entire paycheck and bring trillions of dollars in offshore investment and manufacturing back to the U.S., growing our economy and creating good jobs and real prosperity for American workers.”[53]
- Huckabee, the only 2016 Republican presidential candidate to attend a meeting with AFL-CIO leadership on July 29, 2015, said of the meeting, “I don’t think that it’s fair to think of labor unions as the enemy of the Republican Party — I don’t see them as the enemy. I see them as millions of American workers who want good jobs for their families,” he said.[54]
- During a 2011 roundtable discussion, Huckabee favored reducing the power of public sector unions. He said, "If it's [collective bargaining for public sector unions] not eliminated I think it has to be certainly somehow contained in a reasonable, responsible way. And I don't have a specific proposal other than just to recognize that it is not the same to have collective bargaining at a public employee level as it is at the private sector level."[55]
- During an October 2007 debate, Huckabee said, "The real fact is, unions are going to take a more prominent role in the future for one simple reason: A lot of American workers are finding that their wages continue to get strapped lower and lower while CEO salaries are higher and higher. And the reality is that when you have the average CEO salary 500 times the average worker, and you have the hedge fund manager making 2,200 times that of the average worker, you’re going to create a level of discontent that’s going to create a huge appetite for unions. So unions are the natural result of workers finally saying, 'Look, I can’t go from a $70,000-a-year job to a $15,000-a-year job and feed by family of four.' That’s when unions are going to come back in roaring form."[56]
- The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Works, a union with 720,000 members, endorsed Huckabee in August 2007.[57]
Foreign affairs
Iran nuclear deal
- During the September 2015 GOP debate, Mike Huckabee opposed the Iran deal, saying it jeopardized “the survival of Western civilization.” He continued, “This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization.”[58]
- Mike Huckabee wrote an op-ed in The Jerusalem Post on August 20, 2015, calling for regime change in Iran. “I would announce on my first day as president that the new policy of the United States is to support freedom in Tehran. I would double-down against Iran with tougher sanctions. Officials within the Iranian government, clerical establishment and military would face a clear choice: They can stay on a sinking ship, or abandon a regime that has outlived its shelf life,” Huckabee stated.[59]
- On August 8, 2015, Huckabee applauded Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for opposing the Iran nuclear deal. “Thank God for Sen. Schumer and his opposition to this reckless nuclear deal with Iran. While I disagree with Sen. Schumer on most things, I applaud him for putting peace in the Middle East above partisan politics. Despite endless arm-twisting and enormous political pressure from the White House, Sen. Schumer chose statesmanship over partisanship,” he said in a statement.[60]
- On July 25, 2015, Huckabee accused President Obama of endangering Israelis by agreeing to the Iran nuclear deal. He said, “This president’s foreign policy is the most feckless in American history. It is so naive that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven. This is the most idiotic thing, this Iran deal. It should be rejected by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress and by the American people. I read the whole deal. We gave away the whole store. It’s got to be stopped.”[61]
- To protest the Iran nuclear deal, Huckabee posted a Vine clip on July 21, 2015, featuring The Lion King characters, Simba, Pumbaa and Timon, singing “Hakuna Matata” before being destroyed by a nuclear explosion. Huckabee tweeted, “‘No Worries’ is not a strategy for Iran. Tell Congress to kill the nuclear deal!”[62]
- When asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on July 21, 2015, what his alternative to the Iran nuclear agreement would be as president, Huckabee answered, “The alternative is to take the actions to revoke the agreement, reinstitute the sanctions on Iran, make it clear that this was a terrible deal. It was done in a manner that didn't really have the support of the American people, was not done in the best interest of peace, and that we have a new sheriff in town. And the new sheriff is not going to accept that agreement as one we're going to live with because we can't live with Iran having nuclear power.”[63]
- On April 2, 2015, Mike Huckabee released the following statement on the Iran nuclear deal: "Each and every day, Iran undermines our allies, threatens our vital interests and murders innocent civilians across the globe. John Kerry lacks the judgment, common sense and moral clarity to negotiate any deal, much less Iran, and I am very concerned with the framework of this deal. We should be tightening our grip with the current sanctions not abdicating to the Ayatollah's interests."[64]
Military preparedness and budget
- At the fifth GOP primary debate on December 15, 2015, Mike Huckabee, talked about strengthening the military: “Well, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war.”[65]
- On September 19, 2015, Huckabee opposed the nomination of Eric Fanning, an openly gay man, to the office of the secretary of the Army. Huckabee said in a statement, “It’s clear President Obama is more interested in appeasing America’s homosexuals than honoring America’s heroes. Veterans’ suicide is out-of-control and military readiness is dangerously low, yet Obama is so obsessed with pandering to liberal interest groups he’s nominated an openly gay civilian to run the Army. Homosexuality is not a job qualification. The U.S. military is designed to keep Americans safe and complete combat missions, not conduct social experiments.”[66]
- According to his 2016 campaign website, Huckabee's "first act as President will be to end the national disgrace of failing to properly care for veterans who sacrificed so greatly for our country." Huckabee's action items to improve services for veterans include increasing accountability for the Department of Veterans Affairs, fixing the "disability claim crisis," providing better employment opportunities for veterans and fighting "for mental health awareness, treatment, and suicide prevention."[67]
- In a 2008 essay in Foreign Affairs, Huckabee advocated for an increase in defense spending from 3.9 percent to 6 percent.[68]
National security
- During the sixth Republican presidential primary debate, on January 14, 2016, Mike Huckabee talked about whether the United States should be in Afghanistan: “Only if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there.”[69]
- At the fifth GOP primary debate on December 15, 2015, Huckabee discussed his support for monitoring mosques: “No, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and -- you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam?”[70]
- Huckabee's press team released a statement on his website on May 7, 2015, applauding a federal court ruling that the National Security Agency (NSA) was violating the law by collecting telephone metadata without warrants. The statement read, "This is good news that a court agrees with what so many Americas already knew, that this program has gone too far. There's no doubt that Intelligence gathering is vital to the security of all Americans but there should be a balance between that protection and our privacy. However, Obama’s warrantless, NSA spying program is more than just illegal, it’s an unconstitutional, criminal assault on our freedoms as Americans. As President, I will repeal this program and protect the privacy and civil liberties of all Americans."[71]
- In a March 2015 interview on "CBS"s Face the Nation, Huckabee said the United States should have armed the Kurds to properly fight ISIS. He added, "[W]herever there's an ISIS target, that we bomb the daylights out of it. We make it unpopular, we make it very, very tenuous for anybody to want to join ISIS, because we need to let them know, they are basically sign on to a death sentence if they want to join this hideous, savage, uncivilized group of people." When asked if he believed there should be American troops on the ground, Huckabee responded, "We don't leave anything off the table. But if they're going to be boots, they have to be more than just U.S. boots. There's got to be some boots that from come from the Saudis, the Jordanians and others."[72]
- In September 2014, during his commentary on his FOX News show, Huckabee stated that terror groups like ISIS need to be eradicated, not contained.[73]
- In January 2008, Huckabee stated his support of President George W.Bush’s decision to engage in the troop surge in Iraq.[74]
- In a 2008 essay published in Foreign Affairs, Huckabee wrote, "A more successful U.S. foreign policy needs to better explain Islamic jihadism to the American people. Given how Americans have thrived on diversity -- religious, ethnic, racial -- it takes an enormous leap of imagination to understand what Islamic terrorists are about, that they really do want to kill every last one of us and destroy civilization as we know it."[68]
- In an October 2007 Republican debate, Huckabee stated that if he were president, he would take military action against Iran if they began building their nuclear capacity. He said he would do so even if Congress did not give him authorization, stating, "You do what's best for the American people, and you suffer the consequences. But what you don't do is -- what you never do is let the American people one day get hit with a nuclear device because you had politics going on in Washington instead of the protection of the American people first."[75]
- In a 2005 interview with The New York Times, Huckabee criticized the Bush administration's use of the National Guard to address troop shortages in Iraq, and said, "The demands of homeland security are...being dumped on the states."[76]
International relations
- Mike Huckabee reiterated his opposition to a two-state solution during his speech before the Republican Jewish Coalition on December 3, 2015. “There cannot be two states trying to own the same piece of real estate. … The United States needs to finally make a definitive statement ... [that] we know who our peace partner in the Middle East is, and it is Israel,” he said.[77]
- In a radio interview on December 3, 2015, Huckabee questioned Turkey’s allegiances in the fight against the Islamic State, saying he trusted them less than Russia. “I don’t trust Putin. I don’t trust Russia, but if Russia is willing to help us kill some of these savages, then I’m more than willing to at least recognize that on this issue maybe not on much else…they are with us not against us. I trust Turkey probably less than I trust Russia,” he said.[78]
- At the fourth Republican primary debate, Huckabee raised concerns about the U.S. taking in Syrian refugees without a vetting process. He said "Are we going to open the doors so that the ISIS people will come on in, and we'll give them a place to say, and a good sandwich, and medical benefits? My gosh, we have $19 trillion dollars in debt, we can't even afford to take care of Americans. So if we're going to do something for the Syrians let's find out who they really are, and the ones that are really in danger, let's help build an encampment for them, but closer to where they live, rather than bringing them here when they don't know the language, the culture -- and, frankly, if we've got as many homeless people as we have, I'm not sure this makes any sense."[79]
- In a radio interview on October 14, 2015, Huckabee said the U.S. should help Saudi Arabia and Jordan build a “processing center” for Syrian refugees instead of accepting them into the country. The U.S. is “tired of being the one country that’s expected to do all the dirty work and to take all the problems,” Huckabee said.[80]
- On September 24, 2015, Huckabee warned against accepting refugees to the U.S. without “vetting” them first. He said in a radio interview, “If we don’t have a vetting process and understand this is not just letting, you know, some hungry children in. This is letting a bunch of military-age-able males that we have no idea who they are, why they’re coming, and how ridiculous it would be to just say, 'Open the floodgates.' I mean we could be inviting some of the most violent and vicious people on Earth to come right in here and live among our families, and I think it’s insane."[81]
- Huckabee questioned the intentions of Syrian refugees seeking asylum in the United States in September 2015. “Are they really escaping tyranny, are they escaping poverty, or are they really just coming because we’ve got cable TV? I don’t meant to be trite. I’m just saying: We don’t know,” said Huckabee.[82]
- On August 27, 2015, Huckabee released an op-ed on Breitbart encouraging a stronger tone with China and outlining his plans for casting aside establishment thinking. He emphasized standing "unapologetically for Chinese democracy" and pushing "back against Chinese cheating."[83]
- Huckabee rejected the words “occupied” and “West Bank” during a visit to the territory on August 19, 2015. Instead, according to The New York Times, Huckabee suggested “the entire occupied West Bank was part of Israel, leaving no room for a Palestinian state there.”[84]
- Following the hack of four million government workers' personal information in June 2015, Huckabee said the United States should respond in kind to the alleged source of the hack, China. Huckabee explained, "The response and retaliation to this behavior is simple — America should hack the Chinese government. We should hack the cellphones of some prominent Communist party leaders, hack the bank accounts of intelligence officials, publicly humiliate Chinese families for political corruption, or wipe-out a few critical Chinese computer systems."[85]
- In May 2015, Huckabee rejected the viability of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Huckabee explained, "The two state solution, if we mean two governments holding the same piece of real estate, is irrational and unworkable. And I think it’s time for us to quit playing this pretentious game that there’s gonna be a two-state solution where both sides share the same country and real estate and streets, ‘cause they’re not. One of the sides, the Palestinians, continue to say that Israel doesn’t have a right to exist. You can’t forge an alliance with that." Huckabee added that if a two-state solution were to be implemented, "the Palestinians' state needs to be outside the boundaries of the nation of Israel."[86]
- On his 2016 campaign website, Huckabee declared his support for Israel, writing, "In a world of uncertainty, evil, and moral insanity, Israel is a shining light of moral clarity. The enemies of Israel are the enemies of America."[87]
- The New Yorker reported that Huckabee said in 2008, "I have to be careful saying this, because people get really upset—there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian. That’s been a political tool to try to force land away from Israel."[88]
- In February 2015, Huckabee appeared on CNN where he state the United States couldn't provide sufficient military aid to the Ukraine "to make it a fair fight" with Russia because the country was already severely outmanned. Huckabee added, "[W]e are in the situation as American people where our country has been weakened by sequestration, by multiple deployments, less than 1 percent of our people serving the military. So, Putin knows that we can flex whatever muscle we have, but it's a weakened threat that we now operate with." When pressed to provide a solution to the conflict, Huckabee said there was "no clear military solution" but we should "put as much economic pressure on the Russians as possible" and "try to flood with information to the Russian people."[89]
- In June 2014, Huckabee was critical of President Barack Obama, calling him "quite naïve" about foreign policy.[90]
- In 2009, Huckabee said the United Nations was "the international equivalent of ACORN" and should be defunded.[91]
- In his 2008 book, Do the Right Thing, Huckabee argued that sanctions and legal action should be brought against China for "refus[ing] to play by the rules of fair trade."[92]
Epidemic control
- In October 2014, Mike Huckabee criticized the Obama administration for not restricting flights and quarantining travelers from West Africa during the Ebola outbreak. Huckabee said on his television program on FOX, "We're told that the government has to go overboard with TSA, the IRS and the NSA for our own protection. And then, tell the CDC to go easy on folks fleeing Liberia and lying about whether they've been exposed to Ebola? You know what, I'm feeling a little sick myself but it's not Ebola; I'm just sick of a government I'm paying for telling me not to worry and just trust them. I wish I could, but if they repeatedly lie to me, I just don't believe them anymore."[93]
ISIS and terrorism
- At the fifth GOP primary debate on December 15, 2015, Mike Huckabee, spoke about defeating ISIS ideologically: “The way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join ISIS. Rather than making it so that teenagers from around the world want to go and be to be a part of this, we need to go after it with significant ground troops, air campaign. The president boasted we had 9,000 flown sorties, air missions over 18 months. What he failed to tell the American people, we were flying 3,000 air missions per day during Desert Storm. And the rules of engagement have got to be loosened, because we have to make sure that we are not just going over and setting off some fireworks. We have to kill some terrorists and kill every one of them we can to make it very clear that to take action or threaten action against the United States, and you've just signed your death warrant. We're coming to get you. And you won't be coming to our shores. You're going to be going to your funeral. That's what we need to do to begin to defeat it ideologically.”[94]
- Huckabee said on November 14, 2015, that the Paris terrorist attacks were the result of poor border security throughout Europe. "When you don’t have borders and the EU has prided itself on saying 'We don’t have borders, we’re politically correct'….last night you see what happens when you don’t have control of your borders," he said. He added that protecting the U.S. from such terrorism begins "with closing our own borders to people who are connected to any country where there's a strong presence of ISIS or Al Qaeda."[95]
Syrian refugees
- In an op-ed for TIME on November 18, 2015, Huckabee argued that no visas should be granted to foreigners from areas with an “ISIS presence.” He wrote, “Europe’s experiment with open borders collided with radical Islamic terrorism on Friday [November 13, 2015], producing the most bloodshed in Paris since WWII. One of the terrorists responsible for the attacks in France is believed to be a Syrian refugee and others are believed to have trained there. Paris should be a wake-up call for the Washington establishment and many in the GOP who support open borders and out-of-control amnesty.” He added, “Regardless of what this White House says, we are not at war with militant Methodists, extremist Episcopalians, or radicalized Roman Catholics. We are at war with Islamic jihadists. And it’s time we identify our enemy by name and start waging a winning war.”[96]
Domestic
Federalism
Legislature
- Mike Huckabee wrote an op-ed in The Reno Gazette-Journal on December 10, 2015, to advocate for states’ rights. “Why does the federal government still own and manage 84 percent of Nevada, 66 percent of Utah, and 53 percent of Oregon? When we deprive states and citizens the power to control their destiny, we undermine the essence of our Constitution,” Huckabee wrote.[97]
- Huckabee wrote an op-ed for Fox News on October 1, 2015, arguing for major reforms in how Congress operates. He called for term limits for legislators and judges, banning former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists, withholding pay if there was no budget and requiring members of Congress to resign if they were seeking a different elected office.[98]
- In 2015, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt asked Republican candidates on his show if they would be willing to use the Senate "nuclear option" in order to get rid of the filibuster and repeal Obamacare. Mike Huckabee was one of several candidates who said he would do so.[99]
Judiciary
- During the September 2015 GOP debate, Mike Huckabee said he would absolutely have a litmus test for supreme justices. He then outlined the questions he would ask: “Number one, I’d ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I’d want to know the answer to that. I’d want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I’d want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they’re deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you’re going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood.” During the same debate, Huckabee also continued to stand with Kim Davis, a Kentucky clerck who refused to give out same-sex marriage licenses following the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage. Said Huckabee, “The courts can’t make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can’t implement it. They can’t force it.” He later said, “If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny.” [58]
- Huckabee suggested on September 10, 2015, that Dred Scott v. Sanford, a nineteenth century Supreme Court case declaring people of African descent could not be American citizens, was still the “law of the land.” Comparing Obergefell v. Hodges to Dred Scott, Huckabee said, “The Dred Scott decision of 1857 still remains to this day the law of the land which says that black people aren’t fully human. Does anybody still follow the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision?” Dred Scott was nullified in 1868 by the Fourteenth Amendment.[100][101]
- While visiting Arkansas on September 10, 2015, Huckabee said county clerks could also deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples because the Arkansas legislature had not changed its laws following the Obergefell decision in June 2015. Clerks should “follow the only law they have in front of them,” Huckabee said.[102]
- Huckabee reaffirmed his support for Supreme Court term limits on July 5, 2015, during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union." Although Huckabee did not define what the length of the term limit should be, he said he doubted it was "a healthy thing" for a Supreme Court justice to "have outlived...six or seven presidents."[103]
- In June 2014, Huckabee argued that a decision made by the Supreme Court should not necessarily be the final outcome of an issue. He said, "And one of the things that I do not understand is why more Americans have not rallied in opposition to the notion that just because the Court says something that that is the final word. Have we not read our Constitution? Have we not reminded ourselves that we have three branches of government, not one, and all of those three branches are equal branches of government. One is them is not superior to either of the other two, and certainly not to both of the other two. This notion that when the Supreme Court says something it’s the last word is fundamentally unconstitutional and wrong. It is the Supreme Court, not the supreme branch."[104]
- In an email to supporters in June 2010, Huckabee said he was "not too happy about" Elena Kagan's nomination. He added, "With a conservative President, you're going to get strict constructionist judges like Scalia, an Alito or a Roberts - with a liberal President, you're going to judges like Sotomayor, a Breyer or eventually maybe a Kagan. Elections have consequences."[105]
- Huckabee opposed Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court. In May 2009, Huckabee said in a statement, "The appointment of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court is the clearest indication yet that President Obama's campaign promises to be a centrist and think in a bi-partisan way were mere rhetoric. Sotomayor comes from the far left and will likely leave us with something akin to the 'Extreme Court' that could mark a major shift. The notion that appellate court decisions are to be interpreted by the "feelings" of the judge is a direct affront of the basic premise of our judicial system that is supposed to apply the law without personal emotion. If she is confirmed, then we need to take the blindfold off Lady Justice."
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- On October 21, 2015, Mike Huckabee said the British proposal to close mosques ran the risk of running afoul of the U.S. because of the Constitution. “You better have hard evidence, and then, you better take it through the judicial process, you just can’t make that arbitrary, unilateral decision to close down a place of worship, even if you find that what’s going on in that place of worship is absolutely repulsive to you,” he said.[106]
- On October 2015, Huckabee criticized President Obama for not highlighting that Christians were targeted in a mass shooting at an Oregon community college. “The president always wants to be defensive and tell us there is no such thing as Islamic terrorism. These aren’t religious people even though we all know they are. But when it seems that the target is a Christian, he conveniently just ignores it, denies it or just moves on to something else. I do think it is incredibly significant that there was a religious intent and motive in this shooter’s attitude,” said Huckabee.[107]
- Huckabee expressed support for Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk refusing to issue licenses to same-sex couples, in a statement on September 2, 2015. “I spoke with Kim Davis this morning to offer my prayers and support. I let her know how proud I am of her for not abandoning her religious convictions and standing strong for religious liberty. She is showing more courage and humility than just about any federal office holder in Washington," he said.[108]
- Huckabee began a “Free Kim Davis Now” petition on his presidential campaign website after Davis was jailed on September 3, 2015. The petition read, “Dear President Obama, Attorney General Lynch, & Judge Bunning: Immediately release Kim Davis from federal custody. Exercising Religious Liberty should never be a crime in America. This is a direct attack on our God-given, constitutional rights."[109]
- On September 3, 2015, Huckabee tweeted, “What a world, where Hillary Clinton isn't in jail but #KimDavis is. #ImWithKim.”[110]
- On September 6, 2015, Huckabee questioned whether there was a double standard for liberals and conservatives engaging in civil disobedience. After suggesting President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder had ignored the Defense of Marriage Act, Huckabee said, “[D]id they get put in law for ignoring the law? They most certainly did not. So when do liberals get to choose which laws they support but a county clerk in Kentucky who, acting on her Christian faith, is criminalized, jailed without bail because she acted on her conscience and according to the only law in front of her.”[111]
- In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on September 13, 2015, Huckabee argued that Davis denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples was different from a hypothetical clerk denying marriage licenses to interracial couples following Loving v. Virginia in 1967. “It’s not the same, George — not even close. Because in Loving, you still had a marriage which was between a man and a woman. It was equal protection, but it didn’t redefine marriage,” Huckabee said. He added, “It’s a very different equation altogether, because this is a redefinition. Marriage is not defined in the federal constitution at all — it’s a matter for the states. And applying the 14th Amendment to the equality…of men and women in their relationship in marriage is totally different than redefining marriage.”[112]
- In June 2014, Huckabee supported the Supreme Court's ruling in the Hobby Lobby case. In a Facebook post, Huckabe wrote, "Only in the la-la land of left would it sound reasonable that government has created not only a 'right' to take the life of a child, but the obligation of providing it, even when it violated the First Amendment rights of that employer. The government can't say, 'you can have some religion, but only what the government agrees is sufficient.' The Hobby Lobby ruling is yet another repudiation of the overreaching dictates of the Obama administration and a good day for freedom."[113]
- In 2013, Huckabee spoke out against the Internal Revenue Service monitoring churches to ensure that they did not engage political speech. He said, "I think we need to recognize that it may be time to quit worrying so much about the tax code and start thinking more about the truth of the living God, and if it means that we give up tax-exempt status and tax deductions for charitable contributions, I choose freedom more than I choose a deduction that the government gives me permission to say what God wants me to say."[114]
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)
| "Huckabee on Indiana Law: 'This is a Manufactured Crisis By the Left'," April 1, 2015. |
- During an April 1 interview on Fox News' "The Kelly File," Mike Huckabee responded to Governor of Connecticut Dan Malloy's "comments stating that none of the people who would defend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act are qualified to be president of the United States." Huckabee replied, "No one is qualified to be president if they don't respect the First Amendment and religious liberty. This is the most bizarre thing. This is a manufactured crisis by the left. If they manufactured as many products as they do crises, like this one, which is an utterly phony attempt to create some kind of division, 92 million Americans who are jobless would have jobs. ...There's nothing in the RFRA that in any way says a thing about homosexuality, gay marriage."[115]
Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- During the sixth Republican presidential primary debate, on January 14, 2016, Mike Huckabee discussed preventing gun violence: “Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? Well, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns .in the hands of Mexican drug lords and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. And, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. … What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. … Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law.”[116]
- On January 5, 2016, Huckabee called President Obama’s gun control plan a "blatant, belligerent abuse of power." He said, "I will never bow down and surrender to Obama’s unconstitutional, radical, anti-gun agenda."[117]
- Following reports that President Obama would take executive action to create stricter gun regulations, Huckabee said on January 4, 2016, that Congress needs to “[g]row a spine” instead of passively resisting his policies. He added, “The common denominator with the mass shootings are gun-free zones and, in some cases, terrorism and mental health issues. It’s not that people who are law-abiding citizens have access to guns.”[118]
- On December 5, 2015, Huckabee compared restrictions on the Second Amendment to limitations on the First Amendment. “I’m wondering, would they [gun control advocates] be willing to accept some restrictions to the First Amendment, imposed on them by people like me. I don’t think so. This is absurd. Because it was not so much which weapon was used. It was the intent of the killer. … So, take away their assault weapons, look, a pencil is an assault weapon if you put it in the hand of somebody who wants to kill you.[119]
- On October 23, 2015, Huckabee called for the public to ignore any executive order requiring new background checks on gun buyers, or gun dealers should the White House issue one. "There should certainly be an absolute, unapologetic — just complete ignoring of such an order by those gun-shop owners, because the president can't make law. He just can't,” said Huckabee.[120]
- On Huckabee's 2016 presidential campaign website, he stated, "The Second Amendment is the last line of defense against tyranny and must be protected. I was the first governor in America to have a concealed handgun license, and I’m a lifetime member of the NRA." Huckaee added that, if president, he would "oppose new gun restrictions, registrations, regulations & mandates."[121]
- In his 2015 book, God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy, Huckabee said, "I’m a hunter. I hunt ducks, deer, and turkey and have also hunted antelope in Wyoming and pheasant in Iowa. But the Second Amendment isn’t about hunting. The Second Amendment is about preserving all the rights we possess as citizens.”[122]
- In 2006, Huckabee said he would support "castle doctrine" legislation in Arkansas allowing an individual to stand his ground and protect himself with deadly force.[123]
Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- In June 2015, Mike Huckabee questioned whether the holding in Obergefell v. Hodges on marriage equality should be accepted as "the law of the land because there's no enabling legislation."[124] Huckabee had previously argued against the "notion of judicial supremacy" over states' rights in January 2015.[125]
- According to a 2007 profile of Huckabee by FOX News, Huckabee "would have the federal government overrule state abortion and marriage laws."[126]
Crime and justice
- On his podcast, January 5, 2016, Mike Huckabee said that, although the individuals occupying a building in Oregon to protest the federal government’s control of land in the western United States are “extremists,” the issue that they are highlighting is important. He said, “Now I know the media and left are going to try and paint everyone who opposes overbearing federal land management as violent, right-wing crazies, but it’s funny how they didn’t dismiss protesters who occupied Wall Street as left-wing crazies. But don’t let the feds off the hook that easily. The actions of a handful of extremists don’t negate a very serious issue. ... With the rise of big government and the growing political power of the radical environmental movement, we now have land management bureaucrats who know, and care nothing, about farmin’ or ranchin’, but who gladly put the echo cause of the month ahead of the rights of those who have lived and worked on these lands for generations. I want to be clear, there’s no right to break the law. There’s no right to trespass or occupy government property. I’m not defending that tactic at all. It’s unlawful and counterproductive. But western state residents do have the right to be angry at the way the federal government denies their basic rights.”[127]
- During a December 2007 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Huckabee was asked if it were true that he "oversaw 1,033 pardons and commutations of prisoners, including 12 murders?" Huckabee responded, "I actually carried out the death penalty 16 times more than any governor in my state’s history, and the crime rate in my state went down. If you look at the background of some of these, it meant that people who are 40 years old who had done a joyride or written a hot check when they were 18 had never been to prison. This wasn’t like I stood there with a key at the prison door and let people out. Background checks kept them from even so much as getting a job emptying the bedpans in a nursing home. And often the pardons were in order to let them get in the work force."[128]
- Attending the September 2007 All-American Presidential Forum at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, Huckabee was asked what he would do to increase fairness in the criminal justice system for black and Hispanic men. Huckabee answered, in part, "We've got to quit locking up all the people that we're mad at and lock up the people that we're really afraid of, the people who are sexual predators and violent offenders. But the nonsense of three strikes and you're out has created a system that is overrun with people, and the cost is choking us. I would go for more drug courts and for a lot less incarceration of drug-addicted people."[129]
- In his 2007 book, From Hope to Higher Ground, Huckabee wrote, "Whether we should even have a death penalty is a tough issue. I believe some crimes deserve it, but that does not mean I like it. . . . Carrying out the death penalty was unquestionably the worst part of my job as governor. Seventeen times I sat by a phone with an open line to the death chamber for the two hours before the scheduled moment and waited for either a court-ordered reprieve or the report from the correction director that the procedure was ready to be carried out. . . . I never slept well those nights. I did the job that the law prescribed for me to do, but I hated every minute of it. I always felt that it was not only an execution of a person who committed a terrible murder; it was a reminder that through years of trials and appeals, no alternative was determined to be more appropriate than to end a human life."[130]
- According to a 1992 report in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Huckabee supported the death penalty for "people who try to kill law enforcement officers, terrorists, major drug dealers and anyone who transmits a deadly virus, such as AIDS."[131]
Black Lives Matter movement
- On August 18, 2015, Mike Huckabee criticized the message of the Black Lives Matter movement and suggested Martin Luther King Jr. would have been "appalled by the notion that we're elevating some lives above others."[132] The following week, King's son, Martin Luther King III, questioned Huckabee's statement. He said, "I think dad would be very proud of young people standing up to promote truth, justice and equality. I was perplexed by the comments, but people attempt to use dad for everything."[133]
- Huckabee reiterated his opposition to Black Lives Matter in an op-ed published by the Daily Caller on September 3, 2015, calling the movement a "mob" and condemning the anti-police rhetoric used by some protesters.[134]
| “ | From Baltimore to Beverly Hills, this movement has incited violence, chaos and disrespect. It’s time for President Obama and the Democratic Party to stop pandering to a movement that riots and supports violence against police. How many law enforcement deaths will it take for the political class to stand with the people who put their lives on the line to keep us safe?[135] | ” |
| —Mike Huckabee[134] | ||
Natural resources
Climate change
- Mike Huckabee criticized President Obama’s policy priorities on October 12, 2015. He said, “This president is obsessed with climate change while the rest of the world understands the real danger of Islamic fanaticism. I think he thinks that sunburn is worse than a beheading and most of us think that’s nonsense.”[136]
- When asked by Yahoo’s Katie Couric on July 28, 2015, if he believed in climate change, Huckabee responded, “I think the climate’s been changing over the entire history of the earth.” Huckabee added that mankind “probably does” contribute to climate change, but dismissed its impact, saying, “A volcano in one blast will contribute more than 100 years of human activity.”[137][138]
- While appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" in June 2015, Huckabee said the science of climate change has changed over the years and "is not as settled on that as it is on some things."[139]
- In his 2007 book, From Hope to Higher Ground, Huckabee said, "It would have been a mistake to sign the Kyoto Treaty since it would have given foreign nations the power to impose standards on us." He argued, however, that there should be "a comprehensive plan for either preserving or renewing" natural resources.[140]
- According to a December 2007 profile of Huckabee by FOX News, Huckabee called the need to combat climate change through greater regulations "a biblical duty."[141]
Cap and trade
- Mike Huckabee released a statement on August 3, 2015, describing President Obama’s “Clean Power Plan” as "job-killing" and “a handout to Chinese businesses, Arab oil sheiks, Russian energy despots, and Washington insiders completely detached from reality.” Huckabee added, “President Obama’s crusade against carbon shows he’s more committed to confronting American coal miners than Iranian clerics who chant ‘Death to America.’”[142]
- In 2007, during a speech at the Global Warming and Energy Solutions Conference, Huckabee said, "I...support cap and trade of carbon emissions. And I was disappointed that the Senate rejected a carbon counting system to measure the sources of emissions, because that would have been the first and the most important step toward implementing true cap and trade." However, in 2010, he Huckabee stated that he did not support cap and trade in a public statement, writing, "If companies chose to participate voluntarily as part of their corporate policy, then fine. But I was clear that we could not force U.S. businesses to do what their Chinese counterparts refused to - and doing so would have been a serious job killer."[143]
Energy development
- At the Iowa Agriculture Summit in March 2015, Mike Huckabee said "wind is part of the long term future in any energy development." He also suggested, "The portfolio of American energy ought to be as broad and as sustainable as possible."[144]
- In a September 2007 speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Huckabee said energy development was pivotal to the country's foreign policy needs. Huckabee said, "The first thing I will do as president is send Congress my comprehensive plan for energy independence, which we will achieve by the end of my second term. . . . We will explore, we will conserve, and we will pursue all avenues of alternative energy – nuclear, wind, solar, hydrogen, clean coal, ethanol and other biomass, and biodiesel."[145]
Environmental Protection Agency
- On March 17, 2014, Mike Huckabee criticized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Facebook after an investigation into its employees' credit card use revealed waste and fraud.[146]
- In an interview with the Family Research Council in June 2012, Huckabee suggested the EPA could regulate how much water Baptists used in baptism ceremonies.[147]
Healthcare
- In June 2015, Mike Huckabee denounced the ruling in King v. Burwell, which stated that tax credit subsidies were permissible for insurance purchased from any type of exchange under Obamacare, calling the decision "an out-of-control act of judicial tyranny." Huckabee added, "As President, I will protect Medicare, repeal ObamaCare, and pass real reform that will actually lower costs, while focusing on cures and prevention rather than intervention."[148]
- In December 2013, Huckabee said Obamacare was "not working out very well" and President Obama was making "arbitrary changes" to the law as a result.[149]
- While appearing at the Value Voters Summit in 2010, Huckabee opposed requiring insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions, comparing the concept to requiring property insurance companies to cover a building that burned down.[150]
- On his 2008 campaign website, Huckabee wrote, "We can make health care more affordable by reforming medical liability; adopting electronic record keeping; making health insurance more portable from one job to another; expanding health savings accounts to everyone, not just those with high deductibles; and making health insurance tax deductible for individuals and families as it now is for businesses. Low income families would get tax credits instead of deductions. We don't need all the government controls that would inevitably come with universal health care. When I'm President, Americans will have more control of their health care options, not less."[151]
Immigration
- In a November 11, 2015, interview on the Fox Business Network, Mike Huckabee discussed immigration. He said, “that it’s “not realistic” to deport every illegal immigrant, and that there’s "got to be some kind of process” with a penalty. He also called for securing the border. He said "[W]e have to secure the border. We have to take the economic advantage out of the illegal immigration equation, which is what I think the Fair Tax does, but securing the border means do what we did in San Diego 20 years ago with a double fence, add the personnel and the electronic surveillance. It cut the apprehensions by 95% and crime in San Diego — violent crime went down 54%. So we know what works, let’s do it. As far as the 11 million, I don’t believe in amnesty, but neither do I believe in trying to pretend we’re going to fix that until we first show Americans that we’re serious about securing the border.”[152]
- During a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on October 10, 2015, Huckabee said he would require the director of Homeland Security to live in the border city of Laredo, Texas, until the border had been secured.[153]
- On August 28, 2015, Huckabee said he would support a law “to abrogate birthright citizenship” because of the growth of birth tourism.[154]
- On July 30, 2015, Huckabee said he would secure the U.S.-Mexico border in less than a year and that border security should come before any other immigration reform.[155]
- In July 2015, Huckabee released a statement saying he would use "all powers of the presidency to deny federal funding to sanctuary cities." Huckabee described sanctuary cities as symptomatic "of President Obama’s broader policy decision to ignore existing laws and issue radical unconstitutional executive orders that provide amnesty to the most dangerous illegal aliens."[156]
- In a 2013 interview, Huckabee suggested he would support Senators Bob Corker (R) and John Hoeven's border security plan to spend $30 billion to build a 700-mile fence and double the number of federal border agents.[157][158]
- In his 2007 book, From Hope to Higher Ground, Mike Huckabee wrote, "It would be sheer folly to attempt to suddenly impose strict enforcement of existing laws, round up 12 million people, march them across the border, and expect them to stay. What does make sense is a revision of our laws, one giving those here illegally a process through which they pay a reasonable fine in admission of their guilt for the past infraction of violating our border laws and agree to adhere to a pathway toward legal status and citizenship. In exchange, our government gains the capacity to know who is here, why they are here, where they are, and whether they carry a communicable disease. But much of the debate has become mired more in definitions than in a real solution."[159]
- In December 2007, during an interview on FOX News Sunday, Huckabee was questioned about why he changed his views on allowing a pathway to citizenship. Huckabee responded, "I don’t think there’s an inconsistency. When I said a pathway, I didn’t say what the pathway was. I now believe that the only thing the American people are going to accept--and, frankly, the only thing that really makes sense--is a pathway that sends people back to the starting point. But this idea of the waiting years — no, I don't agree with that. In fact, look, if we can get a credit card application done within hours, if we can get passports done within days, if we can transact business over the Internet any place in the world within seconds, do a background check instantaneously — it's our government that has failed and is dysfunctional. It shouldn't take years to get a work permit to come here and pick lettuce. So part of the plan that I have is that we seal the borders. You don't have amnesty and sanctuary cities. You do have a pathway that gets you back home. But that pathway to get back here legally doesn't take years."[160]
- In 2007, Huckabee released a comprehensive nine-point immigration enforcement and border security plan that included building a fence, increasing border security, preventing amnesty, enforcing the law on employers, establishing an economic border, empowering local authorities, ensuring document security, discouraging dual citizenship and modernizing the process of legal immigration.[161]
- According to a 2008 profile of Huckabee by the Council on Foreign Relations, he "has advocated prenatal care for pregnant immigrants and has proposed a scholarship program for illegal immigrants who graduate from Arkansas high schools. He also criticized a 2005 federal immigration raid in Arkansas. Huckabee has expressed support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants under some conditions."[162]
Education
- On his 2016 presidential campaign website, Mike Huckabee said the Department of Education should be abolished and that "[e]ducation decisions are best made by the most local government." Huckabee also expressed his opposition to Common Core.[163]
- According to a 2015 Forbes profile of Huckabee, he said, "Why should children be forced to go to a school which is failing to meet their needs when there are other schools that could do a good job? Let’s put children first and do what’s right for kids. I’m for the education of all children not just those in public schools. But all children ought to have a choice of which school to go, public or private."[164]
- In his 2008 book, Do the Right Thing, Huckabee said he supported charter schools and appointed a homeschooling parent to the State Board of Education.[165]
Abortion
- Campaigning in Iowa on January 24, 2016, Mike Huckabee said his Republican rivals’ calls to defund Planned Parenthood were insufficient. “If all a candidate can promise is stop funding to Planned Parenthood, that isn’t enough for me. That’s low-hanging fruit. Let’s do something bolder than that. Let’s stop abortion completely,” he said.[166]
- During an interview on CNN's State of the Union on November 29, 2015, Huckabee criticized Planned Parenthood for blaming the November 27, 2015, attack on a Colorado facility on anti-abortion activists. He said, "I don't know of any pro-life leader... who has suggested violence toward Planned Parenthood personnel or some act of violence toward their clinics.” He added that it is "a little bit disingenuous on the part of Planned Parenthood to blame people who have a strong philosophical disagreement with the dismembering of human babies and with the selling of body parts." Huckabee called the attack an act of domestic terrorism.[167]
- Huckabee tweeted against Planned Parenthood on September 29, 2015, “#PlannedParenthood isn’t a "healthcare provider" any more than #Benghazi was a ‘spontaneous protest.’”[168]
- During an August 2015 interview with Iowa radio host Simon Conway, Huckabee said that if he were president, he would have the U.S. Department of Justice "criminally prosecute Planned Parenthood for violating federal law and selling body parts." He also discussed how he would make abortion illegal. He said, "I would also invoke the 15th and Fourteenth Amendments. This is the power that we have to stop this incredible, barbaric scourge of abortion. Not just stop funding Planned Parenthood, but we need to invoke the Fifth and 14th Amendment. The Fifth Amendment guarantees due process for every person. The 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law for every person."[169]
- On August 12, 2015, Huckabee posted the following comments about his effort to defund Planned Parenthood on his Facebook page:
- During a July 22, 2015, appearance on Fox News, Huckabee suggested the debate over defunding Planned Parenthood was an opportunity to address "America’s nightmare of abortion." Huckabee explained, "It's time for this country to decide whether or not we believe that the willful destruction of a human body, a human life and talking about the selling of parts of a baby as if we were trading parts for a Buick at an auto parts store, whether it's time to decide that's not civilized behavior."[170]
- In a July 2015 interview with LifeNews, Huckabee said more must be done to stop abortion than defunding Planned Parenthood. He explained, "It’s not enough to say we’ll end funding for these butchers at Planned Parenthood. We need to end the disgusting disregard for human life that is the foundation for the infanticide that is beneath the dignity of our nation. We didn’t end slavery by just limiting how many slaves a person could own or for how long—we recognized that it is a violation of basic human rights. Let’s stop this slaughter and ask God’s forgiveness for not doing it sooner."[171]
- At a campaign stop in Iowa on August 26, 2015, Huckabee compared the acts of the Islamic State to abortion. “Let us not be too smug in this country. Because we have sins to answer for. Since 1973, 60 million unborn children have died in their mother’s womb. If I’m president I will invoke the Fifth and 14th Amendment of the Constitution and protect unborn life,” Huckabee said.[172]
- On August 16, 2015, Mike Huckabee said he supported Paraguay’s decision to deny access to abortion for a 10-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by her stepfather. “A 10-year-old girl being raped is horrible. But does it solve a problem by taking the life of an innocent child? That's really the issue. … There are two victims. One is the child; the other is that birth mother who often will go through extraordinary guilt years later when she begins to think through what happened – with the baby, with her. And again, there are no easy answers here,” Huckabee said.[173]
- On July 31, 2015, Huckabee hinted he would be willing to use federal forces to stop abortions. When asked if he would send the FBI or the National Guard to shut down abortion clinics, Huckabee answered, “We’ll see if I get to be president.”[174]
- Huckabee elaborated on his position that the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments should be invoked to combat abortion during an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on August 8, 2015. “We have not provided either of those constitutional rights to unborn children. The only way that we can not do it is if we do not consider them persons. So do we consider unborn children to be persons or blobs of unanimated, or maybe animated, protoplasm. And that’s really the determining factor, because once we determine that they are persons – and as president I believe they are – then we have a constitutional obligation to protect them,” Huckabee said.[175]
- On July 22, 2015, Huckabee called a federal court’s decision to strike down North Dakota’s “fetal heartbeat” law earlier this week “an unconstitutional, immoral act of judicial tyranny.” He said in a statement, “The people of North Dakota came together and decided to prohibit abortions after one could detect a fetal heartbeat. The court has no authority to reject this law and invalidate or ignore the will of the people. I stand with the people of North Dakota and reject this ruling.”[176][177]
- On his 2016 presidential campaign website, Huckabee wrote, "Life begins at conception. This isn’t just a Biblical view — it’s affirmed by modern science and every unique human DNA schedule, which is present at conception. As Governor, I promoted and signed a fetal protection act. I imposed a ban on partial birth abortion, established waiting periods, created parental notification requirements, and passed a bill so mothers who brought a newborn to a hospital or fire station would not be prosecuted for child abandonment."[178]
- In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" in January 2008, Huckabee stated he support outlawing abortion without exceptions for rape or incest because, "I always am going to err on the side of life. I believe life is precious."[179]
- At a 2011 fundraiser for a Mississippi campaign to criminalize abortion in the state, Huckabee said of opponents of the measure, "You have no idea how many millions of dollars are likely to be poured into your state and it’s not stimulus money and economic development and job creation, it is hardcore political money that is designed to preserve the abortion industry which is a multimillion dollar industry specifically designed in order to terminate life and make people rich. Let’s not kid ourselves; this is not about elevating women this is about elevating wealth on behalf of those who profit from the sale of death."[180]
- In 2007, Huckabee suggested the reason "we're importing so many people in our workforce" could be that "for the last 35 years, we have aborted more than a million people who would have been in our workforce had we not had the holocaust of liberalized abortion under a flawed Supreme Court ruling in 1973."[181]
- In Huckabee's 2001 "State of the State" address for Arkansas, he said, "We will propose in this session that this General Assembly do something I hope won't be controversial but will be a matter of conviction for all of us. That is to provide for every person who's contemplating the termination of her child during pregnancy that she has information, knowing fully and completely the procedure that is taking place and what it will mean. Commonly called the woman's right-to-know legislation, it really goes back to school, back to educating people." The Woman's Right to Know Act of 2001 was passed and became effective on May 1, 2001.[182][183]
- In 1996, Huckabee "refused to authorize a Medicaid payment for an abortion for a 15-year-old girl whose stepfather has been charged with incest, despite a Federal judge's order that such payments were required by Federal law." Huckabee's aides stated the opposition was representative of his commitment to the Arkansas Constitution, which barred the use of public money for abortions except where the mother's life was endangered, than his personal opposition to abortion. [184]
Gay rights
- On September 8, 2015, Mike Huckabee was present to support Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses the week before, when she was released from jail. "If somebody needs to go to jail, I'm willing to go in her place," said Huckabee. Additionally, the ‘’Washington Times’’ reported on September 15, 2015, that Huckabee said putting Kim Davis in jail for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses was “criminalization of Christianity.” He continued, “She had strong conviction. This violated her basic conviction.”[185][186]
- In July 2015, Huckabee challenged the Pentagon’s decision to allow transgender soldiers to serve in the military. “It’s naive to think that it doesn’t affect morale. Men are men. Women are women. There’s a distinction. There’s a difference. The military should understand that and should respond to that. The military is not a social organization. The military is not a place where we try out experiments. The military is designed to kill people and break things. The purpose of the military is to train a fighting force to defend this country and to fight our battles. It’s not to fight the battles of sexual identity or orientation. It’s to fight the battles that threaten American sovereignty and American freedom,” Huckabee said.[187]
- Appearing on ABC's "This Week" on June 28, 2015, Mike Huckabee suggested conscientious objectors to same-sex marriage will engage in civil disobedience. Huckabee predicted, "They will go the path of Dr. Martin Luther King, who in his brilliant essay, the letters from a Birmingham jail, reminded us, based on what St. Augustine said, that an unjust law is no law at all. And I do think that we're going to see a lot of pastors who will have to make this tough decision."[188]
- Huckabee posted to his Facebook account on June 27, 2015, a plan to "fight an out-of-control Supreme Court." The six-point action list included passing a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman and imposing term limits on judges.[189][190]
- On June 26, 2015, Huckabee released a statement on his campaign website stating his opposition to the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Huckabee wrote, "The Supreme Court has spoken with a very divided voice on something only the Supreme Being can do-redefine marriage. I will not acquiesce to an imperial court any more than our Founders acquiesced to an imperial British monarch. We must resist and reject judicial tyranny, not retreat. This ruling is not about marriage equality, it's about marriage redefinition. This irrational, unconstitutional rejection of the expressed will of the people in over 30 states will prove to be one of the court's most disastrous decisions, and they have had many. The only outcome worse than this flawed, failed decision would be for the President and Congress, two co-equal branches of government, to surrender in the face of this out-of-control act of unconstitutional, judicial tyranny."[191]
- Huckabee filed a brief in defense of the four states’ bans on same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. According to SCOTUSblog, Huckabee's brief attempted "to show that a gay lifestyle is a threat to public health" through "data that he interprets as showing that same-sex parents are likely to die earlier than others."[192]
- According to The Huffington Post in 2010, Huckabee opposed same-sex marriage, civil unions and allowing gay couples to adopt children. He said, "You don't go ahead and accommodate every behavioral pattern that is against the ideal. That would be like saying, well, there are a lot of people who like to use drugs, so let's go ahead and accommodate those who want who use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, so we should accommodate them."[193]
Civil liberties
Race and ethnicity
- In a September 3, 2015, op-ed for the Daily Caller, Mike Huckabee called the Black Lives Matter movement a "mob" and condemned the anti-police rhetoric used by some protesters.[134]
Rural policy
- On January 15, 2015, Mike Huckabee posted to his 2016 presidential campaign website the four ways he would "fight for America’s future and America’s farmers." He said he would reject Environmental Protection Agency regulations established during the Obama administration, advocate for fair and free trade, support the Renewable Fuel Standard and abolish the death tax.[194]
- According to The Wall Street Journal, while attending the Iowa Agriculture Summit in March 2015, Huckabee "argued that support for ethanol is good national security policy, helping to reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports. He then quipped his support for the corn-based fuel wasn’t about pandering to Iowans because of their important role in the presidential nominating process."[195]
- Huckabee defended duck hunting in a Facebook post in November 2014. He argued that it was not "cruel" because hunting provided population control and hunting license fees helped support conservation programs. "It’s actually a violation of the game laws to kill animals or birds and not use them for food. No responsible or respectful hunter would squeeze the trigger for the sake of killing the prey, but for the sake of sustaining the various species. Some posters actually accused hunters of 'murdering' animals. What a sad and uninformed view of how hunting works. Hunters eat their prey, and wild fowl and game are a great source of pure and organic protein, free of fat, drugs, and chemicals," Huckabee wrote.[196]
- Huckabee said in July 2008 that he opposed the federal government mandating voucher systems across the country because of the unique needs of rural schools. He said that "in some states, for example mine, it would be very problematic to create a statewide voucher system when most of our schools are rural, they're small, they are miles from another school, the economies of scale simply wouldn't necessarily make it that easy to implement a widespread voucher system. But if local districts wished to do it, if states wish to do it, I think that's fine. It goes back to the basic concept that this is a state's decision."[197]
- In his 2008 book, Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America, Huckabee wrote, "We must continue subsidies because our farmers compete with highly subsidized farmers in Europe and Asia, and they face fixed costs ... whether or not they produce a crop. Subsidies insulate farmers from natural disasters like droughts, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes, as well as from sudden spikes in the price of fuel, feed, and fertilizer."[198]
- In 2007, Huckabee posted on his campaign website, "We need subsidies to help our farmers compete with heavily subsidized farmers in Europe and Asia and to insulate them from the effects of natural disasters."[199]
- In 2003, Huckabee advocated for the consolidation of rural schools in Arkansas. That year, the "Public Education Reorganization Act" was passed in the state legislature, which required that school districts with fewer than 350 students either consolidate or annex their students to another school.[200]
- Huckabee wrote an op-ed in 2003 protesting the development of a reality TV show that would feature a rural family transplanted to Hollywood. He said, "Teasing your friends for an eccentric wardrobe or a funny vocabulary is one matter if the joke is shared privately. It's quite another matter to watch your friends, no matter how far their lifestyle is from the mainstream, be publicly degraded on national television. Wouldn't you get sick to your stomach? In this case, the entire population of rural Americans, who collectively must struggle against poverty, unemployment and other harsh realities, will be the objects of derision."[201]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Mike + Huckabee + 2016
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 USA Today, "Huckabee ends GOP presidential bid," February 1, 2016
- ↑ Chicago Tribune, "Fox Contributor," June 12, 2008
- ↑ ABC News, "Mike Huckabee Leaves Fox News as He Weighs 2016 Bid," accessed February 18, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Mike Huckabee Joins Republican Presidential Race," May 5, 2015
- ↑ Fox News, "Huckabee says he's interested in 2016 White House bid, will decide after midterms," December 22, 2014
- ↑ Washington Examiner, "Mike Huckabee gears up for 2016 run," September 15, 2014
- ↑ Center on the American Governor, "The Governors Who Became President: Brief Biographies," accessed October 30, 2013
- ↑ Crowdpac, "2016 Presidential Election," accessed July 27, 2015
- ↑ Leadership Project for American PAC, "Candidate's Grades and Comparisons," accessed July 27, 2015
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Voter Identification Requirements|Voter ID Laws," March 9, 2023
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Do I need an ID to vote? A look at the laws in all 50 states," October 27, 2014
- ↑ Newsmax, "Huckabee: No Gas Tax Hike to Help War on Terror," December 2, 2015
- ↑ Washington Post "Huckabee’s plan to tax pimps and drug dealers won’t be that easy" Aug. 7, 2015
- ↑ Huckabee Campaign Website "Tax Reform" accessed Sept. 23, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "Mike Huckabee: Flat tax will lead to 6% growth," August 13, 2015
- ↑ Forbes, "Mike Huckabee's Phantasmal 6% Growth With The Fair Tax," August 14, 2015
- ↑ Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Stop punishing productive workers," March 27, 2015
- ↑ FAIRtax, "How FAIRtax Works," accessed June 15, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Huckabee defends his flat tax as fair to the poor," May 24, 2015
- ↑ The Daily Beast, "Huckabee: ‘A Tax Is Punishment’," September 19, 2014
- ↑ Cato.org, "Huckabee: The Biggest Big-Government Conservative," accessed December 16, 2014
- ↑ National Review, "The Rap Against Huckabee," October 30, 2007
- ↑ Arkansas News Bureau, "Huckabee: Ban on Internet access tax could cost state $40 million ," November 21, 2003
- ↑ CNBC, "Huckabee: DC-Wall Street is like a strip club," October 16, 2015
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 CNBC, "10 questions for Mike Huckabee," October 16, 2015
- ↑ Radio Iowa, "Huckabee says Wall Street woes reminiscent of ’08," August 26, 2015
- ↑ RealClearPolitics, "Huckabee: 50-50 Chance On Running For President In 2016," December 22, 2013
- ↑ Huckabee, Mike. (2008). Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America. New York, NY: Sentinel. (page 69).
- ↑ Breitbart, "Mike Huckabee: Americans 'Punched in the Gut' by Obama's Trade Deal," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "Exclusive – Mike Huckabee to Republicans in Congress: Don't Revive Obamatrade," accessed May 13, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Huckabee: US giving Iran and Cuba 'ice cream and candy'," March 7, 2015
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Transcript: The GOP Debate," October 10, 2007
- ↑ Breitbart, "Mike Huckabee Blasts Congress on the ‘Fiscal Cliff Deal,'" December 16, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "Transcript: Late Edition with Wolf Blizter," January 27, 2008
- ↑ Today, "GOP Presidential Candidates Debate, January 24, 2008," January 25, 2008
- ↑ The New York Times, "Huckabee’s Stature Rises, Mobilizing Tax Critics," December 2, 2007
- ↑ CNN, "Part I: CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate transcript," November 28, 2007
- ↑ The Des Moines Register, "Huckabee touts support for renewable fuel standards," December 1, 2015
- ↑ The Des Moines Register, "Ethanol producers criticize new EPA fuel standard," November 30, 2015
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "At Iowa Ag Summit, GOP Hopefuls Split on Renewable Fuel Rule," March 7, 2015
- ↑ Huckabee, Mike. (2008). Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America. New York, NY: Sentinel. (page 209).
- ↑ Mike Huckabee for President, "Issues: Agriculture," accessed June 15, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript: Fox News undercard GOP debate," January 28, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript: Fox Business undercard Republican debate," January 14, 2016
- ↑ CNBC, "Save Social Security from the GOP," October 26, 2015
- ↑ The Des Moines Register, "Don’t cut benefits America’s seniors already paid for," August 12, 2015
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 Bloomberg, "Mike Huckabee and the GOP's Small ‘Save Social Security’ Caucus," May 5, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Mike Huckabee: New welfare changes are ‘trap’," July 17, 2012
- ↑ The Washington Post, "RGA Letter to Bill First," May 19, 2005
- ↑ Talking Points Memo, "Huckabee: Eliminate Government Unions And Slash Entitlements For Poor Public Servants Like Me," February 24, 2011
- ↑ Pew Research Center, "Religion and Politics ’08: Mike Huckabee," November 4, 2008
- ↑ The New York Times, "The Republican Debate on Fox News Channel," October 21, 2007
- ↑ Breitbart, "Mike Huckabee: 'Quit Importing Cheap Labor'," August 24, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Mike Huckabee Courts Labor in Rare Appearance by a Republican Candidate," July 29, 2015
- ↑ Talking Points Memo, "Huckabee: Eliminate Government Unions And Slash Entitlements For Poor Public Servants Like Me," February 24, 2011
- ↑ The Nation, "Mike Huckabee Is a Little Bit Populist, and That Could Be a Big Problem for Bush and Walker," May 6, 2015
- ↑ Reuters, "Trade unions back Clinton, Huckabee, Edwards," August 30, 2007
- ↑ 58.0 58.1 Washington Post, "Full transcript: Undercard GOP debate," September 16, 2015
- ↑ The Jerusalem Post, "Time for regime change in Iran," August 20, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "Huckabee: 'Thank God for Chuck Schumer'," August 8, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "Huckabee: Obama marching Israelies to 'door of oven'," July 25, 2015
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Mike Huckabee Just Made The Worst Disney Movie Ever, Blowing Up Beloved 'Lion King' Characters," July 21, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee joins Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room," July 21, 2015
- ↑ MikeHuckabee.com, "The Iran Deal," accessed April 10, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript: CNN undercard GOP debate," December 15, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "Mike Huckabee on Obama: 'More interested' to appear homosexuals than military heroes," September 19, 2015
- ↑ Mike Huckabee 2016, "Veterans," accessed June 22, 2015
- ↑ 68.0 68.1 Foreign Affairs, "America's Priorities in the War on Terror," January 2008
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript: Fox Business undercard Republican debate," January 14, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript: CNN undercard GOP debate," December 15, 2015
- ↑ Mike Huckabee 2016, "Statement from Gov. Mike Huckabee on Today's Federal Appeals Court Ruling," May 7, 2015
- ↑ CBS News, "Face the Nation Transcripts March 1, 2015: Boehner, Feinstein, Huckabee," March 1, 2015
- ↑ Mike Huckabee, "You can't contain the cancer of radical Islam," September 23, 2014
- ↑ CNN, "Transcript: CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," January 6, 2008
- ↑ The New York Times, "Transcript: The Republican Debate," October 9, 2007
- ↑ The New York Times, "The Skinny on Politics," August 7, 2005
- ↑ The Hill, "Huckabee: No two-state solution in Israel," December 3, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "Mike Huckabee: ‘I Trust Turkey Probably less than I Trust Russia," December 3, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript: Fox Business undercard GOP debate," November 10, 2015
- ↑ Buzzfeed, "Huckabee: U.S. Can’t Take In Syrian Refugees Just Because They Want 'Free Benefits'," October 14, 2015
- ↑ Huffington Post, "Mike Huckabee Claims Refugees May Be 'Vicious People,' But That's Not The Dumbest Thing He Said," September 24, 2015
- ↑ Sun Times National, "Huckabee wonders if Syrian refugees just want cable," September 14, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "Huckabee: Our Political Class Failed On China, Time To Get Tough," August 27, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "In Jerusalem, Mike Huckabee Calls West Bank Part of Israel," August 19, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Huckabee: Hack China back for attack on fed workers' data," June 8, 2015
- ↑ BuzzFeed, "Huckabee: Two-State Solution Is 'Irrational, Unworkable' — Room For Palestinian State Elsewhere," June 1, 2015
- ↑ Mike Huckabee 2016, "Israel – Our Friend & Ally," accessed June 22, 2015
- ↑ The New Yorker, "Prodigal son: Is the wayward Republican Mike Huckabee now his party’s best hope," June 28, 2010
- ↑ CNN, "Transcript: New Day," February 9, 2015
- ↑ Newsmax, "Mike Huckabee: Obama 'Quite Naive' on Foreign Policy," June 26, 2014
- ↑ The Hill, "Huckabee: Send the U.N. to Saudi Arabia," September 28, 2009
- ↑ Huckabee, Mike. (2008). Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America. New York, NY: Sentinel. (page 133).
- ↑ FOX News Insider, "Huckabee: Ebola Scare Reveals Public's Lack of Faith in Gov't," October 5, 2014
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript: CNN undercard GOP debate," December 15, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "Mike Huckabee: Build a Coalition to 'Bomb the Absolute Stink' Out of ISIS, Follow With Troops," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ TIME, "Mike Huckabee: Ban All Visas for Travelers From Countries With ISIS Presence," November 18, 2015
- ↑ The Reno Gazette-Journal, "Huckabee: Nevadans, not DC bureaucrats, should control Nevada," December 10, 2015
- ↑ Fox News, "Huckabee: America needs a leader, not a loser," October 1, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Filibuster divides GOP 2016 contenders," July 6, 2015
- ↑ BuzzFeed, "Huckabee: Dred Scott Decision 'Remains To This Day The Law Of The Land'," September 10, 2015
- ↑ Business Insider, "Mike Huckabee thinks there's a law that 'black people aren't fully human'," September 10, 2015
- ↑ Tri-City Herald, "Huckabee: Arkansas clerks could deny gay couple unions," September 10, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "Huckabee calls for term limits on Supreme Court," July 5, 2015
- ↑ Right Wing Watch, "Mike Huckabee's 2016 Themes? God In Textbooks And Attacks On Judges," June 23, 2014
- ↑ Examiner.com, "Gov Mike Huckabee weighs in on confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan," June 28, 2010
- ↑ Breitbart, "Huckabee: Revoking Passports From ISIS Fighters, Closing Mosques Might Not Be Constitutional," October 21, 2015
- ↑ The Blaze, "Mike Huckabee Is Asked How Obama Would Have Reacted If Oregon Gunman Had Targeted Muslims. Here’s His Answer," October 3, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Mike Huckabee offers support to Kentucky clerk who refuses to issue gay marriage licenses," September 2, 2015
- ↑ Mike Huckabee for President, "Free Kim Davis Now," accessed September 3, 2015
- ↑ Business Insider, "Mike Huckabee says Hillary Clinton should go to jail before the anti-gay marriage Kentucky clerk," September 3, 2015
- ↑ Daily Caller, "Huckabee: Gavin Newsom Ignored The Law, Nothing Happened, But When Conservatives Do They Go To Jail," September 6, 2015
- ↑ Independent Journal Review, "Mike Huckabee and George Stephanopoulos Get in Heated Tussle Over Kim Davis Controversy," September 14, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Mike Huckabee," June 30, 2014
- ↑ Huffington Post, "Mike Huckabee: Churches Should Reject Tax-Exempt Status," June 12, 2013
- ↑ Fox News, "Huckabee on Indiana Law: 'This is a Manufactured Crisis By the Left'," accessed April 16, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript: Fox Business undercard Republican debate," January 14, 2016
- ↑ USA Today, "Republican 2016 candidates bash Obama's gun plan," January 5, 2016
- ↑ The Des Moines Register, "Huckabee to congressional Republicans: 'Grow a spine; stand up to Obama'," January 4, 2016
- ↑ Breitbart, "Huckabee: People Are Afraid To Report Suspicious Activity Because Of Political Correctness," December 5, 2015
- ↑ Newsmax, "Huckabee: Gun Stores Should Disobey an Obama Executive Order" October 26, 2015
- ↑ Huckabee 2016, "Firearms, Freedom & the Second Amendment," accessed July 6, 2015
- ↑ Huckabee, Mike. (2015) Gods, Guns, Grits, and Gravy. New York: St. Martin's Press. (page 28)
- ↑ Free Republic, "Huckabee supports 'castle doctrine' law," January 6, 2006
- ↑ Huffington Post, "Mike Huckabee Explains How To Resist Gay Marriage Decision," June 28, 2015
- ↑ Huffington Post, "Mike Huckabee: States Can Ignore Supreme Court On Gay Marriage," January 21, 2015
- ↑ Fox News, "Huckabee: The Biggest Big-Government Conservative," December 11, 2007
- ↑ BuzzFeed, "Huckabee On Oregon: Handful Of Extremists Shouldn’t Negate Federal Lands Issue," January 5, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Transcript: CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," December 16, 2007
- ↑ The American Presidency Project, "Republican Candidates, All-American Presidential Forum at Morgan State University in Baltimore," September 27, 2007
- ↑ Huckabee, Mike. (2007). From Hope to Higher Ground. New York: Center Street. (page 86)
- ↑ BuzzFeed, "Mike Huckabee In 1992: Homosexuality Is 'Learned Behavior,' Death Penalty For Transmitting AIDS Virus Knowingly," May 6, 2015
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedHuck - ↑ Politico, "Martin Luther King III 'perplexed' by Huckabee comments," August 24, 2015
- ↑ 134.0 134.1 134.2 Daily Caller, "The Appalling Recklessness Of ‘Black Lives Matter’ And The Democratic Party," September 3, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Fox Business, "Huckabee Slams Obama’s Foreign Policy, Leadership," October 12, 2015
- ↑ Yahoo, "Mike Huckabee stands behind Holocaust comment as backlash continues," July 28, 2015
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Mike Huckabee’s Hot Air On Volcanoes," July 29, 2015
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Mike Huckabee: Climate Science 'Not Settled'," June 21, 2015
- ↑ Huckabee, Mike. (2007). From Hope to Higher Ground. New York: Center Street. (page 70)
- ↑ Fox News, "Huckabee: The Biggest Big-Government Conservative," December 11, 2007
- ↑ Breitbart, "Huckabee: 'Job-killing EPA rule' a handout to oil sheiks, Russian energy despots, D.C. insiders," August 3, 2015
- ↑ Slate, "Yes, Mike Huckabee Backed Cap and Trade in 2007," December 15, 2010
- ↑ Iowa Public Radio, "Huckabee Says U.S. Must 'Feed Itself, Fuel Itself, Fight for Itself," May 29, 2015
- ↑ Council on Foreign Relations, "Mike Huckabee's Speech on Foreign Policy," September 28, 2007
- ↑ Facebook.com, "Mike Huckabee," accessed January 12, 2014
- ↑ Raw Story, "Huckabee worries EPA could say Baptists use ‘too much water’ for baptisms," June 20, 2012
- ↑ Washington Post, "Huckabee calls court’s health-care ruling an ‘act of judicial tyranny,’" June 25, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Huckabee says Obamacare 'not working,'" December 22, 2013
- ↑ Talking Points Memo, "Huckabee Opposes Insurance For People With Pre-Existing Conditions," September 17, 2010
- ↑ Mike Huckabee for President 2008, "Issues: Healthcare," accessed July 8, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "HUCKABEE: DEPORTING EVERY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ‘NOT REALISTIC,’ NEEDS TO BE ‘PENALTY’," November 11, 2015
- ↑ The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Huckabee, at border, says extend fence," October 10, 2015
- ↑ Daily Caller, "Huckabee Would Support Law Ending Birthright Citizenship," August 29, 2015
- ↑ Newsmax, "Mike Huckabee: I Will Secure Border Within a Year If Elected," July 30, 2015
- ↑ The Daily Caller, "Huckabee Says He Would Deny Federal Funding To Sanctuary Cities As President," July 8, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Huckabee sides with Corker-Hoeven border security deal," June 21, 2013
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Border deal greatly improves chances for immigration bill," June 20, 2013
- ↑ Huckabee, Mike. (2007). From Hope to Higher Ground. New York: Center Street. (pages 118-119)
- ↑ FOX News, "Transcript: Mike Huckabee on 'FOX News Sunday'," December 9, 2007
- ↑ GWU.edu, "Mike Huckabee Unveils New Nine-Point Immigration Enforcement and Border Security Plan," accessed January 12, 2014
- ↑ Council on Foreign Relations, "Immigration," accessed November 20, 2014
- ↑ Mike Huckabee for President, "Common Sense Education," accessed July 8, 2015
- ↑ Forbes, "Mike Huckabee On Education: 7 Things The Presidential Candidate Wants You To Know," May 6, 2015
- ↑ Huckabee, Mike. (2008). Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America. New York, NY: Sentinel. (page 124).
- ↑ The Quad-City Times, "Huckabee: Defunding Planned Parenthood not enough," January 24, 2016
- ↑ The Hill, "Huckabee: 'Disingenuous' to blame clinic shootings on anti-abortion activists," November 29, 2015
- ↑ Twitter, "Mie Huckabee," accessed September 29, 2015
- ↑ TalkingPointsMemo.com, "Huckabee: 'DOJ Should Criminally Prosecute Planned Parenthood,'" accessed September 20, 2015
- ↑ Newsmax, "Huckabee: Time to End 'Nightmare of Abortion'," July 22, 2015
- ↑ LifeNews, "Mike Huckabee: It’s Not Enough to De-Fund Planned Parenthood, We Must End Abortion," July 21, 2015
- ↑ The Des Moines Register, "Mike Huckabee compares actions of ISIS to abortion," August 26, 2015
- ↑ "Huckabee: With abortion, there are two victims," August 16, 2015
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Mike Huckabee Won't Rule Out Using Federal Troops To Stop Abortions," July 31, 2015
- ↑ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Mike Huckabee readies constitutional showdown on abortion at RedState Atlanta," August 8, 2015
- ↑ LifeSiteNews,"Mike Huckabee: Striking down heartbeat bill was ‘immoral’ and ‘unconstitutional’," July 23, 2015
- ↑ Mike Huckabee for President, "North Dakota: Life Begins At Conception," July 22, 2015
- ↑ Mike Huckabee, "Family Values," accessed July 9, 2015
- ↑ Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, "Mike Huckabee on Outlawing Abortion on Meet the Press," January 28, 2008
- ↑ Right Wing Watch, "Huckabee Lauds Personhood Mississippi, Slams Avaricious "Abortion Industry"," September 20, 2011
- ↑ CNN, "Huckabee likens abortion to a holocaust," October 21, 2007
- ↑ State of the State, "Arkansas State of the State Address 2001," January 9, 2001
- ↑ Arkansas Department of Health, "Woman's Right to Know Act Report," accessed July 9, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Arkansas Governor Blocks Medicare Payment for an Abortion in Incest Case," August 10, 1996
- ↑ CNN Politics, "Mike Huckabee leads Kim Davis out of Kentucky jail," September 8, 2015
- ↑ Washington Times, "Mike Huckabee on Kim Davis: People of faith ‘genuinely under attack,’" September 15, 2015
- ↑ YouTube, "Mike Huckabee on why he believes America is entering a post-Christian era," July 28, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Huckabee predicts MLK-like resistance to gay marriage ruling," June 28, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Mike Huckabee," June 27, 2015
- ↑ Mike Huckabee 2016, "My Plan to Fight an Out-of-Control Supreme Court," accessed June 30, 2015
- ↑ Mike Huckabee 2016, "Huckabee blasts SCOTUS," June 26, 2015
- ↑ ScotusBlog, "Preview on same-sex marriage — Part IV, Supporting the state bans," accessed April 20, 2015
- ↑ Huffington Post, "Mike Huckabee Compares Same-Sex Adoption To Experimentation: 'Children Are Not Puppies'," April 12, 2010
- ↑ Mike Huckabee for President, "Washington's War Against Farmers Must Stop," January 15, 2016
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "At Iowa Ag Summit, GOP Hopefuls Split on Renewable Fuel Rule," March 7, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Mike Huckabee," November 18, 2014
- ↑ CNS News, "Exclusive Interview: Huckabee on Education and School Choice," July 7, 2008
- ↑ Huckabee, Mike. (2008). Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America. New York, NY: Sentinel. (page 209).
- ↑ Mike Huckabee for President, "Issues: Agriculture," accessed June 15, 2015
- ↑ The Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "School Consolidation," accessed January 19, 2016
- ↑ Center for Rural Strategies, "Common Decency?" accessed January 19, 2016
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