MUTH’S TRUTHS

FLUNKING HUCK

“On its annual governor’s report card, Cato gave (GOP presidential candidate Mike) Huckabee an ‘F’ for fiscal policy during his final term, and an overall two-term grade of ‘D.’ Only four governors had worse scores, and 15 Democratic governors got higher grades, including well-known liberals like Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania.

“Huckabee has called for increased federal spending on a variety of programs from infrastructure to health care. He wants more energy subsidies, including, naturally, more subsidies for ethanol. In fact, he supports increased agricultural subsidies generally. He is the only Republican candidate who opposes President Bush’s veto of the Democrats’ proposed expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and he is skeptical of most conservative proposals for entitlement reform.” - Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute

FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF ART & MUSIC

“Let me give you a couple of examples of what has to happen in all the states… If we really are serious (about improving education), then first of all we make sure that we build a curriculum around (the students’) interests rather than just push them into something they don’t care about. . . . I’m a passionate, ardent supporter of having music and art in every school for every student at every grade level.”

- Mike Huckabee in Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate in answer to a question about the federal government’s role in education

“Governor, with all due respect, you can’t say on one hand you’re against having government intervention and on the other hand tell us that you want music and art and everything else in the school. That’s not the job of a president. It is the job of a governor. That’s what you should run for if you want to dictate curriculum.”

- Tom Tancredo to Mike Huckabee in response to Huckabee’s answer to the question of the federal role in education in Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate

COULD REAGAN PASS HUCK’S RELIGIOUS TEST?

“The Republican race looks — at the moment — to be determined primarily by one thing, the question of religious faith. In my lifetime faith has been a significant issue in presidential politics, but not the sole determinative one. Is that changing? If it is, it is not progress.

“Mike Huckabee is in the lead due, it appears, to voter approval of the depth and sincerity of his religious beliefs as lived out in his ministry as an ordained Southern Baptist. He flashes ‘Christian leader’ over his picture in commercials; he asserts his faith is ‘mainstream’; his surrogates speak of Mormonism as ‘strange’ and ‘definitely a factor.’

“Mr. Huckabee said this summer that a candidate’s faith is ‘subject to question,’ ‘part of the game.’ He tells the New York Times that he doesn’t know a lot about Mitt Romney’s faith, but isn’t it the one in which Jesus and the devil are brothers?

“…Christian conservatives have been rising, most recently, for 30 years in national politics, since they helped elect Jimmy Carter. They care about the religious faith of their leaders, and their interest is legitimate. Faith is a shaping force. Lincoln got grilled on it. But there is a sense in Iowa now that faith has been heightened as a determining factor in how to vote, that such things as executive ability, professional history, temperament, character, political philosophy and professed stands are secondary, tertiary.

“But they are not, and cannot be. They are central. Things seem to be getting out of kilter, with the emphasis shifting too far.

“…I wonder if our old friend Ronald Reagan could rise in this party, this environment. Not a regular churchgoer, said he experienced God riding his horse at the ranch, divorced, relaxed about the faiths of his friends and aides, or about its absence. He was a believing Christian, but he spent his adulthood in relativist Hollywood, and had a father who belonged to what some saw, and even see, as the Catholic cult. I’m just not sure he’d be pure enough to make it in this party. I’m not sure he’d be considered good enough.”

- Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan

IT TAKES A CHURCH TO SAVE A SOUL

“One thing that Christians should come to terms with is the truism that government cannot do the church’s job. Not in any shape, manner, or form. Yet, by the way many Christians and pastors behave these days, one gets the impression that they don’t really understand this truth. Instead, it seems that many Christians and ministers see the government–especially the federal government–as an extension of the church.”

- Columnist and talk-show host Chuck Baldwin

A CONGRESSIONAL NO-BRAINER

“Why can’t people living in New Jersey buy health insurance available to residents of, say, Pennsylvania? Rep. John Shadegg, an Arizona Republican, thinks they should — and today will reintroduce legislation to make that possible. The Health Care Choice Act would allow residents in one state to buy health insurance that is available in and regulated by another state.

“If enacted, the law would create a competitive, 50-state market for health insurance, likely making it cheaper. It would do this without imposing a large cost on taxpayers and without creating a new government bureaucracy. This should be a no-brainer for Congress.”

- Merrill Matthews, executive director of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance

BRING ON SHADEGG-CARE

“If Congress is intent on reducing the ranks of the uninsured and providing higher quality health care for all, it should let people buy health insurance from any state they choose. That is what Rep. John Shadegg, Arizona Republican, is asking lawmakers to do in a bill that he reintroduced this week.

“Opposition to the bill is stiff. State insurance commissioners contend that consumer protections, such as mandating coverage for certain health conditions, would be wiped out. But millions of Americans are uninsured because many states impose these so-called protections.”

- Washington Times, 12/14/07

Posted on December 15th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National