A Huckabee spokesman insists Mike Huckabee has not flip-flopped by refusing to endorse college scholarship help on the federal level for immigrant children such as he supported in Arkansas. You decide. Whatever, a plug for Sen. Blanche Lincoln who remains a supporter of the idea. Sen. Mark Pryor?
Elsewhere on the Huck front, Brummett explains that Mike is most certainly no economic conservative. That’s not a bad thing, he writes, on account of the needs for which Huckabee supported tax increases. I’ll add my usual proviso that Huckabee would have been a better governor had he not flip-flopped between demagoguing taxes (rebates; Tax Me More) and in-the-breach tax increases. In short, he was always reactive. He never had a comprehensive, long-range approach to tax policy. Even his big surplus at the end of his tenure deserves few points. It was a product of conservative revenue estimates by his administration and miserly budgeting. A billion-dollar surplus means either a) taxes are too high or b) government isn’t delivering all it’s capable of delivering.
UPDATE: Since the subject has arisen, I’ve posted early Ernie Dumas’ fine column this week on Mike Huckabee’s sparkling record in defense of immigrants. With many specifics, Dumas makes a case that Huckabee is the true liberal in the Republican field.