Why Candidates' Positions on Stopping Abortion are an End-All for Me

I've talked about it a lot, but words can't really express why it's of utmost importance to me - more so than Iraq, or taxes, smaller government, etc.

As pointed out by Greg Cunningham,

"Abortion represents an evil so inexpressible that words fail us when attempting to describe its horror. Until abortion is seen, it will never be understood."

However, don't not watch this video just because you don't want to be uncomfortable. Ignorance may be bliss, but ignoring evil doesn't make it disappear.

WARNING - The following video contains graphic post-abortion pictures.

Chuck Baldwin and Mike Huckabee - The Rest of the Story

Largely because of his recent surge of support, GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is now facing increasing criticism from liberals as well as his opponents on the conservative side. One notable enemy of the former Arkansas governor is Chuck Baldwin (Baldwin was the Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate in 2004. He is also a pastor of a church in Pensacola, and an outspoken conspiracy theorist.) In a recent article, Baldwin lambasted Huckabee on the issues of illegal immigration and taxes.

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then Chuck Baldwin certainly seems to be paying some compliments to our founding fathers, as Mr. Baldwin’s article spotlights the idea that he surely holds his own “truths to be self-evident” – which might explain why he didn’t bother to research what he was saying.

The purpose of this article is to give you the other side of the story. A lot of the arguments used in Baldwin’s article could have been based on a hint of truth, but for the most part were just extravagant stretching of the truth or blatant lies. One example occurs within the first paragraph of his article. He contends that Christian conservative leaders (with the exception of Janet Folger) are not, and should not be, behind Huckabee. This falls into the “blatant lies” category. On the contrary, the majority of the Christian Conservative leaders that have endorsed a candidate have leaned toward Huckabee.

You can view a list of the Evangelical Conservative Leaders’ endorsements by candidate here.

Did he “Leave the conservative movement in shambles” in Arkansas?

The second claim in the article actually comes from Phyllis Schlafly, the president and founder of the Eagle Forum. She is quoted in the article as saying “He [Gov. Huckabee] destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party in shambles.”

This is a quote that has been circulated around the internet by some as if it were divinely inspired word that condemned Huckabee from ever becoming a conservative choice for Republican voters. Let me be very clear, I have a deep respect for Mrs. Schlafly, but her claim doesn’t carry much weight until she is willing to elaborate (which I have not seen) on how exactly there was damage done to the conservative movement in Arkansas.

One interesting thing to consider on this subject is the fact that there was no “conservative movement” in Arkansas before Huckabee became the governor. He was the third Republican to be elected into executive office in Arkansas since 1874. During the time that Huckabee was governor, the number of Republicans in the Arkansas legislature tripled. And let’s not forget that Huckabee won 4 elections in the democratic-stronghold state, all while being campaigned against by the Clintons. It seems pretty clear that rather than being left in shambles, conservatism saw a dramatic increase in Arkansas during Huckabee’s time as governor.

John Fund’s Political Fantasy

Another interesting thing was the article in the Wall Street Journal by John Fund – an article that Baldwin quotes as if it were Scripture. However, I won’t waste time beating a dead horse, as Fund’s erroneous claims have been thoroughly debunked in other articles (if you’d like to see them, you can see Huckabee’s direct response, or read Lucas Roebuck’s rebuttal to the attacks.)

Has Huckabee crossed the border on Illegal Immigration?

The next thing visited in the article is Baldwin’s attacks on Huckabee’s immigration stance. One thing that struck me about this section was that Baldwin did not conceivably give an account of what Huckabee’s immigration stance really is. Rather, he quoted several of the “elites” as they misconstrue the facts of what Huckabee did while in office. Chuck Norris wrote a fantastic rebuttal to these claims.

One of the criticisms thrown around is that Huckabee somehow “supported free scholarships for all illegals.” This simply is not true. What Huckabee did support was that we shouldn’t penalize students who were brought here illegally at a young age. These were students who had been in the school system their entire lives, and had not knowingly committed a crime. Also, there was never any support for “free scholarships for all illegals.” What was supported was that those students described above would be able to compete for the same scholarships as the other students, one additional requirement being that they had to have applied for citizenship.

Huckabee’s stance is very simple. He believes first, that we absolutely must secure the border. It is a national security threat to not know who is in our country, so the flow of illegal immigration must be curtailed. He also believes that any time an illegal immigrant commits a crime here in the United States and is convicted, that they should be deported – no exceptions. Huckabee also supports the training and deployment of 23,000 more border patrol agents, and a fence along the Mexican border. You can read more about his strong position on illegal immigration here.

“Taxes. Taxes is what bwings us togeva, today.” (The Princess Bride, but not quite)

The final big issue that Baldwin’s article berates Huckabee for is taxes. He calls Mike a “Tax and Spender,” a phrase first attributed to Huckabee by the Club for Growth (a.k.a. the Club for Greed) in commercials funded by one of Huckabee’s political opponents from his days in Arkansas. The group claims that Huckabee supported 5 major tax increases, which is simply not true. One of the biggest examples they love to use is the 0.825% sales tax increase, which cost taxpayers more than $400 million a year in order to complete a court-ordered education funding increase.

However, the fact that Chuck Baldwin and the Club for Growth conveniently overlook is that Governor Huckabee refused to sign that tax increase. He [Huckabee] complained that it was “maximum taxes for minimum reform.” Another fact overlooked by those making the attacks is that during this time the Democrats held complete control of the state legislature. That is especially important to remember in this case, because although Mike refused to sign the tax increase, the Democratic super-majority was able to override the Governor, and the tax increase became a law without his signature. That one example explains $400 million of the $550 million in tax increases that Baldwin and the Club for Growth attribute to Mike Huckabee. You can read about the other increases here.

Aside from the tax increases, another overlooked fact is that when not under Court order to increase funding, he cut taxes more than 90 times, including pushing through one of the largest tax cuts in the state’s history. In fact, with the taxes he had control over, he was so fiscally conservative that Americans for Tax Reform (A conservative anti-tax lobbying organization founded in 1985 at the request of Ronald Reagan) awarded Mike Huckabee the “Friend of the Taxpayer” award during his time as Governor.

This begs the question, if Huckabee was a tax-and-spender, maliciously raising taxes left and right to fund his supposedly “liberal big government,” why would he have been re-elected 3 times in a row? Does that sound like the kind of person that a conservative anti-tax lobbyist organization would call a “friend of the taxpayer”?

Clearly, the Club for Growth, as well as Baldwin, are either missing or ignoring the facts. How convenient that their arguments are based on opinion quotes from Huckabee’s political opponents. Regardless of his opponent’s rhetoric and blatant misrepresentation of the facts, Huckabee is a strong conservative who is backed by far more of the leaders of the conservative movement than his opponents.

Running buddies?

In the last few statements of his article, Baldwin claims that Huckabee encourages his supporters to suggest him as a running mate for either Giuliani or Romney. This is an outright lie. Mike Huckabee has never told his supporters that he would run with either candidate. When asked about becoming a running mate for Giuliani, Huckabee has only responded that he is not considering being anyone’s running mate right now, he’s running for President of the United States.

Mike Huckabee is a strong conservative with the record to prove it. He’s had experience making progress with a democrat-controlled legislature, and in each of his elections has beaten the Clinton political machine. Chuck Baldwin, on the other hand, needs to check his facts more carefully before spreading groundless ad-hominem attacks against the one true conservative choice that has a shot of winning the election.

God Bless,
- Andy Hudson

Evangelical Leaders' Endorsements of GOP Candidates

Here is a list of the candidates that have gotten support from Evangelical Conservatives, and which leaders support each. If I have missed any major endorsements, please let me know and I will add it to the list.

Mike Huckabee Endorsements
* Dr. Rick Warren – Baptist leader
* Baptist leader Rick Scarborough
* Don Wildmon founder/ former President of AFA (American Family Association)
* Randy Alcorn, Christian author
* Justin Taylor (Between Two Worlds)
* Joe Carter (Evangelical Outpost)
* Matthew Anderson (Mere Orthodoxy)
* Chuck Norris
* Mike Farris, President - HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association)
* Janet Folger of Faith to Action
* Jack Graham of PrestonWood Baptist Church, Plano, TX
* James Robison, Life Outreach International
* Robert Morris, Pastor of Gateway Church, Dallas.
* Keith Butler, Pastor - Word of Faith International Christian Center in Michigan
* Matthew Staver, Dean of the law school at Liberty University
* Dr. James T. Draper Jr. – Colleyville, Tex.
* Dr. Jerry Vines – Woodstock, Ga.
* Dr. Daniel L. Akin – President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
* Dr. Jay Strack – Orlando, Fla.
* Dr. Billy McCormack – Shreveport, La.
* Stephen Strang, publisher of CHRISTIAN LIFE magazine

Mitt Romney
* Wayne Grudem endorses Mitt Romney
* Bob Jones III also endorses Mitt Romney
* Dr. John Willke, founder of the National Right to Life Committee endorses Romney as well.

Rudy Guiliani
* Pat Robertson now endorses Rudy Guiliani

John McCain
* Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), a favorite among conservatives, endorses John McCain.

Ron Paul
* Former Libertarian Party vice-presidential candidate Dr. Chuck Baldwin
* Former presidential candidate of the Constitution Party, Michael Anthony Peroutka

Fred D. Thompson
* Gary Bauer likes Fred Thompson. He recently sent an email out solely praising him.

Mike Huckabee Endorsements from Political and Evangelical Leaders

Mike Huckabee Endorsements from Political and Evangelical Leaders

Here's a collection of just a few of the many leaders that support Mike for President.

Evangelicals for Mike Huckabee
Dr. Daniel Akin- President of Southeastern Seminary

Randy Alcorn- Top 50 best selling Christian Author

Matthew Anderson (Mere Orthodoxy)

Keith Butler, Bishop- Word of Faith International Christian Center in Michigan,(His parish in Detroit, MI has some 16,000 members) member of the Arlington Group.

Joe Carter (Evangelical Outpost)

Dr. James T. Draper Jr. – Colleyville, Tex.

Janet Folger- President of Faith To Action and WND journalist

Dr. Jack Graham of PrestonWood Baptist Church

Chuck Norris, toughest man in the world

Dr. Billy McCormack – Shreveport, La.

Robert Morris, Pastor of Gateway Church, Dallas.

James Robison- Life Outreach International

Justin Taylor (Between Two Worlds)

Rick Scarborough- Member of the Arlington Group

Matthew Staver- Dean of Liberty University Law School, head of Liberty Counsel and member of the Arlington group

Dr. Jay Strack – Orlando, Fla.

Dr. Jerry Vines – Woodstock, Ga.

Don Wildmon- founder of AFA, member of the Arlington group.

Unions and organizations:
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)

Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)


Huckabee's Arkansas GOP Leadership Team:
Bud Cummins ˆ Former U.S. Attorney

John Paul Hammerschmidt ˆ Former U.S. Congressman

Asa Hutchinson ˆ Former U.S. Congressman

Tim Hutchinson ˆ Former U.S. Senator

Jay Dickey ˆ Former U.S. Congressman

Betty Dickey ˆ Former Chief Justice of Ark. Supreme Court

John Boozman ˆ U.S. Congressman

Dennis Milligan ˆ Arkansas Republican Party Chairman

Gay White ˆ Former First Lady of Arkansas

Lisenne Rockefeller ˆ Widow of the Late Lt. Governor Win Rockefeller

Jim Burnett ˆ Republican National Committeeman & Former NTSB Chairman

Reta Hamilton ˆ Republican National Committeewoman

Phyllis Kincannon ˆ Arkansas Republican Party Activist

Prissy Hickerson ˆ Former Arkansas HighwayCommissioner

Doyle Webb ˆ Former State Senator

Barbara Webb ˆ Former Saline County Prosecutor

Phil Wyrick ˆ Former State Senator

Carolyn Pollan ˆ Former State Representative

Gilbert Baker ˆ State Senator

Sharon Trusty ˆ State Senator

Denny Altes ˆ State Senator

Bill Pritchard ˆ State Senator

Michael Lamoureux ˆState Representative and House Minority Leader

Mark Martin ˆ State Representative

Jim Medley ˆ State Representative

Frank Glidewell ˆ State Representative

Bryan King ˆ State Representative

Beverly Pyle ˆ State Representative

Rick Green ˆSate Representative

Mary Beth Green ˆ Former State Representative

David Haak ˆ Former State Representative

Doug Matayo ˆ Former State Representative

Hoyt Johnson ˆ Former State Representative Candidate

Andy Mayberry ˆ Former U.S. Representative Candidate

Joyce Campbell ˆ Former State Rep. Candidate

Chee Chee Tamburo ˆ Former State Rep. Candidate

Wayne Bowen ˆ Justice of the Peace

Carol Lester ˆ Arkansas County Chairman

Mark Dye ˆ Scott County GOP Chairman

Ladon Copelin ˆ GOP Party Activist

Bernard Mize ˆ Polk County Chair

Billie Sue Hoggard ˆ Former State Representative Candidate


Iowa leaders and elected officials:
Bob Vander Plaats

Danny Carroll

State Senator David Hartsuch

State Representative Carmine Boal

State Representative Dwayne Alons


Bernie McKinley, former Mayor of Waterloo

Bob Andeweg, Urbandale Mayor

Brad Sherman

Matt Reisetter


New Hampshire Elected and Former elected officials
Senator Bob Clegg

Fmr Senator Russell Prescott

Fmr Executive Councilor Dave Wheeler

Representative Dan Dumaine

Representative Frank Emiro

Sheriff Wayne Estes

Hon. Ron Dupuis

Fmr Gubernatorial Candidate Hon Jim Coburn

Representative Jason Bedrick

Fmr Mayor Emile Beaulieu

Representative Sandra Reeves

Representative Nancy Elliot

Fmr Commissioner of Transportation Carol Murray

Fmr Senate Candidate Hon Nancy Wall

Representative Connie Soucy

Londonderry Town Councilor Joe Paradis

State Representative Julie Brown

South Carolina officials
State Senator David Thomas

State Senator Danny Verdin

State Representative Liston Barfield

State Representative Glenn Hamilton

State Representative Keith Kelly

State Representative Rex Rice

Former State Representative Warren Arthur

Dr. George Graham, Former Chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party

Ruth Griffin, former Executive Councilor

Virginia:
William J. Howell, Virginia House of Delegates Speaker