It is true that the Republican hopefuls for President have all tried to convince us that they are the candidate who is most like Ronald Reagan. We here at TnHuck happen to think that Mike Huckabee has made the best case. Now that he is on an upward trend in the polling, the other candidates are trying what they can to derail his momentum by seizing on the most ridiculous things. They have yet to criticize his kindergarten days (as one prominent candidate has done), but given the trend, we would not be surprised if they do.
Of course, Fred Thompson is the former Senator of our state, and as Senator, we are of the opinion that his record was undistinguished. We are also of the opinion that his campaign for President is likewise undistinguished. When the rumors were spreading that he might run, we knew that he would not live up to the expectations which many had hoped he would. We knew better than to expect Fred to ride in on his white horse (or his red Ford pickup) to save the day. We knew that he was not the savior of the Republican party. We knew this because we are Tennesseans. Low and behold, while the pundits seem surprised that Thompson has gained virtually no traction, we are sitting back and saying, "Told you so."
The Thompson campaign has taken upon itself the task of trying to single-handedly destroy the Huckabee campaign. The problem is that the more Thompson tries to do this, the higher Huckabee rises in the polls. That is probably due to the fact that Fred Thompson's critiques are about as convincing as his run for President.
Now, we have chosen to unload on Fred because of one particular attack that his campaign leveled today. In an interview with Imus this morning, Mike Huckabee was asked about his foreign policy credentials. Here is what Huckabee said:
When asked by Don Imus this morning about his lack of foreign policy credentials, Mike Huckabee joked: “And the ultimate thing is, you know, I may not be the expert as some people on foreign policy – but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.” (WABC Radio, 12/04/07)
In response to that comment, Bob Haus, Executive Director of Iowa Friends of Fred Thompson, responded:
“When confronted with a serious question about his lack of foreign policy experience, Mike Huckabee makes a joke. The security of Americans and our allies is no laughing matter. What Americans are looking for in their next president is a commander in chief, not a Court Jester,” added Bob Haus, Executive Director of Iowa Friends of Fred Thompson.
That statement was picked up by some right-leaning bloggers. One of the comments that we find to that post is as follws:
God save us from a man who jokes about national security…
This caused us to chuckle a little. It is especially ironic for the Reaganites to make such a statement. We seem to vaguely remember someone who made jokes about national security. We recall that he said the following:
My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.
We jogged our memory to remember who it was who made that statement. It seems that the person was none other than the great Ronald Reagan himself. Was Ronald Reagan a court-jester? Did he take foreign policy lightly? Should he have been allowed to be President given that he was prone to joke about such things? Come on Reaganites. Lighten up. A joke about foreign policy does not indicate that a person does not take the issue seriously.
Given the state of things, I doubt the Reaganites would even think that Ronald Reagan was enough like himself to be nominated.
