Hannity Listens While Romney Spins the Truth about Huckabee

Today presented another example of why I am fed up with what has come to be called the "Republican Establishment." Among this group are the conservative media entities, which mostly is comprised of blogs and talk radio. Today, Sean Hannity had Governor Romney on his radio program. I have not been impressed with Governor Romney, and have stated that I will not vote for him. Today's radio interview presented a keen example of exactly why I am fed up with the "Conservative Establishment" in general, and Governor Romney in particular.

Among the criticisms that Governor Romney spoke about on Hannity's radio program today was that Governor Mike Huckabee supports "tuition breaks for illegal immigrants." Of course, the governor is referring to a bill that Governor Huckabee supported while governing Arkansas. What was not mentioned was the fact that Governor Huckabee simply has not said he supports tuition breaks for illegal immigrants in his campaign for President. Governor Huckabee has not advocated such a policy in his run for the Presidency. This is common knowledge, and is an inarguable fact. Yet Governor Romney today said that Governor Huckabee "supports tuition breaks for illegals." The key word, here, is the word "supports," which Romney says in the present tense. Thus, Romney asserts that this is a position that Governor Huckabee is currently advocating. Said another way, Romney presents it as if it is without a doubt true that Governor Hucakbee, upon becoming President, will enact tuition breaks for illegals at the federal level. This is simply untrue. This is not a position that Governor Huckabee holds, and Romney knows that. Yet that did not stop him from asserting it today. That is shameful and worthy of rebuke.

To make matters worse, the show's host, Sean Hannity, did not bother to correct this very important error. Conservative talk show hosts such as Sean Hannity have earned a positive reputation among conservatives for seeking and reporting the truth; and this is one of the major reasons they have become so popular. But I want to say that, whatever Hannity's view of Governor Huckabee is (and it strikes me as particularly negative), he ought not to have allowed Governor Romney to present something as fact which is blatantly false. Many folks in America have come to rely on people like Sean Hannity because they are perceived as trustworthy advocates of truth. I must say that today's show has, for me at least, convinced me of a disheartening fact. Apparently Sean Hannity and others are concerned with the truth, but only when it advances their particular agenda. Should the truth reflect poorly on their underlying agenda, they will just as soon resort to dishonesty. That is also shameful and equally worthy of rebuke.

Coulter Attacks; Huckabee Responds

Ann Coulter has criticized Governor Huckabee in a column and several interviews this week. Her full column can be found here. We will post a snippet from that column, and we have also posted the video of one of her interviews below. First, the video.

Ann Coulter: Neil Cavuto Show (FoxNews)

Second, a snippet from the column:

...And yet, Huckabee has said he agrees with the Supreme Court's lunatic opinion that sodomy is a constitutional right.

Lawrence was promptly denounced not only by Republican governors and Christian groups across the nation, but also by anyone with sufficient reading comprehension skills to see that the Constitution says nothing about a right to sodomy. But when Huckabee was asked about this jaw-dropping ruling from the high court, he said the majority opinion "probably was appropriate."

Huckabee Response

Naturally, we are concerned whenever a potential presidential candidate explicitly suggests that a decision such as Lawrence was decided correctly. We have looked further into the issue, and have come across Governor Huckabee's response to the criticism. We have posted it in its entirety.

Ann Coulter's comments are based on a response I made during a radio call-in show in which a caller asked what I thought about the Supreme Court ruling on Lawrence v. Texas. At the time I had not read the ruling and was basing my opinion on the summary by the caller. After reading the decision I believe it is obvious that the ruling was wrongly decided. Lawrence v. Texas is an extreme example of judicial activism. It could, in fact, be inappropriately used to attack our marriage laws nationwide.

I am in agreement with the dissent by Justices Scalia, Rehnquist, and Thomas:

[The ruling] dismantles the structure of constitutional law that has permitted a distinction to be made between heterosexual and homosexual unions, insofar as formal recognition in marriage is concerned. If moral disapprobation of homosexual conduct is 'no legitimate state interest' for purposes of proscribing that conduct, ...what justification could there possibly be for denying the benefits of marriage to homosexual couples exercising 'the liberty protected by the Constitution'?

Furthermore, As Justice Thomas said, we might disagree with the wisdom of a law, but that is the province of the Legislature, not unelected judges. No such activist Justices will be appointed as long as I am President.

I wish Ms. Coulter had contacted me or my campaign to discuss my position in detail before writing her column. I would have appreciated the opportunity to clarify this matter.

Bottom Line

Governor Huckabee's response indicates that he might agree with the policy of repealing anti-sodomy laws, but that he disagrees with the notion that the Supreme Court of the United States has the authority to do so. Rather, Governor Huckabee seems to believe that if anti-sodomy laws are to be repealed, then it is the legislatures of the individual states that are to do so, not the Federal Courts. This is precisely the position that is expressed by Justice Clarence Thomas in his dissenting opinion in Lawrence v. Texas. We will not go as far as to say that Ann Coulter's criticism was unfair; but we will say that when all of the facts are known, her concern on this matter is unfounded.

Ms. Coulter also criticizes Huckabee on his position on evolution and school textbooks. We will address that particular criticism in a future post.

Fact Check: A Response to FactCheck.org

I was reading factcheck.org today and noticed an article on Huckabee and taxes. The article can be found by clicking here.

The first thing FactCheck.org addresses is a video where Huckabee says he is for a tax increase. Huckabee said the following after a clip of the speech was aired:

That was in the context of a [Arkansas] Supreme Court order that we had to fund education at a higher level. The legislators had come down to the special session and there was all kinds of talk about, well, this tax increase or that revenue possibility is out of the question, dead on arrival. … Now we were at the point, with a court order over our heads – we were going to have to improve our schools.

It is true that Huckabee was incorrect about this. The speech was about an overall budget shortfall and not about education. Huckabee is right in saying that you should look at the entire speech because if you did you would find out why he is qualified for the job of president.

Take a look at the entire speech found here: Part 1 Part 2
The speech talks about how Arkansas was having budget troubles in 2003. After years of cutting and cutting spending Huckabee finally decided you can't cut anymore without "amputating a vital limb". This shows good leadership and proper role of government. You first trim what you can and then when that is not enough you have to raise revenue. People get this crazy idea that taxes are a bad thing but in reality they are the only way we pay for roads and schools. The fact that Huckabee was willing to do what it takes to help his state out shows how he can really get the job done.

The next claim is really no big deal. FactCheck talks about how Huckabee signed a bill taxing nursing home beds at about 6%. As noted it was supported by the Arkansas Health Care Association mainly because Medicare needed to be funded somehow. Once again this shows how Mike Huckabee did what was necessary to provide for its citizens.

Next up is the gas hike:

Huckabee: Yes, I did. Certainly, there was an issue that involved road building and infrastructure on roads and bridges, and I did support that. We added $1 billion to our economy, 40,000 jobs, went from having the worst to the best roads. When we put that out there for the people to decide whether they wanted to affirm it, they did by an 80 percent vote, I would call that leadership.

We would call that not true. Huckabee is right that about 80 percent of Arkansas voters approved a referendum to increase funding for highway repair. But the referendum happened after the gas tax hike had already become law.

This is actually a misunderstanding of what Huckabee said. It is true that Huckabee "put that out there for the people to decide whether they wanted to affirm it". Perhaps FactCheck doesn't realize that affirming something doesn't have to be before the fact. You can affirm a result after the action has taken place. Huckabee is not claiming here that they voted for it and then it happened. The fact that he later allowed it to be put for a vote does indeed show leadership and the fact that 80% approved it shows he and the legislative body worked the entire time for the people.

In the end, what this shows is how Mike Huckabee can work with democrats on getting things passed and thinking in terms of "vertical" politics. You hear the "Club for Growth" drown on about tax increases but sometimes they are needed and sometimes not. Mike has already stated he doesn't believe tax increases are needed in the federal government but rather a reduction in spending. Mike Huckabee did this in Arkansas by first cutting the budget before being forced to raise taxes and that is the true fiscally conservative person. Someone who would rather run a deficit and threaten our country is no real fiscal conservative.

Fact-Check: Huckabee Hard-Drive "Scandal"

As we have been noticing, now that Governor Huckabee is generating some momentum in the race for President, the media, as well as interest groups, have taken it upon themselves to attack Huckabee. Do not expect to hear truth from these sources, however. Consider this example.

In an opinion piece for the US News and World Report, Bonnie Erbe tries to create a scandal by resorting to the well-known (and highly effective) strategy of reporting half-truths. Says Ms. Erbe:

Other questions surrounding his [Huckabee's] tenure are even more puzzling. One is why earlier this year, as Huckabee was leaving office, he apparently ordered the destruction of more than 100 computers in the governor's office.

What!? The Governor ordered the destruction of more than 100 computers in the governor's office? Is my mind changed? No. Here's why.

The incident Ms. Erbe refers to, and which she tries to manufacture a scandal, is an instruction of the Governor to destroy more than 90 (not "over 100" Ms. Erbe) computer hard-drives (not "computers", Ms. Erbe) in order to "protect sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers" from being leaked (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 18, 2007).

The destruction of the hard-drives hardly constitutes a scandal. On March 17, 2007, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that an ethics panel had cleared Governor Huckabee of any wrong doing regarding the destruction of the hard-drives. A Jim Parsons had filed a complaint that Huckabee had violated the law in destroying the hard drives. From the Gazette:

Jim Parsons of Bella Vista filed the complaint, claiming that Huckabee violated Arkansas Code 7-9-410, which requires that records regarding public ballot initiatives be retained for four years.

The commissioner of the ethics committee, in a letter to Governor Huckabee, wrote that the commission had dismissed the claim by a vote of 4-0. From the Gazette:

Sloan wrote that the law didn't require Huckabee to keep those records. Furthermore, he wrote that such records usually are in paper, not electronic, form.

So, an independent ethics committee cleared Huckabee of any wrongdoing in the destruction of the hard-drives. But that is not all.

On July 18, 2007, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that Huckabee had been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Arkansas State Attorney General. Said the Gazette:

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Tuesday that his office's research has determined that former Gov. Mike Huckabee and people in his administration broke no laws when more than 90 [not "over 100" Ms. Erbe] computer hard drives [not "computers", Ms. Erbe] were crushed before Huckabee left office in January

So, an independent ethics board unanimously cleared Governor Huckabee of any wrongdoing, and an investigation by the Attorney General's office concluded the same thing.

Conclusion:

Ms. Erbe not only misstates the facts, she also only reports half of the truth. She tries to manufacture a scandal out of the destruction of hard-drives upon termination of the Governor's tenure in office, and yet an independent ethics committee, as well as the Attorney General's office, has cleared him of wrongdoing. Ms. Erbe's reporting is irresponsible, incorrect, and deserving of rebuke.