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.

Honestly, the Dishonesty is Disheartening

Governor Romney, as expected, has waited until the final week before the Iowa caucus to unleash attack ads against governor Huckabee. The support that governor Huckabee has won with his resonating message in the last couple of months governor Romney is trying to buy back by slamming the airwaves with negative, dishonest 30 second television ads. Governor Huckabee responded to the false attacks with an incredibly concise, yet accurate statement:

"If a person is dishonest in his approach to get the job, do you believe he will be honest in telling you the truth when he does get the job? You need a president who gets the job honestly. Because if they don't get it honestly he probably won't serve honestly."

Herein is one of the major reasons that Huckabee supporters like myself support governor Huckabee over governor Romney. It is not because Huckabee is a Christian and Romney is a Mormon. It is because Huckabee is trustworthy, and Romney is not. It is because governor Huckabee has made the hard decisions, and governor Romney has not. It is because governor Huckabee will say what is true whatever the cost, and governor Romney will not. For instance, see here and here.

Governor Romney has distorted the truth. He has not only misrepresented the records of his opponents, he has also misrepresented his own record. He does not deserve the high honor that is the office of the President. Should he become the nominee, I will not vote for him. I suspect there are many like me in that regard; possibly enough like me to ensure that governor Romney will not win the White House in 2008.

If governor Romney is the nominee, then in order to get me to vote for him, one would need to try and persuade me that having a dishonest Republican is better than having a dishonest Democrat. If the only difference is that the dishonest Republican will cut my taxes, whereas the dishonest Democrat will raise them, I'm afraid I would have to respond by saying that I simply cannot vote for either a dishonest Republican or a dishonest Democrat. If presented with such a situation, I will gladly and proudly write governor Huckabee in as my candidate.

Huckabee Press Conference: On Christmas and Pardons

Here is a video of a press conference where Governor Huckabee discusses his "controversial" Christmas ad, commutations and pardons, and Governor Romney's vicious and disingenuous attacks against his record.

Cold Feet ?

According to a Foxnews report, Pastor Don Wilton has retracted the endorsement he made of Mitt Romney. Pastor Wilton is was president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, and his endorsement of Romney was made on October 19th. Wilton Said:

It was my personal error to agree to support Romney's campaign. Until this incident I had never endorsed any person running for any elected office, Democrat or Republican.

Read Wilton's entire press release here.

I could not help but notice that Wilton's endorsement was made the day before Governor Huckabee's speech at the Values Voter Summit. I wonder if the momentum that Huckabee has generated in the last few days has caused one of his own to give him a second look. Huckabee was, after all, president of the Arkansas Baptist Convention. This is some excellent news!