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<strong>Filibuster Cartoon</strong>
<strong>Title: </strong> <a href="http://www.filibustercartoons.com/archive.php?id=20080104" target="_blank">Victory in Iowa</a> (click to view)
<strong>Date: </strong> January 04, 2008

So Governor Huckabee won yesterday\'s much-anticipated Iowa caucus vote, the first of many primaries to determine who will eventually become the Republican candidate for President. <br> <br>Iowa is just one of 50 primaries, of course, and only means as much as the press is willing to make of it. But it cannot be denied that Huckabee\'s total come-from-behind victory in this state has made him into an GOP overnight front-runner, in perception, if not reality. And a total unexpected irritant for the other leading-tier candidates.

[Kjorteo]

I must grudgingly concede that Huckabee seems like a fairly solid candidate for the social conservatives and religious right. "Grudgingly" because social conservatives and the religious right give me the jibblies.

On the Democratic side, it appears Obama won, Edwards took second, Hillary third, Richardson fourth, and no one else really mattered. I honestly have mixed feelings about that. On one hand, I'm ecstatic that Hillary did so poorly. On the other, I'm really sad that Richardson also did so poorly. Obama seems like a decent enough sort, but I've complained about his total inexperience before. I liked Richardson because I really wanted someone who has a long and impressive list of credentials and isn't Hillary Clinton, but I suppose just the latter is better than nothing.

[Psudo]

Front-line conservative pundit Ann Coulter has denounced Huckabee twice in the past month for his variations from the (her) conservative line, condeming him fir supporting "a nationwide smoking ban anyplace where people work, constitutional protection for sodomy, big government, higher taxes and government benefits for illegal aliens." [1] If she represents conservative thought, Huckabee lacks the evangelical conservative credentials so often attributed to him.

So maybe, Kjorteo, he's not quite so solid a evangelical social conservative candidate as you've been told. Perhaps the thought of someone else taking the Republican nom will comfort your "jibblies" a bit.

[ShepherdsDog]

Huckabee is a compassionate conservative. His ideals come from the middle class rather than the fringe fundy camp.

[Kjorteo]

ShepherdsDog wrote:

Huckabee is a compassionate conservative.

With all due respect, I've heard that one before....

And Psudo, I'm honestly terrified of both the over-the-top radical conservatives (Coulter, Hannity, etc.) and the religious right (Falwell, Robertson, etc.) and that's my main objection to Huckabee. If that's an inaccurate portrayal, that actually would comfort me to know. I suppose I can reserve judgment until time elapses and I get a clearer picture of the man.

Although, to be honest, I think Ann Coulter might be a little too off the right-wing deep end, to the point where being denounced by her doesn't have quite the credibility that one would hope for. It's kind of like saying that fundamentalist Christians are against something because Fred Phelps denounced it. I'm looking for someone who at least pretends to flirt with the edges of mainstream thought despite still representing the far right. Say...Hannity? O'Reilly, maybe?

[Wullu]

The real story has got to be the run on protective cups by Clinton staffers. They must have had to surgically implant her smile last night.


Oh to be a fly on the wall for the last 12 hours and the next seven days.

[paisley_cross]

Wullu wrote:

The real story has got to be the run on protective cups by Clinton staffers. They must have had to surgically implant her smile last night.


Oh to be a fly on the wall for the last 12 hours and the next seven days.

Supposedly we saw the warm and friendly Hillary over the last few days - although I didn't notice it. I wonder what persona the folks in NH will see?

[ShepherdsDog]

Quote:

Supposedly we saw the warm and friendly Hillary over the last few days

That broad is so cold Bill got an ice cream headache the one time he went down on her. Absolute zero is balmy compared to her.

[Vinid]

As a resident of the great state of NH, I have to say, Huckabee doesn't stand much of a chance here. NH is a state of economic conservatism but socially moderate in general. I would expect Mit Romney to win the state, although I'm personally voting for Guiliani. As for the Democrats, I hope John Edwards is able to carry the state, but I think Clinton will take it unfortunately.

On a lighter note: If Clinton doesn't get nominated, she could run to be a senator of her own butt! Its big enough...

[Pitchfork]

Last night's results made me want to puke.
The GOP has already acquired a reputation as being too Southern fried and religious so the caucus-goers chose a Southern minister.
Oh well.
I doubt Huckabee will win the nomination, but if he did, he'd be killed in the general election.

[xerxes]

It's too early to derive some sort of pattern from Iowa as to who the nominee will be. It's one state and a small one at that. Probably after Super Tuesday the trend will be more pronounced.

[JJ]

I suspect the actual nominee will wind up being McCain or Romney. Though Huckabee has a lot of positive characteristics that make him a likeable, and even viable GOP front-runner, if FOX news numbers are to be believed, his victory in Iowa was almost entirely the result of a co-ordinated Evangelical "push" campaign that essientially hijacked the caucus.

Over 60% of Huck's voters were self-identified Evangelicals who said they were casting ballots based on "values." Though I know it's fashionable for liberals to believe this is basically how all Republican candidates are chosen, I think in the 2008 race especially the GOP is trying very hard to portray itself as something more than an arm of the Christian right, and chose a genuinely inclusive presidential candidate.

Iowa didn't get the memo, or just chose to ignore it.

[Lunchbox]

I'm glad to see that Obama and Edwards beat out Hillary. I loved Bill as he was one of the best presidents the country had had for a while, but his wife is just a little off the deep-end, and doesn't have that realist nature that Bill had. The country right now needs a Theodore Roosevelt/Harry Truman sort who will risk popularity in order to say that there is a problem, and it needs this fix. Then they need to tell the public once they're in office that they're dumb and don't know anything about politics, and choose the right course of action, no matter how unpopular that choice is. That's one of the things that I liked about Kucinich and Paul this time around (wouldn't dream of voting for them, though due to policy disagreements). They claimed that there were problems, and took normally unpopular stances on each of them.

I always want to side with the Republicans, because I'm huge on economic conservatism, and this economy needs a boot in the ass before it gets to where it's going nowadays. The problem is, I've never seen a Republican candidate I like since McCain ran in '00 and '04. Giuliani's a spineless little scumbag, Thompson's running just because of the insane people who took polls last summer, Huckabee doesn't keep up with anything that isn't about homosexuality or brown people, and Romney is just a walking Ken doll who made millions off of people's suffering.

So, naturally I side with Democrats, because I've liked every president they've had in the 20th century, except for LBJ. Problem is that Hillary's gotten greedy with her campaign funds, Richardson just strikes me as not with it, Obama is a breath of fresh air seemingly without a plan, Edwards can come off as a real hypocrite from time to time. Out of all of those, though, I'd go with Obama and Edwards, since they seem to be on the same page with each other, and have kept their hands off of each other in this race. I just wish it wasn't that factor that makes me like them.

[JJ]

One other thing I wanted to mention.

Psudo wrote:

Front-line conservative pundit Ann Coulter has denounced Huckabee twice in the past month for his variations from the (her) conservative line, condeming him fir supporting "a nationwide smoking ban anyplace where people work, constitutional protection for sodomy, big government, higher taxes and government benefits for illegal aliens." [1] If she represents conservative thought, Huckabee lacks the evangelical conservative credentials so often attributed to him.

Coulter's opposition is interesting, because of her obvious frustration. She feels like she is talking into the wind, because other conservatives fail to realize just how stupid and useless Huckabee really is as a politician. She thinks they're too swept away by his (in her mind, largely media created) Evangelical bona fides to pause and consider his numerous policy failings.

Buried under all the vitriol is I think a fairly reasonable thesis- Red State Republicans are ultimately lazier, less intellectually conservative candidates simply because there is no real pressure for them to be otherwise. Blue staters like Giuliani and Romney have to be more skilled debaters with better elevator speeches because otherwise they'd never be able to win the trust of liberal electorates.

Huckabee can be seen as a bit of a lazy coaster, just like Fred Thompson, or George W. Bush for that matter. Someone who fits the right profile of what a Republican candidate is "supposed to" look, act, and sound like, in terms of religion and region and "values" and all that. The problem is that without a level of intellectualism or charisma on top of that, the candidate can only hope for a very narrow "base" victory, like the one Huckabee got in Iowa.

Romney and Giuliani and McCain are basically in favor of all the same evil liberal things Coulter slams Huckabee for favoring, but the difference is that the first three favor them out of political necessity and strategy, while Huckabee just favors them because he doesn't really understand what his party is supposed to stand for in the first place.

Almost all of these arguments are debatable, but they make a kind of sense.

[EmperorLiam]

You know, the only other Republican other than Romney or Huckabee to win a county in Iowa was Ron Paul.

He got 10%, in Iowa overall, in IOWA!!! Shit, I mean everyone predicted a Huckabee win in Iowa, thats not even news. How did Ron Paul do better than even the most GENEROUS estimates in a state he didn't even campaign in.


I see Democrats winning either way in the end...