The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Banking on Rush

10.26.07 @ 12:01AM

CHIP SHOTS
Re: Quin Hillyer's reply to John "Chip" Saltsman in Reader Mail's Huckabee for President Responds:

Dear Quin:

I saw your "reply" to my letter. Apparently I was not clear enough for you. Being a Southern gentleman, perhaps I was a little too polite. Let me try again.

Quin, I have a really hard time understanding why you failed to contact our campaign press office if your intent was anything other than to mislead and misinform your audience about Mike Huckabee's record as governor of Arkansas. Believe me, dozens, if not hundreds, of journalists do so on a daily basis. The lame excuse you cited really doesn't pass the "sniff" test.
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Regarding organizations like Club for Growth: They ignore the fact that Mike Huckabee was the first governor in Arkansas history to enact a broad-based tax cut. As governor, he led the fight to cut taxes almost 100 times, returning almost $400 million to the taxpayers. He doubled the standard deduction and the child care tax credit and eliminated the marriage penalty and the capital gains tax on the sale of a home. He reduced the capital gains tax for businesses and individuals. He indexed the income tax to protect people from paying higher taxes because of "bracket creep." In fact, he left office this past January with a surplus of almost $1 billion, which he urged should go back to the taxpayers. If that's not good conservative fiscal management, I don't know what is.

Regarding the Dumond case: What happened was a terrible tragedy. But the fact of the matter is that your article was riddled with inaccuracies, allegations and half-truths which were thoroughly investigated and put to rest by the voters of Arkansas in the governor's last election.
-- Chip Saltsman
Huckabee for President Campaign

Quin Hillyer replies:
Governor Huckabee's own former communications aide, David Sanders, wrote a piece on Oct. 17 that confirmed that Huckabee was very involved with the decision to let Wayne Dumond out of prison.

I stand by the words of my story.

STILL THE ONE
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s The Merry Sage of Broadcasting Excellence:

RET's delightful commentary on Rush Limbaugh's revenge against "Dingy Harry" Reid and his minions brought a smile to my face and a song to my heart. I followed El Rushbo's E-Bay auction of the letter sent to the Clear Channel CEO and while I thrilled as the bids escalated, I was totally unprepared for the final total. Delightful! But the fact that Reid decided to try to horn in on the act and declare that he somehow contributed to the realization of such a windfall for the Marine Corps -- Law Enforcement Foundation in some way has again brought me to my feet and declare my intentions of contributing to any conservative who attempts to unseat this cretin, even if I don't live in Nevada. There's got to be a rock in Searchlight, NV that we can send Reid packing back to, or better still, a hole in the ground

Mr. Tyrell's cracks about the lovely and talented Henry Waxman was simply the whipped cream frosting on the cake, particularly when RET indicated he'd "apologize for our thoroughly accurate report" (regarding Waxman's attempt at investigations into leading conservative talk show hosts like Rush, Hannity and Levin) once he (Waxman) did "the decent thing and purchase a toupee." I'm now torn between doing a Halloween jack-o-lantern modeled after Waxman's goblin features and erecting a cut-out picture in my yard of Dennis Kucinich in a tou-tou. Actually, I might do both. Ought to scare the living be-jeebers out of the kids in the neighborhood.
-- Jim Bjaloncik
Stow, Ohio

Rush Limbaugh must indeed be laughing all the way to the bank, even though he was making a withdrawal instead of a deposit. It was hilarious "watching" Ditzy Harry and the Gang of 41 who can't Shoot Straight trying to slap Rush around only to withdraw a bloodied stump. Now they're playing the part of the Black Night in "Monty Python's The Holy Grail:" it's just a flesh wound!

I wonder if the Gang has what it takes to try it again. Do the punks feel lucky? I do so hope they pull his string one more time...
-- Karl F. Auerbach
Eden, Utah

It would have been so easy for the Democrats to turn their lemon into lemonade by admitting, "Okay, you got us," and then writing checks of their own to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. However, humility is not in the genetic makeup of Democrats, is it? Pride goeth before the fall.
-- Kitty Myers
Painted Post, New York

Yes, Mr. Limbaugh's grandiose humor and ability to zero in on the real issues is a great gift and one which we would all do well to learn and emulate.

My two cents in this matter is that it is soooo easy for the Democrats to spend other people's moneys, but they cannot seem to part with their own, even in a gesture of good well. A couple of hundred bucks to the same charity would have been a nice gesture.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
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