The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 7 of 16)

Greg Hoadley br> Deerfield Beach, Florida /p>

Methinks that Mr. Neumayr doth protest over much. First I need to say that I am not a fan of McCain, or Romney, or Huckabee. I voted for Senator Thompson in the primary today. How is it that the same folks that are so upset about Mr. Romney changing his mind on a string of issues, do not want us to be upset about Huckabee doing the same thing. As Governor, Mr. Huckabee was every bit as liberal on the immigration issue as Sen. McCain or George Bush. Now he is trying to get to the right of Ron Paul on the issue. As Governor, he had no particular qualms about raising taxes in Arkansas. Now he wants to be a hero by eliminating the IRS and making everyone pay between 20 and 25 cents per dollar as a federal sales tax. Those on a fixed income ought to love that. Fuel oil in New Hampshire costs well over $3.00 per gallon, so if Huckabee had his way I would pay between 60 and 75 cents per gallon more to keep from freezing. A fill up now costs me over $1100.00, and it takes me 3 fill ups per heating season. You do the math to see how much more I would pay, I never was a math genius.

Now some of Mr. Huckabee's domestic pronouncements I don't care for, but I can live with. Crime control is not one of those issues. His list of pardons, commutations, and early parole recommendations is abysmal, as is the record of recidivism of those receiving the Governor's compassion. It would seem that any con that held a Bible while proclaiming his complete conversion was immediately put on a fast track out of prison. That is a huge issue with me.

Then there is the issue that trumps them all, foreign policy. It is one thing to have some different ideas from George Bush, but one ought to at least have some semi decent ideas that are based on an informed general knowledge of the subject. A decent idea does NOT include opining that President Bush and his administration have an arrogant bunker mentality. A decent idea does NOT include revealing that you have no idea what the National Intelligence Assessment is. You may think it is wrong, but someone running for POTUS ought to know what it is. A decent idea does NOT include revealing that you do not know the location of Afganistan and Pakistan relative to Iran. A decent idea does NOT include revealing that you do not know that the state of emergence in Pakistan had been lifted a couple of weeks ago, or saying that we, the U.S. should apologize for Ms. Bhutto's assassination. He doesn't have to be a foreign policy genius, but his level of ignorance of the world outside our borders, especially in that part of the world where they want to kill Americans, is scary.

His revealed ignorance on this subject shows someone that has not even tried to keep himself informed regarding world affairs. I am afraid to imagine what he will say when the subject turns to world economic issues and the interplay between various countries and the various world financial organizations. He has indicated that we ought to sit down and talk with countries that we have been talking to for years and are at logger heads with. In the world as it is today, we simply can not afford to wait for a President that is a complete novice in foreign relations to be tutored. Informed, intelligent decisions need to be made on a day to day basis, not after he goes through a series of cram courses. The security of our nation is far too important to be placed in the hands of someone that has spent the last however many years simply ignoring the rest of the world.

p>McCain, Romney, Thompson, Rudy G, and Hunter all have a huge head start on Huckabee in foreign policy. Ron Paul is an isolationist, so he is as bad or worse than Huckabee, in my humble opinion. br> -- Ken Shreve br> New Hampshire /p> p> In his article, George Neumayr writes that the "contempt for Huckabee is confusing." I have contempt for anyone who blatantly uses his religiosity, and also demeans an opponent's religion with subtle remarks to the press, to win an election. I wonder if Mr. Neumayr would be so "confused" if Huckabee's remarks were made against a Catholic's beliefs/rituals. br> -- Lucille McClure

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