Arm’s Length Conservatism

As you may have noticed by now, conservative commentators don't care much for Mike Huckabee. Rush Limbaugh says the former Arkansas governor is "not a conservative." Peggy Noonan considers Huckabee "not-reasonable." George Will sees Huckabee not as the antichrist but the anti-Madison, which one gathers is almost as bad, and compares him unfavorably to Barack Obama. What do all these high-profile conservatives have against Huckabee? Just his economic record, his philosophy of government, his approach to foreign policy, and his Arkansas clemencies, among other complaints. Iowa's Republican caucus-goers were nevertheless unmoved by all this bad conservative press. Huckabeee handily beat Mitt Romney, the candidate who had been endorsed by National Review, the head of the American Conservative Union, and New Right founding father Paul Weyrich. Now, if the polls are to be believed, New Hampshire's Republican primary may be won by a candidate movement conservatives don't like much better. Over the last eight years, John McCain has been at odds with the right side of his party on the Bush tax cuts, campaign finance reform, immigration, the Gang of 14, environmental regulations, embryonic stem-cell research, the federal marriage amendment, and the treatment of terror detainees. Even this list understates the anger some conservatives feel toward McCain, whom they view as a Strange New Respect Republican. Given the McCain surge and the Huckaboom, along the with the possibility that an early-state muddle will end up vindicating Rudy Giuliani's February 5th strategy, there is a growing likelihood that the eventual Republican nominee will be someone vast swathes of the conservative movement won't like. Such a development would be problematic for all sorts of reasons -- it would make the 2008 election that much harder for the GOP, jeopardize the already shaky alliance between economic and social conservatives, prolong the existence of big government conservatism, and otherwise mak...