Merry Christmas

We at Main Street America hope that you and your family have a wonderful Christmas.

The blog posts will resume with more regularity after Christmas. Thanks for reading and stay safe this Christmas.

Mike Huckabee Talks about Christmas Ad

Huckabee gives a good explanation of the story behind the very popular/maligned Christmas ad that he has been running.

Bill O’Reilly on Huckabee Christmas Ad

I have been working twelve hour days these last few days so I have missed the first run of The Factor and have had to watch the 10pm re-airing. I’m glad I took the time to watch this evening.

Bill O’Reilly did a segment this evening about Huckabee’s Christmas ad. O’Reilly did not understand why everyone was making such a fuss over it. He seemed to believe that it was just a nice gesture of good will during this Christmas season. The Republican and Democratic commentators he had on with him both believed that Huckabee had slightly more sinister things in mind. The democrat stated that she felt Huckabee was trying to paint himself as “more Christian” and the Republican said that the ad might hurt him outside of Iowa.

I disagree with both of them. At most, I feel that Huckabee was trying to draw a contrast between himself and other candidates. His Christmas ad will allow him to keep his face in the media without drawing the ire of the public for being overly negative during the Christmas season. I don’t believe he was trying to say he is a better Christian than anyone.

Huckabee has so far had the most talked about ads this election cycle. His Chuck Norris ad has given him a lot of free press and the Christmas ad has done the same. Those who are trying to sink Huckabee by speaking out against this ad are having their plans back fire. Most of the American public are going to see the Huckabee ad as a nice gesture and will be appreciative that a candidate is willing to air such a positive message over Christmas. Those in the media who are critisizing him are giving him a lot of free air time and are also going to alienate the American people because, I believe, most will side with Huckabee on this one.

Mike Huckabee on Larry King

I just finished watching Mike Huckabee on Larry King this evening. Here are some observations:

1. Huckabee seemed very relaxed during the entire interview. It looks like he has started getting used to the ever increasing barrage of attacks and he is not letting them get to him.

2. He came off very well during the interview. He sounded like he knew his position well, and King gave him enough time to give adequate responses to the questions and comments.

3. Huckabee, although given the opportunity, refused to engage in the outright attempts at character assassination that some of his rivals have engaged in. One of the things that sets him apart and that makes him so appealing is that Hukcabee believes he can become President, not by bashing his opponents into oblivion, but by offering America a better candidate.

4. Chuck Norris has turned out to be a great asset for Huckabee. His endorsement was not a one time sound bite. Norris has been very generous in giving his time and energy to help Huckabee get elected. It is not very often that you see a celebrity so invested in a candidate.

I have to give Huckabee and his team some major props. These last few weeks have undoubtedly been very challenging for the campaign. Huckabee has faced intense scrutiny from all corners of the media. I was afraid that Huckabee might start to lose some of his energy and positive attitude. Well, Huckabee has overcome this latest string of attacks, and if this evening’s interview was any indication, he is ready to go even higher in the polls.

Huckabee on The O’Reilly Factor (Round 2)

I caught the 10pm re-run of The Factor last night so that I could see how O’Reilly handled himself this time around. I was not hopeful when his talking points and his first question to the governor had to do with religious issues. I did not want to watch another interview where the only questions Huckabee got asked had to do with religion.

However, I feel that O’Reilly was much more respectful in this interview. He did not have the condescending tone in this interview that his previous one had. I was disappointed that Huckabee had very little chance to address policy, but both he and Chuck Norris got to plug the website several times. Also, as much as I dislike how huge a role religion has come to play in politics, I felt that O’Reilly gave Huckabee a chance to address some of the criticisms that have been raised against him of late. I thought that Huckabee being able to address the question about turning the office of the President into that of a theocratic ruler was a good thing to set straight.

In the end, the interview did not break any new ground. It did, however, get Huckabee some good face time in front of millions of Americans. The interview also gave Huckabee a chance to clear the air of some of the accusations being leveled against him and most importantly to refer people to his website so that they can learn more about him.

Huckabee on “Money & Politics” (Bloomberg TV)

Gov. Huckabee taped an appearance that will air later today on Money & Politics on the Bloomberg network. But a transcript of that interview is already available. It is a must read for anyone wanting to see more into Gov. Huckabee’s campaign, policy positions, and the man himself.

A couple of excerpts:

MR. COOK: Are you worried about inheriting a recession if you are indeed the next president of the United States?

GOV. HUCKABEE: Well, I think every president has to be worried about the what-ifs. But I learned as a governor, you basically are hired to handle the what-ifs. That’s the job. It’s not the things you plan for; it’s the things you don’t plan for. That’s when character and judgment come into play. It’s not that hard a job just to take out the normal routine, cut the ribbons, make the speeches; you really get paid for handling the crises, the things that nobody saw coming. I did that as a governor for 10 and a half years. That’s what a president has to do. And that’s when you need someone with executive experience who knows that you don’t have weeks to have committee meetings. You make a decision; you’ve got to pull the trigger on it and you’ve got to take action. And then you have to take responsibility for that action. That’s why a president gets elected.

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MR. COOK: Immigration, another big issue to the business community, a big issue to voters there in Iowa as we’ve seen in polling – this week, you unveiled your own ideas on immigration, including a plan that requires anyone in the country illegally to return home first before giving a possible path to citizenship. Is that really going to work? Aren’t there a lot of illegals who simply won’t step forward if they face the prospect of this touch-back provision?

GOV. HUCKABEE: Well, here’s the thing: Everyone living in this country ought to be able to live with their heads held up not down. Nobody ought to be in fear and hiding to be in the United States. The plan that we call for says they go back, they start at the back of the line, not the front. So you get rid of amnesty, take that off of the table. You have secure borders. But all of this is predicated upon the United States government having a modernized system that doesn’t take eight years of paperwork to get a permit to come pick lettuce.

Let’s face it. The real problem here is not that people want to come to America. Heck, I’d want to come here too if I lived anywhere else on Earth. The problem is a dysfunctional, incompetent government that’s never modernized this process and now have people feeling the only way that they can survive is to break the law and cross borders. Secure those borders, create a real system that puts the people who have been standing in line legally first. The others would come in after them. It can be done. You can get a credit-card application processed virtually overnight and certainly within a few days. And if our government is so incompetent that it can’t do it, then we’ll outsource the process to American Express because I’m pretty sure they could make it work.

The difference of two degrees….

In another non-election post, I wanted to let everyone know my town escaped the worst of the ice storm, somehow, by the temperature going up two degrees on Tuesday. To the north and west here in Kansas, and in Oklahoma, it’s an entirely different story. My parents have power, but are in the minority in their county. My sister and her family do not have power, and it may be several days till their town gets the power back on. So to keep my adorable nephew warm (I’m not partial at all!), my sister’s temporarily housed with Mom and Dad, while her husband stays back in town, to help out there. Powerlines are down all over the rural areas. Many other towns in Northeast Kansas are in a similar situation.

Thankfully, Kansas received its federal disaster declaration tonight from President Bush. Hopefully this will bring much needed assistance to the state. Please be praying for safety, and that the power will be quickly restored up here, as well as in other areas of the country that were affected by this storm, as towns and rural water districts struggle to even get water to customers. Thanks.

Meanwhile, I’ve got a multitude of ideas circulating, as usual, but nothing has been written yet. There’s a problem between getting the thoughts transferred from my brain, through my fingertips to this keyboard, and onto the blog. Keep checking back for more of Caleb’s great posts, and hopefully someday soon, more of my thoughts on Huckabee’s rise, his candidacy, America’s future, and politics in general.

Huckabee Emerges from Debate without Incident

Here is an interesting article from Newsday.

Newly crowned Iowa frontrunner Mike Huckabee escaped the last presidential debate before the Jan. 3 vote here seemingly without a scratch Wednesday while the man he’s threatening to overtake nationally, Rudy Giuliani, was on the defensive over security for trips to see his then-girlfriend.

The debate today had the potential to hurt Huckabee because of the large amount of negative press he has been receiving of late. I have heard several commentators say that the debate was the least meaningful of the debates thus far, but that would not have stopped the media from jumping all over a misstep by any of the candidates. I would argue that for Huckabee winning this debate was not as important as not making any serious mistakes or giving the media any juicy five second sound bites to use against him.

The important thing for Huckabee now is making sure that his message gets heard above the din of attacks by the media and other politicians. The reason why his poll numbers have been increasing is because his message has been resonating with the people. His rivals could hurt him if they can make him go into a constant defense. Mike Huckabee on the offensive is a political force to reckoned with and he has been unstoppable thus far. I believe that if he can stay on the offensive and keep pushing his message to the masses then he will come out on top.

The Folks on The Fair Tax

I found an interesting page on the Wall Street Journal website that gives the responses of some every day Americans to critics of the Fair Tax.

Collecting taxes at the retail level is already in place and much more easily monitored by the states. Compare that to our current system and think how it would reduce enforcement. In addition, with point of sale collection you don’t have to be a citizen nor declare how you got the money. If you spend it, we collect at the time. How simple is that?

Joe Alsenz
Grove, Okla.

Complicated rebate system? “The monthly prebate check is calculated by multiplying the annual poverty level spending published each year by the Department of Health and Human Services times the FairTax rate and dividing by twelve.”

Don Venardos
Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The Fair Tax is one of Huckabee’s more radical proposals, but I believe it has a lot going for it. The problem is that not enough people know enough about it. I think that as more people find out about, it will become a much bigger issue. The debate among Republicans over taxes will become very interesting if the Fair Tax rises in popularity because on one side you will have people advocating tax cuts and on the other side you will have people advocating the complete elimination of our current tax system. Even if the Fair Tax is never enacted, the debate would do this country and our tax system good. At the least, we might see some major reform in our current tax system and that would certainly be a positive thing.

Huckabee on Hannity and Colmes

I happened to catch H&C this evening by chance. I have almost stopped watching any televised news because I have been so disgusted with all the major news outlets of late.

They announced that Governor Huckabee would be on the show so I decided to listen to what Huckabee had to say this evening.

Here is what I noticed:

1. Why is it that many of the big name conservatives seem more content to attack Huckabee for things from many years ago that to talk about the issues of today? He has already answered the questions multiple times. It would be nice if they would give Huckabee more time to talk about his vision for America. The people of America want to get to know Huckabee, but a lot of conservative personalities are content to talk only about the few quibbles they have with his record. He has been criticized for lack of foreign policy experience, why not ask about that? He has released a nine point immigration plan, why not ask about that?

2. So far, and this may change, more liberals have given him the chance to actually talk about his policies. Huckabee has a lot to offer America but a lot of the message gets drowned out by people in his own party trying to kill his campaign.

3. Newt Gingrich said that Huckabee needs to come up with short sound bites to answer the criticisms that continue to pop up. I agree. Perhaps if he gives the same answer, the exact same way, over and over, it will start to sink in.

Huckabee is really facing a make or break portion of his campaign. If he can overcome the barrage of attacks that have been leveled at him, he has a good shot at the nomination. He will have to do that by going on the offensive by answering the criticisms quickly and forcefully, and by injecting comments about his policies and vision for American into otherwise negative interviews. I believe that people want to hear what the governor has to say, this is why he has done so well in debates. His message is resonating with the people and it seems that some in the media are afraid of its continued spread.

Hopefully, as he continues to answers the latest criticisms, Huckabee will be able to push his message through the smoke screen the media is trying to set up around him. If he can do that, I believe is momentum in the polls will continue and we may have a new national front runner on our hands within the next few weeks.