Huckabee in GOP top tier

[Soldier4Christ]

Wiley was a word that came to my mind. The Lord has a way in giving us the wisdom that is needed to accomplish His will.

[Soldier4Christ]

Huckabee: Romney should be queried about LDS beliefs

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee says fellow Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney should be asked some tough questions about his Mormon faith.



The former Massachusetts governor will be speaking tomorrow at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas on "religious tolerance" and "keeping faith in the public square." The speech, titled "Faith in America," will not detail specific teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He tells Associated Press he is hopeful that his willingness to discuss religion openly will convince critical evangelical Christians that he is worthy of their support.

During a Republican presidential debate last week on CNN, when Romney was asked whether he believes every word in the Bible, he stammered a bit and then said, "Yeah, the Bible is the Word of God .... I might interpret the word differently than you interpret the word, but I read the Bible and I believe the Bible is the Word of God."

Governor Huckabee says he "unapologetically" believes in the "inerrant, infallible scriptures," adding that "if that's a deal breaker for somebody, they'll just have to break the deal."

"I could see that other candidates were squirming on that question," Huckabee tells OneNewsNow when asked about the debate. "For many of us who love the Word of God and who live by it, it's not to me a great challenge to be able say we believe -- and I find it harder to say I don't believe it than I do."

Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister who has faced some pointed questions about his faith while on the campaign trail, says Governor Romney should not be exempt from such questioning. "If we're going to ask me about my faith, let's ask all the candidates about theirs," he suggests. "Now as you noticed, I'm not hesitant or reluctant to talk about mine."

In early November, Romney did not rule out addressing his faith in a speech, but said he had been warned by his political advisers that it was "not a good idea" because it would draw too much attention to that issue alone. Now a Romney spokesman has stated that during his speech on Thursday, the GOP presidential candidate will share his views on religious liberty, religious tolerance, and how his Mormon "faith would inform his presidency if he were elected."

Polls show Romney is losing ground to Huckabee in Iowa, which holds presidential caucuses January 3.

[Soldier4Christ]

Huckabee bristles at creationism query

DES MOINES, Iowa - Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist preacher who has surged in Iowa with evangelical Christian support, bristled Tuesday when asked if creationism should be taught in public schools.

Huckabee - who raised his hand at a debate last May when asked which candidates disbelieved the theory of evolution - asked this time why there is such a fascination with his beliefs.

"I believe God created the heavens and the Earth," he said at a news conference with Iowa pastors who murmured, "Amen."

"I wasn't there when he did it, so how he did it, I don't know," Huckabee said.

But he expressed frustration that he is asked about it so often, arguing with the questioner that it ultimately doesn't matter what his personal views are.

"That's an irrelevant question to ask me - I'm happy to answer what I believe, but what I believe is not what's going to be taught in 50 different states," Huckabee said. "Education is a state function. The more state it is, and the less federal it is, the better off we are."

The former Arkansas governor pointed out he has advocated for broad public school course lists that include the creative arts and math and science. Why, then, he asked, is evolution such a fascination?

In fact, religion seems to be more of an issue in the GOP Iowa caucuses with one month left before the voting.

In recent weeks, Huckabee has moved from the back of the pack in the state to challenge longtime leader Mitt Romney, who would be the first Mormon president. The race is now a dead heat, with the Iowa caucuses - the first contest in the nomination fight - set for Jan. 3. Christian evangelicals, by many estimates, make up anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent of Republicans who will attend the caucuses.

Huckabee, at a dinner in Des Moines, told reporters that the theory of intelligent design, whose proponents believe an intelligent cause is the best way to explain some complex and orderly features of the universe, should be taught in schools as one of many viewpoints. "I don't think schools ought to indoctrinate kids to believe one thing or another," he said.

Earlier Tuesday in Newton, Iowa, Huckabee wouldn't say whether he thought Mormonism - rival Romney's religion - was a cult.

"I'm just not going to go off into evaluating other people's doctrines and faiths. I think that is absolutely not a role for a president," the former Arkansas governor said.

While he said he respects "anybody who practices his faith," Huckabee said that what other people believe - he named Republican rivals Romney, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton - "is theirs to explain, not mine, and I'm not going to."

He also resisted wading into theology when pressed to explain why some evangelicals don't view the Mormon faith as a Christian denomination.

For months, Romney held wide leads in polls in the state, but he also has faced skepticism about his religion. The former Massachusetts governor plans to address his faith in a major speech Thursday in Texas.

Huckabee has consolidated the support of influential religious conservatives, primarily by reaching out to a network of pastors across the state. He spoke privately Monday night to several hundred gathered in Des Moines for a conference, the only presidential candidate to do so.

He appeared with more than 60 Iowa pastors endorsing him at a news conference Tuesday, including best-selling author Tim LaHaye of "Left Behind" fame and his wife, Beverly. Also endorsing him was Chuck Hurley, an influential Iowa conservative who had backed Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a conservative who quit the race in October.

LaHaye called Huckabee "the most electable candidate who shares our commitment."

As he has risen in polls, Huckabee has emphasized his own faith and in recent weeks has sought to draw subtle distinctions with his rivals by running a TV ad on the issue in the state.

"Faith doesn't just influence me. It really defines me. I don't have to wake up every day wondering what do I need to believe," Huckabee says in the ad. "Let us never sacrifice our principles for anybody's politics. Not now, not ever."

A group affiliated with Huckabee supporters has begun taking on his rivals directly, organizing caucus-goers in Iowa and making automated phone calls that favor Huckabee and criticize his rivals. Huckabee has urged an end to the calls; Romney on Tuesday asked Iowa's attorney general to investigate the group's activities.

Huckabee said an investigation "would be fine with me."

"As you heard me say, I repudiate anything that attacks another person. It does not help us. I believe it hurts us."

[Soldier4Christ]

Most overlooked issue in presidential debates


Despite that candidates like Mitt Romney have outspent Mike Huckabee 20 to 1 on the campaign trail, Mike has a 2 to 1 lead over Romney in Iowa and is placing No. 1 in some national polls.

Newt Gingrich said this past week that Mike Huckabee could "absolutely" win the Republican presidential nomination. "People tend to underestimate him. This is a man who got more than 40 percent of the African-American vote in Arkansas, getting re-elected as governor. He has a very attractive personality."

Is this an important issue to anyone but Mike?

While Huckabee and I were being interviewed on Newt's radio broadcast, Mike mentioned two facts about education that shocked me.

The first is in 905 total minutes of formal Republican debate time thus far, only two questions amounting to roughly four minutes of air time have been given to address the topic of education and America's kids. And the majority of that time appears to have originated at the Values Voter debate, where most of the front-tiered candidates didn't even show!

The second is that every day 6,000 students leave the approximately 94,000 public schools in America. By the time you read this column about 12 more will follow.

Both of those facts reveal alarming disproportions. The first should be far more and the second far less. If the first is properly proportionate, the second must not be a problem to those creating questions for the debates. But if the second truly demonstrates an attritional and educational crisis, time for the first should be far better allocated.

Mike's plan to fix our public schools, halt that exodus, and provide citizens with support for alternate sources of education is exactly what our country needs. But to date, he has not been asked one question in any formal debate about it.

Stop the governmental bureaucracy over education

Mike believes the government needs less of a role in running our children's education and more of a role in supporting parents' educational decisions for their children. Children belong to their parents, not the government. And the parents ought to have the right and government support to personalize their child's education as they so wish. And where the Department of Education, unions or any other organizations impede their decisions, they must be stopped.

Mike would shift the emphasis of the centralized federal gridlock on education and place it more directly upon the people of each state. If education reform is going to happen, it is going to happen at that level. As our Constitution grants, "we the people" must have more power to modify, create and expand our educational options. The No Child Left Behind act is a step in the right direction, but we need to go even further.

Personalize education and curriculum

Mike's plan is to raise the standard of education – and he's not merely talking math and science scores. No doubt we must do better and score higher nationally and internationally in those courses, and Mike has the experience to help us. Test scores rose dramatically when he was governor of Arkansas because of his education reforms.

But, if we expect to stop the attrition in our public schools and build a better tomorrow, we must do more than increase students' knowledge and skills of arithmetic and the experimental world.

We have created a left-brain lopsided educational system. We tell kids to sit down, be quiet, and merely attempt to download information into their brains. We've fostered programming not ingenuity. So why is it a surprise that our students are bored out of their minds, unchallenged, and our classrooms have turned into babysitting centers of undisciplined minds and unruly behavior?

Mike believes America's survival and prosperity will be obtained and maintained by creativity and innovation, so that the educational world should create an academic environment that produces those. He believes we should personalize and design a core curriculum around each student, rather than forcing every student into a universally intellectual mold. He espouses that we send into our schools "weapons of mass instruction" to increase the right-side of education again with music and the arts.

We need a complete overhaul of curriculum and the methodology of how we educate. We need education that produces the caliber of people that we want to run our country in the future, with more leadership training, community participation programs and more practical classes on managing homes, businesses, investments, civility, marriage and parenting.

And we must not fear conservative curriculum courses like world religion, ethics, Intelligent Design, and the most overlooked yet embedded text in Western culture and civilization – the Bible – which even our Founders expected us to teach.

Provide further support for educational options

If states continue to oppose conservative curricula and impose overarching liberal educational revisions and law like California recently enacted in SB777, which will in the end reverse discrimination against religious students and students with traditional family values, public schools should continue to expect an increased exodus. (A petition drive has until Dec. 20 to repeal SB777.)

And what if public schools don't change? The minds and hearts of our children are on the line. And if the curricula don't match the values in our homes, then we must seek other alternatives. If it doesn't fit, we must omit! We must remove our children from the public schools and seek private ones, chartered ones or homeschooling co-ops.

As far back as the late '80s, and then as governor, Huckabee has always been a big backer of educational alternatives to public schools. He's always been passionate about children's education, period! That enthusiasm even carried to his daughter Sarah, who attempted to correct academic wrongs when she worked for two years in the Department of Education.

Education that 'shall forever be encouraged'

Lastly, Mike believes America ought to make the profession of teaching much more attractive and esteemed. We need to create a new level of appreciation for teachers. If we believe our children are our future, then we must re-establish that teaching is one of the most vital professions to America's welfare and future.

The fact is we currently don't believe that. That is why we've only heard two questions and spent no more than four minutes in 15 hours of national debate on the issue of education.

When will our liberal media get a clue? The public wants to hear about real issues and how the candidates can improve the future of America, not just about the size of the holes that pundits can puncture or blast in candidates' records.

Education is the next big issue our country and its presidential candidates need to address. Our Founding Fathers still cry out for us to remember its essential constituency in our republic. As in 1789 when President Washington signed into law the Northwest Ordinance, stating, "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

That's where Mike Huckabee stands on education – and I support him for it. One more reason why he's my choice for president, and I believe we should all join his team, spread word about him.

[HisDaughter]

[Brother Jerry]

The man is just plain smart.
I can only pray that he not only wins but is not hamstrung by the Democratic Congress.

[Soldier4Christ]

DEMS HOLD FIRE ON HUCKABEE; SEE 'EASY KILL' IN GENERAL ELECTION


Democrat party officials are avoiding any and all criticism of Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee, insiders reveal.

The Democratic National Committee has told staffers to hold all fire, until he secures the party's nomination.

The directive has come down from the highest levels within the party, according to a top source.

Within the DNC, Huckabee is known as the "glass jaw -- and they're just waiting to break it."

In the last three weeks since Huckabee's surge kicked in, the DNC hasn't released a single press release criticizing his rising candidacy.

The last DNC press release critical of Huckabee appeared back on March 2nd.

[DNC Press Release Attack Summary:

Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) – 37% (99 press releases)
Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY) – 28% (74)
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) – 24% (64)
Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) – 8% (20)
Governor Mike Huckabee – 2% (4)]

In fact, as the story broke over the weekend that Huckabee said he wanted to isolate AIDS patients back in 1992, the DNC ignored the opportunity to slam the candidate from the left.

"He'll easily be their McGovern, an easy kill," mocked one senior Democrat operative Tuesday morning from Washington.

"His letting out murderers because they shout 'Jesus', his wanting to put 300,000 AIDS patients and Magic Johnson into isolation, ain't even scratching the surface of what we've got on him."

The discipline the Democrats have shown in not engaging Huckabee has earned the praise of one former Republican Party official:

"The Democrats are doing a much better job restraining themselves than the GOP did in 2003 when Howard Dean looked like he was on the brink of winning the nomination."

A close friend to Huckabee explains: "Look, Mike is Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. They should be squirming."

[Soldier4Christ]

The truth os the matter is that they don't have anything on him. The only thing they can say about him would simply bring out their own weaknesses and failures into the limelight.

[nChrist]

The truth os the matter is that they don't have anything on him. The only thing they can say about him would simply bring out their own weaknesses and failures into the limelight.

Brother, I have the same conclusion. However, many people don't view good morals as a quality these days. We live in a sick world, and many people would rather hear someone is fighting for gay rights and continued abortions.

Love In Christ,
Tom

 

[Soldier4Christ]

Mike Huckabee: Standing Tall For The Second Amendment


To most Americans, Mike Huckabee is probably best known for shedding 110 pounds. But gun owners may remember the former Arkansas Governor as a man who stood firm for the Constitution, and in particular, the Second Amendment, in the face of unspeakable horror.

On March 24, 1998, Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson went to a Jonesboro, Arkansas middle school, pulled a fire alarm, and from a nearby wooded area shot and killed four students and a teacher.

The Jonesboro incident was the third in a string of school shootings, and the calls for gun control were deafening. President Bill Clinton, who had been Arkansas' Governor several years earlier, not surprisingly led the charge to restrict gun ownership.

People across the country also saw, most for the first time, Governor Huckabee. Would he join those exploiting the tragedy for political purposes and compromise on gun rights? Many people expected him to do just that, but even as the media, the president and anti-gun activists from around the country derided him, the Governor stood by his convictions to uphold the rule of law.

Instead of jumping on the bandwagon to add to the burgeoning list of gun laws on the books, Governor Huckabee talked about personal responsibility and the obsession with violence widespread among this country's youth.

On NBC’s Today Show, Governor Huckabee refused to allow host Katie Couric to blame law-abiding gun owners for the shooting:

    Couric: Governor Huckabee, this is the third deadly shooting to take place in the South in the last five months. And some criminal experts have ventured a guess that southern society, which has a more permissive attitude towards guns and hunting, and perhaps in some circles even glamorizes those things, that that might have been a factor in some -- in this recent spade of shootings. What's your view of that?

    Gov. Huckabee: I take strong exception to that kind of view. Southerners may have a very positive view toward the ownership of firearms and even hunting, but we don't have a positive view about murder, and we certainly don't have a positive view toward murder in a schoolyard.

Two years later, Governor Huckabee was involved in another widely publicized Second Amendment debate. In 2000, much of the firearms industry was involved in a series of bogus lawsuits brought by cities, states, and the federal government.

Gun maker Smith & Wesson relented to pressure from the Clinton Administration to settle out of court, and agree on nearly all of the outlandish charges brought in the lawsuits.

In return for this, the company would be rewarded with state and federal government contracts. New York's Attorney General (now Governor) Elliot Spitzer sent a letter to elected officials across the country urging them to support the deal.

Governor Huckabee responded less than enthusiastically.

"Gun manufacturers make the Second Amendment a viable right rather than some theoretical proposition. I will not abuse my authority as governor to pursue their demise or dictate their business practices through coercion," he wrote.

"I will not seek the capitulation of firearm manufacturers through the use of asinine lawsuits or the doling out of taxpayer-funded government contracts. I regret that you feel either of these tactics to be worthwhile endeavors."

Governor Huckabee also signed a law prohibiting frivolous lawsuits against gun makers and eased restrictions on concealed carry permit holders in Arkansas.

Mike Huckabee has been in the heat of battle over gun rights and has proven himself to be a steadfast friend to gun owners and the Second Amendment.


Huckabee On The Issues Oppose reauthorization of of the 1994 semi-auto ban?    Yes

Oppose background checks on private firearms transactions at gun shows?       Yes

Oppose expansion the unconstitutional Brady law, as found in HR 297, introduced in 2007?   Yes

Oppose legislation requiring firearms intended for self-protection to be locked up when they are not in use?     Yes

Oppose a ban or further restrictions on .50 caliber firearms?    Yes

Oppose a waiting period for the purchase of a firearm?   Yes

Oppose a ban on any type of ammunition?   Yes

Support a repeal of the Washington, D.C., gun ban?    Yes

Support a repeal of the requirement that trigger locks be sold with every retail firearm?   Yes

Support recognition among the states to allow a person who has the right to carry a concealed weapon in his or her home state to have the right to carry in other states?    Yes

Will you Repeal the Executive Order banning the importation of certain semi-automatic rifles?  Yes


Will you nominate judges who interpret the Constitution as the Founders intended, rather than as a "living document" that reflects current political fads and opinion?    Yes

Will you issue an Executive Order directing that carrying weapons in national forests and parks be governed by local laws?       Yes

[Brother Jerry]

Well although I understand the mentality and I still love the man..I do disagree on some of the answers he did give to those questions.

Huckabee On The Issues Oppose reauthorization of of the 1994 semi-auto ban?    Yes
* Not really interested one way or another I guess.

Oppose background checks on private firearms transactions at gun shows?       Yes
* Agree completely with doing checks for guns.  Sure you have the right to bear arms, but convicts have been stripped of that right.  If we do not do checks on who is buying then we invite anyone at all coming over...9/11 could have been a gun shooting spree instead of planes.

Oppose expansion the unconstitutional Brady law, as found in HR 297, introduced in 2007?   Yes
I have not seen it so I cannot comment on it.

Oppose legislation requiring firearms intended for self-protection to be locked up when they are not in use?     Yes
*** I can agree with this...because wording sounds funny...when not in use but for self protection...I am sorry Mr. Burglar could you just wait a minute while I unlock my gun safe?

Oppose a ban or further restrictions on .50 caliber firearms?    Yes
*** There is NO ONE...I repeat NO ONE in the civilian sector that needs a 50 cal.

Oppose a waiting period for the purchase of a firearm?   Yes
*** I do not have a problem with waiting periods.  A cool down for those that may be purchasing to do harm.  If you honestly wanted a gun for good intentions (hunting and such) then you can wait...if not there is always next season.

Oppose a ban on any type of ammunition?   Yes
*** Again there is NO ONE in civy sector that needs armor piercing round, high explosives, or anything of that nature.

Support a repeal of the Washington, D.C., gun ban?    Yes
*** did not know there was one.  But should be a Mayor option and not Fed option.

Support a repeal of the requirement that trigger locks be sold with every retail firearm?   Yes
*** personally I think the gun manufactures should supply a basic one with every gun.  If you want something fancy then you pay for it.

Support recognition among the states to allow a person who has the right to carry a concealed weapon in his or her home state to have the right to carry in other states?    Yes
*** No.  That is a state level function.  If MA does not want to honor AL conceal status then so be it.  If you are travelling and conceal then get registered in every state you will be traveling too.  Bounty hunters have to register in every state they are going to pick people up...so gun laws should be similar.

Will you Repeal the Executive Order banning the importation of certain semi-automatic rifles?  Yes
*** I would not.  We do not import Cuban cigars and other products from there.  We should certainly be able to ban certain weapons from entering our country.

Will you nominate judges who interpret the Constitution as the Founders intended, rather than as a "living document" that reflects current political fads and opinion?    Yes
*** Kind of a loaded question there.  I agree that we have to understand the intentions of the law when it was written and not try to re-interpret it.  however the Constitution is a living document that we can amend and add to it when the need arises to do so.

Will you issue an Executive Order directing that carrying weapons in national forests and parks be governed by local laws?       Yes
*** to me this comes down to who is paying the bill.  If the national forests are being paid for by the Fed then it should be upheld by fed laws...otherwise state laws.

So I am a little one to another when it comes to the gun control.  I could not answer any of those with just a yes or no and I am sure Huckabee was limited in his ability to clarify.

[Soldier4Christ]

You are right, he wasn't permitted anything except a straight yes or no answer. example on the 50 cal. There is an exhibit displaying a PBR from the Viet Nam war. The Veterans setting up this exhibit wanted to include 50 cals on it to make it at least appear all original. They were willing to insure the fixing of it so that it could not be fired. That wasn't good enough for those that opposed it. The last I knew this group was still fighting for the right to have the 50 cals placed on the boat exhibit.

[Soldier4Christ]

Perkins says media attack on Huckabee a 'reverse religious test'

A prominent evangelical Christian leader says a "reverse religious test" is being applied to Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee because he believes his Christian faith should impact the way he lives. Tony Perkins says the attempt by elite secularists in the media to subject the surging GOP candidate to that test may not achieve its desired objective.



Mainstream news media outlets have been regurgitating comments Huckabee made as far back as 15 years ago regarding HIV/AIDS and homosexuality. Reporters are branding the ordained Southern Baptist minister's belief that homosexuality is an "aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle" as "controversial," and are pressuring the former Arkansas governor to retract a remark he made in 1992 about the need to "isolate the carriers" of AIDS. Media outlets also have been dredging up statements Huckabee made in the past stressing the need to "take this nation back for Christ."

Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council (FRC) in Washington, DC, says Huckabee is being subjected to the same reverse religious litmus test that was applied during judicial confirmation hearings between 2003 and 2005.

"Senator Charles Schumer of New York said that he was opposed to some of these nominees of the president because of their 'deeply held personal beliefs' and those beliefs coming from their faith -- in particular, regarding abortion and seeing it as wrong," Perkins points out. "So we see a reverse religious test being applied [saying essentially] that anyone who has a vibrant Christian faith that impacts their life will have to choose between that faith and serving in public office -- and that, simply, is wrong."

Perkins says "elite secularists" are trying single out Huckabee because of his evangelical Christian faith, and are attempting to "make him look scary" to the public because he, among other things, rejects evolution, believes in the Bible, and trusts in Jesus Christ. But such efforts, the evangelical leader suggests, may only serve to generate more support for Huckabee in the conservative Christian community.

"I think there's a clear understanding and an attitude [about this] among Christians," says the FRC president. "They're simply tired of the elites who belittle their beliefs and attempt to rob them of every public reflection of their faith -- and I think this could backfire."

According to Perkins, many Bible-believing Christians may choose to look past some of their policy differences with Huckabee to "stand by and support a candidate who is being attacked because he believes, as they do, that their Christian faith should impact the way they live." And if that happens, Perkins predicts that Huckabee's "meteoric rise" in recent polls "could look miniscule compared to the tsunami of support" he will get from sympathetic Christians.

[nChrist]

Perkins says "elite secularists" are trying single out Huckabee because of his evangelical Christian faith, and are attempting to "make him look scary" to the public because he, among other things, rejects evolution, believes in the Bible, and trusts in Jesus Christ. But such efforts, the evangelical leader suggests, may only serve to generate more support for Huckabee in the conservative Christian community.

UM? - Scary? - I don't think so! The "elite secularists" need to be sent home. It sounds like common sense to reject evolution, believe in the Bible, and Trust in JESUS CHRIST! The so-called "elite secularists" are only "elite" in their own minds. I for one, feel sorry for the "elite secularists", but the only thing they should be running is their own bath water.

[Soldier4Christ]

Best-selling author says Huckabee's tough talk on immigration doesn't match his record


Dr. Jerome Corsi, An investigative journalist and author says Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's recently released plan for strong border enforcement does not jive with his record as governor.

The former Arkansas governor proposes to stop illegal immigration with a border fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, more Border Patrol agents, and a policy that forces illegal aliens to return home before they can re-enter the U.S. legally. While this new tough stance has convinced Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist to endorse Huckabee, best-selling author Jerome Corsi says it does not match Huckabee's actions as governor.

"Huckabee has the same problem on immigration that Mitt Romney has -- and that is Mitt Romney and Huckabee, as governors, do not have a strong secure border record. And Huckabee's record is terrible," Corsi points out.

Corsi is highly critical of Huckabee for giving then Mexican President Vicente Fox what he calls a "sweetheart deal" to locate a Mexican consulate in Little Rock. (See earlier article) According to the highly acclaimed writer, the consulate deal is basically a calling card for illegal immigrants who are searching for a sanctuary state. Taking that into consideration, he says he doubts Huckabee would really crack down on illegal immigration if elected president.