more pokes at Huckabee-- by others and self-inflicted

Then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 2003, in a video clip the Club for Growth has converted into a TV commercial debuting this weekend:

"There's a lot of support for a tax at the wholesale level for tobacco, and that's fine with me; I will very happily sign that. Others have suggested a surcharge on the income tax; that's acceptable; I'm fine with that. Others have suggested perhaps a sales tax; that's fine. Yet others have suggested a hybrid that would collect some monies from any one or a combination of those various ideas, and if that's the plan that the House and Senate agree upon, you will have nothing but my profound thanks."


Fred Thompson on Mike Huckabee in a new mailer:

"Both Mike Huckabee and Bill Clinton earned a 'D' lifetime rating on the Cato Institute's scorecard of governors. . . . Mike Huckabee talks like a Republican but taxes like a Democrat."


Wall Street Journal columnist Kim Strassel on Mike Huckabee:

"If Mr. Huckabee does turn out to be everything Republicans 'want' or 'need' in a conservative, it will only be because the definition of a conservative has morphed to include tax hiking, protectionism, corporate scolding and an unserious approach to foreign policy."