Today on the Hot Seat Huckabee was asked what is the first thing he would do as Prez? Answer: The Fair Tax!

http://www.foxnewsinsider.com/2011/01/1 ... Insider%29

Part 1:


Mike Huckabee sits in the Happening Now Hotseat with Jenna Lee and discusses the following economic issues:

Congress and the Debt ceiling
* Congress needs to stop the spending before they raise the debt ceiling.

Where should the Republican suggest to make cuts and make cuts now?
*An across the board cut of 5 to 10% of everything, every agency has got to go find that.
* Need to take a longterm look at Medicaid/Medicare.
*Adjustments, make changes at the state level. States have proven their ability to save money, but they can't as long as their hands are tied by the federal government.

Obamacare
* Bureaucratic nightmare for small businesses.
* Repeal is better than tinkering with healthcare.
* Repeal will pass in the House but tougher battle in the Senate.

Part 2:


Budget Problems with the States: Would you give the states a bailout?
*A bailout for the states would be the biggest mistake of all because it perpetuates the problem. States are in trouble because there is a structural issue that needs to be addressed. States basically do 3 things: educate, medicate and incarcerate. In most states, that represents 90% of state budgets.

Which poses 3 questions?

* How do you control the cost of education without losing the quality?
* How do you reign in the cost of medicaid which is even a bigger cost that medicare?
* What can we do in our correction system so that we do not try to incarcerate ourselves out of the crime problem?

*The last thing the states need is a federal mandate telling them what they must do.

What is the first thing that you would do as President? What is the first topic that you would tackle?
*Tackle the economic structure of how we tax and how we do our spending.
*Discusses the pluses of the FAIRTAX-productivity kind of environment.

What about a decision on a Presidential run?
*It will come later than earlier.

"Tackle the economic structure of how we tax and how we use our spending."
Understanding the outrage at Daniels' even less now.......he said more or less the same thing but was vilified for using the word "truce"

I think social issues are hard to deal with, mostly because of the Supreme court screwing everything up. Appointing good supreme court justices and amending the constitution are great things which I know Huckabee will prioritize. But it's not the kind of things you can do as quickly as you can change the tax structure, something I think will be surprisingly easy (easier than getting a majority of the Supreme court to turn against Roe v Wade).

Daniels said essentially that as long as we are having economic troubles, we must have a truce on social issues. Chances are that it will take 5 years before unemployment is back at the levels it were during the boom. So social issues wouldn't be discussed for five years! That's not what Huckabee talks about.

The FairTax is likely to be implemented long before any significant changes in the social policies of the US has been made. I hate it as much as the next guy, but those issues are hard to legislate in.

Seriously? You think what he said was the same as using the word "truce"? He was asked a straightforward question and he answered it. This was so far from the same thing.

Be sure to click the Part One segment link right below the video to see the rest of the hot seat if you are interested. He is so good at being able to answer any question immediately in a clear, easy-to-understand fashion, unlike the rambling ons of other potential candidates.

As an outspoken socon I did not get "I want the Fair Tax so the social issues will have to wait" out of this. Huckabee does not have to solidify his social conservative credentials. I have no doubt that if/when he becomes POTUS he will try to pass a Human Life Amendment and a Federal Marriage Amendment. But as Wendero said, the courts must be dealt with first otherwise these issues will just be overturned (unconstitutionally) by activist judges.

Huckabee can walk and chew gum at the same time. One issue will not over-shadow another.

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"We fought, we dreamed, that dream is still with us."
Ronald Reagan, 1976

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I'm wondering whether Daniels just made an unfortunate choice when he used the word "truce". I think he may have meant that in spite of the fact that we disagree on social issues, we don't have to fold our arms, clench our jaw, and refuse to talk about economic matters about which we might arrive at an agreement/compromise. He said that he was directing his "truce" comment especially to the left; we on the right could also agree to discuss the economy with those who hold liberal social views. (Daniels does have a good voting record on social issues.)

Having said that, I never want to sweep social matters under the rug or set them aside. As Huckabee has said, they have an impact on all facets of American life--including the economy. Would Daniels agree with that? I'd like to ask him.

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"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:5)

I understand why Daniels would want to walk back his "truce" talk (and especially his statement that he "didn't know" whether he would reinstate the band on the use of U.S. federal development funds for abortions [Mexico City]).

But I'm not a cabbage. He was not calling out the liberals to put down their weapons in the culture war. He was calling for unilateral disarmament by traditional values conservatives. Daniels made clear that he was asking social conservatives to forgo their agenda because he believes the economic and debt crisis a more serious and imminent threat. That is not surprising coming from a former Budget director and one can make an argument that the debt crisis is just as much a moral imperative as opposing abortion and defending traditional marriage.

Daniels is free to make that argument but he seems to now understand that he will not be particularly well received if he does.

To me the truly disappointing aspect of Daniels "truce" talk is that it accepts the false framework which not only separates "social issues" from "fiscal issues" but even puts them in opposition.

I suppose in theory there is always a Sophia's choice, or who gets to drink the last water in the lifeboat, kind of ranking at the core of every situation. God after all demands our love for Him above even our fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. But we are called to this duty ONLY if those individuals are preventing us from obtaining His reconciliation. It is not ordained nature for such a choice to be needed. He gave us, fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers and expects us to love them and for them to help us in our loving of God. There is no natural tension in what he wants. He desires us to love them, AS we love him, and to be more capable of loving them BECAUSE we love Him. The plan is not to view them as pitted against one another.

Mr. Daniels has shown us who will get the last dram of water from the lifeboat's cistern. His argument is that fiscal collapse is upon us and we cannot be distracted by those concerns which can be dealt with at a later date. But what is the later date for 1.3 million annual abortions? And how exactly does one stop fiscal collapse?

How will a morally bankrupt people escape fiscal bankruptcy? Both come from the same source - the wanton assertion of the individual's immediate desires above their own and other’s long term good.

We need a leader who understands that the fiscal and moral health of a nation is as interconnected as Loving God with all your heart and Loving your neighbor as yourself.

I like Mitch Daniels. But he is not that leader.

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"As for us, our days of combat are over. Our swords are rust. Our guns will thunder no more. The vultures that once wheeled over our heads must be buried with their prey. Whatever of glory must be won in the council or the closet, never again in the field. I do not repine. We have shared the incommunicable experience of war; we have felt, we still feel, the passion of life to its top."

Oliver Wendell Holmes

If we have a truce, does that mean Hollywood would have to stop releasing movies showing how cool drugs, premarital sex and alcohol is? That's how liberals advance the most. It's not by court decisions, it is by changing the culture.

It can not be understated. My wife has no idea who Mitch Daniels is, but one look at him and she said, "He will never make it." If you don't have looks, you need personality and Daniels has neither. Just the facts. Its not always about policy.