Prominent Catholic Layman Says Huckabee is the Man

This is a pretty good letter written by William May. William May is associated with a great Organization called Catholic for the Common Good. I intend to highlight them more during the year. My commentary is at the bottom.

“Totally one-sided and misleading”
Prominent layman says Mike Huckabee better choice for Catholics than Fred Thompson

I am writing as Bill May. I am not getting involved in the presidential election because of my role in the non-partisan, issue-related organization Catholics for the Common Good.

But I can’t remain silent about the unanswered distortions about Mike Huckabee over Fred Thompson in the presidential race found in California Catholic Daily’s Jan. 11 posting, “Keeping the coalition together is the key to success.” It was an article covering the California Pro-Life Council's endorsement of Thompson for president. It was totally one-sided and misleading to Catholic voters. CCD is a great publication and provides a valuable service to Catholics.

I can understand how things like this can slip through trying to meet tight deadlines. I don’t want to get into a fight with the California Pro-Life Council and National Right to Life, organizations for which I have a great deal of respect. But I think their endorsements of Fred Thompson reflect bad judgment and their attacks on Huckabee are indefensible and based on false assumptions.

First, Fred Thompson wants to let the states decide on abortion and does not support the human life amendment. There are many parallels between slavery and abortion, and we can see how well leaving the slavery issue to the states turned out. How can he be the pro-life candidate?

This question from the California Catholic Daily reporter to the Pro-Life Council’s Brian Johnston was based on a false and biased premise: "What about a new coalition on the Republican side coming together around a pro-life liberal like Mike Huckabee?" Liberal?

Huckabee is not the liberal the Republican establishment says he is. This false premise is being repeated over and over. Moreover, the response to the question is equally misleading: “Highly, highly unlikely,” Johnston responded. “For one thing, he’s a preacher: he’ll be killed by the media -- he’ll be more of a target than Pat Robertson." There is a huge difference between Robertson and Huckabee. Robertson is a lifelong professional minister and Christian political leader – that is it. Huckabee is a secular political and civic leader and a former Lt. Governor and Governor (almost 11 years), with a distinguished record of secular leadership. While governor, Time Magazine ranked him as one of the top 5 in the country. His Democratic and Republican peers elected him chairman of the National Governors’ Association. In addition, Huckabee was chairman of the Education Commission of the States, president of the Council of State Governments, chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (37 states), and chairman of the Southern Governors Association. Would any of these things have happened if he were the religious nut the Republican establishment is making him out to be?

Huckabee is the only candidate who has been an advocate for pro-life issues. He got five bills through the Democratic legislature in Arkansas: partial birth abortion, parental notification, women's right to know, fetal pain and liberal hospital drop-off provisions for newborns. It really annoys me to hear people call Huckabee liberal because he cares for the human person and has a sense of social responsibility.

People mindlessly and irresponsibly throw out the right-wing code of “tax and spend” for people who are compassionate and practical. As governor, Huckabee cut taxes almost 100 times. He eliminated the capital gains tax on home sales, reduced them for individuals and businesses, eliminated taxes for those below the poverty line and indexed tax rates to avoid tax creep with inflation. He also was able to get enough people off welfare that the budget was reduced by 50%. I think Brian is dead wrong re the Republican coalition.

The folks in the boardroom are not going to like Huckabee because he is a Christian and a man of the people. I think Huckabee has an opportunity to reform and broaden the Republican Party. He could put the Reagan Democratic coalition back together and attract a lot of Catholic crossover votes. I don't think Thompson has any chance. He has been so weak. He hasn't demonstrated any passion for the office. I think Huckabee is the most electable of the field. I think Huckabee is the "Catholic" candidate for 2008.

-- Bill May

Amen to all that. He is basically pointing out two things I have major concerns with. That is (1) The conservative media one sided treatment and (2) The reckless use of the word liberal being thrown around left and right.

I am aware that Huckabee has the whole world against him. I realize that his road to the White House is no sure thing. It has crossed my mind who my backup would be. Well when Fred Thompson attacked Mike and called him a liberal and basically a Democrat. All on a record that any Republican Governor would love to have. I have no problem with people going after Huckabee. But the destructive labels need to be put to a end

Needless to say that pushed me into the McCain camp if Huckabee does not make it. The name calling has to stop. The reckless label of Liberal and RINO that is being thrown around has to stop. It is killing the party.