PRESS RELEASE – John McCain Shows Presidential Leadership and Unifies GOP!!!

The following is the latest press release from the Huckabee Grassroots Coalition  It refers to the rally that is being held near St. Louis, MO exactly one week from now that both Governor Huckabee and Governor Romney will be attending.  This is the speech that we feel that John McCain should make at that and other similar functions.  Below it I will explain why this is the best way to unite the party for this and future cycles.  

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August 24, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Debra Mantey, 989-551-7493

Ronald Reagan would be Proud of John McCain:

Conservatives United – Social, Economic, & Military

John McCain Shows Presidential Leadership and Unifies GOP!!!

August 31, 2008 

St. Louis, MO

Today marked the beginning of John McCain’s demonstration of his Presidential Executive judgment and leadership. At a rally held at a minor league baseball stadium in O’Fallon, Missouri to an overflow crowd of GOP supporters, John McCain entered the stage flanked by former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee.  The three men approached the podium, as John McCain stepped forward to the microphone:

“My fellow Americans, we come here today to make unprecedented presidential history.  

I am joined onstage this afternoon by two great fellow Americans.  These two men have 

shown great executive experience as governors of their states.  During this presidential 

campaign, all three of us have been able to get to know each other, debate the important 

issues facing our country, and share with the American people our distinct backgrounds, 

life experiences, and political differences. 

Today, I announce that all of those said differences have been laid to rest.  As I prepare

to accept, this upcoming week, the Republican nomination for President of the United States,

I have been forced to evaluate and make some fundamental decisions regarding my

administration.  In looking at these two gentlemen, I feel honored to be able to consider 

both of them for key roles in this administration.

Former Governor Mitt Romney, in my review of his experiences, leads me to believe

that he has keen business acumen, as well as proven leadership skills in economics,

business, understanding of capital markets, world trade agreements and job creation.  

Due to the fact that the majority of challenges that currently face our nation, are 

economically related, I have asked, and he has graciously accepted, my request for 

him to be my U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.  Additionally, I have requested Governor 

Romney to work with the U.S. Congress-House of Representatives to pass a legislative 

bill to repeal our Constitution’s 16th Amendment, to shut down and permanently close

the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Agency, and replace it with the FairTax system.  

(John McCain then turns to Governor Romney, reaching out in acknowledgement and 

agreement, they shake hands.) 

(John McCain then returns to the podium and looks at Governor Huckabee)

My review of Governor Huckabee and his lifetime accomplishments, include those

things he was able to achieve in his home state of Arkansas, and his length of executive

experience has compelled me to ask Gov. Huckabee to be my Vice President.

As my Vice President, Governor Huckabee will also preside as President of the U.S. Senate.

I have conveyed to Governor Huckabee that I would like him to create similar legislation 

to that which will be passed in the House of Representatives. I have conveyed to

both of these men that I want these joint bills pushed through the legislative process

and brought to my desk for my signature on April 15, 2009.  As someone on this stage has

said in the past, “We will make April 15 just another beautiful spring day in America!”

I have conveyed to Governor Huckabee my great concern for our country’s future

and direction in the event that I am unable to fulfill my term as President.

I shared with Governor Huckabee my observation during the Presidential campaign,

that Governor Huckabee and his supporters did not always see eye-to-eye with

Governor Romney and his supporters.

Going into office as President is a heavy burden of responsibility that is placed on

just one individual.  Knowing this, I am prepared to fully accept this responsibility.

However, I do so knowing that our Country would be in good hands in my absence.

I have asked Governor Huckabee, and he has honorably agreed that if he assumes

the office of President of the United States during my administration, to ask then 

Secretary Romney to step up and be his Vice President.  To this, he has given me 

his solemn vow.  I have asked Governor Huckabee to accept the role of my Vice President,

knowing full well, that whatever differences they may have had in the past, they will forgive

and forget them, providing healing to our nation and its people.

(Governor Huckabee steps forward in acceptance of this commitment and obligation, 

reaches out and shakes John McCain’s hand. Governor Huckabee then walks over and 

shakes the hand of Governor Romney.)

(McCain returns to the podium and closes with these statements)

By announcing these appointments here today, I know that the American people will

clearly see the direction to which I intend to lead our country.  I am confident and 

optimistic that through these decisions, the American people will bless us with the opportunity

to serve them well.

In closing, I would like us to pray.  (John McCain reaches back and grabs the hands of

Governor Romney and Governor Huckabee, pulling them to his side)

Lord, as we go forward into our Convention this week, we ask that you would continue

to bless and protect our Country, our military, and all of the great people of this

country.  Amen.”

(All three men raise their heads and hands amongst a thunder of rousing cheers and 

applause from the audience) 

January 21, 2008 by Jill Stanek

The simple truth is that the conservative coalition – a three-legged stool – stands when social, economic and defense conservatives work together on an interlocking agenda. The coalition collapses when any of the legs is missing. [Dick] Armey and others, especially the early enthusiasts for Rudy Giuliani, suggested the social conservative leg of the stool is dispensable, or at least that it can be appreciably shortened without impact on the greater stability of the coalition. This thesis is not only false in theory, it now has been decisively shown not to represent what the conservative coalition actually believes…

… Mike Huckabee: Social leg

… John McCain: Defense leg

… Mitt Romney: Economic leg

In the key battleground state of Michigan, these three individuals, McCain, Romney, and Huckabee, won more than 85% of the vote…. the conservative coalition is to re-form, these three legs need their favorites to unite around the strongest themes of each, to wit: 1) the surge worked, and it is no longer business-as-usual against radical Islamic terrorism – we will take the fight to them and win for our values (McCain); 2) the government is run with all the efficiency of a bar room brawl where the sailors are bad enough but it’s actually the drunken captains doing the damage, and someone with business acumen has to clean it up (Romney); and 3) moral values are indispensable to a free nation that hopes to have and keep small government, and we can’t get there without some Old-Time Religion, and those old-timers, our nation’s almost uniformly Christian founders, knew it (Huckabee).

Obviously, each of the three leading Republicans can lay some claim to the other two themes that are not their primary ones….

There
is probably nothing they could do that would be more unifying than to rally now 

around a platform that embodies the coalition in full.

A unified agenda beckons the GOP to a surge of its own.

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While reading the above release I realized what the impact of such of an speech and act by John McCain would be.

This would truly unify all three legs of the Reagan “Three legged stool” of Conservatism. In coming to this 

conclusion I thought of it from the vantage point of a Romney supporter as well. I thought it would be

completely acceptable because of the promise that Governor Romney would become both Vice President 

and possibly President himself. I also considered a reversal of roles but came to the conclusion that

giving Governor Huckabee the the VP slot and Governor Romney the Secretary of the Treasury was the 

only viable option because of the background and platforms of the two candidates: Huckabee as a social conservative

and former Baptist Minister and Romney as a successful businessman and economic scholar. 

Unifying the GOP in this way would create a compromise to solve a ever-widening rift between the supporters

of the two candidates. The wider the rift becomes and the longer the schism exists the worse off the Republican 

Party will be. The only way to properly resolve our differences is to make a compromise in this fashion.

In addition a plan of succession is established that would result in the lack of necessity of a divisive primary 

season in 2012, 2016, and possibly beyond that point. The money reserved for such a process could be invested 

in the Republican Congressional and Senatorial Committees to help elect a GOP majority in the House and Senate. 

Therefore, it is a win-win situation for everyone!

I am Not A Bigot – My Misgivings With Mitt Romney

I’ve sat here for the past week and read article after article indicating Huckabee supporters are bigots because we opposed Mitt Romney because of his Mormon religion. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! Even the notion of this is downright bologna and absolutely ridiculous! I am downright sick of this, and I would like to set the record straight on this topic. I realize that this post is going to run long, but please hear me out and afterwards you can comment.

First of all, I’d like to touch on the fact that there are definitely things to like about Governor Mitt Romney. He is, and has been, a very successful businessman. In addition, the awesome job Romney did to make the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City a complete success against very long odds, was downright incredible. Also admirable is the way Romney fought the Democratic State Assembly on tax increases in Massachusetts by going straight to the people. Indeed, Mitt Romney has done great things that must be admired.

The religion of someone who wants to run for President is completely irrelevant. I could care less that Mitt Romney is a Mormon. In fact, I did not know that Mitt was a Mormon until after I had made my choice to support Mike Huckabee. I will not tell a lie – there are many misgivings I have with Governor Romney, but none of them have anything to do with his Mormonism.

The following is a list of the misgivings I have with Mitt Romney, and why I did not believe he would make a better President than Mike Huckabee:

1. Trust: There was no reason to believe I could trust Mitt Romney. While Romney has been a very successful businessman, not many of them can be trusted. It’s a simple fact, that in the business world when things are not going well, businessmen tend to change the image to turn the tide. During his Presidential campaign, Mitt Romney tried to do this many times. Not once did Mike Huckabee try to change his image. In addition, in his political history, Mitt Romney has flip-flopped so many times on the issues that he looks like the Republican version of John Kerry. To me personally, the social issues, I am referring to abortion, gay marriage, etc, are not important to me. However, what is important is how consistent you are on them. As for many other Huckabee supporters, not only are the inconsistencies important, but the issues he speaks about. That is a big sticking point. Therefore, we have no reason to believe Mitt Romney will do what he says he would do.

2. I resent the fact that Mitt Romney was trying to buy the election. I have no problem with the fact he had a lot of money to throw around, that’s not the point. While Romney was able to write loan checks to fund his campaign, other candidates were limited by the (unconstitutional in my opinion) McCain-Feingold limitations. Again, I have no problem with a person being able to raise and spend as much money as he/she wants. It is the fact that Romney had millions at his own disposal, and there was no way anyone else could catch up because the maximum any single supporter could donate to their candidate was $2,300. In addition, since Romney had no lack of cash, I believe that he used said cash to buy off people and their support, especially those in the Conservative media and radio and TV pundits who were very positive towards Romney and extremely negative towards Mike Huckabee.

3. Mitt Romney just does not connect with me. Again, this has nothing to do with his Mormon faith. Compared to Mike Huckabee, Romney is as authentic as an aluminum Christmas tree. Mitt Romney comes off as slick, polished, and snobbish. Romney does not seem to me to be a man who understands the plight of the common man, and he certainly doesn’t seem like someone who would care. On the other hand, Governor Huckabee is down to earth, honest, authentic, and trustworthy. He speaks my language, and I am not just talking about faith-speak. Mitt Romney was born into a successful, political family and seemingly with a silver spoon in his mouth. Mike Huckabee was born into poverty comparatively. Mitt Romney speaks for Wall Street; Mike Huckabee speaks for us on Main Street. Romney just doesn’t connect with us at all. I am not envious of wealth because there are many people with wealth who do the right things and treat people the right way. I have yet to see any evidence of that from Governor Romney.

4. Mitt Romney refuses to even consider the Fair Tax, the single best economic stimulus package we could ever come up with. Mike Huckabee not only considered it, he supports it and embraced it as a plank in his economic policy plan.

5. Mitt Romney showed no respect and downright disdain for his fellow contenders for the GOP’s nomination. Every chance he got, he slung mud on each one of them, especially towards candidates who wanted to take the high road and focus on the issues instead of attack ads. To his credit, Romney was not the worst of the bunch; Fred Thompson wins that award. Mike Huckabee is the exact opposite. He literally had the kitchen sink thrown at him and despite being tempted to do so, stayed vertical even though it hurt him at the end of the day. Huck could have won the nomination if he had slung some mud himself; however, he decided against it.

6. I see Mitt Romney as a member of the GOP establishment that I detest. The Republican Party has become a country club of corrupt cronies. There is no visible concern for all Americans, like Ronald Reagan had. No wonder the Republican establishment fought Ronald Reagan tooth and nail and didn’t embrace him until he swept the GOP into power. There are many people that did not embrace the Republican Party until Mike Huckabee came along. We now want to bring the GOP back to the party of Reagan, a President so vertical in his politics that conservative Democrats embraced him, and he won office with their support. This is not about the Republican Party for us; this is about the American people, and the future of our great nation – a nation that is under attack and threatened by the MoveOn.org Socialist Democrats.

There is no doubt that both sides are now in a battle for party dominance. However, I feel that playing the “Bigot Card” from the bottom of the deck is no way to fight this battle. We are going to have to work together at some point. If you continue to insult us and throw mud on us, working together is going to be much harder to do.

Govorner Huckabeee to Fox News – What Does It All Mean?

In a very interesting development Fox News is hiring Mike Huckabee to be a political contributor for the length of a one-year contract.  This really says something about Mike’s character and it couldn’t be any more positive.  Out of all the networks that covered and analyzed his campaign, Fox News was the most hostile to his candidacy.  In becoming a network political contributor and going into the belly of the beast Governor Huckabee is showing a high level of grace and forgiveness.  But that is Mike for ya.

Now what does this mean?  It could mean a variable of things.  This deal could mean that Huckabee knows or believes that he will not be on McCain’s ticket.  The gig on Fox News would keep him visible and keep his name out there.  On the other hand this could be some kind of trial balloon since Mike will be appearing frequently on Fox News, still a first-turn choice for Conservatives to get their news and information – McCain might want to know if Mike can win over an arm of his base that has been hostile to Mike during the Primary process.  Thirdly, this could be an act of desperation for News Corp.  Fox News is tanking in the rankings and it seems to coincide with the Primary season.  I don’t know about Social Conservatives at large but I know that after hearing the Fox News people slam Mike over and over again that I haven’t cared to watch the channel since (and know many other fellow Huckabee supporters who made the same choice).  Lastly could this be some sort of set-up that keeps Mike from taking the VP slot in lieu of someone else (like Romney)?

It could be either of those four options or a combination of some or all of them. Who knows?  Only time will tell.  Go get ’em Mike!   It’s gonna be great watching you on TV a lot in the coming days and weeks.    

Mike Huckabee Comments on Mitt Romney

Mike Huckabee issued the following comments on the suspension of Mitt Romney’s campaign:

News Release: Mike Huckabee Comments on Romney News

February 07, 2008

Little Rock, AR – Former Arkansas Governor and Republican presidential candidate issued the following statement regarding the exit of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney from the presidential race.

“Today, Mitt Romney announced that he will no longer seek the Republican nomination for President. I wish Mitt and his family all the best.
“Over the past year, Mitt and his entire family have sacrificed a lot during the course of his campaign and for that, we should all be appreciative of their service and dedication.

“This is a two-man race for the nomination, and I am committed to marching on. I believe in the importance of a strong national defense — which includes winning the war against Islamic extremists and the protection of American sovereignty.
“I am redoubled in my resolve to carry on my campaign in a civil, dignified manner. The issues that got me into this campaign-protecting life and traditional marriage, enacting the Fair Tax, and border security are going to keep me in this campaign.

“As a true authentic, consistent, conservative, I have a vision to bring hope, opportunity and prosperity to all Americans, and I’d like to ask for and welcome the support of those who had previously been committed to Mitt.”

Chip Saltsman: "Governor Romney Leaves the Race"

This is breaking news and I wanted to quickly send you an email to give you an update. Gov. Romney just announced he is withdrawing from the race for the Republican Presidential nomination. Gov. Romney ran a tough campaign and is a proud American. He deserves our respect. Now more than ever, we need your immediate financial support. We have an opportunity to rally conservatives around Gov. Huckabee and continue to promote our principles and ideas. Please make an immediate contribution of $25 or more. We need your financial support to run new ads encouraging conservatives to rally around Gov. Huckabee and to learn more about where he stands on the important issues we have built our campaign around: border security, the human life amendment and the FairTax to name a few. Please help us immediately. This is a great opportunity. Will update you soon. Chip Saltsman

WHAT!?

Get out the smelling salts. I am hearing rumors that Romney will be endorsing McCain? The only two words that follow that in my mind is check and mate. I’ve seen so many weird things during this cycle but this one would tear it.

BREAKING NEWS – ROMNEY SUSPENDS HIS CAMPAIGN

According to many sources Mitt Romney is suspending his campaign operations. We are now down to three on the GOP side.

SUPER TUESDAY – 8:30 MIKE HUCKABEE DECLARED WINNER OF ARKANSAS!!

Polls are now closed in Arkansas and Mike Huckabee (and Hillary) have been declared the winners of Arkansas!

Update on the numbers in Georgia (18% Precincts Reporting):

Mike Huckabee – 34%
John McCain – 31%
Mitt Romney – 31%

SUPER TUESDAY – Early Georgia Results

1% of the precincts are finally reporting in Georgia. It’s very close!

John McCain – 36%
Mike Huckabee – 34%
Mitt Romney – 25%

More polls about to close at the top of the hour. I will report any projections as they come in.

SUPER TUESDAY – GA Polls Closed, Obama declared Dem Winner, GOP Too Close to Call

Polls are now closed in Georgia. CNN and others have declared Barak Obama the winner of the Democratic primary in GA but as expected the GOP race is too close to call between McCain, Huckabee, and Romney.

Stay tuned!

No votes counted in The Peach State yet.