United Liberty

Former Governor Mike Huckabee explains why he did not attend this years CPAC gathering:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee blasted the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday as outdated, nearly corrupt and unrepresentative of the conservative movement.

Huckabee, a 2008 Republican presidential contender and potential 2012 candidate who had spoken at the conference for years, said the reason he blew it off this year was that the meeting has become dominated by libertarian activists.

“CPAC has becoming increasingly more libertarian and less Republican over the last years, one of the reasons I didn’t go this year,” Huckabee said in an interview with Fox News, where he is a paid analyst and has his own show.

He was responding to a question about whether he was upset by his single-digit showing in the conference’s straw poll, which was won by libertarian-leaning Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Huckabee has ripped libertarians. Back during the 2008 campaign, he referred to libertarianism as the greatest threat to the Republican Party.

Additionally, as James Joyner notes, Huckabee actually makes a point that he didn’t intend to:

Dave Weigel brings us the list of prospective Republican presidential candidates that will appear on the annual CPAC straw poll this year.

Attendees will be able to choose from:

• Haley Barbour
• Mitch Daniels
• Newt Gingrich
• Mike Huckabee
• Sarah Palin
• Ron Paul
• Tim Pawlenty
• Mike Pence
• Mitt Romney
• Rick Santorum
• John Thune

Write-in candidates and undecided will be an option for attendees. Weigel notes that Romney won the straw poll in each of the last three years.

Someone forwarded this video to me yesterday of some of Tax Hike Mike Huckabee’s comments from the 2007 Global Warming and Energy Solutions Conference where he laid out his support for CAFE standards and cap-and-trade, which he not only supports but expresses disappointment that the Senate failed to pass it.

The coordinator of HuckPAC, Tax Hike Mike Huckabee’s political action committee, has stepped down due to the light that has been cast on clemency given to Maurice Clemmons by the former Governor of Arkansas and GOP candidate for president:

Jason Tolbert, who runs a conservative blog, served as Arkansas state coordinator for HuckPAC in a volunteer capacity.

“My departure was with a heavy heart but was done after serious prayer and consideration,” Tolbert wrote on his Web site. “Some have asked about the timing. As most could imagine, the recent news of the last two days along with the response did play a role in this decision but was not the sole factor.”

It’s worth noting that this is the second convicted felon where Huckabee has personally intervened on their behalf, the other being Wayne DuMond, which was made an issue during the 2008 Republican primary.

In fact Tax Hike Mike issued 1,033 pardons and commutations, including for 12 convicted murderers, according to Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier. Of course, some of those pardons and commutations may have been deserved or their were circumstances involved that may warrant such action.

In the immediate aftermath of her bizarre and still inexplicable decision to quit as Alaska’s Governor, Sarah Palin was in second place behind Mitt Romney in a poll of Republicans about their preference among candidates for the 2012 nomination.

A new Rasmussen poll, though, shows that Palin has faded to third place behind Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney:

Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Republican voters nationwide say former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is their pick to represent the GOP in the 2012 Presidential campaign. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 24% prefer former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney while 18% would cast their vote for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gets 14% of the vote while Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty gets 4%. Six percent (6%) of GOP voters prefer some other candidate while 7% remain undecided.

These numbers reflect an improvement for Huckabee since July when the three candidates were virtually even. Huckabee’s gain appears to be Palin’s loss as Romney’s support has barely changed.

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It used to be the case that politics ended at the water’s edge, but no more:

JERUSALEM — Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee slammed President Barack Obama’s policies toward Israel on Monday in a visit here that underscored the tensions between the Obama administration and the Israeli government over Jewish settlements in what traditionally have been Palestinian areas.

Huckabee criticized the Obama administration’s calls for ending such settlements and said Obama’s position had only encouraged the Palestinian government not to negotiate with Israel.