Tag Archives: Igor Volsky

Mike Huckabee: closet liberal

Bill Press is a Democratic Party operative and commentator. He once co-hosted “Crossfire” on CNN and he’s been sort of a progressive/liberal TV talking head for many years.

He posted this item on Facebook that I have to share on this blog. It seems to be quite revealing.

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Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee announced he’s running for president yesterday, the sixth Republican to do so.

Now, here’s what’s funny: As a presidential candidate, he may talk about his time as FOX NEWS talk show host, but he won’t talk about his time as governor. He can’t. Because today he’s running as a conservative – but, back then, he governed as a liberal!

As Igor Volsky from Think Progress told us on the show yesterday, Governor Huckabee had a record which Bill Clinton, another Arkansas governor, would have been proud of.

One of his first acts as governor was to raise the sales tax to pay for improvements in schools. He also convinced voters to raise taxes to pay for improvements to Arkansas highways. As governor, he supported in-state tuition and scholarships for students who came to this country illegally.

Like President Obama, Huckabee’s signature achievement was health care. He expanded health coverage to kids whose parents earned too much to qualify for Medicaid but still couldn’t afford private insurance – and the number of uninsured children dropped from 22 percent to 6 percent.

As Governor, Mike Huckabee built a strong, progressive, pro-government record. Too bad he can’t run on it today.

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That’s quite a record. Gov. Huckabee ought re-own it.