Huckabee: The Nanny Candidate

If you wanna read unadulterated BS from a presidential candidate, take a look at this Mike Huckabee’s interview with RealClearPolitics.

“But it certainly should mean that while government is not responsible for providing everything people want or need, it should act in a way that it does not have a heartless or a cold approach to the needs of its neediest citizens. I think that’s consistent with the history of our nation and the fact that while it’s not our responsibility to become the nanny state, I’m certainly not favorable toward that at all. I do believe that if we’re going to have an education system it ought to be effective. If we’re going to have a health-care system for the elderly, it ought to be functional. If we’re going to provide health-care for veterans, it ought to be accessible and affordable.”

I have no problem with the second half of his statement — though it sounds like a capitulation of sorts on socialized medicine. But “I’m certainly not favorable toward that at all”? What the hell is he talking about? Can you imagine what Huckabee’s idea of a paternalistic state if he views his proposed policies as an antidote to the ”Nanny State”? There has never been a candidate calling himself a conservative who has so blatantly endorsed meddling policies on personal choice – though “compassionate conservatism” came close.

A health nut, Mike Huckabee, not long ago, committed to sign a nationwide smoking ban in public places. His scaremongering nonsense on obesity includes deftly tying the War on Terror to the War on Fat: “Today we hear a lot about the war on terror, how we need to fight it. Who’s going to fight it in the future if we’re a generation so sick that we don’t have the capacity to show up for work?” His initiatives on food control in Arkansas were some of the most invasive and counterproductive in the country. Not to mention, I would be curious to see statistics that backs up the claim that citizens aren’t showing up for work because of an obesity epidemic.

At the very least, the average Republican candidate will throw conservatives some red-meat rhetoric on individual freedom and choice. At this point, I suppose, it’s the most we can hope for. But this guy can’t even get that simple script straight.